Halford & Brough in the Morning - Ray Ferraro On Breaking Into The NHL

Episode Date: November 12, 2024

In hour two, Mike & Jason chat with NHL analyst Ray Ferraro (1:20) on the latest hockey stories, plus what it's like for a rookie breaking into the league in relation to Lekkerimäki's first game for the Canucks tonight, plus the boys tell us what they learned (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.

Ferraro, Ferraro, let's chat with Ray Ferraro. It's time for Ferraro, let's talk to Ray Ferraro. Ferraro winds up to the shot, scores! Ray Ferraro, breakaways onside, scores! Three-bound score! Ray Ferraro! Ferraro, Ferraro, it's time for Ray Ferraro! Ferraro, Ferraro It's time for Ray Ferraro

Let's chat with Ferraro It's time for Ray Ferraro 7.03 on a Tuesday. Happy Tuesday, everybody. Halford Brough, Sportsnet 650. Halford and 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. Ray Ferraro is going to join us in just a moment here to kick off hour two. Hour two is brought to you by Jason Hominick from Jason.Mortgage. If you love giving the banks more of your money, then don't let Jason shop around to find the perfect mortgage for you. Just kidding. Let him do that.

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. To the phone lines we go. Ray Ferraro joins us now on the Halpern and Brough Show on Sportsnet 650.

Morning, Ray. How are you? I'm good. I'm in Florida. It's nice and warm. And got the Devils and Panthers tonight. So I'm, yeah, all good. All good. I was running through the list of games tonight. That was one of the good ones.

A clash atop the East. You've got a really good goaltending matchup at Madison Square Garden between Hellebuck and Shusterkin. You got the Battle of Ontario. And then here in Vancouver, not only do you have a classic Flames Canucks rivalry, but it is also going to be the debut of Jonathan Lekromacki for the Vancouver Canucks, which everybody is very excited about.

So, Brough, he's playing hurt today. His voice is all banged up. So, he bestowed on me the honor of asking his question. He wanted to make it clear this is a rough question but halford gets to ask it so come on no okay uh so lecker mackie's coming in tonight and talk it had the audio yesterday saying we want him to be aggressive and to shoot and to do the things that made him successful at every other level that hopefully will translate to this level so ray as a guy who in his last year in the dub scored, wait for it,

108 goals in 72 games, then went to the American League with bingo and had 20 goals in 37 games. What do you remember about when you made the jump to the NHL with Hartford? Were your coaches telling you to shoot the puck as much as possible like you did in junior in the A? Did you feel like you had to defer? What was it like when you made that jump to play for the big club well nobody really told me anything like it was so different guys like i remember the you know i got called up and it was

a december game and you know i was really nervous and so at the morning skate i was out there and doing my thing and and i and i had a couple guys tell me okay you've been out here long enough get off save it for tonight and that was really the only thing that they said to me like no there was no like it's so much more complicated now like i didn't i don't recall having any sit down with the coach to go over systems or an understanding of how much I was going to play or who I was going to play with. There was none of that. And so I think in a way it's harder for the kids,

for anybody to make their debut in today's game. It's just a different world. I would say that what I noticed right away is only crap. These guys are big and they're all really good. Like even the guys that weren't very good, you know, by NHL standards, you're like, they're all good. You know, like people would be amazed when they sit up and watch a game and they go, that guy sucks.

If they got on the ice with him, he'd be the best player they've ever played with. And they're like, oh, they skate well. They're big. They cover ice. And so for LeKaramaki, like even though he's gotten, I don't know, what's the average in five shots a game or something in the American League? Like, you're just not going to get that. And so there's a really fine line about, you know, doing what you can do,

like doing what you normally do. Like for him, it's being a shooter, but being patient enough and understanding that you're not getting five shots a game. Nobody gets five shots a game nobody gets five shots a game and it's uh early on i would suspect he'll have like a you know he'll be good early in like if he plays a couple of games if he's if he's at all close to being a legit regular nhler he'll play well early and then he'll fade and then he'll jump again. There's so much adrenaline tonight. It's the coolest thing.

You've done nothing but dream about this your whole life, and now your dream is right on the doorstep. Was it easier for you to not be deferential, though, because you were playing with a bunch of other young guys? I'm looking at that roster you guys had in Hartford when you broke into the NHL. Turgeon was 19. Kevin Dineen was, he's your age, so he was 20.

Ron Francis was only a year older than you and Dineen. What I find interesting is Rick Tockett noted that when Baines made his NHL debut last season, I remember this play. He went in on a two-on-one. I can't remember who his teammate was, but he should have shot the puck, and he forced a pass on a two-on-one,

and I think that's what Tockett wants Lekermackie to avoid is being too deferential just because he feels like, as a young guy, you don't want to go out there and, you know, your teammates think you're selfish with the puck? Well, I would say, okay, so everybody's going to be different. There's some swagger to the way LaKeramaki plays, right? Like he's a shooter. He knows he's a shooter.

He's always been a shooter. If he gets a two-on-one he's probably going to shoot like that won't change for Baines it you know like it was a long road for him and maybe an unlikely path to get to the NHL so he would be more nervous he would be probably more deferential um you know, Jason, you more than Mike, but like, you know me a little bit, right? So chances of me being deferential were slim. Yeah.

