Halford & Brough in the Morning - It's A Sad Club Showdown

Episode Date: November 29, 2024

In hour two, Mike & Jason chat with WGR Sports Radio 550 Sabres reporter Paul Hamilton (5:30) ahead of today's Canucks road matchup versus the Sabres, plus they talk a little CFL & NFL with radio commentator Bob "The Moj" Marjanovich (27:44). 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.

701 on a Fiesta Friday here on the Halford and Brough show on Sportsnet 650 Halford and Brough of the morning is brought to you by... Those horns really kicked in there. Vancouver Honda. Vancouver's premier destination for Honda customers. They have a friendly, knowledgeable staff

that can help with anything you're looking for. Sales, financing, service, or parts. We are in hour two of the program. Hour dos. Hour two is brought to you by Jason Hominuk from Jason.Mortgage. If you love giving the banks more of your money, then don't let Jason shop around to find the perfect mortgage for you.

Just kidding. Let him do exactly that. Visit him at Jason.Mortgage on the internet. Done? Los internete. If Fiesta Friday doesn't get you going, nothing will. Try to read over those horns. It's amazing.

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See. To the phone lines we go. AJ from AJ's Pizza on East Broadway joins us now on the Halford & Brough Show on Sportsnet 650. What up, AJ? What is going on? So I was the opposite when Brady Henderson said he took it easy yesterday. I did not. Oh, okay.

So I want to know. Again, my apologies for not showing up. All good. How was AJ's yesterday for American Thanksgiving? It was great. You know, it's funny. I showed up at like 8.30 or 8.40, I guess. And like, you know where we are, right by that bus stop?

Yep. And I was like, oh, I guess those 12 people were just waiting for the bus. No, they were waiting to get in. Oh, that's amazing. Oh, Lions fans. Oh, my God. How terrible was that? I know you guys have been lamenting on it all.

That was the worst. It is a fireable offense. Like I was saying earlier, there are only a handful of in-game decisions where you're like, that has to cost that guy's job. And that's one of them. I think it adds to it that it was on national TV and everyone was watching it on a Thanksgiving too. I think that's the type of thing where you as an organization are embarrassed

and your fans want someone's head on a platter and that Eber Flus' head is as good as anyone's. And the fact that he came out and tried to defend it, it's like just sometimes own it. Yes. I froze. Yeah, just say just say like listen it wasn't ideal that the clock ran out on and we were we were pretty close to a field goal and we had a timeout left in hindsight that wasn't great instead of you know what i liked what we did there. Right. Exactly. Exactly.

No, it was brutal. And then the fact that the Cowboys keep winning is killing me. Yeah. It just loods already. Like, enough. Enough. I do love the, hey, we still got a shot here. And everyone's like, I don't know about that. But regardless.

Okay. So after yesterday's day of decadence, we can get right back at it today at AJ's Pizza on East Broadway. Right. Because it is a Canucks game day. And I know day because puck drop is at noon. So that means you guys got beer specials on. Right.

We do have beer specials. $6 pints. And also you got another football game. You got the Chiefs. Yeah, we got the Black Friday football game as well. It should be a good day. 14 hockey games. It's going to be great.

Yeah, everyone stop by today. 325 East Broadway. AJ's Pizza on East Broadway. Go say hi to AJ. You get after it today as well, buddy. Please do it for me, okay? Do it for me. I'll do it for you guys.

All right. Everybody have a great weekend. Yeah, you too. Thanks, bud. That's AJ from AJ's Pizza on East Broadway. A reminder, we're giving away a $100 gift card to AJ's Pizza on East Broadway. Do the best. Ask us anything or what we learned.

Get them in. Dunbar Lumber text line is 650-650. Hashtag it AUA. Hashtag it WWL. Importantly, put a pizza emoji into your text to be entered into the grand prize contest. Do we have Paul on the line? No. Andy's working on that one. Paul Hamilton from

WGR 550 Sports Radio in Buffalo is going to join us in just a moment here. It's a sad club matchup, man. It is. Expansion brethren. Sad club brethren. The Buffalo Sabres. The only two official in just a moment here. It's a sad club matchup, man. It is. Expansion Brethren, sad club Brethren, the Buffalo Sabres. The only two official members of the sad club.

By the way, while we're waiting for Paul, a few people texted in asking if the Detroit Lions are in the sad club. And in fact, they are not. No. They haven't won a Super Bowl,

but they've won an NFL title. And as commissioner, I sometimes have to make some tough calls. So if you'd won an NFL title before the Super Bowl era, I say that you're not part of it. It's kind of like the Leafs won a bunch of Stanley Cups in the original six era, and they're not in the sad club. That's mostly because I don't want them in my club. Yeah. The NFL can get confusing i don't recognize afl champions correct so the buffalo

bills are in the sad club and i can't and with nba it gets even more confusing because there was aba championships yeah i don't recognize those so i don't think you recognize those either it's all very confusing let's just stick to what we know, and that is hockey. The Vancouver Canucks are in Buffalo today. A reminder, puck drop, noon our time, 3 o'clock Eastern. Let's go East now. We are joined on the line by Paul Hamilton here on the Halford & Brough Show on Sportsnet 650. Morning, Paul. How are you?

