Halford & Brough in the Morning - Suffering in Solidarity

Episode Date: January 19, 2026

In hour 2, Mike Halford and Jason Brough are joined by Mike Tanier (1:30) to chat some NFL, starting with the Bills miserable end to their season, and the firing of their head coach. They discuss the crazy weekend of football before previewing the conference final matchups. After, Dennis Bernstein joins (25:55) to discuss the LA Kings and their struggling year. How do they fix things in the final season of their captain, and could a trade with the Canucks be the fix? 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.

on a Monday. Happy Monday, everybody. Halford Brough, Sportsnet 650. Halford Brough for the morning is brought to by Sands and Associates. Do you have payday loan debt? Sands and associates can cut your debt by up to 80% with no upfront fees. Visit them today at sands-trustee.com.

You love this song. It's so good. This week in baseball. How about that? Good. That sounded like Kermit the Frog. Kermit the Frog doing a doing baseball. Doing a Mel Allen impression.

Calling a double play by Ozzie Smith, shortstop for the St. Louis Cardinals. We are in Hour 2 of the program. Hour 2 is brought to by Jason Homonock at Jason Dow 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. Visit them online at Jason Dow Mortgage. We're coming to live from the Kintech Studio, make 2026 your year to move better

and step stronger with Kintech custom orthotics. To the phone line. lines we go. Our next guest is a presentation of the Clayton Public House and our Monday morning quarterback. Also our NFL insider, Mike Tanier from the Two Deep Zone, joins us now on the Halford and Breff Show on Sportsnet 650. Good morning, Michael. How are you? I'm doing well. Now I'm missing this week in baseball. That show was perfect. It was an amazing show. They never should have got rid of it. It should have stood the test of time. If 60 minutes can be around for this long, then this week of baseball.

I don't know if 60 minutes is going to be around. And I intentionally fix it. Much longer. Anyway, we got to start with the news of the day. We were going to do a recap of everything that happened this weekend, but this morning, the Buffalo Bills fired head coach Sean McDermott after nine seasons at the helm in which he had a ton of regular season's success, but was never able to get to the Super Bowl with franchise quarterback Josh Allen.

Your thoughts when you heard the news of Sean McDermott's dismissal? A little bit shocked, a little bit. just disappointed. I expected to get the news that he was being told to clean sweep his staff. The coordinator Joe Brady was going to get fired that he was going to fire all of his coordinators.

I wasn't anticipating this. And then when we turn around and realize that no, it's not an organizational sweep. Brandon Bean, who arrived in Buffalo as a matchette with Sean McDermott, he's staying. He gets to lead the coaching search. He gets to restock the shelves of a roster

that looked a little depleted, really, season. Then you realize, you know, this is business as usual in the NFL. The bill is an organization that came so close to the Super Bowl that looked like they had all the answers for so many years. They're not playing football right now. They're playing the blame game. They're playing Game of Thrones and McDermott lost a power struggle, Pene 1, and now they've got a sort of like chart a course from here after this decision. What went wrong for the bills specifically this past weekend in Denver? Well, they got a bunch of bad calls. part of it.

You know, it's tricky because, first of all, you look at Josh Allen, fumbling, turnovers, James Cook turnovers. You realize your star players are coming up a little bit short, and they're your star players. You can't get rid of those guys because you're not going to be able to find anybody better. So then you move on, and you look at some of the defensive lapses where they had injuries, injuries in the secondary. They had to play next man up. They put a third string safety out there, and Bo Nex is like finding Cortland Sutton

getting covered by that third string safety. safety, and you say, well, I mean, part of this is this is a roster that's been together so long and got so expensive that they weren't able to, you know, bring in high triath picks. They weren't able to bring in free agents. They're stuck with kind of like the guys who've been on the bench for two or three or four years going out there playing these roles and those guys just aren't good enough. And that's an indictment of being to a degree, but it's also a reality check for this is what happens.

When you were like a Super Bowl contender for five, six, seven years, you wind up having like a depleted bench. You wind up having to save money at positions, et cetera, et cetera. So that's what it boils down to. And I keep looking at a game where it's like, yeah, you probably won it, like, you replay that game a hundred times. You probably win it 55, 60 times. You're firing your coach after this. You're throwing

the whole organizational and the kind of turmoil after this. I just don't see the move. You mentioned Bo Nix in there, and that was the other big story from this weekend. It was the biggest story until Sean McDermott got fired moments ago. Nix, lost in that game. to the broken ankle that puts Jared Stidham under center for the first time this year, and it just so happens to be in the AFC championship game against the New England Patriots.

