Halford & Brough in the Morning - Finding Another Level For Pettersson

Episode Date: October 25, 2024

In hour one, Mike & Jason look back at the previos day in sports (3:00), they hear from Elliotte Freidman on Elias Pettersson (11:00), they preview Sunday's Seahawks home matchup versus the Bills with ESPN's Brady Henderson (28:31), plus the boys do some Ask Us Anythings (41:05). 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 da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da I think they felt there was another level that they felt they needed to get him to. You get a nice soft bun and then it just kind of accentuates the meat. Within five minutes, Niagara Falls comes right out of your butt. Straight water, 100 miles an hour. Ladies and gentlemen, the weekend. Good morning, Vancouver. 601 on a Friday. Sweet, sweet Friday.

It is Halford. It is Brough. 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.

And 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 that 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, 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 sore feet what are you waiting for Kintec the guest list today begins at 6 30 Brady Henderson our NFL Seahawks insider from ESPN is going to join us it's the Seahawks it's the Bills it's maybe the best game of a pretty lame weekend slate of NFL games.

Not going to lie. This one is probably the marquee game of the week. The Bills come into Seattle as three-point road favorites. We'll talk to Brady Henderson about that at 6.30. 7 o'clock, AJ from AJ's Pizza. The spot to be tonight for game one of the World Series. AJ's on East Broadway. AJ, big Yankees fan.

It's a shrine to the Yankees in there. We'll talk to AJ at 7. 7 to 5, Sean Gentile from the Athletic in Pittsburgh. Penguins are in town tomorrow night to take on the Vancouver Canucks. After being in Edmonton to take on the Oilers tonight, we'll talk to Sean about all that. 7.30, it's the Moj.

Yes, it's the Moj. Bob the Moj Marjanovic. No Lions game this weekend. The Lions will find out who they are going to play in the Western Semifinal. And Moj has an interesting take on where he wants to go

for that game. So we'll talk to Moj about that at 7.30. 8 o'clock, Rick Dollywall for his usual hit where he yells at us about this and that. $50 gift card to White Spot

is up for grabs today. That'll go to caller number three at a time we choose. We're not going to tell you when. We're just going to pop it on you. We're just going to announce. We're going to throw it right at you. The only key to this thing is that you can't have won anything from Sportsnet 650 over the last 90 days.

If you call in and you have, you will be punished accordingly. If you haven't, you'll win $50 to White Spot. Finally, finally, it's Ask Us Anything Friday. So that means we're giving away a $100 gift card to AJ's for the best Ask Us Anything or best what we learned. Dunbar Lumber text line is 650

650. Text in throughout the show. Hashtag it WWL or AUA and put a pizza emoji into your text. You'll be entered into the contest to win a $100 gift card to AJ's. That is what's happening on the program today. Laddie, let's tell everybody what happened.

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? 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. It was a day off for the Vancouver Canucks yesterday. Didn't have to come to the rink. They could stay at home. Except Eric Brandstrom and Arsh Deep Baines, who were sent to Abbotsford. Although maybe just in paper form. Because we're not sure if this is a demotion just for salary cap purposes or if there'll be roster tweaks today when the Canucks return to practice.

Do you remember when everyone would talk about weaponizing cap space? I do. Those days are gone. It's about accruing cap space now. You got to accrue it. You don't want to weaponize it. That's for rebuilding teams. I'm just doing hand gestures over here.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. I don't want to weaponize it. You don't want to weaponize it. You just want to accrue it. Which is, I guess, what you get. What's the hand gesture for accrue? Just bring it together. Bring it together.

Bring it together. Yeah. Bring it together. Accrue it. Gotcha. Accrue it. So. Accruate. So, yeah, I think Sat said yesterday, or someone on the station said that they're expected.

One of those other people that work here. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Bick? Is that someone? Eric Brandstrom will get recalled before the game on Saturday against the Penguins. I don't know about Baines. I don't think Baines, well, based on the

Dunbar-Lumber text line, I don't think Baines has won over a lot of the fans with his play. But Taka and the coaching staff and management really have clearly seen something that they like from him. At the very least, it's certainly possible that Tuckett might trust Baines defensively more than he does a guy like Daniel Sprong. I know the last practice that they had a couple days ago, Baines was skating on the fourth line and Sprong was an extra with Dakota Joshua. So I don't know what this means for Saturday's

game against the Pittsburgh Penguins. Baines might stay down in the AHL. He might come right back up. It doesn't really matter, I suppose. I guess it does, but we'll figure it all out. I'm going to be curious to see if Derek Forbort is back with the group today at practice and what that means if he is back.

I know there were some reports out there that he might be ready to return to the Vancouver Canucks. So we'll see if he shows up today at practice and whether or not he would play right away for the Canucks because he has been away for a little while for a personal reason. So we'll see if he's at practice. I know that a lot of people see Forbort and De'Arne as kind of like the same.