I'm well. How are you guys doing? We're good. Thanks for taking the time to do this today. We appreciate it. So we will talk about today's game, absolutely. But this is also our sort of first look at Buffalo, a team that we've talked a little bit about this season but haven't really dived too deep into yet. So before we get into the ins and outs of today's game,

can you give us kind of a broad overview, Paul, of what the story of the Buffalo Sabres season has been now that we're up on the quarter mark of the NHL season? Well, it's been, you know, Lindy Ruff coming in and, you know, changing the way things are done here in Buffalo. And, you know, first of all, you know, changing the way things, the way they practice and, you know, it practices hard. And if he sees something that he doesn't like, it's addressed immediately. It's done over. And there have been a couple of times they've come off the ice,

and we as the media are waiting to go in the room, and they ask for like 15 minutes because they're like dead tired. They're like almost crawling into the locker room. And they're saying, can we have like 15 minutes before you guys come and and uh you know so it's it's it's accountability it's guys if you don't play the way he wants you to play you're going to be sitting up there and watching the game with us and he's done that have they developed an identity under lindy ruff what would you say, what do they do well? They defend much better.

And he told them from day one, that's non-negotiable. That we are, you know, there's going to be a different way that we play. You're going to be better in the defensive zone. You're going to defend. And if you defend well the way we want you to, you are going to get offensive chances because you're going to have the puck more. Because you're going to get the puck, you're going to get into transition fast, you're going to get up ice, and you're going to have the puck more

where you can score goals and do those types of things. They are much better at that. It just took them a while to get used to what Lindy Ruff wanted and to make those changes. I mean, they went the first seven games, I believe, without a power play goal. They were the last team in the league to score a power play goal. Now, you know, in the last, well, 10 games where they've gone 7-3,

they're fourth in the league on the power play. One of the reasons they are 10-3, because their special teams went from, I think it was around 27th, 29th early in the season. And in that 10-game stretch now that I talk about, they're number one in the penalty kill and number four in the power play because they've improved both to the point where it's weapons for them now instead of when are you ever going to score a power play goal this is horrible you guys can't even enter the zone

and they couldn't they'd spend two minutes just trying to enter the zone uh and uh so it's it's been a wake-up call for a lot of these guys but something that they've welcomed anytime. Anytime a new coach comes in, there's players that do well under the new coach, and then there's some that don't. So let's start with the positives here. Which players have thrived under the second Lindy Ruff regime? Well, Tate Thompson, before he got hurt and missed five games, he scored his 11th goal, which at the time was number one in the NHL. So he seemed to really get back to what he was doing when he scored 47 goals a couple

of years ago. J.J. Paterka is another one who is on a pace to score 30 goals. And as a young player, it's really seeming like he's got it and kind of blossomed and really moved forward the defense for the most part. Bo Byram the other night played 32 minutes. You know, he got – when he was first traded here with Buffalo, to Buffalo, he played pretty well, and then he got lost. He just didn't seem like he was catching on to things,

and he didn't look that good. And now he's paired with Rasmus Darlene in the last X amount of games, and he's really looked good. I mean, they're getting offense from their defense now. It used to be, well, yeah, you'd get points out of Darlene, but nobody else. But, you know, Owen Power was like second in the league in even strength points. Bo Byram was third. Makar was number one.

So they had like number two and number three, and neither one of those guys are named Darlene. So they're getting some offense out of their defense, which is also helping them, helping some of their guys to score goals who maybe, you know, a couple years ago, yeah, they had career years, and then we haven't seen really them put the puck in the net again until this year. And now the flip side of the conversation,

who hasn't thrived as much with Ruff behind the bench? Darlene, he's probably the only player I could say that misses Don Granato. Don Granato coddled him, and he really played well with that. It was almost like my coach has my back, you know, and he wasn't doing well. It was probably three seasons ago, and he just, if Darlene played poorly, you heard Renato made it sound like he was the best defenseman that ever lived.

And it really turned him around to a point where he was starting to become maybe an elite defenseman, which he hadn't really done, you know, since he had been drafted. This year, he, as captain, he takes the most ridiculously stupid penalties. He gets, I think what happens is, is he gets so upset that they're not winning when they weren't winning before this 10 game streak went um then he starts getting goofy and he starts he loses his head he'll take dumb penalties he runs hot uh he'll he'll try to do everything himself and it just turns into a complete disaster for him uh offensively it's starting to come back for him. Defensively, I mean, the other night,

they had a really good game against the Minnesota Wild. They lost one to nothing. They had 87 shot attempts, so they got goalied by Gustafson. But the only goal of the game was thanks to their captain, Larrasmus Darlene, who has three guys going to the net. He comes down low. They're all around the goal line, and he tries to force a puck to the net. The Wilds see what he's going to do. They pick off the puck, and down they come four on one. They score the only goal of the game on a four on one because the Sabres have four guys standing down at the goal line

with him giving the puck away, and it's the only goal of the game. And it's just like, that's your captain. What are you doing? And I can't tell you how many times I sit up there watching going, what are you doing? Why are you sitting in the penalty box after you just took the momentum of the game and scored a goal? And 20 seconds later, you get mad at somebody and you throw an elbow at them,

and now you're sitting in the penalty box, and yeah, they scored on the power play. And it's just mind-boggling some of the things he does. But a lot of it is maybe because he cares too much. He thinks he has to take over the game, and then he gets himself into jackpots. The Sabres overall, though, despite losing that game in Minnesota, have been playing pretty well lately. What do you make of all the trade rumors that we're hearing from various insiders? Based on the speculation, and I don't know if this is true, but based on the speculation i don't know if this is true but based on the

