Halford & Brough in the Morning - It's NFL Wild Card Weekend!

Episode Date: January 9, 2025

In hour two, Mike & Jason preview NFL Wild Card Weekend with NFL.com's Nick Shook, plus the boys look ahead at what's next for the Canucks and go elsewhere around the NHL (27:00). 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.

Music 7.02 on a Thursday. Happy Thursday everybody. Halford Brough, Sportsnet 650. Halford Brough 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. We are in hour two of the program. Nick Shook from NFL.com is going to join us in just a moment here to kick off hour two. Hour two 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. Visit him online at Jason.mortgage. We are coming to you live from the Kintec studio. Kintec footwear and orthotics working together with you in step. Kintec. Yeah. To the phone lines we go. Nick Shook from NFL.com joins us now on the Haliford and Brough show on Sportsnet 650. Morning Nick, how are you? I'm good, how are you guys? We're good. I'm excited for wild card weekend. I'm very much looking forward to it. It's our last Monday night game of the year as well But before we get to all that I want to ask you big picture looking at the entire slate of games ahead

Which wild card matchup is Nick shook most looking forward to this weekend? Well the most intriguing matchup of all of them to me I think is, is Commander's Buccaneers, because that's the one when I sit back, I could coin flip it. I could see it going either way for a number of different reasons. And I could also see it, you know, being a pretty lopsided affair, potentially in the favor of the Buccaneers, if the Commander's don't hold up defensively. So that's probably the most intriguing game on the slate this weekend for me. But I'm also curious to see, you know, how this Packers Eagles matchup,

I think both of the 17 matchups are kind of interesting because I need to see where the Eagles are right now. And you know, a lot of that has to do with Jalen Hurts and his availability. But they've also just been a team that, you know, they're probably my favorite out of the NFC, but I just haven't really seen the team that I expect to see in the last couple of weeks. Now, granted, they still probably my favorite out of the NFC, but I just haven't really seen the team that I expect to see in the last couple of weeks. Now, granted, they still won their games, but, um, you know, it didn't look the same.

So I just need to see where they are as an offense, um, in the playoffs against the Packers team. Then I also need to figure out who they are at this point, because the team that I saw blow out the saints is not the team that I've seen play football in the last couple of weeks. So that that's pretty interesting to me as well. And, uh, the Broncos getting the back in the playoffs the first time in about a decade. A face in the Bills team that has also had a bit

of a shaky last couple of games. That's another intriguing matchup as well. But if I had to choose one out of all of them, it's definitely commanders, Buccaneers. Yeah, I think I might've jinxed the Green Bay Packers because they played the Seahawks in week 15 and they went into Seattle and handled them. And I was pretty impressed with Green Bay Packers because they played the Seahawks in week 15 and they went into Seattle and handled them.

And I was pretty impressed with Green Bay, just like the play along the line was dominant against the Seahawks, which maybe isn't all that hard against the Seahawks, but they looked really good and they kind of moved the ball at will against the Hawks. And then as you mentioned, the next week, they shut out the Saints 34 to nothing, but then

they lose in Minnesota and they lost their final game against the Chicago Bears. What happened in those final two weeks to the Packers? Yeah, you know, I was right there with you with the jinxing. I think I even went as far as saying that they're the, they gave me, they're the first team that gave me 2016 Atlanta Falcons vibes and maybe that was the

kiss of death. We'll find out. But because they have not looked good in the last two weeks. It's it's been a number of different issues. I think it's kind of hard to pin down. But I know this most recent game, which obviously you already have your playoff berth in hand, but you still want to play well. The passing game was notorious.

Like, like, notably bad. It was very, very bad against the Bears defense that has given teams trouble, but they just looked disjointed. They looked out of sync and that was pretty concerning. The weak friar, you know, they were never really in that Vikings game until, they mounted a, you know, a frantic fourth quarter comeback attempt and fell short in that one. That's to be expected against that Vikings team. I think the Vikings are just better than them and it was in Minnesota so

I get that. I think that they've lacked consistency over four quarters in the last couple of games which is the exact opposite of who they were in the previous two to four weeks. So that's what makes it hard to pin them down but I do like their potential. I like their young talent and I love their coach. I think he's done a fantastic job of scheming up this offense. It's just that when they face, you know, premier competition, Philly, Minnesota, Detroit, Detroit again, Minnesota again, and then of course Chicago being the outlier there, they've lost these games. So maybe they're a team that's just going to lose games to good teams, they're going

to lose them narrowly. Maybe they're a team that needed just going to lose games to good teams and they're going to lose them narrowly. Maybe they're a team that needed to lose those games to figure it out now, but in the last couple of weeks, it's definitely been a lack of everybody being on the same page, synchronicity on the offensive side. If you had to guarantee one winner from this weekend, who would it be? Some good options would be the Bills at home versus the Broncos or the Ravens at home versus the Steelers, or you can go off the board and choose another team. Hmm.

This is actually difficult because I feel pretty confident about a lot of these games. I got to look back since they're going to be the Chargers. But if I had a guarantee, if my life was on the line, I'm choosing the Baltimore Ravens. Because I don't care about this rivalry. The way that the Steelers have played over the last four to five weeks,

they have run out of gas. I think they peaked a little too early and they don't really have any answers to what they wanna do or for their struggles that they're having offensively. It's that drive, this last couple drives that they tried to mount against the Bengals in week 18 were just pitiful. And it's really been a microcosm of who they've been for the last month.