You're like, yeah, they're those two new guys that we don't like as much as Zdorov, Feeney, and Cole. Yeah, they're both tall. I think Forbort is different than De'Arne. I think Forbort is a more established NHL-er than Day-Arne. So I don't think you should necessarily treat those guys the same in your mind. Look, so I listened to and followed along on social media everything that was said about the Pedersen- JT Miller, um, scuffle at practice

and I didn't really want to come in today and talk more about it because I think everything's been said. Um, the consensus among the fans I've seen is that it wasn't a big deal, nothing to see here. Lots of, uh, you know, there's guys in my work that i don't get along with and sometimes we have a fight but we respect each other so you know i've heard all the takes um i've heard what was reportedly said and you know i was going to come in here and say like halford and i fight all the time like we you know i was but i don't think that was going to add anything it's kind of funny like but we do. We have big time arguments. I punched him in the face the other day.

Yeah. Right in front of HR. Yeah, and you know what? Nothing about it. He's got such a weak punch that nothing on my face. It was more of an open-handed slap. It was a slap. It was a slap.

He used a glove and challenged him to a duel. People do argue at work, but by me saying that doesn't really add anything to the conversation. You know, I did think that I was like, you know, if it was a couple other players, not a big deal. But we all know that Miller and Pedersen are kind of, you know, like they're different personalities, right? And they've even had to come out and say like, look, in the past, like, look, we're not best friends, but we can work together, et cetera, et cetera. And then I wake up this morning and apparently Elliott Freeman has talked about it. And he added some, I think, important context to the situation around Elias Pettersson. So whether you like it or not, we're going to talk more about this guy. Ready to talk about Peter.

Okay. So let me set this up. 32 Thoughts dropped. I actually think it might still be like cooking up in the lab. I don't know. They just released it. They just released it. Okay, so 32 Thoughts has dropped.

Because we're such valued employees of the company, they let us listen to it ahead of time. Freed starts out the pod by talking about that he's noticed there's a rise in temperature and a lack of patience. And there's a lot of angst around the NHL, even though we're only two and a half weeks into the season. Yeah, Bruins, Maple Leafs. And by the way, those two teams play on Saturday. So that's going to be interesting. But you saw Jim Montgomery yelling at Brad Marchand and then Brad Marchand afterwards saying, hey, it's not a big deal.

I don't know why everyone makes such a big deal out of this. People are soft now. Y'all are just soft. Brad is the boomer of the NHL now. It's hilarious. Which I respect. And then Craig Berube yesterday lit up his first line and he said

afterwards, we're getting too cute out there. And suddenly the Leafs have had a couple of stinkers in a row. So it's interesting here because in those two instances of this, temperature rising, anger rising, patience wearing thin, it's the head coach delivering the message. In this instance in Vancouver, Freed's notes, though, it's not the head coach or the general manager of the president of hockey ops it's delivering the message to elias petterson so you're saying there was a message being sent free i thought it was nothing i thought it was just a couple guys that

were practicing hard practicing with an edge i thought there was nothing more to see here let me set it up how for each set up He started out with this anecdote about sales and service. Nicole's Notes version is when you're trying to woo someone's business, that's the sales part of the process. You tell them how much you love them. You tell them how great the relationship's going to be. You're going to tell them all the things you're going to offer. You're selling yourself, and in turn, they're selling themselves to you

in a way. That's the sales part. That's the dance. That's the love in part. Then there's the service part. And that's after the sale is complete. And that's when it's harder to get someone on the phone. And maybe you're not feeling the love all the time.

Maybe the relationship isn't as rosy as you made it out to be during the sales part of it. Maybe there needs to be some work on the relationship that you don't mention during the sales part. That's the service part. So in setting all that up, I'm now going to turn the microphone over to Elliot Friedman discussing what's going on

with the Canucks, Elias Pettersson, and some of his teammates. Even though the Canucks signed Pettersson, I think they felt there was another level or two levels that they felt they needed to get him to. I think it was felt that as great as he is, they needed him to be tougher. I don't know if meter is the right word, but tougher. Now, some people are not wired that way, but I think they felt he was wired that way and is wired that way, but they had to encourage him to get there. And what I also believe, young Bukaskas, is that they didn't want it to be up to Rutherford or Alvin or talk it to do it. They felt they really believe in their leadership group. They believe they, they believe that Hughes

is a strong captain and they believe that Miller is a strong alternate captain and that their group is a strong group. And I think they said, you guys are the ones that are going to have to do it. And, you know, Miller's obviously taking that very literally. Um, I think on,

in that practice and I, and I think there've been some talks off the ice, but I think Hughes is involved too. Um, I just think that Hughes would take that so seriously as a responsibility of his is, I think you're insane if you don't think that he is trying to do that too. Now, I think there are limits. You can't go too far, but we've seen Montgomery push Marchand. We've seen Berube push the Maple Leafs. I think the Canucks see it as it might be better for Pettersson

if it comes from his teammates as opposed to the coach or the GM. I think what the Canucks have said to their leadership group is, Elias needs to get to another level. You all see it, and we want you guys to get him there. And I think they see it, they understand it, and they're trying to push him there. And I think the message comes harder from some guys,

Miller, as opposed to other guys like Hughes. But I think that's the goal here. So when we talk about the current makeup of the team, we've discussed this on a number of occasions. There are the leaders on the team

and through the first handful of games in this regular season, Hughes and Miller in particular have really stamped their authority on a variety of games and have been directly involved in like wins and losses.