We had a couple of people text in asking what we thought the likelihood of the Broncos winning with Stidham at QB is, and I was thinking like, I'm going to turn this one over to Mike because he knows a lot more about football than I do. Can you explain to the listenership the challenge that Stidham faces coming in cold, absolutely cold, and trying to engineer a game, maybe he can be a manager, maybe he can't. How difficult the task is this for Jared Stittam going into the AFC title game? Yeah, see, by absolutely cold, you mean he hasn't played a meaningful snap in two NFL seasons. That's what I'm talking about. Honestly, he's never played a meaningful NFL snap.

Let's get real Broncos. He started a couple games with Broncos when they were, when Sean Payton was done with Russell Wilson and said, Russell Wilson, you are no longer wanted here in Denver, and we're just going to throw the other guy out there because we don't want you to get hurt and we don't have to pay the premium on your guaranteed contract. That's what Stidham did. And he had a couple of games during the goofiness of the Patriots

after Brady retired. And they were like, oh, maybe Cam Newton. You know, that's what Stim has done in his career. You're not talking about your normal NFL backup quarterback. You know, you're not talking about Mitch Trubisky coming off the bench. Well, he started a bunch of games in the NFL or something like that. You're talking about like an offensive coordinator. You're talking about somebody who in another world is a quarterback's coach at this point in his career.

So I don't know what Sean Peyton does, except that you can expect the unexpected with Sean Payton. He's one of the few coaches in the NFL who might be like, hey, I kind of plan for this contingency. I've got a bag of tricks here that I might use. I am not going to say that there's much of a chance of the Broncos pulling off an upset, but there is a little bit of a expect the unexpected, never. never count out the fact that, you know, a quarterback making his first start has like a custom playbook design just for him. And also never came out the fact that the Broncos can hold most opponents under 20 points and might be able to score a touchdown on their side of the ball. We're speaking to Mike Tan here, our NFL Insider from the Two Deep Zone here on the Halford & Brough Show on Sportsnet 650 on Sportsnet 650 on sportsnet 650 on sportsnet 650.

On sports net 650, Mike is a presentation of the Clayton Public House. Reserve your spot for the big football party at the Clayton Public House hosted by Sportsnet 650. Email info at the Clayton Pub.com for more. the Clayton Public House, good food, good people, good times. Stidham and the Broncos will face the New England Patriots and Drake May and the AFC Championship. What were some of your big takeaways or the singular big takeaway from the Patriots win over the Texans in a turnover-filled game in the divisional round?

I was blown away the last two weeks by the Patriots defense. Now, for most of the Cs, the Patriots defense was not particularly impressive. you go back in how they won the games this year. It was a lot of Drake May, you know, having an MVP-type season. And you're like, wow, that defense was having a little bit of a hard time against, you know, the Raiders or the Bengals. And so, you know, I didn't expect that I'd see this Patriots defense go out there, beat up on Justin Herbert last week. They go out there and just destroy the, just cause CJ Stroud to absolutely glitch. And, you know, that's a test of it.

Mike Vrabel's coaching and to the guys in the defense. I think folks know Christian Gonzalez is a great cornerback. Carlton Davis had a big game. Marcus Jones had a big game. Harold Landry, Milton Williams. A lot of guys who were like journeymen other stops along the way came to Foxborough. Now they're having big games and

that's a defense that peaked at the right time and now may have the easiest championship road to the playoffs that like any defense has ever faced in the final weeks of the postseason. Where does C.J. Stroud go from here. You know,

Strav is, forgive me, because two years ago, Justin Herbert threw four interceptions in a playoff game, and the entire conversation was, man, we got to get Herbert more help.

And Strel goes out there and throws four interceptions yesterday with no Nico Collins, with no Dalton Schultz, with Howard, one of his top offensive linemen getting hurt in the first quarter, and folks are like,

oh, maybe we should throw him in the scrap heap forever. This is a quarter, who, you know, was a rookie of the year two years ago, led the Texans who a playoff win last year. Yes, last week he played poorly against the Steelers as well. Right. I really think it starts with fixing that offensive line.