Not since they beat the Browns, you know, early December, they looked good. It's like Russell Wilson threw for 400 yards against the Bengals in week 13. And since then, he's like, die, I forgot how to do that again. The deep ball, a lot of that coincided by the way, with the loss of Georgia Pickens, he's back now and the offense still hasn't figured it out. Um, you took away his crutch on third down and long and, and forced him to find other ways to get it done. He hasn't been able to, then you give him this crutch back and even his

crutch game makes him get just the med being Pickens. So, uh, their defense has not played up to standard either, neither side of the ball is playing well. And Baltimore is on absolute fire right now. I just have a hard time going against Baltimore until they get to the AFC championship game. If they do get there because they're just playing phenomenal football. All that being said, is there anyone with more

pressure on him than Lamar Jackson in the playoffs? No, absolutely not. I think he is, especially when it pertains to quarterback, which is obviously the highest pressure position in the NFL. Um, yeah, I don't think anybody's got any more pressure on it because, you know, he could probably, when I had Josh Allen winning the MVP in the last couple of weeks, I've shifted back to Lamar again. And I think rightfully so.

I know it's my opinion. So of course I'm going to agree with it. Right. But I think that a lot of people who have watched these two teams play in the last few weeks and now they finished would agree that I think Lamar has regained the lead in the MVP race. I don't think he's gonna get it because of voter fatigue but if it were me I would be voting for Lamar Jackson for his third MVP and yet how much does that matter when he hasn't gotten to the

Super Bowl? We live in a society where I think that we are too dominated by the ring talk, right? But at the same time, it does matter in your overall legacy and that's why you play the game is to win championships. You know, all the other awards are nice, but you play the game and win championships. And so, yeah, I think he's under the most pressure by far if anybody out there right now in the NFL,

especially when it comes to quarterback. I mean, we were talking about it yesterday and what was the, how did he reference himself? He's yippy or he's... He just got too antsy. Too antsy. Too excited. Too excited. Too excited. And I think there's some...

You said yippy. I said yippy. There's some credence to this though, because if you look at what happens in the playoffs where things get a little tighter, Maybe the offense isn't rolling as smoothly as it has during the regular season. I feel like Lamar in the past has tried to go Superman mode because that's what's worked in the regular season when you're taking on like the two and seven Titans and like in the middle of the season, right? It's different in the playoffs. He turned the ball over with such regularity in those six previous playoff games in his career.

I think it's six picks and three lost fumbles. If he just doesn't do that and maybe say, hey, we can let Derrick Henry take over for a bit or we can win a game tight, one score. And if I just don't make mistakes and I make enough plays, that's the way to win in the playoffs. I'm thinking that might be the way to unlock this whole ring talk thing for Lamar Jackson.

Yeah. I mean, what I, what I like about what they've done over the last, I guess I would say since about week 10, um, they've kind of played within themselves largely. Yeah. The games that concerned me, the only game that really concerned me was the Eagles loss. And we find out later that, you know, Deontay Johnson doesn't want to go in the game. And I think that was a game that proved to me that the Eagles are just as good, if not better than the Ravens.

I honestly think that could have been a Superbowl preview at this point. And it was a great game and between two, you know, very good teams. Since then, the Ravens have scored 31 plus points in every game. Now, great. They played the Giants, they played the Steelers, so they ran away with that win in the fourth quarter. They played the Texans and just absolutely dominated them. And then the Browns, so it's not the best measuring stick for this team going into the playoffs.

But because of what happened last year, I think about Todd Munkin and how he called a terrible game in the AFC Championship game last year. They had five design runs the entire time. And they lost in a low scoring affair, but they never needed to throw the ball that much in. And I understand that, you know, play callers can get tall enough with the pass at times,

it's the pass first league now and everything else, but their bread and butter is on the ground. And it's Derek Henry and it's also Lamar. And then the passing game is built out of that. And I think that they, last year's experience really taught them, hey, you know, in this situation, we can't afford to go get all pass happy and everything. Now that could all change in one Sunday. It did last year. But I like what they've been

able to accomplish offensively in year two of Todd Muggin, giving them more and more agency of the offensive line before, you know, the snap and just the way that they've been more multiple offensively. I think that that is going to help them in the playoffs. It makes them more confident in them than where they were last year. And if I hadn't seen what they've done this year, I would have maintained the same lack of confidence in them because of what they did in the playoffs last year. I'm much more confident in them now.

We're speaking to Nick Shug from NFL.com here on the Halford & Brough show on Sportsnet 650. Is there a dark horse candidate from this wild card round that you could see maybe making a run? Not unlike, I keep going back to what Cincinnati did in the 2022 playoffs where they came in as a four seed, then they beat Vegas, and then they upset number one seed at Tennessee, and then they upset number two seed

at Kansas City and went all the way to the Super Bowl. They didn't come in with the fanfare that they exited the playoffs with. I'm wondering if there's a similar, maybe even just slightly similar situation in this wild card field. You know, I kind of go back to the Chargers. They've been playing really good football lately.

And the reason I'm a big fan of them right now is because they can actually throw the football now, which they couldn't do for most of the season. Quentin Johnson had a career day in his most recent outing because they were able to throw the football. Getting J.K. Dobbins back was huge. Lad McConkie has been great.