In the case of Miller, there was that one one where it went the other way and it was a bad play, but I digress. The interesting wrinkle now is that on top of being tasked with, you know, carrying the team on certain occasions, they're also going to be propped up with having to get the third member of the triumvirate up to that level. What did Freach say, though?

That was like, they don't think he's tough enough. Yeah. I mean, I don't think that's anything like revolutionary. And I think toughness in that instance probably means a lot of different things. Physically tough, mentally tough. I think it's probably like your approach to the game. The toughness to block out the noise and handle the pressure.

I'd say the latter more than the former. Like the mental toughness. Probably. Because, I mean, Petey's like shown physicality. He throws hits on occasion. Like he's not that, Bobby's not the biggest guy, but he can play with an edge if he so chooses

and he has in the past. It sounds like it's more of like a mental toughness thing. The most interesting thing to me about all of this is that it's not going to be Tuckett that's doing it. So now I'm on watch, and I want to see that dynamic play itself out because you know what's going to have to happen. If it's not going to come from Tuckett, he's going to have to be restrained, he's going to have to show restraint when it comes to talking about the player.

Are Hughes and Miller good cop, bad cop? Is that what the scenario is? Maybe. Yeah, maybe. Miller's like, come on, play harder. Hughes is like, he didn't mean it. He just really loves you and wants you to do well. It could be, but they're being tasked with it.

Yeah. You know? And that's an interesting dynamic. Yeah. I've never come across this. It's very strange. This whole thing is just very unusual. To be fair, this is...

Well, it's probably because they're getting desperate. They're like, we just signed this guy to a really big contract. We need him to play better. Please help us because we don't know what to do. You know what we're going to have now. We're going to have this whole debate about how you, quote unquote, toughen up somebody? Is it through actions like, you know, you know, show me, show me, show me like, like what, maybe what JT Miller was doing at practice or does it come more from,

for certain personalities? Does it come through positive reinforcement? Yeah. I mean, look, it's not like this is the like unheard of dynamic before it's just basically do you let the coach coach or i mean av used to do this all the time where he's like you guys figure it out like the players are going to lead the way here and i'm not going to be the one to come down fire and brimstone and say you got to be better and you got to do this and you got to do that you know why because it's easy to tune out a coach and also players can get coaches well

i don't think you should run with this angle too much like i don't think talk it's going to be hands off with pd i don't think he's not going to try and coach him i don't i'm not saying that i don't think he's going to leave it all up to the players i know freed said he wants the the players to do it and not the management and not the coaching staff but i think the coaching staff is still going to be very much involved. But the players, I think have been tasked with this assignment as well. And I don't know how Pedersen is going to feel when he hears all this.

And you know, he's going to hear all this, that why does he listen to this stuff? Yeah, apparently like how would you feel if it came out that your teammates don't feel you're tough enough? So, I mean, that's the whole thing. Like, I know we often bring it back to, like, coaching kids because that's what we do. You know, but, like, you've been coaching kids long enough that you know that sometimes yelling at some kids,

some of them, I think the minority of them will actually be like, all right, I'm going to show you now this is young kids granted, but most kids I would say will shrink from that. Yep. They will, they will big time shrink. And I know a lot of them will be like,

I don't like hockey anymore. I don't, I don't, I don't like soccer anymore because i'm getting yelled at can i can i throw something else you know is this is this a wrong way to go down it like i i you know you know what i mean like are we tackling it from the wrong perspective am i tackling it from the wrong perspective here because i don't know if yelling at pd and and and barking at him in practice and calling him names in practice

is going to bring out the best in him. But you know what else we've done coaching kids, especially when you get to an age where they take it a little bit more seriously and they're playing at a higher level, is you say, name a captain of any team. Because what it does is it puts one kid in the position of, oh, wow,

I have to take charge of things. I usually did like two or three. The interesting thing is to watch kids respond to when one of their peers is telling them something as opposed to when a coach is telling them something. Because it's a totally different dynamic. Because also, it's the way that the quote-unquote leaders of the team deliver your message. You don't know how they're going to do it. You can tell them how you want them to, but they're kids. You don't know how they're going to do it. You can tell them how you want them to, but the kids, they don't know what they're going to say.

Do you find it as the kids get older, is it more effective when one of the peers delivers it? Yes, 100%. There's something different about being yelled at, not being yelled at, but being told something by someone that, if for kids is the same height as you, has the same like physical dimensions and everything that it's just different.

And I don't know, I can't really explain it. I'm not that good with the words, but, um, it's pure pressure. It's pure pressure. Part of it is peer pressure,

but also part of it is that's when they feel the sense of letting somebody down. Yeah. Cause it's a teammate. If it's a coach, it's like, well, I think subconsciously kids can figure out,

like, well, you're a grown adult. How much skin do you really have in this game? They've already let you down like 10 times. It's like, I've just been a constant disappointment based on everything you've told me this season. So why would anything change? So we got a lot of texts into the Dunbar-Lemmer text line. One text asked the question, is Friedman just speculating?

