Halford & Brough in the Morning - Former Canucks Assistant GM Laurence Gilman

Episode Date: January 8, 2026

In hour two, Mike & Jason chat with former Canucks assistant GM and newly-minted Columbus Blue Jackets VP of Hockey Ops Laurence Gilman (1:24), plus the boys get a Seahawks update from ESPN's Brady Henderson (24:34). 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.

703 on a Thursday, happy Thursday, everybody, Halford, Brough, Sportsnet 650. Halford and Brough of the morning is brought to you by Sands and Associates. Learn how a consumer proposal to get you on the road to being debt-free in just two weeks visit them online at sands dash trustee.com

We're now in hour two of the program Lawrence Gilman former Vancouver Canucks assistant GM now the VP of HockeyOps for the Columbus Blue Jackets. It's going to join us in just a moment here to kick up hour two. Hour two of this program

is brought to by Jason hominock at Jason dot mortgage the most medal of all the mortgage brokers 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 them online at jason.morgage. We are coming to live from the Kintech studio,

make 2026 your year to move better and step stronger with Kintech custom orthotics. To the phone lines we go, our next guest, as mentioned, the newly minted VP of Hockey Ops for the Columbus Blue Jackets, longtime friend of the program, going all the way back to the curtain blog days.

It's Lawrence Gilman here on the Halford and Brough show on SportsNet 650. Morning, Lawrence, how are you? I got a kick out of that because I, If I'm not mistaken, and I don't think I'm mistaken, this is my inaugural interview or appearance on SportsNet 650. I was previously on the other team when the other team existed. But it is nice to, I know, it is nice to have an official interview

with the artist formerly known as the Curtin bloggers. How are you doing, Lawrence? You must be excited about this new gig. I am. I'm extremely excited. You know, when I made the decision that I was going to move on from the Toronto Maple Leafs, I felt that I wanted to take stock of my place in the cosmos as the expression goes. And I knew that I had at least one more run in me in this industry. And I felt it was

very important that at my advanced age, that I would go somewhere, that I would go somewhere that was a good fit, that would be a stable organization that didn't have a revolving door on its executive suite. And, you know, while the Columbus Blue Jackets haven't, you know, comparatively speaking, accomplished that much on the ice in terms of championships, they've been one of the more stable

organizations in the National Hockey League since their reception in 1997. Don Wendell's the fourth general manager in 25 years of the franchise and he's only in a second season. And the guy that I'm replacing who moved on, Josh Flynn, was there for 18 years. So

I am looking at this, It's a long-term fit, and I couldn't be more excited to become a member of the Blue Jackets. Well, we've had Don Waddell on the show a couple of times, and the one thing I will say about him is he's hilarious. He's really funny. And why don't you tell us a little bit about your relationship with Don? How long have you known him? And do you anticipate not only doing some good work for the Columbus Blue Jackets,

but having some laughs along the way? Well, there's an article actually written today in the Athletic by Aaron Portsline that goes through sort of the genealogy of our relationship. Don and I first came to meet each other in the late 90s when I was in the infancy of my career with the Winnipeg Jets 1.0, and Don was an assistant GM with the Detroit Red Wings. We didn't know each other very well at that time, but he obviously moved on to become the president general manager of the Atlanta Thrashers, and our paths began to cross more often as I was, you know, at that time, you know, became assistant GM for the Phoenix Cowdies at subsequent

from the Vancouver Canucks. And after I left the Canucks in 2015 and Ron Francis had, was no longer the general manager of the Carolina Hurricanes, Don contacted me and I traveled to Carolina and spent a very interesting 36 hours with him and Tom Dundon discussing their vacant general manager position. and they subsequently offered me a job, which was ultimately not the general manager position. And at that time, we could not reach agreement on suitable terms. And I passed.

But that began, you know, sort of semi-regular dialogue between Don and I over the years. And when he caught the job in Columbus, I congratulated him. And we had a conversation. I asked him, point blank, what are you planning? to do here and his initial response to me notes are not planning to do anything just yet I need to get to know the people that are here but in the event that we make changes I could very easily see someone with your skills skill set joining our group and you know essentially that that's what occurred when you're gonna get the job in buffalo and brought his long-time assistant general

manager Josh Flynn from Columbus to Buffalo that set the wheels in motion and like I said, I think it's a perfect fit for me. Don and I have a very good rapport. I think we see the hockey world the same way. And I think it's fair to say that we both, you know, look, this is a, it's a tough business and it's, uh, you have to make hard decisions, but you got to have a little fun along the way as well. And as I like to say, and I've said it often, this business isn't really about splitting atoms or quantum business. And, you know, you, you, you can and go about your business. It's like my time with the Vancouver Canucks

and Mike Gillis and Lauren Henning and Eric Crawford and Stan's Neil. We worked hard, but we have a lot of laughs along the way. And I expect that's going to be the case in Columbus with the inner circle, if you will, which is Don, Rick Nash, and Chris Clark, who's the director of player personnel.