Offensive lines rounding in to form Justin Herbert slinging that thing, just showing off his arm. He's one of the best quarterbacks in the NFL. When he's protected and he actually has talent around him, which I know, he's given a lot of breaks, he's a top five quarterback to me. It's just that he hasn't really had an opportunity to show that off until the last few weeks. I know they've played the Patriots and the Chargers and everything else, but they've looked like this for a little bit now.

And I liked the matchup with the Texans. I think that would mean Chargers in that game. And I could see them taking on most of these teams, but I don't think I don't think I had that much faith in those mangles back then either. So yeah, Hoco Chargers. Is Sam Darnold a guarantee to return to Minnesota as their starting quarterback? Or do you think they still need to see a bit more? And obviously they're going to see something in the playoffs when the Vikings open against the Rams. Hopefully they're able to have that game in Los Angeles, but if the fires persist, it

might be in Arizona. Yeah, judging by the discourse regarding Sam going into that Sunday night game, I would say that it's not guaranteed that he'll be back. I think it's a matter of do you pay the guy for one good year or do you let another team pay the guy because you already drafted the guy that you thought was gonna be the guy before he had the knee injury in the preseason

that ended his season and forced you to turn to Sam Darnold. The fact that he had his worst game of the season on Sunday night in what was essentially a pseudo playoff game, that doesn't help his case. And I think as crazy as it sounds, you know, he's had a great year. I think a lot of the decision-making will come down to how he fares this weekend and if they win this weekend the next weekend and if they win that weekend the next weekend. This is where truly

where the money is made, where the legacies are forged and everything else and for as great of a year Sam Darnold has had, if he flops really hard in the playoffs, that's probably all people are gonna remember. Now, front offices are wiser than that. They're not just gonna make a knee-jerk reaction, but I think market value really matters right now. And because he's on a one-year deal,

we'll see, I think that they're gonna let him test the market at some point, especially if, I mean, he could go on a Super Bowl run and at that point, even then he might price himself out. Right. So I think that the likelihood of him being back there, it's 50% or less just because they have the quarterback.

They have the guy that they drafted and he's going to be, Darlin's going to be expensive. Cause I mean, I could think of a number of teams right now that would go take him immediately. What are the chances of a Detroit Buffalo Super Bowl, because that's the one that we're cheering for and I think a lot of others, if your team and our team, the Seahawks is out, that's the

matchup you want to see. Yeah, man. I mean, I live on, you know, like five minutes away from Lake Erie and then these two teams are situated along Lake Erie in different areas, right? This is exactly what this whole region wants. And I think football fans in general want this. The Bills have never won a Super Bowl. They've been there four times.

The Lions have never been there. How could you not want this type of outcome between two Midwestern teams that have risen to prominence over the last few years, the Lions being the more recent rise, uh, the bill has been around a little bit longer in terms of success, but I'm, I'm concerned because my preseason pick was going to be, it was Lions, Texans, and I have lost my faith in the Texans because they can't protect their quarterback. I am concerned that the Lions have just weathered so many injuries on the defensive side of all of it.

They're going to catch themselves in a situation where they can't score it well, which they have for so long this season, and their defense can't get a stop. And that's how they get beat. The good thing is that they'll have home field advantage. I don't put too much stock into it, but I do when you're in a dome. And I think that'll definitely benefit them. But I also, I need to see the Bills prove it. I think that they've played really well most of this year but I think the AFC

is gonna be a bit of a gauntlet for them. So likelihood I'm not gonna put a ton into it but I would love to see that match up. I still feel like I'm gonna end up seeing the Eagles come out of the NFC and that is obviously dependent on June Hurts but I would love to see the Lions make it. I'm not being a hater in any way, shape or form. I just tend to be a cynic and it's, it's creeping up right now as we're in January. Do you think the Lions offensive coordinator, Ben Johnson is going to get a head coaching job?

I think that most of those teams that are looking for head coaches would trip and fall over backward to hire him right now. Like they would, they would do somersaults just to get down the stairs to get to them at the meeting. I think anybody would love to hire him. It's just a matter of where's he want to go because I think he's in one of those rare positions as a coordinator where he can kind of pick and choose where he wants to go. Do you want to go to Chicago? You know they do have tools over there. They do have a franchise quarterback but do you want to go to Chicago? You know, they do have tools over there. They do have a franchise quarterback,

but do you want to go there with that, with the way the organization is run? Do you want to go to Vegas? Were that the way that organization is run? Where they don't have a quarterback unless you believe in Aiden O'Connell, who kind of has a little bit of golf in him now that I think about it. Um, or, or do you want to stay in Detroit and keep scheming up this offense and keep waiting? I think at one point you overplay your hand and you lose that opportunity to truly cash in. But I don't think that he's quite in that situation yet.

I don't know if he'll ever have more leverage than he does right now, but if I was him, I would just enjoy the moment and let that figure itself out. Because as we've seen from him this year and then Lyon's offense, I mean, he's, he's operating at a different level than most other play callers in the NFL right now. He's got, he's called a hook and ladder like five times this year and it's worked every time. What can you, what more can he ask from the guy? Uh, he'll have his, his job with his choosing. I think it's just a matter of when he wants to leave.