Hard to imagine he is getting inside info on something like that. No, it's not. It's a lot of speculation, if so. It's not. It's not hard to imagine he is getting inside info on something like that. No, it's not. It's a lot of speculation if so. It's not hard to imagine whatsoever. I trimmed that down for 12 minutes. That he's getting inside information on that. I'm sure he's like, have you heard Rutherford speak? Like he can be pretty candid.

Here's the thing. The Canucks are, if they're not worried about this situation. They are very worried about it. They're clearly like, oh oh my god we just made this massive investment in this guy and so you hear all the analytics guys coming on and going like this is unprecedented we don't see this sort of thing from a 25 year old maybe if he was 30 years old and you'd be like oh maybe the aging curve has hit him like extra hard or early like this is not typical of anything so when he when when brough keeps saying like i've never seen anything like this and it's unprecedented

he's right in that what he just said the the timing of all this is so bizarre and so unprecedented because they just made just made a long-term commitment it's like proposing to marry someone and then a month later being like do we want to talk about that guy you're seeing on the side like it you know what i mean it's like it's like it's like you made this huge commitment and then you're gonna go back and work out some of the very big details right is this not similar similar to what happened with Pierre-Luc Dubois? Big contract, formerly different player once he started playing. The Kings contract. Yeah.

Yeah, that's fair. I would say it's unprecedented. Well, it's unprecedented because there wasn't this very public splash where the team was trying to work out Pierre-Luc Dubois because he plays in Los Angeles, right? They may have been doing it behind the scenes. They may have had Kopitar and Dowdy poking and prodding him and cross-checking him in practice, we never heard about it okay help me figure

this out here then okay why did they sign him to this deal then if they knew that this was as Freed said they thought that the skill level and the talent were there which they are yeah and they thought that there was another level to get to so I think the thinking was however flawed it might have been that you sign, you give him that security and you let him know that he's here for the long haul and then you start the process of, okay, let's get him to the point where when we talk about this team,

the big three, equal in terms of how they drive the team, are Miller, Hughes, Pettersson. That was my take on the whole thing. Now, it could be way off. It seems like kind of a gamble, though. I mean, if you know that he's maybe not fully mentally engaged. But the alternative was also a gamble, which was trade him. And when you trade him, obviously, you probably lose that trade.

Yeah. It's just with contracts and with extensions, it's all inherent risk. There's no layups except for McDavid, I would say. That's the only one where you're like, I think we know what we're getting here. Let's give them all the money. We don't have any worries. And then, you know, this is different.

This is something that they are... Obviously, obviously, there's a level of concern. I think that goes without saying. I am very curious to see how this plays out. Mostly from a coaching perspective because I always find the coaching the most interesting part. Because Tuckett is going to have to

walk a fine line here. Because given Tuckett's personality, especially, you know that he is a straightforward, hard-ass, old-school, I played in the league,

I know what it takes, I did it this way, I won cups and what's more he's got a guy on the team that he sees those values in in quinn hughes we played the he reminds me of sydney crosby audio the other day like that's the highest compliment he can play so that makes it even if he had a team of rudderless ships talk it i think it might be a little bit easier to step back and be like all right we're all finding our way but you've got a guy in hughes that is young that is matured

that has grown into all the roles that he's you know been handed yeah number one defenseman captain of the team in a canadian market and he's thrived maybe glass half full as this works like it does light a fire and P and it does get him going. Oh, I mean, I hope so. I very much hope so. But we'll see what happens. This is going to be an interesting game on Saturday, isn't it? Yes.

Because the Canucks have been off for so long. I wonder how the Penguins are actually going to show up to this one because they play tonight in Edmonton and there's a lot of hype around McDavid versus Crosby. And you probably heard yesterday those two throwing roses at each other, McDavid being like, oh, Sid's the obvious captain for Team Canada, and Sid saying that's very nice. And Connor, you're a good hockey player too,

and you mean a lot to the country, et cetera, et cetera. So obviously Friday night, that's going to be a lot to the country, et cetera, et cetera. So obviously, you know, Friday night, that's going to be a big deal in Edmonton with Sid in town. And I'm just wondering, you know, how much the Penguins are going to put into that game because it's Connor McDavid. And then they also have, you know,

Saturday night, there are two very high profile hockey games. One at four o'clock our time, Boston and Toronto, and both those teams have really run into issues. The Boston fans are pissed at their team right now. Yeah, they don't like them. They don't like Zdorov, that contract.

I don't think they're particularly in love with Lindholm either. They are not. They don't like the way their team is playing right now. And then the Leafs, who I think started out really well. I know they lost to Montreal in that first game, but was all Montembeau they dominated that game and then they did they win their next four or some four or five or something like that three and one and now they're

four and four they've lost two straight and three or four so they got blown out by Columbus and then last night they got at least on the score sheet they got blown out by St. Louis in Toronto. And that's Craig Berube's former team. And he lit up his first line, and he was saying how they're playing cute hockey. And this is kind of like what we all predicted what would happen when Craig Berube started coaching the Leafs. He was just going to be like, all right, he's going to try and turn these guys into just more of like a hardworking blue-collar type.