That offensive line has been horrendous. And once the Patriots knew it yesterday, they just blitzed. They knew they could cover everybody on the back end. There weren't enough targets for Stroud without Collins out there. And it was just showtime. So Straub played very badly. He looked rattles. He made some dumb throws, but the idea that he's unsavageable,

I think that's kind of a little bit of a wacky Monday morning take right now. Speaking of four interceptions, Sam Darnold threw four interceptions against the L.A. Rams in November, and the Seahawks still managed to win that game. The two games the Seahawks and the Rams played were absolutely wild affairs, and now they'll play another. As a Seahawks fan, I did not want this matchup. I think that Caleb Williams

probably would have struggled in Seattle with the crowd noise and that defense. Matt Stafford, he's been through everything in his career, so I think he's going to be a little better able to handle that. But the Seahawks did look pretty good against the San Francisco 49ers. What do you think about this NFC title matchup

between the Seahawks and the Rams? The Seahawks have only, they just play NFC Wefts teams. That's it. It's like that was the best of the conference, so that's all they do. Right, right. And, of course, it's the toughest conference, so you're playing some of the toughest opponents. But it's true. It's like, gee, I don't know what they look like against other teams because it's always a 49ers or a Rams game.

And again, you've got the Seahawks narrative down pat. Oh, you just beat the holy living tailights out of the 49ers in the second round of the playoffs. You look unstoppable. Yeah, but Arnold. Like the entire conversation is that. in a nutshell. You're right. Also, I think the Bears would have been a much better matchup for the Seahawks.

You're right about the crowd noise with Caleb Williams. The fact that he kind of goes flat for like a half and then waits till the fourth quarter and waits until like fourth and eight to make his big move. He'd be down by two scores, three scores by the time that even happened. But I don't know what else to say about Rams Seahawks because we've seen it and we know it's going to be close. And we know Dornal is probably going to be struggling a little bit, although that's a very vulnerable secondary that the Seahawks should.

should be able to do more with, and we know where the Seahawks advantages are. They should be able to make plays on special teams that will tilt field position or get scores. They should be able to do enough on defense to limit Stafford. I'm leaning towards the Seahawks in this game. I just don't know how it will be different from the other Seahawks-Rams games that are very close, very physical, and kind of come down to whether Donald makes this many mistakes or this many mistakes, and the same can be said about the Rams on Fourth Down, the Rams on special

teams and all the little things that they do wrong. Well, I think there might be one thing that could be different and work with me here. Yes. The Rams throughout good chunks of the regular season found ways to lose games, especially late. There was that sort of crazy game against the Eagles early

in the season. I think we all know what happened against the Seahawks where they blew a lead. Is there any difference that you've seen in these past two weeks? Because I will say this about the Rams. They played tight games in the fourth quarter. They had to have a comeback against Carolina in the fourth quarter. And yesterday they were able to hold off what looked like a blown opportunity.

Like they might have blown it when Caleb Williams threw that touch on, they came back and won. Is there anything different about the way the Rams are approaching these close games and winning them now that could be a difference in the NFC championship game? There's not because if you look at the end of that game, they gave the bears another opportunity. They had the ball with two and a half minutes and they're not really managing the clock well and it's third and ten right before the two-minute warning and they hand off.

And it's like, well, the clock's going to stop. Anyway, why not try throwing the ball? Overtime, third and short, and they get super conservative instead of making a play to get the first down. They're making mistakes like that. Like you said, it was a tight game against the Panthers. They were making mistakes throughout the game to keep the Panthers in the game, and then they kind of remembered they were just superior, just, you know, manpower-wise, a superior team late.

So all of those things are still on the table, and they were still on the table a couple weeks ago where they let the Seahawks get back into that game. So that's it. Can the Rams avoid those little cells? destructive problems, and it's usually game management or special teams. Can they avoid that? That's what they have to do. And what the Seahawks have to do is make sure that Donald does not turn the ball over

when he's put in critical circumstances. I had a buddy ask me to ask you this, so I'll do it for him. Oh, no. Is what the Patriots doing right now, is that a reflection of how good a coach Mike Vrable is or how bad of a coach, Gerard Mayo was? Let's see. Okay, Rable is a very good coach. I don't know anything that was going on with Mayo

where he had any chance whatsoever that team. They had no offensive line. They didn't have two-thirds of the guys they had there on defense. So Mayo was a little bit of a sacrificial lamb, so to speak, last year. But all the credit in the world of Rable for bringing, this is a team that was full of free agents. It's full of free agents. It's full of rookies.