How tough do you think it is to have to do these interviews with teams while at the same time trying to game plan for your team in the playoffs? That does happen at the same time, doesn't it? It doesn't? Yeah. I thought about that a lot over the last few years, especially this year, because frankly guys, sometimes I have a hard time getting everything done in a day. I can't imagine trying to prepare for a playoff game and also having to sit down and go on zoom with a team or whatever for however many hours that they want to talk to you I mean in that position you know you have the

privilege of being like look I gotta get back to work I can't talk to you forever but at the same time if you want to take it seriously you kind of have to so I'm also somebody who is always you know the first in line to be like, oh, I'm sorry. No, take all my time, please. I don't know. I'm a people pleaser. Yeah, exactly. I can't tell anybody now. So it would be a lot of pressure for me. And they definitely have to juggle a lot. But luckily they're preparing for one opponent, one game. And they do have the whole week. But yeah, that would be that would throw. I wouldn't want to interview if I was in the playoffs.

I'll tell you that. Do you think Bill Belichick is confirmed? North Carolina. Come on, Halfords got a hot take that he's going to. I said he'd be back next year. Like it's been one year at UNC and then he'd be back. But I think they might expedite that. We could be living in an NFL that's not too long from now

that has Pete Carroll and Bill Belichick back in it after one year away. Like, it's, it's, so just to let everyone know, the listeners right now, Tom Brady, minority owner of the Las Vegas Raiders, reportedly, reportedly reached out to Bill Belichick about their vacant head coaching job. And this was a big story because Bill Belichick as you mentioned has already taken the job at the University of North Carolina

So my hot take expediting was that maybe he'll just leave the UNC job and remember in 2000 Bill Belichick was hired as the head coach of the New York Jets and he lasted One day as the head coach of the New York Jets and and he lasted one day as the head coach of the New York Jets, and then he left to change his life. Tell him how he resigned. Pardon me? Tell him how he resigned,

because basically what he did is he wrote on a napkin, I resign as HC of the NYJ-BB. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And I'm like, you just have to change it to UNC now, and then all of a sudden you're the head coach of the Raiders, but he did, Belichick has stated publicly that he's not going to leave. Right.

Well, look, that I am the type that is always going to be skeptical. OK. And not going to like the ink is dry and everything. Right. But there's a 10 million dollar buyout at UNC. That's not a lot of money for a team to pay to buy him out. They would quickly cover that. In fact, if you look at buyouts across college football, that's nothing compared to other teams. And from some of the reporting I've read from those who are, you know, in touch in college football and very plugged in, that's been a concern since the ink dried at Chapel Hill. So anything could happen,

I think. I'm not going to rule it out at this point. But also, let's consider this too. Tom Brady, minority owner of the Raiders reportedly reaches out. Tom Brady, also color commentator for Fox. There's too much conflict here between all of these parties. I know we're all familiar and everything, but this is messy. So I wouldn't rule it out at all. But at the same time, we'll see. We'll see. We'll see. No, we'll see. We'll see. Crazier things have happened. What do you think about Pete Carroll's chances of landing?

I guess he's interviewing in Chicago. Oh, it's Thursday. He's interviewing in Chicago today. I think that Chicago would benefit from a coach like him. I don't know if the fit is perfect and Pete is no spring chicken, although he looks like one. The guy has aged wonderfully. But I think that they need a leader like that.

I mean, think about the last coaches they've taken. You think about like a Matt Nagy, Matt Eberfluss. These were coordinators that were getting their first shots at a head coaching job. This is a guy who has coached, has head coached for decades, even going back to the age of the 90s. He's got tons of experience. He's got the enthusiasm that you need

to turn around a young team. So I think that fit actually does make more sense, but the age is a factor. I also felt like when he parted from Seattle, it was probably time for it, but at the same time, I didn't necessarily hold against him. The performance against him just felt like, all right, well, it's time to move on.

So I think that fit would be great, but I also know that the Bears are turning over every possible stone in this coaching search, and I don't think we're ready to get a resolution very quickly. So it would be interesting. I would love to see him back in the NFL. You know, his enthusiasm alone for the game, I think is, you know, very entertaining.

I don't think it's yet passed him by, so we'll see. I would love to see him with the Raiders. The Raiders, they're a sad franchise right now. I don't even think about the Raiders and I should think about the Raiders because the Raiders are the Raiders. Like it's crazy how far they've fallen off. I don't know where they're going to go.

I just don't know where they're going to go. Ben, I agree with you though because the Raiders are the Raiders, but at the same time, they have fallen significantly and they don't have a quarterback. And now, and they won themselves out of a position to draft a quarterback, frankly, like everybody wanted, you know, tank for Chateau and then up there goes that pick. Like you have two teams in front of the quarterback now. So they have a lot of things to figure out. For a second, I thought they were going to keep Antonio Pierce for just a brief second. I was like, well, maybe they'll just run

it back because they're not quite in the position to be able to go make a big hire But this is a team that has lacked direction for a while now, so they can go any direction and it wouldn't surprise me Nick you're the best man. Thanks for taking the time to do this. Enjoy a wild card weekend. It'll be a lot of fun Here's a reminder. It's no longer super wild card weekend. Let's get that right Thanks, Nick Nick from NFL calm from NFL.com here on the Haliford and Breff show on Sportsnet 650. So the NFL added a tweak this year to the rules for coaches interviewing with teams while their

teams are still alive in the playoffs. The length of the interviews has been limited to three hours. So that includes formal interviews, meals, or any other part of the process. If you take them out for dinner, it's got to be a three hour dinner. Like so Ben Johnson's interviewing right now.

