Halford & Brough in the Morning - It's A Very Metal Christmas

Episode Date: December 19, 2024

In hour two, Halford & guest host Jamie Dodd preview Week 16 with NFL.com's Nick Shook (2:14), plus the boys hear from Vegas Golden Knight reporter Jesse Granger (27:32), as they get set to host the Canucks tonight. 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.

🎵 702 on a Thursday. Halford, bruv. It's Jamie Dodd, though, in the place of Jason Brough. You're listening to Sportsnet 650. Can you guess today's musical theme? It's only a handful of times you get to break this out during the year. It's a sick cover, I gotta say. By handful, I mean one.

It's going to be tough to do Christmas thrash music in July. You try. I mean, you say that now. There's no law against it. Yeah. This is like when we played the Monster Mash in April. Alfred and Brough in the Morning is brought to you by Vancouver Honda, Vancouver's premier destination for Honda customers.

They have a friendly, knowledgeable staff that can help with anything you're looking for, sales, financing, service, or parts. We are in Hour 2 of the program. Nick Shook from NFL.com is going to join us in just a moment here to kick off Hour 2. Hour 2 of this program is brought to you by Jason Hominuk from Jason.Mortgage. If you love paying too much for your mortgage, then don't let Jason shop around to find the perfect mortgage for you. That is sarcasm.

Let him do exactly what I said. Visit him on the internet at jason.mortgage. We are coming to you live from the Kintec studio. Kintec, Canada's favorite orthotics provider, powered by thousands of five-star Google reviews. Sore feet? What are you waiting for? Kintec.

It's a good sports night tonight. You've got nine NHL games. You've also got Thursday night football, a classic AFC West matchup between the Broncos and the Chargers. Joining us now to break that down and more from NFL.com, Nick Schuch here on the Halford & Brough Show on Sportsnet 650. Morning, Nick. How are you?

Fantastic, guys. For a second there, when you said a classic AFC West matchup, it occurred to me that we are now on the point in the season where I am forgetting what the Thursday night game is on the day of Thursday until I remind myself. And I was pleasantly surprised to remember that it is Broncos-Chargers, and we finally get a real, or maybe at least something closer to a real test of both of these teams which you know

similar records but how do we you know determine who they are I don't know that's we're at that point in the year though you're not alone in forgetting it I almost said it was Broncos Chiefs so you and I are in the same boat here but it is indeed Broncos Chargers in LA and I like the way that you framed it because I watched both these teams play last week and you know the Broncos weren't great in that win over the Colts. The Colts managed to shoot themselves in the foot in wild and creative and colorful ways, and the Broncos emerged with a victory.

And then I was watching the Chargers play, and they got beat up, beat up by Baker Mayfield and the Bucs. They got 40-plus points hung on them. So I do think it's an interesting dynamic going into tonight. There's a lot to prove for both of these teams, jockeying for second place in the division and for a playoff spot, both on them. So I do think it's an interesting dynamic going into tonight. There's a lot to prove for both of these teams jockeying for second place in the division and for a playoff spot, both of them. Yeah. Realistically, if you look at the Broncos last couple of games, they have not been who we, you know, not to quote the late Denny Green,

but they have not been who we thought they were. They at least have not been consistent in their areas of strength, you know, give it up a ton of yards and everything to the Browns defensively. And then their defense did come through in that game against the Colts, but it's just been a little volatile, a little tumultuous for them. A three-turnover game for Bo Nix, who I've been hearing from Broncos fans for the last couple weeks. They've been in my mentions.

They've been in my email. They've been in wherever else you want to go to complain that we don't give the Broncos and Bo Nix enough love and that he should be higher up on an Offensive Rookie of the Year ranking and everything else, and then he goes out and has a couple games in which he has at least two

interceptions each, which is going to happen. There's not any hate intended for Bo Nix whatsoever. It's just that he's still a young quarterback, and this is a team that is still kind of figuring out how to win. They have not been here in quite a while now. So I think that they're closer to at least matching what we think they are. The Chargers, as crazy as this sounds,

I've always had a weird creeping sense in the back of my head that there's a little bit of fraudulence to them, and I think it's just because of their lack of offensive weapons, especially at the receiver position. Now, they were able to stay competitive and nearly pull the upset against the Chiefs two weeks ago because of Stone Smart, a tight end that is super athletic but is not a guy that you know of.

They didn't have anybody else. I mean, they've been trying to throw deep balls to Josh Palmer all season, and it hasn't worked out. I mean, any time I see Herbert take a deep shot and I see number five down there, I'm just thinking, there they are again targeting Josh Palmer all season, and it hasn't worked out. I mean, any time I see Herbert take a deep shot and I see number five down there, I'm just thinking, there they are again targeting Josh Palmer downfield, and it's probably not going to work. And it's not a knock on him.