There's rookies on the offensive line. There's rookies all around the offense. And getting together. and yeah, I keep harping on the fact that they didn't play anybody. They didn't trip over anybody. They didn't have that dumb game. Rams losing to the Falcons, that was pretty dumb. Rams losing the Panthers.

That was pretty done. Bills had like five dumb losses on the schedule. That might have contributed to McDermott's departure. There's none of that for the Patriots. They take care of business. And that's what they get on Sunday. A game they should win. They always win the games they should win.

How was Drake May able to, how was he able to take this massive step in the second season in the NFL? Well, there were, again, a little bit of schedule assist, a little bit of Stefan Diggs, a little bit of a rebuild of the offensive line. So you get all these things that get in place to take a quarterback that was wobbly as a rookie and give him the tools they need. The schedule, again, is a thing where you're playing the Jets a lot. You're playing a team that never intercepted the past in the regular season.

When we see him in the last couple weeks, you'll notice May has fumbled six times in the postseason. He fumbled twice against the Chargers. He fumbled four times yesterday. That was almost a turnover for turnover fast, except that his lineman kept jumping on his fumbles, whereas Strowd was throwing interceptions. So you're seeing against better opponents may still a work in progress. You know, he mixes the spectacular plays with the holding the ball too long and letting himself get stripped. So we'll see. We'll probably see this guy in the Super Bowl as the second year quarterback, and no matter where he is on his development scale, when you reach the Super Bowl in a second year quarterback, you're en route to a special career, and you're probably going

to get the opportunity to figure the things out that you're still figuring out to go along with your ability to make those spectacular plays. I got one more coaching one for you before we let you go, and it's John Harbaugh out of the Giants. It happened last week. I think it happened after we got you on the air, so we didn't get a chance to ask you. But he is going from Lamar Jackson and Derek Henry to Jackson Dart and Camden. scataboo. And with all due respect to Dart and Scataboo, who might be very good players somewhere down

the road, that was a lot of talent that he's leaving in Baltimore. How much success is he set up for, although the Giants are young and they're exciting, he's worked with a really good running back and a really good quarterback for a really long time. How much success do you see Harbaugh having with this new iteration of that

combo in New York? You're right in that he's going from those Hall of Fame caliber guys to like these rookies. he's also going from the expectation of Super Bowl or bust every single year to, hey, if you make the wow card, that's progress. And I think he's well aware of that, that he now gets what he hasn't had for years and years in Baltimore, which is a chance to do a mulligan year, the chance to maybe take a two or three-year plan

to help put these things together. And from that standpoint, this is the best decision the Giants have made in 10 years, 12 years, I don't know, since Eli Manning was still a viable quarterback. They haven't brought in a coach that has this much of a pedigree that has this much gravitas in the league and respect around the league who can bring in a staff that features guys like Todd Munkin. The Giants haven't done this in many years. So Harbaugh might be instant success.

It might be 9 and 8, and we call that instance of success because they're the Giants and they've stunk forever. But I think it's a very good marriage between a head coach and a organization. Mike, you're the best. Thank you very much for doing this. as always. Enjoy the rest of the week and the championship games on Sunday. When we have you on next Monday, it'll be our first Super Bowl

preview of the year. Thanks, Mike. Exciting. Take care and enjoy the college football tonight. Yeah, enjoy it. Mike Taney, our NFL insider from the two deep zone here on the Halford & Brough show on Sportsnet, 650. Lucas the Fuel guy texted in. Too late, though. He said, ask Mike if this

Rams Seahawks is the Super Bowl. I think it is. I think it is. I mean, I think whoever wins this game will probably be the favorites over whoever wins New England and Denver. But I would not sleep on, I wouldn't sleep on New England. I think if New England gets to the Super Bowl, which I would give them a fairly strong chance of doing that right now, that's going to be a little too much too soon for Drake May.

Yeah, but what if they play the Seahawks, then you would give the quarterback matchup to Drake May. You give it to the Patriots. And I think some of the, really? You think some of the other elements of their team are overrated? No, but I think the Seahawks are, they have a better defense, better front seven, better secondary, better ground game. I think they're more established in terms of what they are identity-wise. You got to remember this is a Patriots team last year was a four-win football team.