Part of that, like there's no hard and fast rule. Like the three hour rule is hard and fast rule, but some do and some don't. Some coordinators do, some don't. Ben Johnson has a little bit more time because they're on a buy this week. So it makes sense that he go interview. And I think he's interviewing with the Patriots on Friday.

Yeah. Right? Because he's got a little bit of time. He doesn't know who he's playing yet. He doesn't have to scheme anything up. He doesn't need, he didn't, I kind of agree with Nick though. Like last year people wanted him and I think he said no. And this year, you know, is he, is he still

going to be in that same position? Well, he probably, I mean, he could say no and stay on with Detroit under Dan Campbell and be the offensive coordinator, have fun with the Lions. But if you want to be a head coach, you don't want to look back and be like, Oh, I waited too long, like next season, the Lions offense falls apart or something like that.

You know, and then all of a sudden you're not the hot coaching prospect. If you're an offensive coordinator, you want to go somewhere that's got a quarterback, like a legitimate bonafide. And so like New England, they're pretty high on Drake may you look good. Yeah. Stretches this year. Um, is Trevor Lawrence salvageable in Jacksonville? I don't know.

I mean, that to me is a dicey one at this stage of the game. Just Jacksonville in general seems dicey. But for these coaches though, right? Like from a financial perspective. Yeah. If you get the big contract, you're talking about being set for life. Yep.

You know, so for your family, sometimes like, is there going to be this perfect situation that you're going to land in where the team is ready to go? You've got the franchise quarterback and you're going to go in there and it's going to be perfect. Maybe, but maybe not. Before we go to break, I need to tell you about

Jan Pro. From the boardroom to the break room and everywhere in between, Jan Pro keeps workplaces tidy, clean, and disinfected. For a free quote, visit JanPro.ca. Open segment coming up. We can dive back into the Canucks talk, back into the world of hockey and the national hockey league. You're listening to the Halford and Brough show on Sportsnet 650.

Canucks talk with Jamie Dodd and Thomas Drance. We'll dive deep into all that's happening with the Vancouver Canucks. Listen 12 to 2 PM on Sportsnet 650 or wherever you get your podcasts. 734 on hey Thursday. Don in Penticton is losing his mind right now. At least he gets a shout out on the radio. Don and Penticton has written in no fewer than 10 times, asking to stop it with Thrash Thursdays. I gotta be honest, and I know this is gonna upset Adog. No, it's not happening, bud.

I'm not a fan. Nope. I'm not a fan. That last one was just symbols. The people love it. Like, symbols and- The people have spoken. Don and Penticton is not one of those people.

He hates it. He's not one of those people. He hates it. He's not one of those people. You are listening to the Haliford and Bruff show on Sportsnet 650. Haliford and Bruff 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- Bruff, I think you need to embrace your inner metal head. I think that's the problem. Not at 7.30 in the30. I don't think he has an inner metal head. Oh Surely he must Yeah, I did when I was younger. He strikes me lost a lot since I was young Enjoyment for life basically

enthusiasm passion for pretty much anything We I'm fully cold We are in our two of the program. Hour two is brought to you by Jason Hominuk at Jason.mortgage. And as I continue to shout out listeners, big shout out to Symo on Twitter, who actually reached out last night out of the blue to offer me a suggestion for the Jason Hominuk read. He said, instead of saying,

I'm just kidding, you know how I always do that. If you love spending too much money, and then I'm just joking. He said, how about after you say, if you love paying too much for your mortgage, you follow up with, well, that's weird, you're strange, you're quite eccentric, that's perplexing. So I actually, instead of saying that I'm being sarcastic, say why would anyone do that? That's a very strange thing to do. Why would you wanna waste more of your money? Okay.

So thank you to Simo. You don't get a lot of people offering- Invested in the ad rates. Yeah, and offering good constructive criticism. Anyway, if you love paying too much for your mortgage, then don't let Jason shop around to find the perfect mortgage for you. That would be weird.

Right. That'd be perplexing. Eccentric, if you will. Visit him online at jason.mortgage. You're making this read so complicated. It's a 30 second read, and it takes you 12 minutes. What's it about? Visit him at jason.mortgage.

Like Halfords interviewing the reads, like this big preamble explaining what it is. Not.ca, not.com. Do it the way Dodd does it, just he reads it. That's all he does. All right. There are three other games in the NHL last night, besides the Canucks losing to the

Capitals 2-1 in overtime. Um, I don't know if you've been watching what's going on in LA right now with the fires, but the Kings flames game was postponed. I don't know if you've been watching what's going on in LA right now with the fires, but the Kings flames game was postponed. Um, hopefully they can get those fires under control. That's as, that was tragic watching that. And, uh, you know, uh, good luck to all the

firefighters. And I think there are some Canadians down there fighting the fires in Los Angeles. So, uh, I mean, that flames Kings game, that was going to be scoreboard watching for the Canucks because the Canucks are in a race with the Calgary Flames for that final wild card spot in the Western conference.

Utah lost, which is good news for the Canucks because Utah is one of those teams in the race for a wild card spot. They lost 4-1 at home to Florida and that game got spicy. Watch that game got spicy. Watch that game last night. There were a couple scuffles in that game. Um, Chicago won three to one.