Like, I knew that I had to score. Like, I just knew it. I could feel it. Like, I had to produce offense to stay because I couldn't do what some of the other guys were doing. I just couldn't. I wasn't big enough. And I wasn't fast enough.

And so for me, it was always, it was easier to not beat. But when you get into the room, I don't care how many dressing rooms you've been in, how many games you've played. You're sitting there and you're trying to just say it's another game and it's not. And I'm looking around, I'm 20 years old. I'm with like, I'm with the, aside from the guys you mentioned, we had Hartford was in a transitional stage. Then there was a lot of older guys there. Mark Johnson, the great olympic hero for uh the u.s um he got hurt so i got called up i'm sitting in his stall the guy sitting beside me comes in sees me sitting there he goes how long are you here for that's how he said hello and i was like uh i don't know i guess till

mark gets back i mean like the hell was I going to say? I was 20. I was terrified. And, you know, he in particular didn't make me feel altogether welcome. Yeah, that's pretty funny. You guys did really have a young team, though. I'm like, there are some other guys down. Like, Ulf Samuelsson is your age. Most of that team started in the American League. We started, all of us.

Myself, Dean Evason, Kevin Dineen, O. Samuelson, Paul Fenton, Paul McDermott, Peter Sidorka, which came up a year later. Like, we were all in the American League together, Bradshaw. And then all of a sudden, we were all in Hartford. And the only difference really was they took that great logo, which was on its side, like a B in Binghamton, and they flipped it to a W. And we're like, wow, this is, we're a bunch of 20-year-old kids running around having a bunch of fun, and we're playing.

And then we realized, oh my God, we're getting our teeth kicked in every night because the rest of the league's pretty good. Yeah, and you guys finished last in the Adams division and missed the playoffs. We did, but finished that year. I'm not going to let you go on that. We finished the year.

They traded for Mike Liute, and we went 10-0-2 down the stretch and then made the playoffs the next year. It was very much like when Toc came in, and they had that 30-game training camp. That was kind of what happened to us that first year. And then the next year, we kind of came of age i guess well while we're on the topic of young teams it's funny uh we were saying earlier that mike and i have each picked a team to pick on outside of the canucks and mike is really mike is really picking on the Nashville Predators this year.

I'm picking on the Anaheim Ducks because that game that they played against the Canucks, I was, you know, normally I watch the games and I'm pretty biased. Like, I want the Canucks to win, so I'm not upset if the other team plays badly, but I was almost offended on behalf of Hoppy. I think I lost you there, guys. Oh, sorry, Ray. So I was saying, have you got us? We'll get Ray back. We'll get Ray back.

Just while we're waiting for Ray. Yes. That roster in Hartford was unbelievably young. You know what you can while he's not on the line? How bad was that roster? No, it was, I mean, look, there were some great players on that. Multiple Hall of Famers. They're just young. You know what? You can while he's not on the line. How bad was that roster? No, it was, I mean, look, there were some great players on that. Multiple Hall of Famers. They're just young. Marty Howe was on

the team. Remember him? I do. By the way, you are listening to the Halford & Brough Show on Sportsnet 650. We are in the midst of our conversation weekly with Ray Farrell. We just lost the call here. We will get him back in just a moment. We do need to talk to Ray about a couple different

things, including one of our guests that's coming up later in the show. If you missed it off the top, Hockey Hall of Famer Matt Sundin is going to join the program at 8.30 today. We'll talk to him about, well, he's doing media for his book, which just got released. He's been doing the media car wash and the tour over the last couple

of weeks. So we'll talk to Matt about that. I did want to ask, Ray, it's funny funny when i was doing the research for this hit yesterday yes i do do that um there's a clip an old overdrive clip where you know ray used to do the hit with odog and haze and those guys the more challenging matchup doug gilmore or matt sundin which i thought was a pretty interesting one i don't know why they asked him that but uh well i think we've got ray back now but i was thinking ray we got you back yeah interesting one. I don't know why they asked him that. I think we've got Ray back now. I was thinking, Ray, we got you back? Yeah, yeah. Sorry about that.

Don't worry about it. Brough, why don't you pick up where you left off? Yeah, so I was saying that Halford is picking on the Nashville Predators and I'm picking on the Anaheim Ducks because they were so bad against the Canucks when they played. I was almost offended on behalf of hockey. How much of that has to do with just the youth that they've got in the lineup there and how much of it frankly has to do with the head coaching?

Well, okay. So again, with some experience of going through this, the part of the problem when you, when you're in a rebuild, you get all these young guys in there and everybody thinks that like literally everybody thinks all the rebuilds here we're on the ground floor we're going to get young players and then once we get young players um then they're going to all get better well a lot of times what you find out when you when you get young players is some of them or a lot of them can't play like they can't play at this level and you're you're stuck evaluating and hoping guys are going to progress at the same time and as you're evaluating you're like oh you know that guy's not going to be able to do it we got

to move him out but then you got to get another guy and the chances are you're bringing up another guy that's not capable of or ready to play yet either like remember when anaheim made that trade for cutter goche um it wasn't going to go to philly they traded dramy drysdale for him and everybody was really excited and everybody that i know that has seen him play says he's he's going to be a legit nhl player he's got zero goals in 14 games. Right? So, like, you're waiting for these young guys and hoping at the same time, like, you know, what the hell's happened with Trevor Zegers?