That's why I asked that. Seahawks missed the playoffs. That Gerard Mayo question, right? It's not like the Seahawks were world beaters last year. No, but they weren't a four-win football team. Four wins in the NFL is bad. You're a bad football team, especially in that division

where you do get layups like the Jets twice a year and the dolphins twice a year, right? I mean, I was thinking when the bears, it looked like the bears might pull off the comeback yesterday in the miracle win. I was like, can you imagine it the final four teams are the bears, the Seahawks, the Patriots, and the Broncos?

And the Seahawks and the Broncos were the number one seed? I mean, the group of four, yeah, the, the round. that's fine, you know. They're a good team. But nobody expected this for the Seahawks, Broncos, or Patriots. No. Definitely not in New England.

Well, I would say definitely not in Seattle. And definitely not in Denver. Be the number one seed in the conference. Denver was a playoff team last year. The number one seed, though. No, but I'm saying the turnaround, the most stark turnarounds in the NFL this year were in New England and we're in Jacksonville. Yeah.

Right? Those were the biggest single from you were like a three and four wins. I think you'd call Seattle a turnaround. Yeah, but you saw signs last year that they were ready to be competitive. I don't think anyone saw that they were going to be the number one seed. No. Our preseason predictions were fringe playoff team, maybe score some points, but give up fewer, and that's how they get in. So the way that they did it, 100% totally unexpected.

The way that they're playing right now, I am still shocked by it. And by the way, download hour one of the podcast if you want to hear the, full recap of the Seahawks dismantling of the Niners. I love watching their defense. It was complete domination. Their tackling is incredible. They gave up 12 points over the course of two games against one of the best teams in the NFC. They don't even blitz much.

No. Well, they don't need to. Well, that's the thing. Yeah. Right? They don't need to. Yeah. And the run defense, remember just a few years ago how embarrassing it was to watch the Seahawks sometimes when teams were just be like, yeah, we're going to run the ball.

We're going to tell you we're going to run the ball and then we're still going to do it very successfully. Well, the biggest improvements that they've made in the Mike McDonald era were, and this is like classic moj talk, but it's in the trenches. They got way better on their offensive line. They invested in the draft.

They're still not perfect on the offensive line, but it's way better than it was. Yes. And defensively, they've got run stuffers in the middle. So it's very difficult to run on the Seahawks. And this is, you know, it's old school football. And a lot of people look at the Darnold Acquisition, and the Jackson Smith and Jigba draft and then ascension to the number one pick.

And a lot of people look at the glamour positions. Yeah. But the reality of it is that they got way better in the interior on their offensive and defensive lines. And the results, they're way ahead of schedule. 14 wins. If you had told me, again, this year that they were going to be a 14 win too. And they'd be like, no chance. But they've done it.

And now they're one win away from going to the Super Bowl and two wins away from being the Super Bowl. champions, which is wild, a wild development. But it's been a lot of fun to watch them this year. Okay, we're going to take a bit of a, maybe a bit of an odd turn next, because we're going to, we're going to have a guest on Dennis Bernstein to talk about the L.A. Kings. The L.A. Kings, what are they playing the Canucks tonight? No, that's, that's New York Islanders who are playing the Canucks tonight. But the Kings are quietly in a bad spot. they're just 1916 and 13 they've lost three straight games

that have either gone to oh well they've all gone to overtime they lost two of them in overtime one in a shootout and the fan base isn't happy the fan base is looking at this team and going what are you guys what are we like because we're losing Koputar next season

he's leaving the NHL he's already announced that So what are we doing here? Because we traded Phil De Noa way. So you look at us down the middle. When we were giving the Edmonton Oilers a bit of a run in the first round, down the middle, you loved what we had. And you love what we had in Quentin Byfield as a young player.

And surely he'll develop into a star player. But, you know, has he? Drew Dowdy's not getting any younger. So what are the kings going to? to do. And could there be a trade with the Vancouver Canucks that could help them out? There has been reports about Evander Cain, possibly being traded to the L.A. Kings. I don't know if that is still on the table, considering the L.A. Kings right now are on the

outside looking in of a playoff spot. And I guess this is a much bigger topic. Could Alias Pedersen be a solution to? the retirement of Anzay Kopitar. So we'll talk to Dennis coming up next on the Halford & Brough show, but then we will dip in again into the Dunbar Lumber Text line at 650, 650. Lots of topics to discuss.