speculation it sounds like the sabers could make a big trade at some point this season well it's a trade they've been trying to make for two years now trying to get a top six forward you know to to go with this group and you know kevin adams hasn't been able to pull it off yet it looked like maybe he was going to be able to use his number one pick at the draft this year to get a a guy you know that all these guys were rumored to be on the market well nate just never got traded ehlers never got traded um and he wound up just making the pick instead of trading the pick. A lot of teams were rumored to trade the pick, and nobody did. All of a sudden, these guys didn't get traded,

and they wound up staying with their clubs. So he's still trying to find that top six forward to try to mesh with this group, because it's something they could really use. They did a great job of making over their bottom six. Lafferty, a guy you guys are very familiar with, is a guy they brought in. And it made them a better team. The Sabres would get pushed around and thrown around all the time,

and there would be no pushback. That doesn't happen anymore with Lafferty and Malenstein and Obey Cabell and Dennis Gilbert and they they just they made themselves a lot harder to play against they brought in a guy like Zucker who's been really good for them uh you know yeah he's 32 years old but you know when they finally broke through on the power play, it's because he was the guy in front of the net tipping the pucks and going to the net and making life miserable there. And he's showing some of these youngsters the way to go, and he's almost been a breath of fresh air for them.

He's been a very good acquisition for them, but they still feel they need a guy to be able to put in their top six if they want to become a playoff team, become a team that is going to be much better. So that's really what Kevin Adams has been looking for for the better part of three years now, and it hasn't been able to secure. What's the fan reaction been to the Sabres' improved play over the last little while? Are there still empty seats at games? Are most fans in Buffalo kind of focused on the Bills at this point? Or are people noticing that the Sabres have been playing some pretty good hockey lately? There can be some empty seats. With 13 years of no playoffs, it can get a little salty around here, especially last year. The booing was just, they would make their first bad nothing at the end of the first period

and they get booed off the ice. And it bothered them. They basically declared war on their fans. It was just like, you know, this is ridiculous. I mean, it was just like they were on them constantly because they were frustrated that, you know what, we haven't made the playoffs in 13 years and this doesn't look any better than what we've seen in any other year.

And it kind of started off that way a little bit this year, but now they're cautiously optimistic. They're cautiously coming back and maybe watching the games and seeing the games. There can be some games that they play, it's kind of empty in there. There's others, like the Minnesota game, which was sold out, and the fans were really into it. Even though Buffalo didn't score a goal, they played really well. I mean, if the Sabres play like the way they did against the Wild,

they'll win most nights. They had 87 shot attempts. I mean, and they were, you know, they made that goaltender, Gustafson, make some really good saves. It wasn't like they played poorly, and they were, you know, they made that goaltender, Gustafson, make some really good saves. It wasn't like they played poorly. And it was an exciting game to watch. If you went and watched that game, you were entertained, even though it was a one-to-nothing game. So, you know, the fans are slowly optimistic.

They don't want to get too excited because it's like, yeah, we've seen this before. You know, and then we've had our hearts ripped out. This is a football town, too. When the Bills are playing, you don't get quite as many people down at the arena. But when they used

to have good teams with Danny Breer and Chris Drury and Ryan Miller, they'd get people down here during football season. I mean, it is a hockey town. It used to be a hockey town, but it just got so toxic around here because not only did you not make the playoffs, but you're usually drafted first, second, fourth.

I mean, you're just right at the bottom of the standings. And they just finally kind of revolted and got tired of it. It is funny how teams develop a bit of a siege mentality when the fans turn on them. We saw that certainly in Vancouver. I know it's happened before in Toronto years ago before the Leafs were the team that they are now, which is still not a successful playoff team,

but a good regular season team. It does get toxic because the fans develop almost a disdain for the team. And then the players on the team develop a disdain for the fans because they're doing their best, they're trying hard, and it feels like nothing they can do can please the fans which is which is true and it's i guess i mean you tell me is it's hard to get out of that isn't it it is and you know kevin adams said when he first started here and you know he said it

before recently it's like it's our job to win our fans back. He goes, you know, we have to win them back. You know, we have to do well. We have to make the playoffs. I mean, Lindy Ruff came in and said, the time is now. The time for developing prospects, we've developed our prospects. We're past that now. The time is now. We have to start winning our fans back We're past that now. The time is now.

We have to start winning our fans back and winning hockey games now. And that's the attitude that he's tried to pass on to these guys and also to pass on to these guys, you're quite capable of doing it. If you want to do it, you're quite capable of doing it. And the players have, you know, really welcomed this type of attitude. They've welcomed the accountability that Lindy Ruff brings, and they also have welcomed that they've got to hold themselves accountable. It can't just be Lindy Ruff standing there screaming at them all the time.

You know, Rasmus Darlene or Tate Thompson or Alex Tuck have to get up and get into some people's faces if they have to and tell them, this isn't good enough. You have to play better. And this is how you can play better. You have to practice better. It can't just be Lindy Rustin and they're screaming at them. And that's, you know, some of the changes that, you know,

they're making inside the room that right now look to be. I can tell you at Thanksgiving time, because you know a lot of the teams that are in the playoffs at thanksgiving time are the ones that make the playoffs and usually what we've been talking about is well there's seven points out of the playoffs but they got six teams to leap over to get there it's not like they're in ninth place and seven points and they only only got to catch one team. Well, all six teams aren't going to go in the tank for you. Now, they're one point out of the playoffs. They've actually been in a playoff spot in and out

for maybe the past week or two, and that's not usually what we're looking at in Thanksgiving. We're usually already saying, well, it's happening again. Here they go. They're on a six-game losing streak, and they're getting further behind, and usually it's basically not mathematically over, but over by American Thanksgiving. But now, I mean, they're two points out of third place in the division.