And it's, I think it's going to be good. I think they're a team that is clearly on the rise I think it's fair to say that this season hasn't gone the way they've wanted it to. They have some things to tighten up, but they have a great young base of talent. They have some really good prospects in pipeline, and I think they're a team that's better years or ahead of it. We're speaking to Lawrence Gilman here on the Halford & Brough Show on Sportsnet 650. Lawrence, of course, the former assistant general manager of the Vancouver Canoxin, now the VP of Hockey Ops for the Columbus Blue Jackets. I read the Aaron Portsline article that you referenced there, Lawrence, and it mentioned,

in there that you're going to be responsible for doing some contract negotiations and the blue jackets have a bunch of those on the horizon and then Aaron points out that, you know, of all the markets in the NHL, there were at times some contentious historical negotiations. He named

checks guys like Sergey Bobrovsky and Ryan Johansson and Pierre Luke Dubois and Josh Anderson. You know, that particular market. Historically there's been some issues when it comes to negotiating. Is that still the cases that's still the viber on the market as you understand? Or has that changed a little bit as the Columbus Blue Dackets have grown as an organization?

Well, I have no idea, nor do I care, quite frankly. You know, that's in the past. All I can tell you guys, you people, is, you know, there's a track record of my body of work. And I think it's fair to say that I have a reputation as a hard bargainer, negotiator, but a fair one. And at the end of the day, you know, when you negotiate hockey contracts, in the National Hockey League, the American Hockey League or any league, for that matter, you're generally speaking, dealing with two parties that are trying to get a deal done. And, you know, my modus operandi has always been you can bake more with sugar than you can with vinegar.

And, you know, not every negotiation needs to be a win-lose proposition. And I don't anticipate there being any issues negotiating contracts going forward. If, in fact, these players want to stay in Columbus, you know, there's a marketplace that needs to be, adhered to, whether that's as a restricted free agent who might have the right to salary arbitration or not, as the case may be, or if it's an unrestricted free agent who has earned the right and the opportunity to go play wherever they want. And I don't see any tension on the horizon in any regard. And quite honestly, it's not something Don and I have even spoken about because I think it's implicit and it's understood between us. You know, it was funny, we've had Marty Walsh on the

program a couple of times, the NHLPA boss. And when we've talked to about negotiations, he kind of alluded to what you were saying, like people get this idea that they always have to be adversarial and it's X versus Y or A versus B, but he said that it's often not the case. I guess maybe because he came from a labor background where the negotiations were different. But with what you're talking about where, you know, sugar instead of vinegar, how do you go about achieving that tone or that mode in negotiations as opposed to it being super adversarial? Well, I think for its state begins with homework, quite honestly. You know, you need to be realistic when you begin the dialogue with the player's representative or whomever it is you're negotiating with.

And if you haven't done your homework, that's when you can have breakdown right off the hop because, you know, the expectations of the other side, you know, you might not know what they are. And you may be so far off base and that gets you off to a terrible start. So really, if you have an idea of what the market is and if you're sitting in this chair, you don't, there's no excuse. not to. So when it comes to, let's say, I don't want to take a particular player, but any player who's going to be an unrestricted free agent, they're looking at all the deals that are being done out there, and their agents are looking at deals that are being done out there. And this whole system is based on comparable contracts. And then, you know, other factors come into play. And, you know, to reference in my time in Vancouver, you know, we negotiate some contracts that

people referred to with a hometown discount. And I'd like to think that that was more a function of having an understanding with the players and articulating to them what our ultimate plan is, how we're trying to build a competitive team, and yes, they're entitled to go out and earn as much money as possible, but if they want to play on a competitive team, and in the case of Vancouver, Conoxone, it was an easy conversation because we would say, listen, the Appalachians are going to spend for the cap. So whatever it is, it's going to be spent. The question is how much of it gets allocated to you

and how much of it gets allocated to a player that's going to make you better or make this team better such that we have a greater chance to compete for the Stanley Cup? But that's how I think you need to come about this. And then players make decisions on a number of factors, not the least of which is do they enjoy the team, the organization, do they enjoy the city, are their wives and their families happy?