That's not his style of play. And it just speaks to the fact that they don't have the weapons to really fully take advantage of their star quarterback, who is very much still a star quarterback, outside of Ladd McConkie. Now, Ladd McConkie comes back, and you think, all right, well, here's the guy they needed back to be able to win this game, and it was an entertaining game for, you know, two quarters. At one point, I thought the Chargers were matching the Buccaneers blow for blow, and then they just got ran over by the machine that is the Buccaneers

when everything is hitting offensively for them. And that's where I'm concerned about them. Because in the games against the legit teams, outside of their division, they have not looked like a team that is legitimate. They feel like a one-and-done playoff community right now. That opinion can change

a little bit if they are able to keep up and play better against the Broncos. I know it's a divisional game and it's not quite the litmus test, but at 9-5 and 8-6, it very much matters. So, you know, you can kind of bring you back to the side and convince me a little bit. But if I had to pick these two teams right now,

I know that wasn't even the question, but if I had to pick between these two teams, I would lean Broncos. I just think there's more legitimacy to them right now than the Chargers. Speaking of rookie quarterbacks, we're going to get to see a new one on the weekend as Michael Penix Jr. takes over from Kirk Cousins

as a starting quarterback in Atlanta. So I know that you watched and wrote on that Monday Night Football debacle, stinker, whatever you want to call it, which the Falcons did win. So it's not often you see a quarterback getting benched after a win, but that's exactly what the Falcons did with Cousins. This is a really interesting one

because both stories are intriguing to me. You know, Cousins said, I didn't forget how to play quarterback. I think he acknowledged he wasn't playing well, but he still thinks he's good. And because of the money paid and how recently he was signed, that's a big story.

And it's also a big story anytime that your first round, eighth overall pick at quarterback gets to start at this stage of the season there's a lot going on in atlanta with this quarterback story yeah there's a ton it's very fascinating um it's also it's kind of a fun you know circle back to everybody bashing the falcons for making this pick in april and may and and you know why would you you know spend a first round pick on a quarterback when you just threw 180 million million at Kirk Cousins?

Well, this is why. This right here is exactly why they did that. And for those of us who saw the logic in it at the time, you know, it feels kind of good to see this happen. You never want to see somebody lose their job. But Kirk Cousins was playing very poorly. And they could have realistically gone away from him about three weeks ago if they wanted to.

Now they have to because their backs are against the wall in the first year under Raheem Morris in this playoff hunt where if they went out and the Buccaneers lose one game, they will make the playoffs because they have the tiebreaker over the Buccaneers because they were playing well enough to be better than that team earlier in the season, including Kirk Cousins. But this is how fast it can kind of fall apart for some guys, and I think it's a lack of – he says he didn't forget how to play quarterback, but I think it was a lack

of confidence, maybe trusting your arm a little bit too much and just not having the mobility, you know, in the pocket to really make it work anymore. It just, it didn't look good. You know, it looked like the Kirk Cousins that everybody has, you know, made his reputation out to be over the last five to eight years. It finally feels like that matched that reputation. I always felt like he was one of the more unfairly treated quarterbacks because he was better than people realized. Not anymore, at least not right now. So they had to make this decision.

I'm glad that the Falcons did for their own playoff survival. Who knows what Penix will do? He was considered the most pro-ready quarterback coming into the draft. I'm excited to see him play. I'll tell you that. And maybe it's the start of the new era under center for them, or maybe it's a reminder that, hey, we have two options, and we're still going to figure this out.

Looking ahead for the Falcons and Kirk Cousins especially, I'm not exactly sure what all the salary capital implications are of them moving on from Kirk Cousins in the offseason but if you're making the switch to the guy you drafted eighth overall you know who's already I think 24 years old in Pennix you're probably moving on from Kirk Cousins and how much interest do you think there would be around the league in Cousins at this stage of his career as you said probably unfairly criticized a little bit over his time in Minnesota. And I wonder if, okay, hey, more time coming off that Achilles injury,

if there would be teams still willing to say, let's see what this guy can give us going into next season. Yeah, we live in an NFL world where Gardner Minshew was starting in Vegas. Jameis Winston was starting in Cleveland. Jake Hayner got a start last weekend for the Saints. Tommy DeVito started in New York. I do think that if the price is right, which means the price is not the new employer's team to really pay,

that I think her cousins can find work somewhere. I mean, I live in Cleveland. I'm sitting here considering the Browns options, you know, in my small amounts of free time. And I'm thinking, oh, God. They got Watson on the roster still, so they don't have a ton of gap space to work with. But I had started envisioning scenarios in which it was Daniel Jones

or it was Aaron Rodgers or it was Kirk Cousins. Like, there are multiple guys that are going to be out there and available. None are the guys that you look at as long-term solutions. But then again, at this time a year ago, I didn't think Jameis Winston would be on the Browns. So I think there will be a market. It will not be the high-priced market that he encountered before because we don't pull that kind of money.

But then again, it will still be more than the Russell Wilson deal in Pittsburgh, probably. It will be more than what Baker Mason initially got in Tampa. It'll be more than what Sam Darnold got in Minnesota. So it's a weird market at quarterback in just the way that what happened recently really affects what you can make. And yet at the same time, I shudder at the thought of Kirk Cousins getting a lot of money from somebody else and then playing like he did in the last six weeks

because that would just be – that would be Jeff Garcia to the Browns in 2004, a season in which he posted a 0.0 passer rating in one game at one point. So that would be a disaster. The Jeff Garcia-Browns era. I forgot about that one. Good pull. We're speaking to Nick Shook from NFL.com

here on the Halford & Brough Show on Sportsnet 650. Speaking of those Minnesota Vikings, Nick, they are on their way to Seattle this weekend to take on the Seahawks. There's a lot going on Seahawks health-wise. We don't know if Kenneth Walker Jr. or Kenneth Walker III is going to play. We don't know if Geno Smith is going to play.