They're one point out of third place in the division. They're one point out of a wild card spot and two points out of the other wild card spot with a game in hand on one and two games in hand on the Boston Bruins to try to catch them. So they're right there now, which is something very different, not only for these players, but for these fans. Paul, real quick, before we let you go, Ukapeka Lukanen's played pretty well lately.

The numbers are very good. Are you anticipating that he'll be in net today when they take on the Canucks? Absolutely, yeah. I think there's no question. The reason in the last two years he's really come on and become a number one goaltender is he plays a lot. And when he doesn't play a lot, he's not very good.

So they, last year down the stretch, he played more than any other goaltender. He got 54 games in, and he plays most of the time now, and he really, really, he has eight starts around the Montreal start. The Montreal start wasn't good. He shouldn't have played. He got hurt in practice, but he kind of said, oh, I can go, and got pulled. If you take that out of there, he has a 953

save percentage in his last eight starts. He's just been lights out for them. Paul, this was great, man. Thank you very much for taking the time to do this. We really appreciate it. Enjoy the game today. I'm sure we'll be doing this again later in the year. Thanks. Looking forward to it. Take care. You too. Thanks. That's Paul Hamilton,

Buffalo Sabres, beat reporter from WGR 550 in Buffalo here on the Halford & Brough Show on Sportsnet 650. I did not know that Bowen Byram had a game where he played 32 minutes, but I guess they've got that three-headed monster on the back end. I don't know what their bottom three defensemen do, just sit around on the bench and, I don't know,

look at their iPads, but Byram, Power, and Darlene, all very high draft packs. In fact, two of them are first overall. So, you'd expect them to be impactful. The other three guys are Henry, Yoki, Haru. One of the best names

in the NHL. Some tough names on that Sabres team. Yeah. Jacob Bryson and Connor Clifton. Well, one of them's hurt, right? Samuelson? Samuelson is injured. He was all, here's the thing. All the sabers are involved in trade

rumblings because Samuelson was too because he was healthy scratched earlier in the year when Lindy Ruff was preaching accountability. Yeah.

It's like Samuelson, you're not playing well enough. And he's like, I'm injured. They got cap space though. I wonder if they're

going to make a big, big move at some point this season if they're within the playoff bar ahead of the trade deadline. The injuries right now are Tage Thompson, Matias Samuelsson, and Jordan

Greenway. Remember him? I forgot about him, Jordan Greenway. So Tage Thompson is out? I think he came back in last game, but he's banged up. Okay. Yeah. You get to see... I think it's going to be a tough game for the Canucks today. I think so. back in last game, but he's banged up. Okay. Yeah. You get to see... I think it's going to be a tough game for the Canucks today. I think so. Not just because of the situation that the Canucks are in.

I think the Sabres are playing some good hockey, and you never know with a team like the Sabres, but I think it's going to be a tough one for Vancouver. It's a weird start time game. There's always going to be a tough one. Sunday's even worse. Andy, are you excited to see your favorite player, Zach Benson, play today? Yes.

Do you know what Zach Benson's done this year? Several hat tricks. He has three goals and four points in 16 games. Nice. It's been tough for him. He's just rooting for the Chilliwack kid. What's wrong with that? It wasn't that.

He was all upset because they took Benson over Willander. I wasn't upset. You were upset. Andy doesn't get upset. He was all upset because they took Benson over Willander. I wasn't upset. You were upset. And he doesn't get upset. He was upset. He cried. Moj is going to join us next. And if we've got time after Moj, we'll dip into the Dunbar-Lumber text line

and do some Ask Us Anythings because it is Ask Us Anything Friday on the Halford and Brough Show on Sportsnet 650. Hey, it's Jamie Dodd. And Thomas Drance. Get your daily dose of Canucks talk with us weekdays from 12 to 2 on Sportsnet 650. Hey, it's Jamie Dodd and Thomas Drance. Get your daily dose of Canucks talk with us weekdays from 12 to 2 on Sportsnet 650. Or catch up on demand through your favorite podcast app. It's the Moj. I did not eat four burgers.

Yes, it's the Moj. I don't want to go to Winnipeg. Nobody wants to go to Winnipeg. Yes, I love food. It's the Moj. I went online and kind of did a little surfing. It. Yes, I love food. It's the Moj. I went online and kind of did a little surfing. Yes, it's the Moj.

Halpert's fine, but you know, Brough is just grumpy all the time. Moj, Moj, Moj, Moj, Moj, Moj, Moj, Moj, Moj, Moj, Moj, Moj, Moj, Moj, Moj, Moj, Moj, Moj, Moj, Moj, Moj, Moach, Moach, Moach, Moach, Moach, Moach, Moach, Moach, Moach, Moach, Moach, Moach, Moach, Moach, Moach, Moach, Moach, Moach, Moach, Moach, Moach, Moach, Moach, Moach, Moach, Moach, Moach, Moach, Moach, Moach, Moach, Moach, Moach, Moach, Moach, Moach, Moach, Moach, Moach, Moach, Moach, Moach, Moach, Moach, Moach, Moach, Moach, Moach, Moach, Moach, Moach, Moach, Moach, Moach, Moach, Moach, Moach, Moach, Moach, Moach, Moach, Moach, Moach, Moach, Moach, Moach, Moach, Moach, Moach, Moach, Moach, Moach, Moach, Moach, Moach, Moach, Moach, Moach, Moach, Moach, Moach, Moach, Moach, Moach, Moach, Moach, Moach, Moach, Moach, Moach, Moach, Moach, Moach, Moach, Moach, Moach, Moach, Moach, Moach, Moach, Moach, Moach, Moach, Moach, Moach, Moach, Moach, Moach, Moach, Moach, Moach, Moach, Moach, Moach, Moach, Moach, Moach, Moach, Moach, Moach, Moach, Moach, Moach, Moach, Moach, Moach, Moach, Moach, Moach, Moach, Moach, Moach, Moach, Moach, Moach, Moach, Moach, Moach, Moach, Moach, Moach, Moach, on a Friday. Happy Friday, everybody. Halford Brough, Sportsnet 650.