Like, is he even a player? Like, how did that happen? He's got one goal in 14 games. I will say this. I think I view a rebuild differently. Well, actually not, I think. I know say this. I think I view a rebuild differently. Well, actually not I think. I know I do. I view it differently than it seems to go.

I would get every skilled guy I could get. That would be my first approach. I wouldn't worry about getting grinding players or defensive defensemen. I can find those guys later on. Because what happens is Anaheim scored 30 goals in 14 games. Or 31. I can guarantee you there's not

one guy on that team that feels good about their game. Offense gives you confidence. No offense saps your confidence. Nobody gives a damn if the coach says to you, hey, really good play shooting it off the glass. Like, nobody cares. yeah yeah great any any monkey could do this right so they they you need to score you need to generate chances you need to have some positive vibes

around a rebuild because there's a lot of nights you just get run over and in anaheim right now they got a bunch of guys that have no confidence they're not as bad as they appear to be but they're miles away like when you look at that team you go like when are they possibly going to be a playoff team doesn Doesn't it seem like forever? Yes. And it feels like the playoffs were forever ago. And then I looked and it was six years ago. I mean, it's going to be a long drive.

It could be a Sabres-like drought for them by the time it's all said and done. You know, we all go to the Sabres first, which we should. But Detroit's right there. Yeah. You know, Detroit, for years, they were trying to piece it to get trade, another draft pick, trade another young guy, because they were trying to hang on to the best or the last of Batsuk and Zetterberg and Lidstrom.

Anaheim did the same thing with Ryan Getzlaff. Forever. And then eventually, you're in this. We're speaking to Ray Ferraro here on the Halford & Brough Show on Sportsnet 650. Hey, Ray, when we lost you on the phone, I reset for the listeners out there that at 8.30 this morning, we're going to have on Matt Sundin,

who, of course, spent the final season of his career in Vancouver, played a long time before that, and actually played against you. And I was saying that I found an old clip where you were talking about who was tougher to match up against or play against. Was it Doug Gilmore or was it Matt Sundin? I'm assuming

this was a Toronto-based station that you were on at the time. Anyway, if you want to answer that, feel free. If you want to just focus on Sundin, I was just curious what it was like going up against a guy. When I go back and I look at 6'5", 240, just a gargantuan player. Same height as you, Ray. Well, if I'm

standing on somebody's shoulders we're exactly the same like but mike that's exactly the that's exactly the problem when when you consider playing against somebody like sundin is that he he was mammoth yeah so if if we're fighting for the puck he wins it almost every time like 90 of the time if there's a stick battle he wins it if i'm taking a face off and we tie the face off he wins it he was he would take a stride i'm taking two straw or a stride and a half he was he was impossible to play against Because aside from being just an enormous human, he was so good. Like, he was so good.

The way he could pass both forehand and backhand, the way he would shield you off the puck. Somebody like me, I was at my best against Sundin when he was on the ice and i was on the bench because like what how am i what am i going to do against that like he was just so good such a such a tremendous player and i you know he didn't have the you know the scrappy appeal of doug gilmore you know i would much rather play against g Gilmore because I sort of had a chance. But I think there was a period in time in Toronto

where, not I don't think, I know that they didn't appreciate Matt's greatness. They really didn't. And it felt like, oh, the reason they can't get by this portion of the playoffs is because of the Swedish captain. And it might have been something to do with the other 18 guys on the team. Do you think it was harder for him? I thought he was a brilliant player.

Do you think it was even harder for him that he was traded for Wendell Clark, who is basically the epitome of Canadian hockey. He was, Wendell Clark was my favorite player growing up as a kid, and I wasn't even a Leafs fan. Well, when he got traded there too, you know, they were, you know, Mets really was quasi-established at that point.

Like, just think, had they not made that trade, and when Quebec left for Colorado, Sundin would have been there too. Could you imagine? Like, how would that have worked? Fakik, Sundin, pretty good team. Before we let you go, you did mention that you're in Florida to do the Devils-Panthers game tonight. I did want to spare a moment to talk about the Panthers

because I did not anticipate that they were going to be this good and this strong at the early parts of the season. Remember, they played longer than everyone except for the Edmonton Oilers last year. A lot of departures in the offseason. They had a bunch of injuries to start the season. They also got sent for that two-game set over to play Dallas overseas. It's been a lot for the defending Stanley Cup champions.

They're 11-3-1. They're on a seven-game winning streak. Dare I say they look like maybe even better than last year. So set it up for us tonight as you do. A great game on the schedule tonight. The second-place team and the fifth-place team overall in the standings, the Florida Panthers and the fifth place team overall in the standings the florida panthers the new jersey devils tonight well i i i would say without going through all the teams but two teams that stand out to me and the reason they stand out is because you don't

have to think about what their identity is they built their identity they acquire players that fit that identity they don't ever they're they don't they don't deviate from that and it's carolina and and florida like you don't have any question when you watch carolina or florida play how they're going to play that might not always go well but you know what they're going to do. Florida is, you know, I thought they were going to take a little bit of a pause here while they got their game back in order, you know, because they lost some pretty good players, Brandon Montour, most notably. But they don't have, they don't lean on anybody. They lean on everybody.