We do know that Sam Darnold and the Vikings will be showing up on Sunday though, and you got a chance to watch them on Monday Night Football. What were some of your takeaways from there? They're coming into Seattle as three-point road favorites. What can we expect from the Vikings this weekend? Probably, okay, so I had a weird kind of feeling when I came away from this game, and I thought I was alone in it for a minute

until I started listening to some other shows around the country and realized, okay, all right, I wasn't too off-base. I felt underwhelmed by the way that they played on Monday night. And they won 30-12, but it did not look overly impressive. Now, you win the game. That's all that matters.

You don't really have to impress people like me. You put the tally in the win column and you move on. And that's fine. But we are tally in the win column and you move on. And that's fine. But we are getting close to the playoffs. Having said that, in NFC North right now, it's such a tight race and the way that the Lions are so banged up, I can kind of lean in Vikings a little bit at least.

Maybe I'm a little scarred by what happened with them a couple years ago when they were a one and done and had won all these close one possession games and everything else. And it just felt like there was an air of fraudulence there. It feels like there's less of that, but there was a little bit at some point with this team. I know that they're going to come in and play good football

because they have weapons on offense, and they have a defense that is aggressive and does not quit at all. Brian Flores is very aggressive as a defensive coordinator that has been his M.O. for a long time, and that has been the identity of this defense this year. They did exactly that to Caleb Williams on Monday night and, you know, flustered him, and he also held the ball too long, partially, I think, because he was trying to avoid interceptions.

They dominated that game defensively. Offensively, got to clean some things up. I'm worried about their depth in the offensive line, but that's more of a playoff concern than right now. But then again, their playoffs kind of start right now when it comes to, you know, determining where the seating, you know, lands in the NFC with this tightly packed division and the Eagles in the

East and everything else. So all these games really do matter. And the Seahawks, meanwhile, depending on what happens to Gino, they're kind of playing for their lives. You know, it's, it's going to be an interesting matchup. I think it'll be a great test of Seattle, just like the Packers were prior to Geno getting hurt. I got to worry for Seahawks fans it'll be worse than what the Packers game was like. But then again, I lack a little bit more trust in the Vikings

than I do the Packers, as crazy as that sounds. So it could end up being closer. I know I totally just played both sides of the fence there, but it really comes down to Geno more than anything. You mentioned Detroit in that division, of course, as well, and they lose to the Bills, but the bigger story might be, as you alluded to, just the injuries continuing to mount and pile up. And, you know, for stretches of this season,

they've looked like the team to beat, not just in the NFC, but maybe across the league as the Super Bowl favorites. How much have they dropped down the pecking order in your eyes as a result of all of these injury issues? You know, I thought they could weather it and it wasn't a loss to to the bills that that actually changed my opinion i i just think when you stack up there is a critical mass of healthy players that you have to have to be able to remain competitive um in a quest for a super bowl it's true for every team every year it's's usually one of the most important things for making a deep playoff run, no matter how good your team is on paper and how good you are in week four.

How healthy are you by week 18? Because that's going to matter a whole lot. And I think, unfortunately, that this is one of those teams that has just been hit very significantly by injuries in recent weeks. And the defensive line, they've been trying to plug gaps there all year since it started with the loss of Aiden Hutchinson. They traded for Zedaria Smith. They lose Lee McNeil, who I thought was a big part of their defensive integrity

up front. And then on the offensive, they lost Carlton Davis, too, at corner, which is a big deal. He wasn't perfect this year, but it is a big deal for a secondary that was criticized plenty last year and was playing better this year. On the offensive side, you lose David Montgomery, who is kind of the heart and soul of this team on the ground, at least, with the way that he

runs and the way that his powerful style, explosive style, that has allowed him to close certain games out this season. He's the perfect tandem back with Jameer Gibbs. It's a big reason why they're so good. The only thing that gives me a lot of confidence in them still is the presence of that offensive line, which is still intact

and which is still one of the best, if not the best, in football. And if they can protect Jared Goff, I still believe that he's good enough to lead them to victory. They're still a competitive team, don't get me wrong. It's just that I went from thinking, yeah, this is the team that's going to the Super Bowl and is probably going to win it too. This may not be the team that makes the Super Bowl from the NFC, especially with the recent rise of the Eagles, and that's solely due to injuries.

Nick, this was great, bud. Thanks for taking the time to do it. As always, enjoy the games. Enjoy the game tonight. Enjoy the games on Saturday and Sunday. We only got three weeks left in the regular season, so we have to embrace all of this football. Thank you again for doing this, man.

We really appreciate it. Yeah, no problem. Thanks, guys. Thanks, Nick Shook from NFL.com here on the Halford & Brough Show on Sportsnet 650. It's Jamie Dodd in for Jason Brough for the remainder of the week. We're going to turn our attention back to the National Hockey League now. Yesterday, a very busy day in the league,

not just because there were a bunch of games being played, a bunch of trades being made, three trades in a single day on the same day when Frank Cervalli from Daily Faceoff came on this very show and said that he felt that the Canucks were getting closer and closer and warmer and warmer to perhaps making a deal of their own. Let's play that audio from Frank right now. This is from yesterday's show, talking about where things are at with regards to Patrick Alvin and Jim Rutherford potentially pulling the trigger on a trade

prior to the holiday roster freeze. I do need to share that the Canucks are one team that I have my eye on between now and the trade freeze on Thursday night at midnight Eastern. I do think that they've been pretty active here in the last few days, trying to go after a defenseman to fulfill some of the, you know, the needs that we've talked about all season long. That efficient puck mover, I haven't been able to put my finger on exactly what they're looking at or who they're talking to. Um, you know, I know everyone wants to immediately draw

the line to Buffalo and, and mention Bowen Byram, but, um, you know, when I, when I look at the league, I think there's way more pieces on the chessboard, um, than just Buffalo. I'm told it's something more substantial that they're working on, on um that they're looking for that top four defenseman addition that they're trying to make and i'm not saying it's going to happen by thursday by any stretch of the imagination just that um talks had picked up on that front if yesterday was any indication uh talks have picked up around the league. Because I can't remember the last time that we had three trades in a single day. Not around.