Halford and Brough of 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 now in Hour 2 of the program. Bob the Moj Marjanovic is going to join us in just a moment here for Hour 2.

Hour 2 of this program is brought to you by Jason Hominuk from Jason.Mortgage. If you love giving the banks more of your money, then don't let Jason shop around to find the perfect mortgage for you. You know what? Let him do it. Let him find that perfect mortgage for you. Try it.

Why not? Visit him at Jason.Mortgage on the internet. We got Moj on the line? We do have Moj on the line. I wanted to do a quick call to the listeners we do not have a food related ask us anything for moge yet or at least i haven't seen one dunbar does it always have to be food related for moge he gets upset when they're not he's like what about my food one he's hangry yeah i'm like okay we'll give him food uh dunbar number text

line is 650 650 get him in hashtag him a ua we go to the phone line now. Bob, the Moj Barjanovich here on the Halford & Brough Show on Sportsnet 650. What up, Moj? I am always happy. It doesn't have to be food-related. Unlike Brough, I'm an easygoing guy. That's true. So just whatever you guys want to throw my way, I'm happy to answer. Halford, you do a great job, as usual, dealing with Brough.

But Brough, you know, just, hey, it's all good. Thanks, Moj. I appreciate that. This one came in from Bort. Ask us anything. Who has a bigger ego? usual dealing with bruff but bruff you know just hey it's all good thanks Moj actually this one this one came in from Bort ask us anything who has a bigger ego Halford or bruff not even close

bruff see here's the thing I'm gonna ask guys that work with us on a regular basis Laddie and A-Dog who has a bigger ego me or Halford

bruff I'm to say Halford Halford is a quietly bad person quietly bad person he keeps it to himself but he's an egomaniac he does have a big ego so you're telling us basically he's a Gus Fring type right

yeah except he spends a lot of time on his couch. Yeah. My meth empire isn't quite as good as Gus's. But it's close. It's getting up and running.

You know, smiling at everybody, shaking hands on the outside, internally, big meth game. Modes, let's start with the Canucks and the big news

from yesterday. Philip Hronik, is there any way they can survive the next month with Quinn Hughes and the other guys? Well, man, that's the scary thing. And, you know, they've had all these injuries, whether it be Miller, Besser, Demko. Thank God for Lankanen because without him,

who knows where this team would be this year with, you know, say, subpar goaltending. But this one is really concerning because it's the fact that everybody's got to get bumped up now. Right? I mean, does Tyler Myers become your first pairing defenseman? Right? I mean, there's concerns with Myers and Soucy as a second pairing. Right?

I mean, now you're going to bump one of those guys up to the first pair. Now you've got to probably put DeJarne or Jolson or whoever up on the first pair. Now you've got to probably put Desjardins or Jolson or whoever up on the second pair. That's the concerning thing is that now you have to bump everybody up on a blue line core that a lot of people believed was thin to begin with in terms of depth. So to me, that's the biggest concern with this

team moving forward. And when you know you're talking about the trade market, man, do they have enough assets to go out there and make an adequate trade to to replace ronick if he's out for a significant amount of time so of all the injuries that the canucks have had demco notwithstanding this one really concerns me just given their lack of depth on the blue line because of the fact like i said everybody has to get bumped down here's the other thing too i mean we always talk about Quinn Hughes, and I'm like, you know, Hughes is such an amazing talent,

but you wonder what type of impact there'll be on Hughes, if any. I'm just saying you can throw it out there with Roenick not being his defensive partner. Oh, of course. I mean, I think Philip Roenick helped put Quinn Hughes over the top and helped win him a Norris Trophy last season.

I mean, listen, I'm giving most of the credit to Quinn Hughes, obviously, but your defensive partner really matters. Yeah, I mean, but let's face it. Quinn Hughes is one of those players that makes everybody around him better. But the chemistry that he's developed with Roenick and the fact that there's a trust there, I think that has to take a bit of a hit as well and the fact that you know he has to learn with to play now with a different partner

and Hughes will figure it out I mean no question he's an amazing talent but I'm just saying that's another thing that comes into play as well. You know what's also really tough is that the Canucks play a lot of games in December if you look at schedule, they're playing almost every second night in December until Christmas when they get a few days off. Are we anticipating, I know Rick Tockett is going to meet the media today, are we anticipating he's out like a month? It wouldn't surprise me. It wouldn't surprise me at all. I mean, just given the way he went into the boards and, you know, then he was skating to the bench, he dropped his stick. It just seemed like it was a severe injury,

and he's already had a situation with that shoulder previously in Detroit. So it wouldn't surprise me at all if he's out for an indefinite period of time. And you're right, this is a tough month. The Canucks have played the least amount of games in the NHL, I think, as we talked this morning, and now they've got to play catch up to get back into the race so yeah their schedule is going to be a little bit more condensed than it has been and you know here's the other thing too like I wrote a column about this for Black Press this week I mean American Thanksgiving go

you go back like since realignment so you go back since they've done the realignment or whatever 10 years ago 80 percent of the teams that are in the playoffs at the u.s thanksgiving on the u.s thanksgiving or probably that are above the playoff bar make the playoffs so basically only three out of these 16 teams that are out well three of the teams that are outside looking in right now crack the 16 right so vancouver right now is in a 25 they do have a couple of games in hand on la and colorado but man uh this is going to be really tough without rolling it this month and yeah the condensed schedule is not going to help matter so this is a team like you know that i think this year you know last year they were in the playoffs

by this point last year i mean only vegas had more points than the Canucks at U.S. Thanksgiving in 2023. And when I look at this team this year, it seems like it's going to be a team that's going to be battling to get into the playoffs. And losing Roenick just tells me that even more, that this is going to be a team that's going to be battling to get in this year. Let's talk a little football now, Moj.