And do they think it's a good place for them to be for the next infinite period or finite period whether it's two years, three years, five years, or eight years, one of their cases. Lawrence, when you look back at the time in Vancouver, what was the key to building such a strong culture? Well, obviously, there were great pieces that were here when we got here. But I really think, I go back to one story that occurred, one event that occurred right off the hop.

And it was in our first training camp, we had two young players in Mason Raymond and Yannick Hansen, who clearly played well enough to make the team. And you had two other players that were veteran players and they were on one-way contracts, and they were Matt Pettenger and Jeff Cowan. And Mike Gillis and I sat down with Francesco Aquilini, and Mike explained that the players know who makes this team.

And if you really want to have a competitive culture, these two young players need to be on the team. And we need to put Cowan and Pettenger on waivers. And that means if they clear, you're going to eat, If I'm not mistaken, it was $1.8 million in salary for the Manitola-Muse. And to his credit, Francesco Aquilini didn't flinch. And he said, do it. You put those players on waivers.

And I believe that instance right there, established a culture that we made business. And we came here to run this thing in a manner that was going to be competitive and that the money didn't matter. What mattered was the competitive nature of the team in doing everything that we could in our power to win. And unfortunately, we came one game short of us. Yeah, but there were some good times along the way and some really big games that we all got to enjoy. Well, kind of enjoy. I don't know if I enjoyed some of those games, but, I mean, it was the peak of sports fandom for me in Vancouver.

I want to touch on the negotiations point that you made that, you know, all sorts of guys have different things that they're looking for. is there a wide swath of players in terms of like some guys I just want to be on a winning team and other guys are like I just want to make the most money is have you come across like a huge difference in players or are they more mostly the same no I have experienced both ends of the spectrum and without naming names I can tell you early on I'll tell you what I knew my Mike Gillis was going to be a really good general manager. In our first negotiating season, we were negotiating with a free agent who shall remain nameless.

And we were trying to get this guy to come to our organization. And the goal line kept moving. And it kept, you know, if you go to X, I'll come. And then he shot that offer to the next team. The agent came back and said, if you go to Y, we'll come. Finally, it got to the third time. And it was if you go to Z, we'll come. Mike Gillis convened everybody that was a stakeholder in our group around the room and said,

what do you think we should do? Should we sign this guy or not? And when it came to me in, I'll tell tales out of school, my line was, we've established that this guy's a whore. The only thing we haven't figured out yet is what's the price. And if that's how you want to run it, then go sign the guy. And I watched Mike Gillis look around that room, and he said, and I won't quote him directly because there was an expletive, but it was essentially, screw it. This is not what we're going to be about.

at the same time I mean I don't have to it's been discussed ad nauseum but Henrik and Daniel Cudin left millions of dollars on the table because they wanted to remain Vancouver Canucks and they wanted to stay within the organization and they wanted to play in

the city of Vancouver so there you go there's there's opposite ends of the spectrum of players you know deciding making decisions for every penny and guys making decisions for reasons other than money one other thing I wanted to touch on with you

is all the no movement clause and no trade clauses that we see in the NHL. When did that happen and how do you look at that when you're negotiating a contract? Well, let me go back again to my tenure with the Connects.

Of all the players that we had playing on that organization in that organization at that time, there were only two players that had full no movement causes. And they were brothers. And the reason that They had no movement clauses was because they were taking such a discount.

Like, you can't expect a player to take far less than fair market value without giving them some measure of assurance that they have control over their destiny. Now, that's a far cry from giving a player a no trade clause because the distinction, the most fundamental distinction between a no trade clause and a no movement clause is that you can always put a guy on waivers with a no trade clause. and whether that was Roberto Longo or Ryan Kessler, not that that was ever going to happen with either of those players, but that's a fundamental distinction.

And we were very judicious in our tenure there. And look, I haven't been sitting in the Cap guy's chair for a number of years. So it's easy for me to sit on, having sat on the sidelines, to cast aspersions or to have opinions. But I really do believe that teams have been far too, far too easy, so to speak, and liberal in giving out no movement and no trade clauses. And all it does is it shrinks your market. And at the end of the day, really, when a player has any kind of trade limitation on their contract,

you're turning a two-way transaction into a three-way transaction. Because when a player doesn't have any no-movement, no trade or no movement restrictions, you want to move them. It's a deal between a general manager and a general manager. Once you start adding trade restrictions, it becomes a three-way deal. and it's a general manager, general manager, and the player. And to the extent that the player has greater influence or less, depends on how strongly worded the no trade clause is.