In December. Yeah, not around the trade deadline. So the biggest one of the day, obviously, was that the New York Rangers continued to move pieces around. Another pretty significant piece out the door. Capo Caco dealt to the Seattle Kraken for defenseman Will Borgen. Third and sixth round picks in 2025 also going along

with Borgen. So Caco, everybody knows, was the second overall pick in the 2019 draft. Has spent every single season since then with the New York Rangers. To put it frankly and bluntly, he's been a disappointment as the number two overall pick. I think his career high is 18 goals.

The production's never really been there. The role and the elevation and the forward group has never really been there. Playing under three different head coaches in New York, too. So he's had different opportunities under different guys, but it hasn't really worked out. So this is the second big move of significance from GM Chris Drury, who a week and a half ago moved Jacob Trubow, the longtime defenseman and captain of the New York Rangers. So there's a major overhaul going on in New York.

If you want to look at it, you're saying, well, they've cleared an awful lot of cap space and an awful lot of room on that team. Moving out Trubow and Kakko, is there another move to come? Remains to be seen. Yeah, and the Kakko one is interesting. I mean, I saw the reports from the writers in New York saying, oh, this isn't related to what he said about LaViolette and his comments about getting healthy scratched.

Sure it was. Look, I'm sure they had contemplated the idea of trading Kako in the past, but it's hard to believe that it didn't at least play some role in expediting things. And I mean, they're selling low on him. There's no doubt about it. Now, Will Borgen, Canucks Talk listeners will know, a Drance favorite, and that's putting it mildly, big Will Borgen guy. I heard Bick waxing poetic about him as well last night.

So a lot of love for Will Borgen on the station here. What a station. Multiple guys who love Will Borgen. That's the 650 brand right there anyways but i do think it's interesting you look at the two major trades and you know the pierre olivier joseph one that was for future considerations that's more minor but the two more significant trades between those trades three right shot defensemen on the move right will borgen going to new york and then the swap uh carrie going to

montreal and justin barron going to nashville the other way borgan and carrie i think were on people's radars not as the you know the clear-cut top four guy that you're going to come in and who's going to just completely change the complexion of your blue line but if you are looking for a third pairing option they'd be a really nice fit in those roles. So interesting to see. Yes, it's tough to find those right shot defensemen. And especially if you want to go a level above guys like Borgen and Carrier, then it gets really hard. But they are moving out there.

There are deals to be had out there in the NHL right now. The guys that were available and made open to trade possibilities have now been traded. Yeah. Trouba's name was out there for an awfully long time. He got dealt. Fowler, I think we talked to Frank numerous times in the weeks leading up to that deal at Anaheim. His name was out there.

I know the Carrier and Barron thing, a lot of people said, even though Carrier was a really weird situation in Nashville because he just signed a three-year extension, and then Barry Trotz decided to flip him for Justin Barron, a guy that just couldn't find his footing in Montreal. There were rumors he was going to go at the deadline last year. He probably could have got a little bit more for him

at that time. Not great asset management from Mr. Trotz. Barry Trotz might not be the managerial wizard we all thought he was going to be. I don't know. I'm loving the Barry Trotz experience in be the managerial wizard we all thought he was going to be. I don't know. I'm loving the Barry Trotz experience in Nashville. It's great. I appreciate, you know, like the bold moves, like Guy Fieri, bold flavors.

He's got bold moves and he likes making them, but maybe it doesn't always necessarily make for the best. Just taking them to Flavortown. Yeah, right. Flavortown is where you have eight wins in 30 games, apparently. But they are not... Again, I love someone that comes in and does the things that Nashville did because you need more of that.

You need someone to go out and make the splashes and be bold and be aggressive. Now, the key here is that since it's been an abject disaster, is he going to be equally as bold in trying to fix it? And that's where i think you can really start to get some interesting options as you get closer and closer to the trade deadline remember most times and i know adog you and i kind of had an offshoot of this conversation before when we were talking about about buffalo most times your trade partner isn't your ideal dance partner. It's the available dance partner. You're going to the prom, not with the person that you necessarily wanted to go to,

but the person that was available on prom night. That's just the way of the NHL, especially in-season trades, is sometimes you're forced to make things happen with not the ideal partner. And there's only going to be a handful of them because in a parody league like this, a lot of teams still believe that they're firmly in the hunt. And we've gone through this rigmarole before. I think a lot of teams think they're in it and they think that they might

be buyers rather than sellers. Right now, there's a handful of teams that are floundering. Nashville is one of them. The Rangers are one of them. Buffalo. Buffalo is the only one right now that hasn't made a one of them. The Rangers are one of them. Buffalo. Buffalo's the only one right now that hasn't made a move of significance. I mean, Montreal

has been lousy, and they made a move. Pittsburgh's been lousy. They're playing better now, and they went out and picked up Pierre Olivier Joseph basically for nothing yesterday. I mean, the Ducks were bad. They shipped out Fowler. The Blues were kind of mid, and they needed a defenseman so they

brought him on board I mean and then you look at the other one a team that was really floundering was Colorado was so desperate for a goalie they had to go out and do something right was getting Mackenzie Blackwood out of San Jose the ideal solution no

but it was the available solution there wasn't a ton of goalies available at that time, and they needed to make a move. So when you're talking about making a trade, you've got to remember sometimes it's about who's willing to make the deal and who's willing to go to the dance. On the other side of the break, which we need to get into in a moment here,

Jesse Granger from The Athletic in Vegas is going to join us. We will preview tonight's opponent for the Vancouver Canucks. It is the Red Hot Golden Knights, who are a very good and very difficult team at home. What challenge do they present tonight? Jesse will tell us on the other side. You're listening to the Halford & Brough Show on Sportsnet 650.