The Canucks are hosting the New York Islanders tonight. They've already lost 10 straight. You are, you are for some reason listening to a Connux show called Halford and Brough on Sportsnet 650. Hey, Monday. Happy Monday, everybody, Halford Brough, SportsNet 650. Halford Brough for the morning is brought to by Sands and Associates. You got a payday loan debt.

If you do, Sands and Associates could cut your debt by up to 80% with no upfront fees. Visit them online at Sands-Trustee.com for more. We are an hour two of the program. Hour 2 is brought to by Jason Homonock at Jason. Dow 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 them online at Jason.com.

To the phone lines we go, our next guest is from the fourth period and serious XM NHL radio. Dennis Bernstein joins us now on the Halford & Brough Show on SportsNet 650. Good morning, Dennis. How are you? Jason, Mike, first time on the show is a privilege to be on with two of the most influential names in the Vancouver market. I'm happy to talk hockey this morning. Oh, thank you.

He's off to a good start. He's sucking up. Compliments will get you everywhere. I love this. It's great. It's true. Come on. Thank you, everybody. Thank you very much.

I do. No, just kidding. Okay. So the reason that we brought you on is we wanted to do a little bit of a deeper dive on the L.A. Kings and where they are at, organizationally, standings-wise, all of it, because we've been hyper-focused, obviously, on this train wreck of a Vancouver Canucks season. Things have not gone swimmingly in Los Angeles. If you look at the fewest home wins in the NHL this season, the Kings are pretty close down at the

bottom of the standings right next to the Canucks. the Rangers. So big picture one to start you with. How is this season gone so far for the Los Angeles Kings? Well, there are about 15 standing points behind the pace of last year. There were 105 points. I think they're on one pace from 90, 89, something like that. Let's break that in numbers. 30s in scoring. Fourth in defense. 27th on the power play, 24th in penalty. But here are the killers, guys. They have lost 13 games when they're tied after 10. they've had 18 one goal losses and the end of the empty net goals I think it's 23 right so that's where you start right and then you guys have mentioned the center play and yes copra's out let's pick that and you're right about it back in the day when they were given edmonton all the fits in the playoffs they had to know they had copatara five through was was decent here's their current alignment right second overall pick nine goals a winger playing out of position as a 2C.

The 3C, fifth overall pick three goals, a project 4C with five goals in 71 NHL games. You wonder why they score one goal against a doxone play defense or any team or it's an achievement to get two goals and three is a miracle. I know that people have been hopping on Dumil and CC incessantly in this market. It's not why they're losing games. like they're fourth in defense they can't score that's the problem and is somebody on the players absolutely is it someone on the coaching jason mike when you blow that many games after two periods you got to try to do that right so a lot of it is coaching as well and the style um and i don't really put a lot of it on Kenny holland so that's kind of a big picture look at why this team is suffering i could go down a couple other players that you think wouldn't be responsible but but are for the spot they're in right now okay i I'm glad you mentioned that with the

ability to close games in the third period because we kind of saw that's what led to Dean Everson's dismissal in Columbus is one of the talking points coming out of there was they lost a lot of games that they had going into the third and final frame. And I think Zach Wrenski had some pointed remarks about the style that they were playing overall.

How much angst or concern is there about the style that they play under Jim Hiller? Well, there's angst if you're trying to sell tickets, I mean, for sure, like, I don't see in the press box between periods. I go down to the concourse and talk to fans. And my question of fans is, if that's the first game,

if it's one-one against Columbus going into the third period, and this is the first game you've ever been to. Are you coming back? You're not coming back. So they're concerned. And I'll give you another reason why they're a concern about the stock. It doesn't win anymore. It doesn't.

It doesn't win anymore. I get a team off the rush. You're going to have some more speed. And the other thing, when you look at this team, and you say, okay, well, what could change here? I'll give you an example. It's Artini Perrin, when he goes to a free agency,

and the Kings went off from $13 million, whatever, whatever his number is. And it comes here, and he's style of play, and it's checked for your chances. Can you get any shot at sign on this player? Why did Mitch Martin, I mean, I heard a lot about Mitch Molyner, come in L.A., like, Drew Dardy wanted to recruit him. Like, check for your chances. No, any elite player, they're going to land here with a free agent. Absolutely not playing this style.