Is it a complete no trade zero, or is it a 10-team, no-movement list, or is it a no-moving clause? But, you know, when I was doing work for the NHL involving the expansion draft from the Vegas-Colven nights, it was fascinating to see the machinations between the NHL the NHLPA or how do we deal with these no movement clauses and no trade clauses and everything in between because

some of them were ironclad. It's like clear this guy is not eligible to be claimed in the expansion draft but then the area became a little great with certain guys that had you know if it's 10 teams he can't move to or how does the you know where does an expansion draft fall in that category.

So it's interesting and it's clearly something that's evolved in this business and I'm certain that when I ultimately get down to Columbus in the next few days and we begin the process of negotiating, it'll be something that will be part of the discussion without question. Lawrence, this was great. Thank you very much for taking the time to do this. We really appreciate it. Best of luck with everything in Columbus. We know it's going to go extremely well for you. And thanks again for coming on. This was awesome.

Thanks, guys. And I look forward to my second game and I'm going to be in Columbus for it. We'll be against the Vancouver Connect. So I'll get to see some old faces and old friends. Looking forward to it. Enjoy it, Lawrence. Thank you. See you, Lawrence. Thanks, guys. Gilman, former assistant general manager of the Vancouver Canucks, currently in his second day on the, third day on the job, maybe,

is the VP of Hockey Ops for the Columbus Blue Jackets here on the Halford & Brough Show on Sportsnet, 650. A lot of no movement clauses and no trade clauses in Columbus. He's going to get in there. Those are all canceled. Lawrence can't do that. Yeah, that's illegal. Someone just texted in.

Holy crap, the knowledge. So a little bit of history. A little bit of backstory here. Lawrence reached out to us when we were, just lowly newspaper bloggers back at the province under our former name, the Curtin blog. And he actually started a dialogue with us because we used to point out that the Canucks were

sort of, I'll call it circumvention. But they were toying around with the CBA and LTIR. They were aggressive with the loopholes. Early in the day. You think all these teams that have done it recently, uh-uh. Lawrence Gilman was an innovator. Anyway, he reached out, he's like, please stop writing about it.

You're drawing attention to something. And so that started the dialogue with him, and we went back and forth. And every time that I needed something when I was writing for the athletic, for CBA, or when Vegas broke into the league, because as he mentioned, he worked very closely with George McPhee and Kelly McCriman and a bunch of other guys in Vegas. So he was always a great source of information. And part of it was, I think he understood the collective bargaining agreement better than anybody on the planet, better than the guys that wrote it. And I'm not joking. I'm not just putting this on for like radio talk. Like he is intimately familiar with the NHL's collective bargaining agreement to the point where he can recite stuff off the top of his head because he knows it inside and out.

And that's why. You've read it all right, too. I know all of it. I didn't want to ask. I'm like, did you ever think like, you know, know, like 20 years ago when we were all doing this, that fans would become intimately familiar with state income tax percentages. Because that's a big deal.

I don't know what they are in Ohio, by the way. I love this first time text are all caps, lots of exclamation marks. More Gilman. I mean, there's a reason that he's worked in a million places, and a lot of teams have used them as a consultant because he just, he knows a ton. Yeah. And he served in a multitude of roles. Like, if you go back to when he worked for the finance. Knicks slash Arizona Coyotes.

He did everything. He was the general manager of the HL team. He was the assistant GM. He negotiated contracts. He learned all the ins and outs of the business. Another texter asked, how hasn't he been a GM yet?

Like, how has that not happened? Yeah, I mean, I actually don't know. We probably could have asked him, but, I don't know. Seems kind of a mean question to ask. Yeah. Maybe he didn't want to. I don't know. Who knows?

Okay. Seems like a lot of work. I got a lot more to get into on the Halford of Rush Show on SportsNet 650. Coming up on the other side of the break, Brady Henderson's going to join us for a little NFL talk. I almost hit CFL talk. He's probably not going to do that.

The Seattle Seahawks will not play this weekend. That's because they're the number one seed in the NFC, and they don't have to mess around without wild card nonsense. They're going to buy right through this round, but we can look back on a pretty improbable season, I would say, given where our expectations were for the Seahawks going in. I don't think anybody, even those within the walls of the Seattle Seahawks headquarters.

expected them to win as many games as they did, be the first seat in the NFC. I can't believe. Get a first round by and be two wins away from the Super Bowl. Two home wins from the Super Bowl. It's wild. And we'll talk to Brady about that coming up on the other side. I will remind you that in five minutes time,

we're giving away a pair of tickets to the Vancouver Giants. The January 10th game, that's this weekend. That's Saturday night against the Wenatchee Wild. Caller number five at 7.30 this morning, 604-280-0-650. That number again, 604-280-0-6-50. Be caller number five at 7.30, and you will win a pair of tickets

to see the Giants take on the win-at-you-wild on Saturday. You're listening to the Halford & Brough show on SportsNet 650. It's Kinnuck Central on SportsNet 650. From exclusive interviews to insider scoops and post-game breakdowns, we've got it all.