Hey, it's Vic Nazar. Have your say and join me on the People's Show with big takes and even bigger bets weekdays 3-4 on Sportsnet 650 or wherever you get your podcasts. 7.33 on a Thursday. Happy Thursday, everybody.

Halford Abrupt featuring Jamie Dodd on Sportsnet 650. Halford Abrupt for 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. Andy, turn on the live stream. It's busy rocking out

back here. It's shredding here. This next read goes out to Keith the Grip who mocked, mocked the cringeworthy way that I do this. Hour two of this program is brought to you by Jason Hominuck at Jason.Mortgage. If you love paying too much for your mortgage,

then don't let Jason shop around to find the perfect mortgage for you. This is the part where I tell everyone that I'm being sarcastic. I'm just joking. That you actually shouldn't love paying too much for your mortgage and you should get a hold of Jason and shop around to find the perfect mortgage for you

don't do what Donnie Don't does it is a bit confusing I got mixed reviews because when I was doing it I just stuck to the script I tried to put the sarcasm in it with my tone some people were like Jamie it doesn't with my tone. Some people were like,

Jamie, it doesn't work like that. Other people were like, oh, now I get it. I'm bearing mixed reviews. The first time I read it, again, I was in full Ron Burgundy mode. I didn't put any tone or inflection on it whatsoever. I'm like, who loves paying

too much for their mortgage? It just seems like an odd thing to say. It seems like it's counterintuitive to the whole. Why would I tell them not to go see Jason Hominuk at Jason.Morgage? You got the right read here. Anyway, I'm sure they'll change up the read in like 2027 or something like that. So for the next couple of years, you'll have that. The Vancouver Canucks are in action tonight, 7 o'clock from Vegas. It's the second of a back-to-back.

It's a tough game against a very good and very hot Vegas Golden Knights team. Joining us now to preview things from the Vegas side, from the athletic Jesse Granger now on the Halford & Brough Show on Sportsnet 650. Morning, Jesse. How are you? Good morning. I'm great. How are you guys?

We're good. Thanks for taking the time to do this. We appreciate it. So we mentioned a couple times here, but the Golden Knights playing some very good hockey as of late. They've won five of their last six. They've won nine of their last twelve. Everyone seems to be rolling along and doing very well, but we had to make

note of the fact that Jack Eichel is having one hell of a campaign for these Vegas Golden Knights. If you're not paying attention in listener land, 42 points in 31 games. That leads the team second in the NHL in assists right now, tied for second anyway. I hate asking this type

of question, but I'm going to do it anyway. How good has Jack Eichel been this season? Yeah, I mean it's a great question to ask. I think he's playing the best hockey of his life right now. It's certainly the best I've seen him play, and I think it's probably better than he ever played on a night-to-night basis in Buffalo. I just think that joining this team with a bunch of veteran players that kind of showed him how to win, and I think

playing under Bruce Cassidy has done wonders for Jack Eichel's 200-foot game. I think he belongs in the heart conversation. You obviously mentioned the offensive numbers, and they're far better than they've ever been. I think his career high for points is only 82 in a season. He's on pace for over 110 this year. But what really stands out is the defensive game. And talking to his teammates, even talking to Victor Olofsson,

who played with him in Buffalo for a few years and now is playing with him again in Vegas. He's kind of seen the two versions of Jack Eichel, and he mentioned that he's always been a guy that is defensively responsible and is counted on for that, but not to the extent that he is for Vegas. I was comparing Eichel the other day to the other top five heart candidates, McKinnon, Kaprizov, McDavid, Dreisaitl, and a few other guys. And most of them play, I don't know, between 5% and 8% of their team's penalty kill minutes. And Jack Eichel plays 48% of the Golden Knights penalty kill minutes.

He's by far their top penalty killer. The power play runs through him. He's getting 16% defensive zone starts this season, which is, again, higher than any of those other Hart candidates. He is really the Golden Knights' shutdown defensive center, and he's also second in the league in assists and is fueling a really good line. Even when guys like Mark Stone are injured,

he's been playing with kind of, they've thrown a cast of characters up there, whether it's Pavel Dorofeev, Alexander Holtz, they even had Cal Burke up there with him for a few games, and it doesn't matter who they've played on his line he's still getting us an assist every night getting a goal every other night he's just been everything for this team so far yeah i mean you mentioned the kind of rotating cast of wingers at the top of the lineup with mark stone out and looking at the depth chart at forward for the golden knights coming into the season it was very noticeable you know strong down the middle with Eichel, Carlson, Hurdle, but question marks on the wing,

obviously with the departure of Marchessault, even a guy like Michael Amadio leaving, and Mark Stone, of course, when he's in the lineup, we know how fantastic he is. Ivan Barbashev, another guy having a career year, or at least on pace to have a career year right now. What has helped him take his game to another level at the top of the Golden Knights lineup? Yeah, he's been a great fit on that Eichel line basically since the moment they traded for him at the deadline two years ago. On the year they won the Cup, he was their big deadline to add, and he's just been stylistically the perfect fit for that line

because he doesn't need the puck. So you've got players like Eichel and Stone that obviously have the puck a lot. Barbershop doesn't need it. He goes to the front of the net. He gets to the dangerous areas. He has a really – his better hands than you expect for that type of player once the puck does get on his stick in those areas. And he finishes them at an insane rate.