And I think we should mention that Connor Bedard now has an eight game point streak. He scored a goal last night. Really nice shot. So it's good to see Connor Bedard having some success. Uh, it was a good win for them over the Avs last night. I'm sure Jared Bednar, the head coach of the

Avs wasn't too happy with the loss, but it's a, it's a weird situation because I am rooting for Connor Bedard because he's a local kid and he seems like a nice young man, but I don't want the Blackhawks to have success. God no. You know, I don't want them to have success. And, and, you know, I know there's a lot of

people out there. I was like, yeah, but eventually maybe if the, if Chicago is so bad, he'll, he'll get out of there and he'll come to Vancouver. Okay, maybe, but the Hawks have club control over Bedard for like another five years after this one. So that's, that's a long way off. Got to play the long game though. So that's, that's a long way off.

Got to play the long game though. I don't, I don't know. I just don't want to see him languishing there on a terrible team, but I want Chicago to be terrible. It's very difficult. It's kind of like, uh, how I feel about, this is a real stretch, but the Oklahoma city thunder. I want SGA to be successful.

He's a Canadian and he's one of the biggest stars in the NBA and probably doesn't get enough attention in Canada, but I never want Oklahoma city to be successful because they are the former Seattle supersonics. Well, I got bad news for you cause they are successful. I know.

Did you watch that game last night? Uh, I heard of what I didn't, but I heard it was a, it was a barn burner. Uh, so yesterday, and this is kind of a testament to how little we are talking about basketball on the Halford and Bruff show. Now, historically we've talked a lot of hoops, but, uh, over the last season and a half, two seasons, we've really, I would say actually probably to the detriment of the show, cause we are a well-rounded sports show.

We just haven't spent enough time talking about the Hoopies. So it was Cavs Thunder last night in one of the most hotly anticipated NBA regular season games that you're ever going to get because these were the top two teams in the NBA and Cleveland moved to 32 and four. 32 and four with the win over SGA. What? 32 and four with the win over SGA. Who have they got? They've got Donovan Mitchell. Donovan Mitchell. Like who else? Donovan Mitchell. Right.

Also Donovan Mitchell. Donovan Mitchell. No, they've got a very good team. Was this expected from them or is this a surprise that they are having such a good season? Because Oklahoma City, people were like, yeah, they'll be good. None of this could be expected, not as good. So right now they are the second team in NBA history to open the season 32 and four. The last one was the 2015, 2016 Golden State Warriors, who of course set an NBA record with 73 wins.

So you're on a historic pace. So you can't expect that to happen. Um, I did, you know, going back to your, uh, analogy though, um, it's an interesting one because I can, I think. You don't feel the same way about the Sonics though. You never, you never did.

Like I was a huge Sonics fan. I was, I was, when the Grizzlies were here, I was still a Sonics fan. I was going to say, I don't think it's as big of a stretch as you think it is. You want someone individual to succeed, just not in the market that they're currently in. That's pretty normal, I would say. To bring it back to Bidard, like, and we never went over the Jeremy Ronick thing, did we? It was on the list of things that we should have addressed. So.

Imagine that story in Vancouver if it played out. So, uh, recently Jeremy Ronick publicly blasted Connor Bedard for not coming up to himself, Chris Cellios and Denny Savard at the recent winter classic, which was in Chicago and doubled as a celebration of all the great Blackhawks throughout the team's history, which of course included Ronick, Cellios and Savard.

So Jarrod was upset that Bedard didn't kiss the ring and congratulate him for getting into the hall of fame and congratulate him for being such an amazing person. Jeremy Ronick, Jeremy Ronick, Jeremy Ronick. Here's the quote. So he's willing to go out on a podcast because he's so proud of the Blackhawks.

He's willing to go publicly on a broadcast and rip their, he's a proud of the Blackhawks. He's willing to go publicly on a broadcast and rip their easy 19, 20 year old star player instead of just doing this privately. According to Ronick. It's all about JR. Every, according to Ronick, every player on the Blackhawks came up to talk to the three of them,

except Bedard. Ronick then said, if we don't have that respect to go up and fist bump, to say congratulations, how can you do it with your own teammates? Oh God. I'm not ripping on him. Jerry, you're not on the team anymore, pal. I'm not ripping on him in terms of his personality or anything like that.

Yes, you are. If he's going to be the captain of this team, there's a lot of things that he has to think about in terms of being that leader, that captain. And unfortunately he dropped the ball. Why say that publicly? Why? Because JR is- Because JR is JR?

Yeah. If you really care about the situation, then you do that behind the scenes. I would love it if the Dart responded like, who is this guy? Who is Jeremy Rodick? Why is he talking to me? I'm bringing this up because I'm going to try and talk the Conor Bernard will eventually just ask to come to Vancouver into existence. And I feel the more that we

highlight these things. I bet he'd leave right now if given the chance. Yes. A hundred percent. This is where you're supposed to chime in. No, I agree with you. Pedersen from Bidard one for one. No, it'll be like, do you think Zach Benson will do that?

Yeah. Bring him home. He was never from here. So I will say that the Bedard experience in Chicago has not gone the way that anybody thought it would go. I think the organization probably thought it was going to be a lot different. I'm sure Bedard thought it was going to be a lot different. I think the league and its broadcast partners thought it was going to be a lot different.

He's still by far their best player. He's got 37 points. I don't think any of this on Conor Bedard. Let's just make that abundantly clear. I know on a couple of occasions on this show, we've said that maybe the hype was too much and maybe he can't, maybe it's asking a lot for him to carry an entire franchise. I think the hype was too much, but I think he's more than held up his own end of the

bargain. Both things can be true. He's got 37 points in 41 games. The next highest is Tara Vyanen, who they added. He's got 26 points in 41 games. So he's got 11 more points than the second leading point getter. And you're looking at this team. Is Tyler Bertuzzi supposed to be their second best player?