Tune in weekdays 4 to 6 p.m. on radio and on-demand through your favorite podcast app. 7.32 on a Thursday. Happy Thursday, everybody, Halford Brough, Sportsnet 650. Halford Brub for the morning is brought to by Sands and Associates. Get out of the penalty box of debt and back into the game with a financial fresh start. Visit them online of sands. That's trustee.com. We're an hour two. the program with the midway point of the show, Brady Henderson, our Seahawks insider from ESPN

is going to join us in just a moment here. Our two of this program is bratsy by Jason hominock at Jason.morgage. The most medal of all the mortgage brokers. If you love paying too much for your mortgage, then don't let Jason shop around to find the perfect mortgage for you. Visit them online at at jason.morgage. Some NFL

talk on the horizon with Brady. Some NFL news right now according to sources of ESPN's Adam Schaefter. The Dolphins have fired headcoat. Mike McDaniel Now this is interesting because it comes later in the week

Lattee when he heard this news actually said Why'd they wait so long? Black Monday was three days ago. I do wonder if this has to do with John Harbaugh being released from the Baltimore Ravens organization because earlier in the week it sounded like McDaniel might have been safe

no longer. Again, according to ESPN's Adam Schefter, Mike McDaniel out as the head coach of the Miami Dolphins. So another job opens up we now turn our attention to the Seahawks. And Brady Henderson from ESPN joins us now on the Halford & Brough Show on Sports Night 650. Good morning, Brady. How are you?

Good morning, fellas. What's going on? I'm much happier to be covering a team into playoffs with a chance to go to a Super Bowl than I am covering a head coaching search. Those are not fun for various reasons. But yeah, glad to be glad to see the Seahawks with a chance to go to the Super Bowl. It's always fun to cover those. So here we are. Yeah, and we'll get there in a sec.

but I do want to ask about offensive coordinator Clint Kubiak because of all these job openings that are opening up around the National Football League. If I'm not mistaken, Kubiak is going to spend his bi-week interviewing. He's going to interview with the Las Vegas Raiders tomorrow. And I don't think it's a stretch to suggest that other teams might be calling as well. Is there any way the Seahawks can lock him up long term right now? Is there some NIL money around floating that they can keep him around?

Can they do anything to try and keep? Clint Kubiak in the building because I will admit and acknowledge he's that a very, very good job this year, especially in the wake of what Ryan Grubb maybe did or didn't do last year. I apologize there. You caught me mid-stees. We sure did. You know, I think that, I actually think that he's going to come back. And I think that for a couple of reasons. One, when you look at Clint Kubiak as a head coach candidate, he certainly has a lot of things going for him.

I mean, A, he's a young guy. He's coordinating one of the better offenses in the NFL. And he's got, you know, obviously he runs the West Coast system. So that's three things right there. He also has the pedigree. His dad was a head coach and won a Super Bowl in addition to, you know, winning a Super Bowl as a player. So he checks a lot of boxes.

The one thing that the one box he does not check is that he is a very low-key personality. and if you can imagine like the charisma that Sean McVey has and it can imagine how easy it would be for Sean McVey to walk into a room full of 70 players and immediately captivate them and command their attention that's a big question I have with Click Kubiak because he's just such a low-key kind of low-burn personality and I just don't know if he has that that type of charisma

The other thing, and this would be more along the lines of, like, I don't know if Kukubiak would jump at the first opportunity to coach, you know, to take the first head coaching opportunity that comes along is, if you look at his recent history, he has not been in the same place for more than a year since, I think, 2019 and 2020. So in the last four years, he said to move his family with his wife and kids, and I really believe that that was part of the holdup in. why it took as long as it did for the Seahawks to hire him because I had heard from the start of that OC search that he was their top guy and yet it wasn't for what three, four weeks that they were able to hire him. I think what happened was he didn't want to move his family

from New Orleans again and he was holding out trying to see if the Saints would keep their special teams coordinator or hire a defensive coach who would keep him as OC. It said they hired Kellyn Moore and usually when teams hire offensive-minded head coaches that guy finds his own offensive coordinator or he just does it himself. So I think

that was the hold-up. And so that leads me to believe that he is not going to jump at the first opportunity to become a head coach. It's really got to be the right situation for him and his family. And I also just don't know if his personality is really going to play super well in interview settings.