Like, even their stars, and I mean you know alexander barkoff is just an amazing player just fabulous player when you think of the panthers do you think of him first or do you think of matthew kachuk first it's a great question chuck yeah probably and to me it's barkoff barkoff he is the engine of that team. Everything rolls around him, and he's like every other Finn that you've probably met. They're just diligent. They're hardworking. They're humble.

When somebody asks him a question, it's like he's almost pained that he has to answer, right? But he's their leader. He got hurt. They still played pretty well they go to finland and for a lot of teams i think that would have been a real oh you know like it would have been a real go to work thing like it would have been hard and for those guys i got you know lundell and uh luce serena and and uh barkoff and theyusterinen and Barkoff. They go there and it's like a trip home.

They show up. They're all wearing robes to the game, sauna robes to the game. They embrace the thing. They have fun with it. I'm super impressed. Probably a lot of that goes to now they've built this culture. Three years ago ago they win the jack adams award uh you know they win the like they're not the jack adams they win the league championship the president's trophy and they let go andrew brunette and bring in paul maurice then

they go to the finals then they win the cup this is not one year this is three years of of excellence that they've had here and uh they're really impressive i think tonight's going to be awesome really looking forward to it you know the guy it's crazy because they've got all these good players and then you look at who's leading the team in scoring it's like oh yeah sam reinhardt like he had 57 last year he's on pace for 60 this year how much do flames fans still look at sam bennett and go like what were we doing wrong? Yeah. There's another guy there too, right? That was two draft picks. They got two draft picks for Bennett. You know, when you bring up Sam Reinhardt, like, so last year he has his,

you know, amazing breakout year, gets married, you know, wins a Stanley cup, gets an eight-year extension for a bazillion dollars, and then comes back this year, and it's the same thing. It's really, really impressive. I don't know if you guys have had the chance to talk to Sam. He's a super, super impressive kid. Like, he's really level-headed. He's really, he's sneaky funny.

He's a fabulous player. And the one thing that Sam does, and I guess Barkoff does too, is they play head over feet. Their brains are more important than the speed of their feet. And you cannot replace hockey IQ. And those guys have it. Right. This was great, as always.

Have a good call tonight. Enjoy the game. We'll do this again next week. You betcha. Take care. And, Ruff, Have a good call tonight. Enjoy the game. We'll do this again next week. You betcha. Take care, and, Ruff, keep working on that voice. It sounds awesome. Thank you, Ray. My.

Ray Ferraro here on the Halford & Ruff Show on Sportsnet. 6.50. Okay, we got an open segment on the other side, so the show is going to work a little bit differently today. Get any What We Learned that you want to send in to the Dunbar Lumber text line. Send them in now, 650-650, because at 8.30, our regular What We Learn time,

Matt Sundin is going to join us. The Bridge Street Dunbar Lumber in Ladner has moved to Progress Way in Tilbury's Industrial Park. More room, more product, more awesome. Details at DunbarLumber.com. So what we learned is going to be next on 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 to 4 on Sportsnet 650 or wherever you get your podcasts. 7.33 on a Tuesday. Big Bad Tuesday. Forgot all about it. You're listening to the Halford and Brough Show on Sportsnet 650. What better music to play ahead of A-Dog's What We Learned,

which is a big concert announcement and a contest. That's what we call a tease in the old radio industry here. You are listening to the Halford and Brough Show on Sportsnet 650. Halford & Brough in the Morning is brought to you by Vancouver Honda, Vancouver's premier destination for Honda customers. They have a friendly, knowledgeable staff that can help with anything you're looking for, sales, financing, service, or parts. We are in Hour 2 of the program.

Open segment here, which is going to be our What We Learn segment, because at 8, we've got Landon Ferraro, and at 8.30, we've got Matt Sundin. What an 8 o'clock hour. Hour 2 of this program is brought to you by Jason.Mortgage. If you love paying too much for your mortgage, then don't let Jason Hominick shop

around to find the perfect mortgage for you. Just kidding. Let him do that. Visit him on the internet at Jason.Mortgage. Okay. We're going to do some What We Learns. We're going to start with A-Dog. Classic A-Dog, non-sports division. But some big news. There's a concert coming to town in 2025. We're running a contest for it. A-Dog, let everybody know what's the deal. I learned that Jelly Roll is coming to Rogers Arena Saturday

March 8th and we Sportsnet 650 are running a little contest off of our website. We're running a Jelly Roll contest? We are. If you go to the Sportsnet 650 website you could enter to win tickets to the show. Beat the box office tickets. The website sportsnet.ca

slash 650 slash 650 dash contests. Smooth. Don't do what Donnie Don't does. So go there, sportsnet.ca slash 650 slash 650 dash contests. If you want to win tickets to Jelly Roll March 8th at Rogers Arena, that is how you could possibly do it. And now Bruff is going to go through Jelly Roll's entire discography.