At least on payroll. Tevo Taravinen, you know, like it's, you know, Taylor Hall is, he's had a good career, but I mean, he's not the player he once was and he's getting older. He's had some pretty serious injuries. The backend is junk. Yep. Right.

And, and the problem with the hard cap NHL is it's so hard to improve quickly. Like you can't just go out there and go, we're going to spend so much money this off season. We see that in baseball sometimes, right? When a team finally says, all right, enough, fine. We'll open up the vault and we'll bring in some difference makers, we'll go crazy in free agency. I mean, the Mariners don't do that, but fine, we'll open up the vault and we'll bring in some

difference makers. We'll go crazy in free agency. I mean, the Mariners don't do that, but you know, then the Blue Jays try, but no one will take their money. They want to go play for other teams, but you can do it. You know, they're sports, but hockey, it's so hard. Like you can say we want to spend a lot. And then you look at the unrestricted free agent list and go, oh, it seems like all the other teams

kept their good players. Free agency is still a mechanism where good teams can maybe be great with a couple savvy signings, but you have to be good. Free agency is not a place where bad teams become good. It's not, it never is. You make tweaks to a roster that is already established. You can't go. And that's where Kyle Davidson completely screwed up this year

because he took up he had a bad team that didn't win a lot of hockey games and wasn't very good and tried to leapfrog the natural process by saying Bertuzzi, Hall, Maroon and Tara Vinen. Yeah, but he'd be crazy if he didn't try to add players. I just, I disagree. I disagree. What was he supposed to do?

Follow the natural course of action. Well, maybe that's what's happening right now. I don't think this is it. They've got more for a team. That don't understand what you think he was supposed to do. Just sit on his hands. And I mean, he had to sign someone. You got to get to the cap floor at the very least.

He had to, how many people were out there screaming and yelling saying, you got to get bedard, better players to surround him with you. You were the guy that was screaming and yelling about getting Pedersen a better winger and the connects went out the connects were in the playoffs they were a good team they made it to the game seven of the second round of the playoffs they were good free agency is where you well I will I will use this Jake the brass oh I will use the same Halford voice to talk about Chicago I was like but Chicago's got Badaard you got us surrounded with

better players that's not the same thing. It is the- Chicago is one of the worst teams in the league. So you're just going to let Badaard, so you're going to go up to Badaard and you're going to say, you're going to be like, sorry, man, we're just going to suck for a few years. So deal with it.

We're not even going to try and add better players. We're going to go into unrestricted free agency and just be like, nah. Well, it's better than saying we're going to waste a bunch of money on Tyler Bertuzzi and still suck. That's the challenge though. That's the challenge. There are players to be found in unrestricted free agency.

You got to do a better job of identifying which players will be good to bring in, but you can't just sit on your hands and be like, whatever. I think your winner is Taylor Hall again. I think they misidentified every guy that they brought in. Tyler Batuse is a paycheck guy at this point. He's there for the check. He's, other places he played hard and he had all of those attributes that were great.

Greasy, grindy, you know, guy that probably was overplaying or outplaying whatever his paycheck, you know, said and now he's the exact opposite. And it's too bad for Bedard because he's stuck in the middle of all of this. Yeah. But it's great if you one day want to see him force his way out and move to, I don't know,

potentially Vancouver. I have to say that I am getting increasingly frustrated by the hard salary cap. Yeah. I just, you know, am getting increasingly frustrated by the hard salary cap. Yeah. I just, you know, I don't, I'm listen, it's great for the owners. Hey, great. It sucks though.

It sucks. I wonder if there's something they could do. Like, could they, could they raise the ceiling and lower the floor? So you've still got a hard cap, but maybe you've just got, you know, like the, the richer teams can spend a little bit more. I mean, I know it just seems like, especially in that flat cap era, it seemed

like everyone was up against the cap. And it's, I know there are some teams that have plenty of cap space, but it's just, it's just so bloody hard to make any moves. The, it's just so restrictive and boring. And you know, you just, I do, I get just more frustrated. I'm not doing a good job of explaining it, but it's everything's jammed up. You, you, you hear constantly. I mean, even during this whole Miller and Pedersen thing, you, you constantly it's like, oh, it might be better for the off season or something like that.

But even then you get into the off season and like nothing happens. There needs to be more flexibility to be able to make moves in season. I think that's glaringly obvious is that, you know, when you cover the league on a daily basis and as closely as we do, there's more than enough teams that are game and willing and ready to make trades that can't because of all the hamstringing that's going on. So there should be.

I mean, I don't think like going, if you go over the cap, spend over the cap and there's a dollar for dollar penalty, I don't think that's the worst solution on earth. There's obviously teams that are willing to go over the cap and there's a dollar for dollar penalty. I don't think that's the worst solution on earth. There's obviously teams that are willing to go over the cap and spending. I think that's why LTIR, like the finagling and everything happens, right?

I think Betman likes the parody so much. He doesn't want to see any teams that are totally left behind spending wise. And I understand why that is because before this salary cap was brought in, there was such a great variance in the spending and teams like the Rangers and the Red Wings and the Leafs would spend so much compared to some of the other teams.