When are the Lions going to hire a head coach? Well, they've gone through the first round of interviews. Mostly all of those were Zoom. They were virtual interviews. They didn't really want to have anybody to have like, quote, a home field advantage from what I was told by Ryan McMaden. So round two is coming up now. They will probably talk to their three or four final candidates in person um buck pierce will probably be on that list one guy who's really impressed a lot of people he's impressed a lot of people in edmonton and bc is mark killam the former special teams coordinator and assistant head coach of the calgary stampeters so he'll probably be on that list maybe jordan

mccimic um so they're starting to whittle it down and I would expect an announcement no later than next Friday in terms of who the next head coach is and I'm still going to put my money on Buck Pierce I've said it's Buck Pierce all along and I'll continue to do so The only thing about Pierce right now is I was reading on 3 Down Nation

that the Bombers aren't going to sign Mike O'Shea to a long-term contract extension he's going into the last year of his deal. I do wonder if maybe Buck Pierce is the potential succession plan for them, or do you think he's going to be going to BC? Well, that's a really good point. I mean, you know, maybe he stays in Winnipeg and takes over that job. Here's the other thing, too.

Like, with cities like Winnipeg and Regina, when you're a coach or player in those cities with the bombers or say even the riders, it's a big deal. Right. And you can make a lot of money just on the side in terms of speaking engagements, in terms of any sort of marketing deals that you can cook up. So that's another thing that comes into play. And, you know, just the fact that you're comfortable in that environment, you're comfortable with that organization, you know what it's about. So maybe that comes into play.

But again, the opportunity to run your own ship is a pretty tempting one. We're speaking to Bob the Moj Marjanovic here on the Halford & Brough Show on Sportsnet 650. Moj is a presentation of the Clayton Public House. Pre-game to post-game, the Clayton Public House is your home of football. Catch all the action on 15 screens and two giant projectors.

Visit them online at theclaytonpub.com. Moj, what did you think of the return that the BC Lions got in the trade, sending Vernon Adams Jr. to Calgary? It's what I expected. I didn't think they were going to get any sort of big haul. I mean, that's what you see in the CFL. Anytime there is a trade, usually it's just draft

picks going the other way or coming the other way. I mean, they were... Here's the thing. Teams in the CFL, if you've got a player that you want to trade, they're going to give you a minimal return. And if you don't want it, they'll say, fine, we'll wait until you cut him. And the

Lions obviously had a bonus due with Vernon Adams coming up, so if they played the waiting game uh who knows maybe the offer would have been taken off the table and you probably would have had a worse offer that you had to accept so didn't surprise me it's just the way the cfl operates even in the nfl i mean you see some of these big names that get traded for like whatever third or fourth round pick sometimes you'll see a first or second but very rarely in football do you see the blockbuster trades that you might see in hockey or other sports. Speaking of the National Football League,

let's start with yesterday, Thanksgiving Day. Everyone's talking about the Chicago Bears. Tell us why Matt Eberflus is a bad coach, Moj. Okay, first off, you should, and I'm assuming the bears do this you practice that two-minute drill every week usually it's the tail end of the week um when you're running a lighter practice say maybe thursday or friday but you do a two-minute drill either you're going up against air which is just basically the offense going out there and just like i said going against air or you go up against your defense and in those scenarios the good coaches will actually paint the scenario for you.

Second and 10, clock's running, 35 seconds. And it makes your quarterback think, right? And your quarterback now has to process what's going on in those games. So that's how you prepare your quarterback for those situations. And then you'll obviously have conversations, whether or not you should have called a timeout, whether or not you should have spiked have conversations whether or not you should have called a timeout, whether or not you should have spiked it, whether or not you should have ran a play to get out of bounds, whatever. But you're preparing your quarterback for those situations, right?

So that's number one. You have to prepare your quarterback for those situations. So who knows where Caleb Williams' preparation level is at? But here's the thing, too. So you have 37 seconds on the clock. Any coach that I've talked to in that situation, when you get a sack, call the timeout. You've still got 37 seconds.

You can still run a play to get out of bounds. If you get the first down, whatever, you can spike it. But just call the timeout. Now, Caleb Williams is the young quarterback, right? For him to call a timeout in that situation, that's pretty ballsy. But soon as Eberflaus saw that there was confusion, like I'd probably say whatever it was, 19, 18, 17 seconds, call the timeout at that point.

Get everybody on the same page. You've still got time to run a play. Maybe get out of bounds and get your field goal unit out. But for him to allow that panic to continue and that confusion to continue, that is on him. As soon as there was any confusion, call the timeout. I understand when he was talking about, oh, we're going to re-rack it, run it at 17, and be able to get the field goal unit out, whatever. But again, as soon as there's confusion in that situation, you as a head coach have to show leadership and say,

okay, my quarterback has lost control of this situation this time. I'm going to call a timeout, and we're going to regroup. Okay, let's stick with the NFL, but let's jump ahead to Sunday. Seahawks in New York to take on the Jets. Are the Jets a good or a bad matchup for the Seahawks? Bad, bad, bad, bad, bad. Tell you why. 37 sacks.