The other thing I should mention, last thing I'll mention about why what he does have the one for him is it's really not a strong pool of offensive coaches. And so if a team is dead set on hiring an office, of mind, he is probably going to be at the top of their list. So all that said, I still think it's more likely than not that he comes back. Well, it's good, because I'm enamored with the work that he did this year.

If you look at the collective body of it, despite some turnover issues, Sam Darnold still had a very productive season of quarterback. Jackson Smith and Jigba was fantastic. You know, befitting of that number one wide receiver spot and put up outrageous numbers this year. And then, as the year went along and right at the very end of it, the ground game finally started to click. And I know you wrote about this for ESPN, why the Seahawks run game is hitting its stride just in time for the playoffs. What were some of your findings and breaking it down how they got to the part where it was at 180-yard rushing performance in the season finale

against San Francisco? Yeah, that was really something what their run game did in that game, and that just kicked, you know, third and 17 with Ken Walker. It was all game from the opening drive. And, you know, I think that is, if you look at that just overall offensive performance, I mean, they scored 13 points, same number of points they scored in the first meeting against San Francisco. And yet one of those offensive performances was way better than the other. And, like, you know, that was a 13 point performance that probably should have been, you know, you probably add the two missed field goals and maybe at least a field goal or if on another touchdown from the one that they missed on that opening drive.

So that was a 13-point performance that was really, gosh, I don't know, more like 26 points or whatever it is. And it was a lot of it was the run game. And look, if they had only done that against that 49ers defense with everybody it's missing, it wouldn't be all that impressive, but this is three straight weeks now. And it's interesting that A, they've done it without their starting left tackle, Charles Cross, who was out for those three games, the turnaround all. kind of coincided with them, you know, with them moving on from their running backs coach.

And what was announced is a leave of absence. I'm not sure that's actually what it was. But yeah, the turnaround is really kind of started a week or so after that. And so whatever the real reason for it, it's going. And it did kind of seem like a matter of time before it was going to happen. When you just look at how committed to it they were all season and how proven of a running game that system is, you know, throughout the NFL, and the fact that they've got some talented backs and the fact that their offensive line was jelling. It did kind of feel like a matter of time before it started to pop, and it's definitely happening, and it's happening

just in time for the playoffs. How much will the biweek help the Seahawks from a health perspective? Yeah, certainly. You know, I actually think that from the sounds of it, they would have gotten Charles Cross and Kobe Bryant back for if they had to play in the wildcard round. I think they would have gotten those guys back just based on what Mike McDonnell and John Schneider said. But yeah, I mean, this gives them one more week to ramp up, which is always good. And, you know, that was a physical game against the 49ers. So I'm sure that there were some other, you know, bumps and bruises that came about from that game. And, you know, frankly, it had been so long since I'd covered a team that had a first round buy in the playoffs that

I couldn't remember how teams handled it. I didn't know if it was like a regular season by where they get those guys out of there on Tuesday and don't have them come back until Monday. But the Seahawks practiced yesterday, and they're going to practice again today before sending those guys home. And they actually practice outside in the rain yesterday, and it was not a nice day.

It was low 40s, windy, a bit of rain in Seattle. So it was a buy week, but it's not entirely an off week for the Seahawks. And I think Mike McDonald knows that, hey, when you get a first round by, and home field advantage, you're going to be playing in Seattle for at least two games, or for at least one game, and ideally two, and you're playing in Seattle in January, there's a good chance you're going to be playing in the rain.

So they've gotten quite a bit of work this season. You know, they got the indoor practice facility for when days are really bad, and they move inside, but they've actually stayed outside a couple of times knowing that this is the type of weather you're going to get this time of the year if you're playing at home. On the subject of Charles Cross, it's not often that, you know, offensive linemen contracts catch my eye. but four years, 104.4 million, 75 guaranteed the highest paid non-quarterback in Seattle Seahawks franchise history. It's a massive deal. I think it's a statement deal to a lot, to a certain degree.

I think it has to maybe say like one, they spent the high draft capital on them and he's panned out. But two, now that you've also got, you know, two years later, three years later, sorry, Gray Zabel, they've got a premier elite offensive line with those two guys. guys in it. They do. Yeah, and Abe Lucas. Yes. I mean, Abe Lucas might be better than Charles Cross.