And we'll be curious to see if he's successful in that regard. So you've got Leafs and Bruins at 4 o'clock, and then you've got Canucks and Penguins at 7 o'clock our time. Both those games, like the attention on Pedersen in that game, you know the broadcast is going to go out of its way to really make Pedersen the story. Oh, dude, it's my first game of the season. I'm going to be watching that Canucks bench

with a fine-tooth comb, if that's the saying. I can't watch anything with a comb, man. Hey, Ken. It's extremely difficult. Hey, Ken, you just... The comb will block your eyes. You don't see anything. I'm not seeing very well.

That is 1,000 percent not the way... I'm going to watch this bench with a fine-tooth comb. Guys, I can't see anything. Some binoculars, Andy? Nope, I've got my comb. It's really dark. Let's go out on a high note with that. I don't know what to say.

I'm going to watch this bench with a fine-tooth comb. We need to take a break from the Canucks and talk about the Seahawks with Brady Henderson coming up next on this dumb, dumb Halford and 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. 6.33 on a Friday.

Happy Friday, everybody. Fiesta Friday here on 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 1 of the program. Hour 1 is brought to you by North Star 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. Let's go right to the phone lines. Our next guest joins us now. Courtesy of the Clayton Public House, our Seahawks preview comes courtesy our Seahawks insider, Brady Henderson from ESPN here on the Halford & Brough Show on Sportsnet 650.

Morning, Brady. How are you? What's up, fellas? Big week for the Seahawks insider Brady Henderson from ESPN here on the Halford & Brough Show on Sportsnet 650. Morning, Brady. How are you? What's up, fellas? Big week for the Seahawks. Happy to talk about it with you guys. Yeah, is DK going to be part of it? Well, boy, I wish the first question I could answer is one I could actually answer, because I don't know the answer to that one. I would say it's probably less than 50%, but I know DK is just different than a lot of people

and an injury that might take a guy a little longer to heal might not take him as long. I think back to a couple years ago, I think there was a game against the Chargers where he landed awkwardly on his knee, left that game, it looked bad.

His status was up in the air, and it looked like an injury that would keep him out for a couple weeks, and I think he was back the next Sunday. So normally I would say no, he's not going to play this week, but they haven't ruled him out, and I think that history gives me some hope that he could play. I still think it's less than 50%, though. Yeah, the trade DK talk quieted down quite a bit

after the Seahawks got that win and improved to 4-3, and people started looking at their schedule and going, well, two home games coming up. Maybe there'll be 6-3 heading into their bye week, but this is going to be a tough challenge against the Buffalo Bills. If DK doesn't play, how different does their offense look? Quite a bit, yeah. And, I mean, they have the luxury of having a pretty deep receiver core,

and, you know, it's nice to have two other guys who, you know, can go over 100 yards if, you know, you've seen them do it before. I don't know if Jason has done it. He's done it once. But, you know, you've got two other good receivers there, and you've got other weapons in that offense you can lean on. But DK is DK, and I don't know if there's a lot of people who could make that play he made on the touchdown catch

at the end of the first half there where everybody knows, he knows, the defender knows, everybody in the stadium knows he's going to take a huge shot when he catches that ball and he hangs on to it anyways. And so, yeah, big physical guy. There's just not that many people like him, so they definitely would lose quite a bit if he's not there. But we'll see if he can play.

I'm not counting him out yet. What did you think of the way the offensive line played last week? I thought all things considered they were okay, but i think a big part of that was geno smith kind of covering for them and they allowed a lot of pressure that the numbers that we had in our database were a little under 50 percent of his drop backs that he was pressured on and that would that's what was one of the highest rates uh in week seven And he was only sacked one time because I think you just saw him. That was a master class in a quarterback's ability to maneuver the pocket, to find open throwing lanes,

and even just to full-on scramble out of the pocket and make plays on the run with his legs. And so, I mean, the play that I just mentioned, the DK Metcalf touchdown, that's a good example. Probably a better example is the second touchdown pass to Ken Walker III when, you know, the edge rusher just blows by Mike Jarrell because he times up the snap perfectly. And Gino, before he even finishes his drop,

he's got to plant his back foot, duck his shoulder underneath the rusher, kind of hop to the right to find the throwing lane. And then the scramble throw to Noah Fant for 28 yards. He just did that all game long, and he had to do it because the offensive line was giving up a decent amount of pressure to a Falcons team that probably has one of the most anemic pass rushes in the NFL. I think they have the fewest sacks in the NFL right now

with six through seven games, which is an incredibly low amount. So a little bit concerning. I think by and large, Jarrell played as well as you could expect him to play under the circumstances, a rookie sixth-round pick making his first start, having yet to play an offensive snap in the NFL. But even then, there's more pressure than you would like, especially against a team that was not very good as a pass rushing team. We're speaking to Brady Henderson from ESPN, our Seahawks insider here on the Halford & Brough

Show on Sportsnet 650. Brady has a presentation of the Clayton Public House pregame to postgame. The Clayton Public House is your home for football. Catch all the action on 15 screens and two giant projectors and visit them on the internet at theclaytonpub.com. I want to turn visit them on the Internet at the Clayton pub dot com. I want to turn our conversation to the defensive side of the football here, Brady. The news this week, obviously, is that now to me anyway, the Mike McDonald's dissatisfaction with the linebacking crew in particular finally got resolved. They picked up a dude on waivers.