Yes. And highlight all of his favorite singles. Am I so out of touch? Dude, I was... No, it's the children who are wrong. Alfred talked to me like I was insane when I said I didn't know who he was. Now, full disclosure, I'm not a big country music guy. So most country artists, even the big ones, I don't know who they are.

Jelly Roll will not be defined by genre. He's genre-less. I was very surprised when I went on Spotify just to see how many streams the guy had. I was like, this guy doesn't look like Kenny Chesney. 19 million streams a month. So this is a big artist. Clearly, I am the idiot here.

And a lot of people know who he is because he gets 19 million streams a month on Spotify. He's got that crossover appeal. He started out as a rapper and moved into country. Like Machine Gun Kelly, but who instead moved into Terrible Rock because he was slammed so hard by Eminem he had to change genres. He turned into a vampire, apparently. I saw that Machine Gun Kelly and who's this?

Megan Fox. Megan Fox, they're expecting. That's nice. And I was thinking it would be funny. Machine Gun Baby. If they called him machine gun junior machine gun baby's pretty good this is my machine gun baby over here okay let's uh let's mook out that we're gonna go now to jason brough who is going where this is also going to be a

catch-up what we learned for everything that we didn't cover from yesterday, Hockey Hall of Fame. Yeah. So Shea Weber, Jeremy Roenick, Pavel Datsyuk, and everyone's favorite, Colin Campbell,

among others, were inducted into the Hall of Fame, Hockey Hall of Fame yesterday. At this point, we always look ahead to next season, and A-Dog is like, is McGillinan going to get in again? Right. You know, not again.

Is he going to get in? He's going to say it again. Is he finally going to get in? And I don't think so, because look at some of the names on this list, and the Hockey Hall of Fame is limited to four male players correct um for each induction class for each class so you got duncan keith first ballot hall of famer correct carrie price first ballot hall of fame correct joe thornton first ballot hall of famer everyone loves jumbo zidane ochara first ballot hall of famer big z loves jumbo. Zidane O'Chara, first ballot hall of famer.

Big Z, he gets in. Those will be the four, right? Like I think Ryan Getzlaff, who's also eligible, is going to kind of get screwed. Maybe in another year, is he a first ballot hall of famer? In a different class,

I think there's a serious conversation to be had. He ticks every box in terms of team and individual accolades, awards, trophies. There's not much that he hasn't won. If McGilney is the one that A-Dog is always talking about, who's the one for you? Because for me, it's Rod Brindamore. I think

he should be in there. Rod the Bot is a good one, like a good snub. Rod would be way more appreciated now that we have the analytics to show how good players like Patrice Rod would be way more appreciated now that we have the analytics to show how good players like Patrice Bergeron and Barkov are like that classic two-way center

and won a Stanley Cup Rod would be appreciated more now because he would do all of his post-game interviews with his shirt off like William Nylander but he was way more yoked back-to-back Selkie Trophy winner 2006-2007. Strongest man in hockey. That counts for

something. No, I think that... Shamed his chest quite clearly. Yep, he was... He just wanted to look good. I can't blame him. If you worked out that much, you would want to rod the bod for a reason. McGilney's one. In the more recent version, I guess the guy that everyone's talking about now

who's going to have to wait his turn because the classes are getting so loaded is Zetterberg, right? That's the one? I guess. Who cares? Okay. I should mention, should mention as an addendum to this, the Hockey Hall of Fame announced today that they're adding two new members to the selection committee. Alex McGildee. Still can't get in, though. Who are you voting for there, Alex? I would like to the selection committee. Alex McGildee. Still can't get in, though.

Who are you voting for there, Alex? I would like to nominate myself. No, no. Jerome McGinley and Ed Olchek onto the selection committee. David Branch and Mike Gartner off. But Gartner then transitions to chairman of the board and chair of the selection committee,

which Gartner used to be, is now Ron Francis. I'm surprised they're making any of this public because usually they do the stonecutters thing and they're like, ah, not for public consumption. But you are right. Next year's class is very loaded. So Francis is GM of the team and also working for the Hall of Fame?

Let's not go there. Like this entire process is rife with conflicts conflicts of interest and guys that are still you know i i don't know i i understand look i don't want to like dump on the thing because the players that get enshrined it's a huge honor for them it's obviously like a huge accomplishment they're very emotional but every time we do the hockey hall of fame thing it comes back we have no idea what the criteria is to get in. Can we talk about Colin Campbell getting in?

You can go right ahead and talk about him getting in if you like. That's red meat for the Canucks fans listening right now. No, I will not talk about it. Okay, Mukau that.

Mukau that red meat. Okay, I learned yesterday, pretty eventful day for the NFC West, or as I'm going to start calling it, the NFC Midwest. Get it I'm going to start calling it, the NFC Midwest. Get it?

Because it's mid. Yeah. The best team in the division has a 6-4 record. That's the Arizona Cardinals. The worst team in the division, well, both of them have 4-5 records now. That's the Seahawks and the Rams. And the Rams got there yesterday

with an absolutely horrible performance on Monday Night Football. What a clunker at home, too. Terrible! Didn't score a touchdown, five field goals, 23-15 loss to the visiting Miami Dolphins. They did everything wrong. They couldn't convert on third down.