That's the weird part about this. And it just kind of goes to show the different market for right tackle versus left tackle. But they have the makings of a good offensive line. And I think, you know, that deal, you're right, it is the biggest deal for a non-quarterback in franchise history. I don't think that is as big of a deal as what Charles Cross's side was thinking, you know, six months ago. I think they were thinking

$30 million would be the starting point. And, you know, Charles Cross has, he had a good year. I wouldn't say he's had a great year. I would I think it's fair to say that he has Pro Bowl, all pro type talent and he's been a good, probably above

average left tackle. And the Seahawks are waiting for him to take that next step. But he's also, again, he's got all that talent. He's only 25 years old. He's a really good program guy, like very bought in, very just kind of intentional with how he works and just a guy that they really like having in the building. And I think that's, the deal reflects that is

that, yeah, is he the best left, is he a top three left tackle in football right now? Probably not, but he's got room to grow into that. And in the meantime, you know what you're going to get from the individual and the worker. And I think all of that is reflected in the deal. What has the coaching staff said about turnovers and how? the Seahawks can cut them down. Have they zeroed in on a reason why there have been so many turnovers? It's not really one thing,

and I've just gone back and looked at a bunch of them and looked at the 20 that Darnold has had. And, you know, I would say in the first Rams game, a lot of that was pressure, right? Where he was, you know, thrown off his back foot, trying to get rid of the ball before a rusher, with a rusher in his face, and then really in that second Rams game it was he just didn't see like guys made good plays and they kind of fooled him and so there's not really one consistent theme I think I think the one consistent theme would be that this is just kind of Darnold's nature and he's got that gunslinger in him and I think he's had to kind of tamp that down from his days in with the jets and I think this is kind of something that you know quarterbacks with a lot of talent deal with is that

they get away with things in high school and college because there's just such a big talent gap between them and everybody else. And maybe their guys they're throwing to and everybody else. And I think he's done a pretty good job of kind of tamping that down throughout his career, but it's still there. And it comes out every time. And guys, I think, just kind of fall in love with their ability to make plays. And, you know, it's kind of like on the golf course where, you know, you shouldn't go for that green and two, but you're like, man, I could do this. I know I, I know I should. but I can do it. And sometimes you get away with it.

Sometimes you don't. So I think Donald played that game on Saturday night. I know the numbers weren't crazy, but he played the exact kind of game that he needed to play. And yeah, he missed Zach Sharbon 8, or he just didn't pull the trigger on that opening drive. Should have been a touchdown. But I thought he played the exact kind of game he needed to play,

knowing that your defense and your run game are going to be good enough to where you don't have to be the hero. You don't have to force that ball into a tight win. window to try to make a play. And I think that's what Sam Donald is going to need to do. So it's not like every week he's out there and the turnovers come because he just can't read defenses. I think maybe with the Rams, there is some truth to like they have fooled him a few times.

By and large, a lot of those are, he's just a little more aggressive than he needs to be. But that game Saturday night was a pretty good example of when he knows that he doesn't need to be the hero, he can play some pretty good football. Brady, is it weak of me to admit that I'm still scared of the Rams and that this weekend I will be cheering for either Carolina to upset the Rams at home or for Green Bay to upset Chicago or for San Francisco to upset Philadelphia because I don't really want Seattle to be hosting the Rams

the following week. I don't think it's weak of you. I think it's very reasonable of you. I think that is a very fair-minded thing. I mean, look, those teams are very evenly matched, and you saw both of those games could have gone the other way. It's interesting. In both of those games, you could say, like, the head coach lost the battle but won the war. Like, in the first game, the Seahawks, I wouldn't say Mike McDonald's got the better, his defense got the better of Sean McVeigh, you know, containing that offense the way that they did.

And in the second game, Sean McVeigh's offense got the better of Mike McDonald's defense and the Seahawks won. So I think that they are the only true threat in the NFC with stopping the Seahawks and making the Super Bowl. So I don't think they're going to play them in the first round. They could, but I kind of think that Green Bay is going to go into Chicago and win that game. And because Green Bay is the Seventh seed, that would be the Seahawks playing the Packers in the divisional round.

I think there's a good chance to Seahawks see the Rams in the championship game. And I think they have a better chance of beating them. I mean, they could beat them in the divisional round. but I think they would have a better chance of beating the Rams in the championship game because the Rams would have had to go on the road first to Carolina would have had to go back to the West Coast and then back to the East Coast probably to Philadelphia.

And so now you're instead of playing a Rams team off of one road game, you're playing them off of two road games, probably would be a very physical game in the divisional round against Philly. So if you're going to play, the Rams, you wanted to be in the championship game and not in the division around, but I think there's a good chance that that's

how it shakes out. What's the most impressive thing about head coach Mike McDonald? The most impressive thing about Mike McDonald, well, I mean, I'll just start with the scheme. I mean, that is when head coach, when like teams hire head coaches,

that's the one given, right? You don't really know the kind of personality that you're bringing in. You can try to get a good feel for it in a Zoom interview and then an in-person interview, but that's your taking a big leap of faith there. The scheme is the one thing that you really can count on because it's on tape for 17 games or whatever it is.