It's not entertaining. It's not winning. and you can't draw, and you have to be able to draw elite players. So, yeah, there has to be a major paradigm shift, I think, in the off season. You can't keep going to this. And then that goes through, you know, what happens behind the bench in the off season. So I think that's, so we're absolutely on point about the style of play. It just doesn't work anymore in this league.

Does Ken Holland want to make some moves? Some big ones. Well, he has $11 million in cap space. Yeah, he has $11 million in cap space. You have to, but here's the thing, like, one move is not. going to change his team. It isn't. Like, if you went out and got, I don't know, a scoring winger from Columbus or a team that falls out or or a band-dur-gain, like, that's not going to change it. It's not going to change it. Like, it's not enough here. And here's why. When you look at what,

and this really lies with one guy, and he's not here anymore. Rob Blake did such a bad job with his team, building his team, because he brought Todd in McCullen, they established structure, they got defensively, they started getting success. But when you look at the draft, guys, I mentioned two of them. Why feels underachieving him? I don't like to do the white if. The guy dressed up behind with Stutzwa. Look at the Ken's players

dressed up behind Alex Turcott. He'd cry at your King's thing. It's Matt Bowling. Spencer and I could go on, right? So one move is not going to make this team that much better. It might get him in, though, because this is the one season. Guys, this is the one season

where you play this bad and you've got a shot at the point. They're tied in points with the three seed. Like, so they're gifted this player front. They were gifted this player front. So could he make a move? I would think he would. They need to. I need to maybe to brighten up the room or change it up or freshen it up

because even when you talk to Jim Hiller at the games, he goes, these are the players I got. What else can he do to pull the lever? There's not another lever to pull. So yes, he should make a move, but you know what he shouldn't do? Mike? He shouldn't go overboard. He shouldn't make three trades and trade away, you know,

Liam Gritchie, who's a top press kick right now in season to prop this team up. One end, I could see it, but they're going really hard to try to do this process team up. It's not worth it because, again, only the reason they're in the race is because the Pacific Division, you guys know, other than the top two teams, did the dogs breakfast in this division right now. So, Dennis, cap space is great to have, but, you know, in the NHL these days, sometimes you kind of struggle to find anything to spend it on. The free agent list isn't great, and especially if you're talking about centers. So what do you make of this speculation? I don't know if there's been anything reported in a hard and fast.

way about Elias Pedersen and possibly that being the Los Angeles being a good destination for him. Let's go to the Evander King one first, right? I talked to people about it and they kind of soft peddle it until you talk to scouts and you guys know you get impressed. You talk to scouts, they give you the real real, right? I said, what about Evander to L.A.? And he said, and this one scouts gave me one line. He goes, Penny loves size. So don't discount it. But I don't who he ended in the off season. Dool-in, Cici, Corey, and Armia. They're all big.

And the team is soft. So that. Pedersen's a different story. Here's what I think would have to happen. Okay. You have to go to Adrian Tente and have him back for Lee's Pedersen. Because Agin Tepi signed on for eight years.

He's the one guy, and maybe you regret it now, who signed on for eight years. He's going to be here. He's going to wear the seat. Right? So you go to the Swedes on the team or the most prominent one say, what about this guy? Do you think he could function

here. Do you think he's a fit? Not anything from the eye On ice production is an M, right? I mean, it's not. Like you can't, you can't bring this guy in an 11-6th if he's going to be at this production. If you can get it retention, which I don't think the connects one to do, do it. So would it make sense?

Yeah. Because who's behind Byfield next season? It's just two-see. There isn't one. And I'll go further on Byfield. I talked to a management person from a Pacific Division team. I said, you know, the King's really going to need a two-see next year. He goes, Dennis. A one

team in this league is a player who scores a point of game. Minimum 70. Why feels on pace is 45? He's a two seat. This team's going to need a one seat. So Elise Pedersen from a debt standpoint, would it make sense? He'd be the best center on the team without question. So would I discount it?

Absolutely not. But I think it's, you'd have to go to aging tempi. He said, what do you know about L.A.? Would he be able to function here? L.A. is in Vancouver with respect to media, so there'd be less pressure. Last time I checked 18,000 doesn't play for this team. So I think that I would think it would have some great. But to be honest, to the bottom line, it would still be a very risky acquisition.

I'm not sure the kings are in a position where it could take such a big risk because if it fails, where are they going to be. What's up with Byfield? Where is he in his career progression? Because he's 23 now. And it seems everyone's been very patient with him. And it's not like he's been horrible. Although I still think about get the puck out. Get the puck out in that Edmonton game.