They couldn't hold on to the football. Stafford was throwing interceptions. Wide receivers were dropping passes. It was not good in the slightest. Los Angeles failed to score a touchdown for only the eighth time in Sean McVay's eight seasons and just the second time

since Matt Stafford took over a quarterback that the Rams did not score a touchdown in a game. Also yesterday, big news out of the NFC West. So you know how a couple weeks ago the Seahawks made that fairly noteworthy trade at linebacker to get rid of Jerome Baker and to bring in Ernest Jones IV, right? Well, they're not done shaking up the linebacker crew because yesterday the Seattle Seahawks waived Tyrell Dodson was the Seahawks leading tackler this season and was tasked with a lot of different things, playing the inside linebacker position, including at points being the leader of the defense. And then they just waved him.

They just said, Tyrell, go elsewhere. Now, I'm glad this is happening because I think it finally shows what I had been thinking all along, that defensive guru Mike McDonald, which I kept calling him, and at times I was almost doing it facetiously, had to look at this group and be like, this isn't even close to being good enough. The personnel I have here isn't even close to being good enough. So he moved out two starting linebackers, which is a pretty big deal. Now, I want to play some audio from Fox Sports' Kurt Menefee,

who was on ESPN 710 yesterday in Seattle. And he said, hey, maybe we're looking at this Seahawks season not in the right lens, that with a first-year head coach, no matter what the situation, there's always some semblance of a rebuild. And that even though they've got all these offensive weapons and a veteran quarterback, there's still a rebuild going on. Here's Kurt Menefee yesterday on the current state of the Seattle Seahawks. When you change head coaches, it's because you haven't won.

And you're looking for the new staff to come in and turn things around, which is rebuilding. You don't usually keep the same pieces you've got. They've got to get their players, players that fit their schemes on both sides of football, their philosophy inside the building, the kind of guys they want. We love the word culture right now, but that's a big part of it. And that is what's going on, not just in Seattle, but every team that has a new coaching staff. You see Dan Quinn has kind of stepped into a situation in Washington.

Well, he found the right quarterback. He found the right coordinator. And magic is happening there. I know they lost yesterday, but overall for this season, magic is is happening there but that doesn't happen a whole lot with a brand new coaching staff so i think 90 of the time when you make the move to a brand new coaching staff you may not see it publicly because you still got tickets to sell you still got to have your fan base believe but a change in coaching staff means you're rebuilding. So McDonald did say last week going into the bye that, quote, everything would be on the table when it came to self-assessment

and maybe changing things up. And they made a big move in the bye week. I mean, you just cut loose your leading tackler. That's a pretty big signal that they didn't like the way things had gone through the first nine games of the season, and they weren't going to put up with it anymore. Do you think the GM John Schneider is going to be under review after this season? Well, Jason, like I'm not suggesting there's some sort of power struggle between Mike McDonald and John Schneider, because remember Mike McDonald's going to go into

this situation and be like, well, you hired me. I'm pretty thankful for that. But then once you get into the season, it's fairly noteworthy that both the guys, the inside linebackers that they brought in, the starters, they were brought in this offseason and they're both out the door now. Yep. And I don't know the- So maybe McDonald and Schneider are just working in tandem and their relationship is great.

And they're like, you know, Schneider's like, hey, if you don't want this guy, I'll get rid of him. And that's all good. But I always wonder about, you know, when there is a new relationship, how it's going to work. Because Schneider and Pete Carroll were just an item for so long. Yeah, they were together forever. Until they weren't. I'll say this.

As we tie everything back to the Vancouver Canucks, there's good continuity between management and coaching staff in Vancouver. I think we can all agree on this, right? Management brings in a player that they think that will work, and then they say, here you go, Rick. It's your bag of groceries now. Go make dinner. And then Taka looks at some of the ingredients.

He's like, I don't need this. Or it's not going to work. Or it's not going to make this recipe any better. We do not need Daniel Sprung in this stew. There's too much Sprung in this stew. And they're like, okay, we'll send it to Seattle. They don't hesitate. Nine games for Sprung.

It wasn't that they moved him it was they moved him with the the speed and it was an expedited move it's like okay we're not we're not messing around right at a time when brock besser is hurt so take this back to the seahawks i do wonder if schneider wants to remain in power and in this position that he's going to have to say mike mcdonald tell me what you need tell me what's working and tell me what's not and i'll make the moves and if he hired him as the head coach you have to trust that so he's got to do it because you can't be in the modern nfl if you just look at the combos that are successful, really it starts with the head coach-quarterback relationship.

That's the most important one. And that's something that the Seahawks are probably still going to have to fix. But for a defensive guru, if he does not like the personnel that he has playing defense, then as a general manager, you have to go out and get different players. It's a non-starter. You can't try and force players upon them. You have to say, hey, I hired you to do the things that made you successful elsewhere. And he's going to say, well, in order to do that, I'm going to need my kind of players,

which is why the Seahawks have had major turnover at linebacker nine games into the Mike McDonald era. They're still in the race for the division. It's crazy. That division is not good. Although, I will say this. Another hot take now. I know San Francisco. Everyone thinks San Francisco is the best team in that division.