That's how many quarterback sacks the Jets have this year. Geno Smith has been sacked 37 times. He's been sacked 16 times in the last three games. That, to me, does not bode well for the Seahawks. The other thing, too, is the fact that now you're hearing these reports out of Seattle that DK Metcalf hasn't practiced because of a shoulder. Tyler Lockett has a knee injury, which has restricted him. You look at that Jets

secondary featuring Sauce Gardner, DJ Reid, Michael Carter. That's a very good secondary. I think they rank second in the league in terms of passing yards allowed per game. So for me, that is that does not bode well for the Seahawks. Plus, you got to go all the way to

New York. Cross-country trip. Man, they're in tough against the Jets. I don't like this matchup at all. The Seahawks have been got to go all the way to New York cross-country trip man they're in tough against the Jets I don't like this matchup at all the Seahawks have been good on the road though they mean they actually they've been pretty good going east so I'm less concerned about that I'm more concerned any time that their offensive line is under more pressure than average because their pass protection isn't very good and you know we were talking about it earlier the running game isn't very good and you know you can blame the running back or you can blame the play calling for me it's like i watch their games

you know i watch all their games from start to finish and rarely do they create holes for their running back to just run right through it's you always like K-9 has got to be like, he's bouncing it to the outside because he has to. You know what I mean? Like, don't you see that too? Yeah, I agree with you on that one. I mean, their offensive line, clearly, it's not of championship caliber level. So you're going to have to work your way around it.

And I think that also adds to Geno Smith throwing, what, 12 picks, which leads the nfl by the way um when your quarterback's under duress and trying to make throws and trying to force throws and you know the classic example was that game where they had that i can't remember who it was at home and they had like a second and 16 and geno tried to force a ball and they got picked off i think it was against the rams and you know when you put your quarterback in second and 16 situations and he's trying to force the issue well guess what it doesn't surprise me that he leads the intercept and leads the NFL in

interceptions with 12. He also makes a bunch of incredible plays but the the mistakes can be you know I know he's under pressure a lot but the mistakes can be pretty bad from Geno Smith. Here's an ask us anything for you that I'm just going to come up with right now. What's more concerning the Seahawks offensive line or the Canucks defense? Seahawks offensive line. Wow. Because you know that the Canucks defense will eventually will get better when Rona gets back.

I don't think the Seahawks offensive line gets that much better. The Seahawks offensive line can't say that they have the best offensive lineman in football in the group. And the Canucks can say they have the best defenseman. line gets that much better. The Seahawks offensive line can't say that they have the best offensive lineman in football in the group. Yeah, exactly. They can't say they have the best defenseman. Yeah, that's true.

Okay. I've got another one. It's not a food one, but I want to hear the answer to this. Unsigned, ask us anything. Moj, who is the most famous person's phone number

that you have? Oh, wow. That's a great one. Most famous person's phone number? Yeah have oh wow that's a great one most famous person's phone number yeah probably gretzky you got gretzky's number yeah okay that's pretty good can we have it can you read it out on the air right now yeah okay sure yeah um probably that one i'm just trying to think off the top like you know as soon as you said most famous person, I'm thinking of guys like Gretzky, Jordan. Oh, Montana.

Yeah, I was actually going to say, do you have Joe Montana's number? Yeah, Montana and Gretzky, probably those two. I don't have Jordan's. Never had the opportunity to cross paths with Jordan, other than the time that he was in Vancouver, that one time with the Bulls. Probably the biggest scrum I've ever seen in my life in Vancouver. Let's think about 10 deep, like when the Bulls first came here

for their first trip, and what was it, 95, 96? In hindsight, I think the only thing I took from the Grizzlies era, and Halford's going to get offended by this because he was a big Grizzlies fan, the only thing I took from the Grizzlies era is that I was able to go see Michael Jordan in person. That's it. Yeah. You know, here's the thing.

Having gone to a lot of those Grizzlies games and covering the team at that point for a paper called Sports View, the thing that blew me away was how bad they were and yet how entertaining it was just to go to the game. It was, I kind of shudder to think what would happen if Vancouver actually had like a really good team. It was fun to go to the games. It was a great vibe. It was great entertainment. How would I put this?

The talent level both on and off the court was really good. But it was an event, right? It was almost like you're going to a nightclub. It was just a great, great environment going to Grizzly games, despite the fact they were so bad, right? And it was a lot of fun. Those games were, you know, and, you know, like I said, those games were just, they were just an event.

They were a fun time to go to. It was like a nightclub. They called it the Big Bamboo of sports. Yes, right. Those were the games. It almost feels the Big Bamboo of sports. That's right. Those were the games. It almost feels... Big Bamboo, good pull.

Good pull. That's a great pull. Thanks, buddy. Thanks, buddy. It almost feels... I don't know if this makes sense, but does it feel like it's weird that we had

an NBA team? Yes, very much so. You're looking back and it's like, was that a dream that Vancouver had an NBA team for a few years and Michael Jordan came to town and played the Grizzlies? It just seems like, was that a dream that Vancouver had an NBA team for a few years and Michael Jordan came to town

and played the Grizzlies? It just seems like really? Yeah, I totally feel the same way. I was like, you're right, it's almost surreal. We had an NBA team? Yeah, we did. We did have a team that played at Rogers Arena, right? They're actually in the league. They did it very poorly for six years.