And it's like one of those cases where when he first got to Vegas, he was scoring quite a few goals, and it's like, well, these rates aren't sustainable. The shooting percentage is going to go down. Well, he's been able to keep it up pretty higher than you'd expect just because of the type of shots he takes. If you're only going to take shots within five feet of the net, you're going to have a higher shooting percentage.

So he does everything that Eichel and stone don't do he's he wins a lot of battles along the wall so that they don't have to he gets them the puck in space and then he goes to the net and he's just been a really good fit on that line i think he has the skills to be like a third or fourth line grinder if you need him to be it'd be a a hard four checker, but he also has better hands than you expect. So he's just been a really good fit for that one. He did get banged up the other day. He wasn't at practice yesterday. So I'm not sure if he's going to play tonight, Barbashev.

He's day-to-day with an upper body injury, according to Cassidy, after falling on his back the other night. But we'll see if we see him tonight. But, yeah, he's having a great season. Was that a dirty play he got hurt on? I know it wasino for one and the two i know he had to fight i think he had to fight colasar right after and colasar said he didn't like the play but i didn't get a chance to see it yeah i mean it was borderline i i think it was all right um it seems like that's been the case a lot this year like i know the nhl talked about it in the off season in terms of like

players having to fight after clean hits. I think that that one was borderline, and like you mentioned, the reputation kind of helps you. It helps Colasar to drop the gloves in that situation, but yeah, it was close. Tomas Hurdle, nine goals, 22 points in 31 games, so the counting stats are fine. I know plus-minus is is what it is but how on earth how is anyone on this team minus 10 how is i didn't think you're plus 16 overall uh in goal difference and you've got 20 wins in 31 games you're doing a lot of things right on the ice but there's hurdle with a dash 10 how does that even happen yeah i mean you know what i i'm not

a big fan of using plus minus either but that does does kind of tell the story, to be honest with you. Like that matches the eye test. Tomas Hurdle has not been very good at five on five. And it's weird because he's been amazing on the power play. And this Golden Knights team has been looking for a power play for eight years. I mean, through all the success they've had, they have never had a good power play until this season. And this is the best it's ever looked. And Tomas Hurdle is a huge part of it. He plays that bumper role right in front of the net and they feed him pucks and he one times them into the net at an incredible rate. I think that that's basically where all of his numbers are coming from is on that power play. He's getting,

he's touching the puck on basically every goal. So that's helping his numbers. And then obviously that doesn't help your plus minus. So that's how you end up with the negative five on five plus minus on a team that's outscoring the opposition quite a bit. I think Hurdle's come along at five on five. I think he's looked better as the season's gone on, but he still has not been the player that they expected to get when they traded from San Jose in five on five

in terms of being able to dominate the puck down low, hold onto that possession for an extra second, buy some time for your line mates to find space. He just hasn't been that player yet. We'll see if he gets there, but the good news is if he keeps playing like this on the power play, they probably won't mind because like I said, this is the most dangerous.

This is the first time I can remember where the Golden Knights are pressuring, they're pressuring, they draw a penalty, and everyone doesn't think, well, great, now we just killed the momentum. It actually feels like a dangerous weapon for this team for the first time in a while. So, Jesse, I was excited to chat with you today because I know you're a big goalie guy, and I want to ask you about Aiden Hill. And, of course, that's important not just for the matchup with the Canucks tonight, but also for Team Canada.

He's a potential starter for them at the Four Nations in February. Where is his game right now? How has he looked this season overall? Right now, his game is incredibly sharp. I think this is about as good as Aiden Hill can play. Early in the year, the first, I don't know, maybe six or seven starts, it was rough for him. He wasn't tracking the puck well.

He was giving up some bad rebounds. The numbers kind of matched that. They weren't great. But over his last 10 or 11 starts since then, he's really, really found his game. It started with a 1-0 win up in Edmonton, or sorry, against Edmonton here in Vegas, and it's just been rolling since then. It's also coincided with the team defense. Early in the year, the Golden Knights weren't playing the defense you expect from this kind

of team. They were winning games, but they were just outscoring teams. They were trading chances. It was a lot of kind of back-and-forth action. Lately, over the last month, they've really clamped down defensively. They're starting to win three to two games rather than five to four games. So I think that that has helped Hill find his game. They're allowing a little bit more predictable chances for him.

But yeah, I mean, he looks locked in right now. He's square to the pucks on every shot. His tracking's really good. He's just, he's so athletic for how big he is that when his game is on, he's really, really tough to score on because he's just such a big guy. He moves well when the puck, like when he has to get out of his structure, when the play breaks down and when the play happens the way he expects it to,

he's just so big there's nothing to shoot at. So yeah, I think he's playing really well. If he can play this well for Team Canada, they're going to have a really good chance. I think it'll be Kevin Lankanen tonight for the Canucks, but Thatcher Demko recently returned, and I noticed on social media you were watching at least a couple of his starts since he's been back. What have you made of Thatcher Demko and his return from a pretty strange injury and a long absence?