I think Arizona is the best team in that division. I do. I do. Okay. Well, we'll see how it all ends up. Yep. Probably the Rams will win the division. And don't forget about those Seahawks.

Moo cow, all that. All right, to the humanoids we go. Oh, I had one. Oh, yeah, Laddie had one. I forgot about you. I was going to quiz you guys with a little bit of Jeopardy. Let's do it. All right, this was a clue yesterday on the show. As you might guess, Hall of Fame goalie Martin Brodeur,

known as Satan's Wallpaper, played 21 years with this NHL team. I saw that. Yeah, didn't Marty tweet it out? He did. Yeah, he's like, I've never been called out in my life. He didn't say anything about it, but he just was happy that he was mentioned on Jeopardy, I think. Never. I've never heard that.

Never heard that. Ever heard. What does he even mean? What does Satan's Wallpaper mean? Someone, I think, tracked it down to a god i want to say it was like a rolling stone yes so i have a bit more details there was a guy named uh nick patrazone okay wrote an article in the rolling stone i think 14 years ago or known for their hockey coverage known for their hockey coverage called him that in the article and so i guess

the website hockey reference likes to list nicknames on each player's profile and they picked up on it somehow and they listed on his hockey reference page so whoever did the research for this jeopardy clue did about six seconds of due diligence went to the hockey reference page and saw his nickname listed as satan's wallpaper you know what the... Alex Trebek would have taken care of that guy real quick. Yeah, would have zipped it up. No one's ever heard of this stupid name before.

You know what the Rolling Stone article was actually about? What? It was about how the Devils were the last demonic team name in sports because teams were phasing them out. Devil Rays went away. Yeah, everyone kind of got rid of the... People were sacrificing goats in the stands, so they had to do something. Like, do we want to lean

less into the Satan stuff? And then the New Jersey Devils were like, no. But that was... Okay, but someone explain to me, what does Satan's wallpaper mean? I have no idea. Is there a poster of Brodeur on Satan's wall? Like, what does that even mean? It's the New Jersey Devils.

Yes. So that's the New Jersey Devils. Yes. So that's the same. What is wallpaper? Oh, I get it. Wallpaper as in the thing that you put on your PC desktop background. So Satan's PC in hell has a picture of Martin Brodeur making a save, and he's a big fan of Brodeur because it has the Devils on the name. It's like, oh, that's my team. All right.

I'll put up their goalie on my computer. That's the only logical answer. That's all I got. Yeah, Satan's like, welcome to hell. You a hockey fan? Yeah. You want to talk a little Devils hockey? The Devils.

I think I brought this up before, but the staying power of Marty Brodeur is one of the more puzzling but also impressive things. Why? He was doing like like, Enterprise car commercials 10 years after he retired. You're talking about Lottie's favorite goalie, right? Yeah. Be careful.

Hall of Fame guy. Imagine if you're at the Enterprise pitch meeting and you're like, here's the thing. Hey, it's the same wallpaper guy. They are the official rent-a-car of the NHL. Right, but it's like, what if... What about a French-Canadian who played for a team that often struggled with attendance?

What if it was also a guy that wore a mask for the majority of his career? Would we make him our pitch man? And they're like, first off, I love it. I don't know. I don't know why. He's in that other commercial, too, where he shows up with all the gear. He's in a lot of commercials. It's like of all the guys in the NHL, it was one that had his face covered.

I'm the target audience, apparently, because I love Marty Roeder. He always goes with Enterprise. He actually wanted to work with them for a bit. I was born an Enterprise guy, and I'll die one. We have to get to the listener. Two different people did text in, wallpaper covers everything like Brodeur. Yeah, no, we get it.

He's not like a receiver. He's not covering ground. He's a goalie. He stands in front of the net. He covers the net. He plasters the net with his wallpaper. I feel like I could shoot front of the net. He covers the net. He plasters the net. I feel like I could shoot a puck through wallpaper. Why wouldn't you say brick wall?

Yeah, exactly. Wallpaper's not going to stop anything. Everyone's clear that Andy was joking about Satan's PC having Martin Berger as a wallpaper. We got that. I can see it, though. I can envision a scenario. Sometimes with ADOG, you're just not sure. I'm going to run through some really quick here

because we asked for what we learned and you guys delivered. Marcus and Gibson's, what we learned. I learned Dak Prescott has opted for season-ending surgery and the Cowboys are officially done again before the halfway point of the season. Marcus adds that they are the Sabres of the NHL. No, they're not. They're not the Sabres of the NFL. They're the Sabres of the Sabres of the NHL. I mean,'re not. They're not the Sabres of the NFL.

They're the Sabres of the Sabres of the NHL. I mean, I would always thought they were kind of like the Leafs and get to the playoffs, but, you know, lose. They're not the Sabres or the Leafs. But they're not. They're maybe not anything. They're just the Dallas Cowboys right now, and they're not in a good way.

Sam on Blue Sky, what we learned. Oh, he texted in. I learned that apparently we all call Martin Berder Satan's wallpaper. So good on Sam for getting that as well. Jamie the Armstrong Fisherman. What I learned. Juan Soto will be meeting with the Blue Jays this week. Sign him and Vladdy Jr.