But I think it's so restrictive. So you've got this super restrictive system and you combine it with the conservative nature of most general managers who are scared to do anything. Like they're so scared to trade a star player or to really shake things up. Do you remember a few years ago when the

Columbus Blue Jackets went all in on the playoffs and how fun that was? Who was the GM there? Kekalyanin, right? And it was like, wow, the courage on this guy. You know, and ultimately the problem is, is that, you know, I guess that was the year they, they won a round. They beat Tampa.

Tampa Bay. Right. Swapped Tampa Bay in the opening round. But then they had to pay the piper. They had to pay the price for that one playoff series win and ultimately it probably wasn't worth it, right? But I just wish there was more incentive

to not be so damn conservative. Yeah. Well, the Canucks did it last year. Canucks went big last year on the trademark, relatively speaking. And it's relatively speaking. You know, it's relatively speaking. Yeah. But that's why I loved big last year on the trade market. Relatively speaking. And it's relatively speaking. Yep. You know, it's relatively speaking.

Yeah. But that's why I loved it last year. That's why I still love it in retrospect. And we get people still texting in, including Sam and Lee Cowichan, still complaining about the Lindholm trade. Yeah. And I understand if you're a conservative,

Portfolio kind of person, you're saying it was too much to give up for, what was it, seven playoff victories. Yeah. Too much. I look at it in the inverse is that if you think you have a shot and you think you're good to go, like you were saying, get reckless,

get nuts, be bold. Yeah. I just remember what it was like. This year, absolutely not. Last year. People will remember all the big trades that the Canucks made before they went on their 94 run.

I think there'd be these massive, you know, it's a nine player deal. Five are coming from Toronto and four, you know, it's like the Calgary and Toronto would do these big deals. The Canucks and St. Louis would do these massive deals. And it just seemed like it was just easier to make those deals because you can make up for them. You could reset a lot easier in the off season.

Now you're just stuck with these guys. Like Nils Hoeglinder, Nils Hoeglinder, who is a bit player in the NHL and on the Canucks right now. Now you're gonna be looking at his contract and going, oh, he's got a three-year extension, nine million, so that's a three million dollar cap hit. How are they gonna move that? That sucks.

Yes. When a player like that is going to, I don't know, it's just so boring. The hope that the rise, what should be a steady rise of the ceiling, although God knows what's gonna happen, but the steady rise of the ceiling will although God knows what's going to happen, but the steady rise of the ceiling will lessen those types of log jams.

Like when you're talking about a third line winger making $2 million, being like too rich for our blood, like that's a problem. That's where those, I mean, those players should be able to be moved with frequency and regularity. And hopefully with the cap going up, that'll be the case. Like if you want to make a move,

there should be not much stopping you financially speaking from moving middle six forwards and bottom pair defensemen. Those are the kinds of players that should be moved with frequency because those are the ones that teams need. Like if the Canucks would have been able to make a move relatively easily to bring in a defenseman during this time of need, it would have

been a good thing. It would have been a good thing for the Canucks. Yeah. And the team that's got a surplus would have been like, okay, great. We can get, we don't necessarily need this guy. Let's make a deal. When Drance was in filling in for you prior to the

new year, he was saying like the prices that teams are paying right now for the Lil' Jigrins and the Matas, it's too much. Yeah. And it's hard to fit them in because they do make 3 million bucks. That's a scarcity thing though, too, because there just aren't enough good defensemen in the NHL.

It's also space under the cap. Yes. Right. And that's where- Which is crazy, man. Like a team, if it wants to add a top four or a defenseman, it shouldn't be so hard. As Peter in Cloverdale text,

and arguing over a $500,000 salary cap, it is laughable for a big four league. It is, really. You know? Yeah. It's like when you look at the salaries and the movement in the National Basketball Association, comparatively speaking.

Yeah. NBA has like these monster trades routinely. And I know some people don't like that. I know some people like players sticking with organizations for longer than four years and packing their bags, but I don't think you can deny that from an intrigue standpoint and a fan engagement standpoint, player movement almost

always, always draws people attention. Yes. I've very rarely. Great storylines. Very rarely do I have someone say, man, I hated seeing all those trades go down yesterday. Say what you will about whether or not you want the Canucks to trade Miller or Pedersen.

Okay. Take your opinion on what you want them to do. Let's say one of them did get traded. How much more interesting is that for not only Canucks fans, but everyone around the league? Yeah, there's a it just makes it so okay. Well, what is let's say Pettersson gets traded What's he gonna do on his new team? Is he gonna make Canucks fans regret it or is he gonna make the team that acquired him regret it? How are the Canucks going to make up for trading them? What did they get in return? Surely there are players coming the other way.

How are they going to do? You know, it just makes, it makes interesting storylines when Tavares went from the Islanders to Toronto, that was great content for the league. It was amazing. They hated them in New York and in Toronto, how's he, is he going to be able to push the Leafs over the top to win a Stanley Cup?

That stuff is interesting. Sitting on your hands, being trapped by the system is not interesting. Lots more to get to on the Haliford and Bref Show on Sportsnet 650. The hockey talk continues, the Canucks talk continues with Rick Dollywall on the other side of the break. Before we go to break, I need to tell you about Rogers Xfinity TV. The mystery is solved. What do I mean?

I mean that you can watch all new seasons of your favorite true crime shows on Investigation Discovery. It's available on channel 413 on Rogers Xfinity TV. You're listening to the Halford and Brough Show on Sportsnet 650.