It's kind of funny. I don't know if you guys have been to a Canuck game this year, but so you guys would know this drill. When you come down the elevator gate, and I usually take a right, and you walk into the Canuck locker room, whatever, it's like 30 yards. They've deemed that to be a sensitive area

this year, so it's restricted to the media, so we have to walk all the way around the building. We get to what used to be the Grizzlies locker room, right? And that's like our, quote, our holding area until they open up the room, and then we go past the visitor's room and, you know, the connection. But in that area, it's funny, we were just talking about that a couple weeks ago. Trevor Henderson from Global, the longtime cameraman, was like,

that was Bibby's locker. Sharif was in the corner, right? We're talking about all the Grizzlies and, you know, that's him. Their locker room is, well, I mean, you know, that and their locker room as well. I mean, you know, it's still there, but obviously dumbed down. But, yeah, it was kind of funny they were talking about that just a couple of weeks ago. Moj, you're the best, buddy.

Thanks for doing this. We really appreciate it. Enjoy all the football this weekend. We'll do this again next Friday. Okay, fellas, have a great weekend. You too. Thanks. That's Bob the Moj Marjanovic here on the Halford & Brough Show

on Sportsnet 650. The Grizzlies dynamic, I was thinking's Bob the Moj Marjanovic here on the Halford & Brough Show on Sportsnet 650. The Grizzlies dynamic, I was thinking about it the other day. I can't remember why, actually. It just kind of popped into my head. Oh, it was because I was watching a bit of the documentary, the second one that Cat Jamie put out, doing the analysis of why the Grizzlies left.

If you look at the footage back then and you with the fans and even the media that was covering it, everyone was trying to figure out basketball, but doing it very enthusiastically. Like how to cover it, how to be a fan of it, getting caught up with the league. You got to learn the players. It was funny because it's

going on, the enthusiasm sort of dampened because they're 20 games in now, but Utah was the same. People forget that when the Coyotes went to Utah, it's not like there was a bunch of people in Utah that were like, I watched every Coyotes game. I loved these guys. They were my favorite thing to watch on television.

I know all the players. I love Veg Milka. Yeah. Who's the Liam O'Brien? He's fun. Big Tuna. They didn't know any of these guys. So there was a sense of, you got to kind of learn about the sport,

and you got to kind of learn about the team, and you got to kind of learn about the league, because it's a foreign thing. And in Vancouver, it was great, because everyone at that time was just so happy to have a team, that there was a real, there was a naivete and an enthusiasm. Like, no one really minded that much that they were losing. No. They were like, cool much that they were losing. No.

They were like, cool, we got a team. We weren't a super knowledgeable basketball fan base. No, we weren't. But that was fine because it actually probably worked better because no one really got super down about the losing. The fans still showed up. Yeah, they did. Grizzlies lose 130 to 80.

All right, who's in town next game? Let's go. There was that element of like, who's in town and is it going to be a fun party? But there were quite a few empty seats by the end of it all. Yeah, but by the end, it was because they knew they were going. Yeah. You know? I mean, I stopped showing up and I would go to a bunch of the games.

Also, dirt cheap to go to games. Dirt cheap. That made it really... You're not really making your case that, you know, everyone was super excited about the team when you're saying like, you could get in for $3 or whatever. Everyone was excited about having a team, if that makes sense. Not about the team.

Do you know what I mean? Because the team stunk. But having one was cool. I just think they were so bad that for me, I never really got into them. But do you understand what I'm saying? Yeah. It's like it was something to do.

It was something to do. It was fun and cool. Yeah, yeah. And that enthusiasm lasted far longer than it should have, to be honest. Yeah. Because, and it was accessible for a lot of people. It was very accessible. Yeah.

And it's an interesting dynamic. I remember I worked, like, not in sports. And our company had a box or a suite, then GM Place. And the sales manager would go around the office and be like, does anyone want to go to the Grizzlies game? You sit in the box. Nope. Do you remember when Shoppers Drug Mart bought?

Do you know how easy it was to get to a game and people were still like, nah, I don't. They were like, honestly, it was like seize tickets. Do you want seize tickets? No, if I want to go, I'll just buy them myself. Shoppers Drug Mart bought 2,500 tickets one year to push them over the needed season ticket sales. And then that was a promotional thing.

That's how different it is now. It would never happen now. I used to get my BC Lions tickets at Safeway. Yeah. It used to be a thing. You'd buy some bananas, and then they're like, here's two Lions tickets. No, no, no.

You buy them. I know. I know. You'd have to pay. That was the Grizzlies tickets. You'd buy some bananas, and then they're like, here's two Lions tickets. No, no, no. You buy them. I know. I know. You'd have to pay. Those are Grizzlies tickets. You get your prescription filled. There you go. There's your prescription for a loss.

Yeah, right. Good one, laddie. Thank you. It's very well done. Take the L. Take the L. Okay. We've got a lot more to get into in the final hour of the program here on the Halford and Brough Show on Sportsnet 650.

Rick Dollywall joins us every Friday at 8 o'clock. I never know what's to be expected. Brough is his personal handler. They go back and forth. He sends Brough texts. Brough tries to decipher all the spelling mistakes into what it actually means. And then he comes on the radio at 8 o'clock.

So we got to go to break because he gets angry if we don't get him on right away. Rick Dollywall is coming up next on the Halford and Brough Show on Sportsnet 650.