Yeah, man, it was good to see. I watched the 3-1 win over Colorado the other night, and he just looked like old-fashioned Demko. It looked like he hadn't missed any time. The guy is so technically proficient. His skating is so precise. There is not a goalie who stops on his spots

more precisely than Demko. He is just in the exact right position that every goalie coach in the world wants their goalie to be in, in basically every situation, and he was that against Colorado. Colorado the abs were whipping that puck around the zone and it didn't matter how many east-west passes they made Demko was just right there square to the puck it did like he was making saves that should have been sprawling desperation saves with his chest because he's just there so quickly his his technique is flawless. It's fun to watch when he's on.

So, yeah, fantastic to see. I know we were all kind of wondering, like, will he come back? And then if he does come back, what's he going to look like? Is he going to look like the Thatcher Demko we're used to seeing? And so far, I know it's only been three starts, but so far that's exactly what he looks like. Jesse, this was great, man. Thanks for taking the time to do this today.

We really appreciate it. Enjoy the game tonight. It should be a good one. And, again, thanks. Yep, man. Thanks for taking the time to do this today. We really appreciate it. Enjoy the game tonight. It should be a good one. And again, thanks. Yep, thanks for having me. Jesse Granger from The Athletic in Vegas here on the Halford & Brough Show with Jamie Dodd on Sportsnet 650.

I do want to talk a little bit more about what we started last segment about the trade wins that are blowing across the National Hockey League. So three deals yesterday. The Rangers send Capo Cacco to the Kraken. That's a lot of Ks. The Habs and Preds flip the fencemen.

Penguins make a minor move. I think what we're seeing right now is that first wave of movement where teams have taken stock post-American Thanksgiving. The teams that are really floundering, that think that they might be able to salvage something, are going to try and rearrange some deck chairs. I think that the Rangers are the primary example of that right now. I think to a lesser degree the Preds too.

I think the Preds still think that they can salvage this thing this season because they've loaded up their – Good luck. Well, they've loaded up that top line. Now they got Marcia. So playing with Stamkos and Forsberg and they've actually gotten some decent results out of it.

They're just so they've dug themselves such a hole that I think it'll be hard pressed to get out of it. But and then we circle back to the Canucks because we played the audio from Frank Cervalli from our show yesterday.

We played it in the previous segment. By the way, our one podcast is available for download. Apple, Google, Spotify, wherever you get your podcasts. Hour 2 will be up shortly. It definitely sounds as though the Canucks are working aggressively in a market that seems like it's finally opened up a little bit. It seems like there's more teams that are willing to entertain the idea of a trade

as opposed to, say, two weeks ago where nothing was happening. Yeah happening yeah it's interesting too because i so often there are players or teams under the microscope and everyone starts to hype it up and like oh man they're gonna do something they're gonna make a trade and then it fizzles and nothing happens right but just yesterday and even go back to the truba deal i mean probably the two the two teams that have been most in that spot this year are the rangers and they really put themselves there, right, with Chris Drury sending the memo out, and it got out to the press, obviously. And Nashville, people have been waiting to see,

okay, what are they going to do? Are they going to shake things up? And they are very much in the, like, if you're renovating your house, you know, first you have to tear everything out. Right back to the studs. And then you have to build it back up right it's not a rebuild necessarily but i don't think for a second that new york is going to clear all this cap space this year and will borgen's going to be their big ad like that's not happening you know what i mean and if nashville thinks they

still have a chance to salvage their season and make a desperation push for the playoffs well justin barron's not going to be there at either right so i think we're starting to see the groundwork being laid by some of these teams for something bigger but i also wonder you know okay these teams have felt the need to act quickly to act before the roster freeze are there other teams out there most notably a team like buffalo that feels the need to do the same that feels that sense of urgency that oh man we we can't wait for six weeks we have to do something now to start this process look you brought up a good point with the rangers there's no way that they're done there's no way that chris jury's solution to the problems that ail them

are to give away capo caco and to give away Jacob Truba. Just sell low on both those guys. They've opened up some cap space. I'll be very curious to see what they want to do and what direction they want to go in. Everything circles, for this show anyway, back around what the Canucks can potentially pry out of some of these teams.

So the Rangers are still a team that is very much interested in wanting to make moves. And then we come back to Buffalo and Buffalo again, mired in an 11 game losing streak. They won't play again until Friday, which is a game that they will have at home against the Toronto Maple Leafs who won last night,

by the way, in case you missed that one, a pretty impressive five, three win against the Dallas Stars in the Robertson Bowl, which also featured as the first game that they didn't have Anthony Stollers, and we're playing Joseph Wall as their starter. So they've got the Sabres have Toronto coming up.

Then they go brief two-game trip to Boston and New York to take on the Islanders. The only reason I'm breaking down the Sabres roster in great detail is that of all the teams that have had awful starts or awful stretches of the season, almost all of them have made some kind of move. And in Buffalo, the trade is really the only thing they've got left because we go back to it,

and we talked about this yesterday, I can't see them firing Lindy Ruff. No. If you want to fire Kevin Adams, I don't know how that translates to an on-ice product. When's the last time that a GM firing has really altered the course of a team in the regular season? That's the thing.