Bye-bye, Bichette. Are we all going to go through this again? I can't do this. Now with the Jays? I did too much last year with Otani all going to go through this again? I can't do this. Now with the Jays? I did too much last year with Otani. I can't do this again. I can do it again. I'm ready to get broken and hired again.

Do you think the Jays are going to go? Because they're not going to want to seem like the official pace car of Major League Baseball again. You know, or the stalking horse or whatever you call it. It feels like they're willing to do it again. Right, but my point is, do you think they're so willing to engage in this that they will pay Juan Soto a ridiculous amount of money?

I think people need to understand, and there was a reason why Scott Boris cameis came out um like a week ago and was talking about rogers and saying like you know these guys are a sports juggernaut yeah they're and he's like now act like it and then rogers was like all right let's go get juan soto but rogers must know the risk of going through this whole thing again and losing out again. Because I do feel like the Otani bid hung over the Jays the entire season. It definitely hung over the Jays the entire season.

I know, Laddie, you don't want to hear this. I'm sure there's an OBPS. I think they were just bad, you guys. I'm sure there's an OBPS stat you can point to that's probably more relevant. I think the Jays were just bad. When Bassett's talking about it like three quarters of the way through the year, that was it. It was Bassett, right?

Well, became painfully aware they didn't have the talent to compete with the teams in their division. Because they wanted Otani, who has a lot of talent. Well, they didn't have it hanging over their head. They weren't like, oh, man, I wish we had Otani right now. Hanging over their head isn't the right thing. They weren't thinking that. But I think at the higher levels of the organization i think it caused some dysfunction i think they were left um scorned hurt embarrassed and without a plan b right the plan b

was like well justin turner um i here's the thing pivot was off the pivot was awful um i think what you're suggesting is the mentality can't be that we're going to try again and we might lose. The mentality is like we're going to win no matter what. And that's where you get if you can just offer Soto a bigger check than anyone. Is that how you win? And the answer most times is yes. And I think it could be the case here. Iron Blair, what I learned.

Tyson versus Paul on Friday. Friday friday friday honestly we're doing it i'm interested in this mike tyson's 58 and exactly but exactly wrong with you people i don't know i do feel a bit ghoulish i don't watch i've never seen a jake paul fight in my life i really gonna break that streak yeah it's on's on Netflix. I already pay for Netflix. I'm going to watch this thing. I think... I'm curious to see... I'm curious, but not in a good way.

Does that make sense? What are the... Has anyone made a book on this? Not a book, but sports books. What are the odds on this fight? Paul is a minus 250 favorite. How many rounds are they fighting? How many it takes.

It's old school. It's like 18 rounds. I'm just wondering. There's an article up on ESPN. Sorry not to cut you off. There's an article up on ESPN right now. The headline is, why was the Tyson versus Paul sanctioned? And is it safe?

And it references the fact that in his last fight mike tyson sat on the canvas with his back against the ropes exhausted and defeated he and btkdo tko'd in embarrassing fashion by a journeyman named kevin mcbride that was in 2005 that was 20 years ago and tyson was 38 years old. He's now 58. After that fight, he said, I don't have the guts to be in this sport anymore. I don't want to disrespect the sport that I love. So then he got 20 years older and went back in the ring against a YouTube fighter.

The bout will consist of eight two-minute rounds with 14-ounce gloves. So what they're probably thinking is that Jake Paul's going to win on a decision? I don't know what they're thinking. I'm not even sure he's going to get through the fight. Who? Tyson? Tyson. Just like me, I'm just like, no.

Doesn't he have any health issues leading up? Yes. Yes. Yes. I mean. There's still something about Mike Tyson, though. Yeah, the description. Maybe it's the memories of being young, right?

And that's the problem. Would you step in a ring with Mike Tyson? What's the quote? I wouldn't fight Mike Tyson. No, but I wouldn't step in a ring with Jake Paul either. Here's the question. I don't think people would pay for it either. It's not would I step in the ring.

I don't think the question should be, would you step in the ring with Mike Tyson? It's should Mike Tyson step in the ring, right? The bigger question. Yeah. I wouldn't fight Mike Tyson if they gave me a gun. That's the quote. Because he's still a beast. Still a question. Yeah. I wouldn't fight Mike Tyson if they gave me a gun. That's the quote. Cause he's still a beast. Still a beast.

Yeah. Okay. Like he's like, he's still terrifying. Yes. Yes. He's, yes,

he's old, but there's a difference between beating up a guy named a dog who has a cartoon dog is his Twitter profile. And, and Jake Paul, who's a trade fighter. Who's I know. Yeah.

I understand why Paul is the favorite for sure. It's not favorite. It's that he's going to get, he's 58 years old. Who's... I know. Yeah. I understand why Paul's the favorite, for sure. It's not favorite. He's 58 years old. Yeah, he's going to get a problem. He's fighting someone half his age. He might not get a problem. He might get... But what if the opposite happens? That would be awesome.

I'd pay to see A-Dog fight Mike Tyson. Yeah, that would be over so fast. Yeah. Imagine if you won. Pocket's hand. Yeah. Like Dredrick Tatum all over again. All right.

We got to get going here. Landon Ferraro is going to join us next we'll preview tonight's canucks versus flames game with landon on the halford and brough show on sportsnet 650