That's kind of the secondary story. The primary story is that it's Ernest Jones, the fourth, that is not only acquired via trade, but, and now correct me if I'm wrong, is going to be implemented right away as the team's starting middle linebacker? Yeah, that's the plan. That's the plan. They are going to put him at that Mike spot, and they're going to move Tyrell Dodson to Will. And the thought there is that Jones has played more of the middle linebacker

spot throughout his career, whereas Dotson actually played Will last year. So instead of putting Jones at a spot that he's unfamiliar with, it would be more of a seamless transition just to put Jones at Mike and move Dotson to a spot where he has some familiarity with. So that is the plan. I think Dotson is still going to be the guy who wears the helmet with the green dot and the receiver in it. So he's going to be the guy who relays the defensive plays.

But, look, this is a huge trade for them. I think if this had not happened on the same day that DeAndre Hopkins was getting traded by that same Tennessee team, then this would be the story of the NFL that day. Just because Ernest Jones is a really good young player. And this is, as we know, this is a really big need spot for Seattle. I'm not going to put this all on Jerome Baker by any means, and nobody should do that.

But he was a part of that run defense issue. It's when you look at the big runs that they've allowed. I pulled them up last night. A theme in a lot of those, not all of them, but a lot of them, is guys running right by Jerome Baker. And, you know,

Jerome Baker is a pretty accomplished player. He's had a lot of plays in the NFL. He's had a nice career. But, frankly, he was not playing well. And he was playing, I thought, pretty passively. Wasn't that aggressive. And that is is uh ernest jones mo he is an attacking downhill physical player who is a sure tackler as well and this is exactly what the seahawks need right now and um you know the other

benefit of it is that he's still in the last year of a inexpensive rookie deal as a third round pick so you know money wise it was ended up being a wash with what both of those guys are still due for the rest of the season so you give up the fourth round pick um which you know if you don't end up re-signing ernest jones that's going to hurt a little bit but i think they definitely want to re-sign him uh their mo has been with trade acquisitions is to, you know, get these guys in the building, let them see how they fit in, kind of get to know them before you pay them. So a little similar to Leonard Williams in that regard from last season. Obviously, they resigned Williams and they hope to do the same thing with Ernest Jones.

But, you know, with Jerome Baker, one last point I'll make on him is I wouldn't look at this as the Seahawks are giving up Jerome Baker in the trade. Really what they're doing is they found a team willing to take on the remaining guaranteed money in his salary. So if they could have cut him, I'm sure they would have, but they still would have owed him that money. When you trade him, you get somebody else to take on that money. So this was really Ernest Jones. The Seahawks were giving up Ernest Jones to get a fourth-round pick

and also to get somebody to take on Jerome Baker's contract. Is it the big runs, the big long runs that they're most concerned about? How do they feel about their defensive line, which is the first level of defense, and then you go to the linebackers? How do they feel about the defensive line and the run defense? Well, yeah, Michael Donald had made this point a few times that without naming names, he would say that the defensive line was doing its job, and this was really a second-level issue.

So it was pretty clear where they needed to find the upgrade and i think dotson's you know he i don't think he's been playing perfectly but i think he's been playing a lot better than baker has and um yeah so this this was really a second level thing and look you didn't have a whole lot of options behind you know the guy you you just traded for um or behind you know the guys you had already there was Tyrese Knight who's a rookie fourth round pick who's you know when you plug a rookie in there he's going to have his own issues and then uh it's a couple other young players without a ton of starting experience so um this was really a second level and I would say third level issue too I mean Rayshon Jenkins I don't think he's

played all that well he's he was kind of guilty on some of those long runs as well. This was not a defensive line issue. It was a linebacker issue and they probably got one of the best guys possible to upgrade that spot. I guess it makes sense because I was wondering, I saw some of the bloated scores and the amount of points that the defense was giving up and I kept

looking over and I'm like, that's former defensive guru Mike McDonald over there. He's got to be losing his mind. I understand that they had injuries, but I was thinking like, well, they could either scheme it up or they're going to make personnel changes. And I, you know, I was actually surprised it took that long for him to make moves of this significance, but it is a big one. And the other question I had about Jones in particular is how did he get to this spot where he's already on his third team? Because I remember him from the Superbowl when they beat the Bengals and he was everywhere for the Rams like I think he had like seven tackles a sack he

knocked down to Joe Burrow but like he was everywhere in that Super Bowl he looked like he was going to be the great next young thing at linebacker and then it just sort of I don't know ended up like this how did he get to this spot yeah he did I think when Aaron Donald retired he sort of you know figuratively passed the torch to ernest jones and said this is ernest jones defense now um that is a good question i mean i think it's it's easy to see what happened in tennessee that's a team that's one and five and going nowhere um you know i suppose he is still young enough at 24 years old he turns 25 next month like he's still young enough to survive a rebuild or whatever level

of rebuild that they go through but they made the decision to trade him because their season is going nowhere it's the the idea of the rams trading him that one is harder to kind of figure just because that was a team that had planned on competing this season and he had been by all accounts the heart and soul of that defense um you know, the one thing that I would point to, and I don't know the answer entirely, but the one thing I would point to with the Rams is that, you know, under that regime, they have really not paid inside linebackers. And they've kind of cycled through those guys.