You're not firing the GM to save this season, right? You might want to do it anyways with an eye to the future, but even I made the comparison yesterday on the show to the end of the Benning Green era in Vancouver. But that was the coach too, right? And we didn't call that, you know, the Rutherford Alvin bump. We called it the Boudreaux bump because they had the coaching change and they had the new atmosphere. You're not getting that just with a GM hire and it would be asking a lot to, you know, fire Kevin Adams right now, hire a replacement, ask them to get up to speed, assess everything going on with the organization, and then make moves that's going to dramatically improve the product this season. Like there's a reason you don't see it happen a lot.

It's too much. It's too tall a task in season for a general manager to take on i don't need i think the question of what buffalo ownership is thinking is fascinating do they are they even trying to save the season are they content to say all right this is another lost one and we'll try to uh you know figure things out in the off season and be better next year if they're trying to save it this year it's getting pretty late like they like you look at all the other teams making moves they've got to do something and it's not firing the coach or they're kind of punting on this season so it's funny right we had paul

hamilton from wgr radio and buffalo on the show uh on friday november the 29th which was that game which vancouver went into buffalo and won 4-3 in overtime. At that point, and it doesn't feel that long ago because it wasn't that long ago, Paul was talking about the optimism surrounding this team because heading into and right on American Thanksgiving, they were right in the thick of the playoff chase. They were right there. They might not have been in the spot,

but they were as close as they had ever been, and I believe they were one game above NHL 500. Things were fine. They got a point out of that Vancouver game, so the things were still good. Since then, they've lost nine in a row, and they've sunk all the way down right next to Montreal

as the bottom feeders in the Eastern Conference. It is just the floor has completely fallen out from under them. And when you talk about saving a season, I think it might be even more than that. It might be like saving the mental psyche of this franchise. Because with every single loss that goes on, the stakes get higher now. That's what happens when the owner flies into Montreal and has this meeting that the media catches wind of. It draws everyone's attention

to the team, but not in a good way. It's like that scene from Wedding Crashers. It's like, draw attention to yourself, but in a positive way. Don't sulk in the corner. Everyone's paying attention to you, but for bad reasons now. It's like, well, what comes next? And then you play horribly against, to that point, the only team that had a worse record than you in the Eastern Conference.

Now they don't because they won that game, right? But it's hard not to interpret that as anything other than the players kind of implicitly saying, this isn't working. You know what I mean? Like, we don't have it in us. We are not going to turn this around on our own. Something needs to change in the makeup of this team. But good luck.

Good luck trying to do it right now. So I think everyone's put the Cousins-Byram thing to bed, and now we're going even bigger game hunting. And someone took issue. I think it was Austin and Langley took issue with your Tage Thompson acquisition idea yesterday. Yeah, he wanted Dallin. Yeah, I get that.

I mean, if you're going to trade a guy like Pedersen, go for the best guy possible. Big game hunting. I haven't moved on necessarily from Byram, just not as part of a Pedersen deal. Yeah, but Byram's one bad hit away from retirement. Sure. He's like super injury prone, and I don't know. I'm not high on Byram.

I mean, I guess he would be better than a lot of their current options, but there's that risk involved with Byram. If you're going to trade Petey, though, I would hope the return would be something not Dylan. My entire takeaway from this is that you have to treat the Buffalo Sabres like a wounded animal. You have to take advantage. You need to take advantage of them.

You can't just try to do a deal that maybe keeps them around. This is where you go big game hunting, because what have other clubs done to Buffalo in the past? I always point to the big three in my mind. O'Reilly, Eichel, Reinhardt. Those teams saw it, and they're like, we're going to gut these guys, and we're going to take one of their best players, and we're going to be on a rocket ship to the Stanley Cup.

You don't need Darlene. Don't worry about it. Yeah, you have to try to do something. I mean, honestly, the way that they're talking about, and this is pie-in-the-sky stuff, I get it, but the way that they are talking about Owen Power right now in Buffalo, which is like, hey, he's not coming along like we thought he would, and his progress hasn't been exactly what we thought.

I would be, and not for Pedersen or whatever, but just when you're talking about trying to take advantage of a wounded team and draw something out of it, that's the guy I'd be. Yeah, power is kind of circling him over and over again. He probably fits the mold of those other guys most closely. Even though he's not a center, he's a defenseman.

First overall pick and the team's bad and everyone's like, we don't really love this guy i mean he's still like he has 20 points in 32 games he's a 6-6 defenseman you pick power over dahlien or thompson you're saying i think power is more realistic than dahlien yeah see dahlien is the captain and he's been there longer and dahlien's a little bit so a little little bit more just in terms of what Buffalo's thinking. I think if you were to have them do something crazy and where they're like, we're going to really

shake things up, I do wonder if that's the one that they'd at the very least be 5%, 10% chance of opening. And that would be the one that I'd be swinging for. Because that's the one where you're like, that is a young, top-flight defenseman

that maybe hasn't figured it out yet, but he doesn't have the stink of Buffalo firmly ingrained yet. You could get it off him. What about Power and Thompson? But even if he did have the stink, I mean, I think we've seen what leaving Buffalo can do for a player. Good tomato juice bath will get rid of that. No problem.

What about Miller and Pedersen for power and Thompson? Make them go to the same team. Now we're talking. The ultimate troll. Yeah. Guys, good news. We fixed the situation for us, but you're going to the same team together.

The tricky thing is, though, is that there are guys that have stayed too long in Buffalo and you can't get the standoff. You can't salvage it. Yeah. It's a very tricky place to do trades with. That's what makes it

so fascinating. Okay, we're way up against it for time. On the other side, Thomas Drance from The Athletic Vancouver and Canucks Talk here on the

Halford & Brough Show on Sportsnet 650.