And I just think, like, he has brought in this scheme that is, you're seeing how tight of a scheme it is and how, like, just how good it is and how much of an advantage it gives the Seahawks. And that was really something that for as many years as Pete Carroll was there, like, towards the later years, he just was not giving them any sort of advantage with that defense or he wasn't hiring good coaches on the offensive side of the ball that gave them a scheme advantage on offense. And so, you know, we were just reminiscing with talking to Julian Love and we were talking about that 2000-23 game where the Seahawks went into Baltimore

and the Mike McDonald's defense just put a whooping on them. And so now you're talking about a guy who has coordinated the NFL's best defense in three of the last four seasons. So, that's the kind of that's why you that's why you make a change of head coach as you hire as you bring in a guy who gives you a scheme advantage and i think with mcdonald he has grown into the leadership part of it and you know he is i meant talked about like the dynamic personalities and the spectrum of that and if you know clikubiak and sean macbain are on opposite ends of that i think of that i think he's i think he's i think he's really grown into that leadership role in i think a season and guys will tell you about how much they'd like playing for him, and they like, they'll tell you about how much they appreciate the accountability he shows. You know, Mike McDonald will get on those guys, and the way that that resonates is because, you know, you can't do that. You can't just be pointing the finger all the time and telling guys that they screwed up. What you've got to do to make those guys respect you and listen to you is you also got to point out when you screw up. And that accountability

goes a long way with them, and he's shown that. And so the scheme, I think the Seacocks knew what they were getting the leader and the ability to just lead 70 guys. I think that has really shown up in year two as well. Brady, this was great, bud. Thanks for taking the time to do. We appreciate it. Enjoy the bye week and watching all the wildcard teams.

We'll do this again next Thursday when we know the Seahawks opponent. Sounds good, fellas. Thanks for having me. We'll talk to you then. Yeah, thanks for coming on. That's Brady Henderson. Our Seahawks Insider from ESPN here on the Halford & Brough show on Sportsnet, 650. Can I just take a few minutes to plug Feed the Kids 5050.C.A.

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Get your tickets now at Feed the Kids5050.ca or text feed to 650-650 to get a direct link sent to your phone. Adog often text restaurants and you just text feed. Feed. And then they send them food. And a trough. So text feed to 650, 650 for the link, or just go to Feed the Kids 5050.com. This is presented by Kintech footwear and orthotics, stop foot pain, and step into comfort with Kintech today. So please help out the Greater Vancouver Food Bank if you can.

Okay, got a few things to do before we go to break here. One, I need to remind you that at 8 a.m., so in 7 minutes and 30 seconds, We're going to be giving away a pair of tickets to see Chris Stapleton's All-American Road Show tour, July 22nd this summer, 2026, Rogers Arena. Caller number five at 8 a.m. this morning is going to win a pair of tickets to see the Chris Stapleton show this summer. 604-280650 is the number. Don't call until 8 a.m. 604-280-0-650. Also, I need to remind you that this segment of the show was brought to you by JanPro. From the boardroom to the break room and everywhere in between,

JanPro keeps workplaces tidy, clean and disinfected for a free quote. Visit them online at janpro.ca. Final hour of the program is coming up. Thomas Dranx from the Athletic Vancouver and Canucks Talk is going to join us at 8. Of course, the Canucks are back in action tonight. 4 o'clock puck drop from Detroit, pregame, post game, and the actual game all right here on Sportsnet 650. Dranser will join us to preview tonight's game. We'll look ahead to the rest of this road trip.

We'll talk about anything we want to talk about as it pertains. to the Vancouver Canucks. After Drance, we're going to do what we learns. Get yours in now. Dunbar Lumber text message in basket is 650, 650. What did you learn over the last 24 hours in sports? Let us know. It's your chance to be on the radio.

We may or may not do some what we learns. I actually do have one about Tristan Blackman and the Vancouver whitecaps and those idiots from Inter Miami. I'll get into all that later. But at 8.30, we're going to do what we learned. So get yours in. Dunbar Lumber Textline is 650, 650, hashtag. it W-WL.

That's the final hour of the program and it's coming up next. You're listening to the Halford & Brough Show on SportsNet 650. A dog also often text restaurants and you just text

feed. Feed. And then they send him food. And a trough. If you really wanted us to be needer, you'd serve us out of one long goal. You're talking about a trough.

We're not going to eat from a trough.