They paid Bobby Wagner a little bit of money, but that ended up being a one-year deal. And I think it was structured from the start, knowing that they could get out of it after one season. So they really, that's just a position they haven't paid. Now, maybe they had some reservations about his past coverage. I don't know. But it wasn't any reservation about his run defense.

And by all accounts, it was not any sort of reservation they had about Ernest Jones, the person, because by all accounts, you know, he's just a really solid dude. He was a captain on that team, even as a young player. And so, yeah, my guess is that was just an organizational philosophy type thing that, you know, they just don't pay inside linebackers. But even then, it is kind of a mystery because you still could have hung on to him for the final season of his rookie deal. And it's not like they got a whole lot from him.

I think Tennessee ended up getting more from Seattle than Tennessee gave up for the Rams to get him in late August. We'll get our first look at Jones and the Seattle Seahawks this weekend as they host the Buffalo Bills. Bills are three-point road favorites. Probably the best game, at least in the afternoon slate, maybe for all of Sunday. So very much looking forward to that one.

Brady, thanks for doing this as always. We appreciate it. Enjoy the game on Sunday. Should be a good one. We'll do this again next Friday. All right, let's do it. Thanks, fellas. Take care.

Thanks, Brady. Brady Henderson from ESPN Seahawks Insider here on the Halford & Brough Show on Sportsnet 650. It's Ask Us Anything Friday on the Halford & Brough Show, and Dr. J hasn't asked us anything. Julia Serving? Yep. Why is Nylander always shirtless during post-game interviews?

That's his style, man. Yeah. Why not? Chains. Why not? I would too. You know who's got a look too? Dodgers pitcher Jack Flaherty.

Oh, yeah. He does the aggressively ripped tank tops. Mm-hmm. Yeah. He's starting tonight, by the way, Jack Flaherty. Oh, yeah. He does the aggressively ripped tank tops. Mm-hmm. Yeah. He's starting tonight, by the way, Jack Flaherty. In the World Series, yeah. Like an edgy Pat McAfee, or what are we talking here? Yeah.

Pat McAfee certainly has a style. Yeah. But so Nylander, now Dr. J, you have to realize that William Nylander is not the first or the only. I mean, Jumbo Joe Thornton, I don't think ever wore a shirt. He was shirtless all the time. Also, essentially, Nylander is like a model. Yeah.

If you'd not be walking around shirtless, any chance, any opportunity you had, I would be humble. I would be humble. He's wearing a mubu. No, you wouldn't. What are you saying? I'm not like that right now?

You wouldn't be humble. Oh, okay. No, if you look like... You're ugly and you're be humble. Oh, okay. No, if you look like... You're ugly and you're not humble. Yeah, right. Two things not going for you. How old is Nylander? 25?

26? He's got to be older than that. Whatever. Hold on. What are you saying? He's right in his prime? Yeah, he's in his prime. He's 28.

If you were 28 years old and you were a dude and you were the king of the town in Toronto and you looked the way that he did and was cut the way that he was, you'd have your shirt off too. I'd have my shirt off pregame. Kind of uncomfortable. I'd walk around the streets of Toronto. I mean, that's why Joe Thornton always had his shirt off because he lived in San Jose.

He could have his shirt off all the time. I thought he had hot flashes. That too. At the end. At the end. At the end. Sir, this is an Arby's. Please put on your shirt.

Yeah, right? You look good, but please put on a shirt. Let's talk about other NHL stories not involved. William Nylander's rippling body. There were a bunch of games last night in the NHL. We kind of ran through a couple sort of offhandedly. We did mention that the Toronto Maple Leafs lost 5-1 to the st louis blues now the game was in toronto so it's bad to lose 5-1 at home and it's also bad to lose 5-1 to the team that fired

your head coach that of course is the st louis blues and that coach of course is now the coach of the maple leafs craig brube we've got a blues are off to a decent start five and three yeah they look all right and they they lost Robert Thomas. He, of course, the guitar, him and Santana, man,

it's a hot one. It's we have to make that joke. Can we play the audio from Craig Brube yesterday? Because it was a short clip. Most of Craig Brube's comments are to the media, very short and very curt, but this one, well, it followed along in that path,

discussing his team's play. Here's what Craig Bruy had to say about his Toronto Maple Leafs up to 5-1 loss to the St. Louis Blues. I think a lot of that in these last two games for me is our whole team's getting a little cute. And we've got

to play direct. And we don't need that kind of stuff. Gotta start putting some shirts on. Yeah, cute, like William Nylander. So my hot take that the Leafs could miss the playoffs this year was not looking good early on. I thought the Leafs looked pretty good. But now...

It's looking better now. Yeah, it's gained in the stock market, in the hot take stock market, because the Leafs are 4-4. That's not terrific. 500 hockey team. The Bruins are 4-4. That's not terrific. 500 hockey team. The Bruins are 3-4-1. And I think, to be fair to the Leafs,

the Bruins are the team that looks like they're in the biggest amount of trouble because I just don't – I look at that – frankly, I look at the lineup now and I'm like, meh. Like, yeah, you got some good players, but Marchand's getting older, man. He's not in his prime anymore. A couple things there. You know, like I just look at that. If Elias Lindholm is your number one center, you know,

I know that I guess it's an improvement on what they had last year, but I still think it's not ideal. And when they lost Bergeron and Crecce to retirement, it was always going to be really, really tough to replace those guys. And they looked at the free agency market and they said, okay, who's the best guy we can get? And it happened to be Lindholm, but we saw Lindholm play in Vancouver and I liked what he

brought as a third line center or maybe a second line center as it was but I don't think he is I don't think he's one C material certainly not if you want to be a cup contender the only thing I'd push back on that was is that they've done it without a one C before I mean who's the one C previous before that Charlie Coyle yeah and they had good years but I I'd say the the red flags are up for a variety of reasons. One, if here's the thing, if this is the drop off year for Marshawn,

cause it's going to happen eventually. Right. Not only does, you know, time catch up to everyone, but he's got a lot of miles on the odometer. He's played a lot of hockey. He's not young.

And if this is the year where the drop off happens, they're going to be in real trouble because not only was he an important contributor offensively, but he was sort of the last from the old guard that carried over a lot of that Bruins approach and mentality and culture. Like, the other guys have it, but Marchand's the last holdover from the glory years.

So if he goes in the tank... I think the drop-off already started a couple years ago yeah but he's still playing i mean right now the glaring thing with montgomery calling him out is that montgomery called out brad marshall like publicly yeah yeah anyway marshall was fine with it that was you know like but 36 years old i think it just i think it just probably says how bad his play might be right now that the coach has gone to those levels. Speaking of bad play, Jeremy Swayman, he was on the hook and the 5-2 loss to Dallas yesterday.

I mean, it's not surprising that a guy that missed all of training camp and all of the preseason is off to a slow start, but it just feels like Boston could ill afford to have that slow start. Freed was also talking about he feels like they got messed up when they played those first couple of early games against Florida and it really messed with their heads. But they're not great. The Jets are still undefeated.

7-0. The Jets are great. I watched that game last night. How was the game? They beat the Kraken 4-3 in overtime. So they had a 3-1 lead in the third period with 15 minutes left. They blew that two-goal lead and allowed the Kraken to push it to overtime. And then Nikolai Ehlers scored a goal that, oof,

it had the stink lines on it, like Unky Mo. Poor Joey Decor. Not a great effort in overtime. Not okay. Not okay. It just, I mean, Laddie, you saw it. He was fine throughout the game, but that goal. Not when it really mattered, which is a problem.

And the Flames finally lost in regulation. They lost 4-2 to the Carolina Hurricanes. Who we're going to see next week here in Vancouver. That's right. So we see Pittsburgh, Carolina, and New Jersey, right? Good run of teams. Yeah. And we're going to that New Jersey game.

Right, we are. So yeah, we'll get to see Pittsburgh after whatever happens tonight against Edmonton. And we didn't mention this prior to break, but there was some pretty significant news yesterday from the Pittsburgh Penguins. The Pittsburgh Penguins sent Tristan Jari, the local kid,

the goalie back to Pittsburgh so that he could get some individual work in, in hopes of breaking out of an early season. That's just mean he's coming home. So as you know, Tristan Jari is a local product and his parents run the, what did you describe it as? South Bodega, or South Delta's only bodega? That's what you described it as.

Jari Market? It's called Jari's Market. Jari's Market, yeah. It's a wonderful stop in Ladner, if you guys are in town. Yeah, you can check it out. There's a huge shrine to Tristan inside. I went to their Instagram page this morning. It seems like a lovely local market.

So, unfortunately, the heir to that market will not be here because he's back in Pittsburgh, which means that the goaltending duties now fall to Alex Nedeljkovic and a guy I know nothing about, Yoel Blomquist. Blomquist is a very bright future. So do you think he's going to get Blomquist?

Do you think he's going to get the start Saturday? He's been getting a good run of them. Because the Penguins, again, are going back-to-back. They play tonight in Edmonton. Do you throw him to the Wolves tonight against Edmonton? Well, the Canucks are wolfy. Not as wolfy. Decidedly. Who's more wolfy right now?

I think the Canucks on a back-to-back, the second of a back-to-back, that's more wolfy than the Oilers on a Friday night. So listen up. The Pens are on a three-game losing streak. They lost their last game at home against Carolina. They started their Western trip. They lost in Winnipeg.

They lost in Calgary. So now you've got, to finish off the trip, back-to-backs Friday night in Edmonton, Saturday night in Vancouver. You do pose an excellent question. Which is the wolfier of the two games? Okay, we're going to talk to AJ next, and then we'll talk about these Pittsburgh Penguins

with one of our favorite guests, Sean Gentile from The Athletic in Pittsburgh. That's all coming up in the next five or 10 minutes on the Halford and Brough Show on Sportsnet 650.