Was that game six? Man, if he gets that puck out, they're winning that series. At any rate, where is he? There's still time. There's still racetrack. I'll say this. He's 23. He's got a long-term contract.

He doesn't have any trade protection. Maybe you look at that in the off-season. Here's the thing with Byfield. He does not shoot the paw. He'd rather go through his leg and try to make a fancy play than shoot the paw. He's got a really good shot. never uses it, right? And the other thing, in this league, if you're going to be in one C, like Austin Matthews or Jack

Ackle, you're going to be in Alpha. He's not an Alpha yet. Now, maybe he's still deferral to Copa Tard and Dowager, and these guys, he's got to be the alpha and he should have been there already. He should have stepped into all. Here's the thing. Popatar should have been like Joe Thornton was in his final days, a 3C, not a 1C, not a 2C, a 3C.

And that's on Clinton Byfield. And you're right, Putin Byfield over the summer thought about that play all summer. I thought it would come back and be a motivation for being having a really good season, and he hasn't. He's an under-attriever. Right now, the king should have drafted Tim Stozel. It's not even close right now. He needs to get his head together to be honest with you, that's what he needs to do. Because he's got all the talent, and he's the most disappointed thing.

You see in games when this guy has flashes and glimpses of greatness, he's made place, and you guys have seen it last year against Columbus, a one-handed goal. He's got it in him. He's got all the skill. He's big. He's still grown into his body. He hasn't utilized everything. It's a mental thing.

He has to come and say, I'm the man last year. I'm going to lead this team. I'm not going to be deferential. He hasn't done it yet. So the skills there, the talent's there, the mindset isn't there, and it needs to be there if he wants to be a one scene in this league. Dennis, one final one before we let you go. How excited are you to see the Rams lose in Seattle next weekend?

Wow. Oh, my, thank. No, it's funny. Aggressive question. I'm wearing my season, I'm wearing my season picket holder jacket to talk to you guys. They're going to win. They could win because they mentioned what you mentioned, San Donald.

That's their best asset, Sam Donald. It's going to be a close game like it always is. So I'm not excited about because, yeah, I might be going to, I might be going to Santa Clara to see the Rams win the Super Bowl in the 49th Park. And that would be the sweetest thing in the world. Okay, well, I wish you some luck moving forward. Maybe not on the football.

I wish you no luck whatsoever. I take it back every day. But thank you very much for doing this today. We appreciate it. Great insight into the Kings. We'll catch up later on in the season. Thanks, Dennis. A lot of five sports,

appreciate it. Thanks for that. Dennis Bernstein from the fourth period and serious XM NHL radio here on the Halford & Brough Show on Sports Night 650. It was very interesting to hear him say, like if we're going to even suggest,

suggest the idea of an Elias Pedersen trade in Los Angeles, the organization needs to first not turn to the head coach or any of the management group, but rather Adrian Kempe and say, hey, what do you think of this? If you think about it,

I think the Olympics are going to be huge for Pedersen. Kempe's a countryman. They're going to be on that team together. Kempe signed long term in Los Angeles. I think even if you take away the, don't let it exist in a vacuum, if you look big picture about a potential at Elias Pedersen trade,

I do wonder if that's the number one conversation you need to have with any team is don't go to the coach, don't go to the general manager, go to the leadership group in the room and the guys that are there long term and say, do you want to take this on? Given what you know, given what the history and quite frankly

the baggage is with this player, are you willing to bring that out? Do you know him personally? Is he going to fit in your room? Is he going to work within your culture? Is it going to be a guy that you want to be, have it as a teammate for a long time? Because that's what you're bringing on.

You're not just, everyone can talk about the player and the potential to rebound. But for me, the most onerous thing and the most risky thing is the contract. You're taking on a lot of money for a lot of term if you're taking on Pedersen. So you've got to be pretty sure that if this turnaround's going to happen, it's not going to happen for one year. Like his career trajectory needs to do almost a 180 and continue to ascend.

He can't be a guy that's going to weigh on your books for the next five or six years. And that's a big ask. It's a big ask. You also got to get the situation. on his health status. He picks up a lot of injuries. He's not really going to come close to playing a full season this year. And, you know, you'd want to just go through,

you're going to have to find some sources and some information on, like, what exactly was going on with the tendonitis? What exactly is going on with the risk situation that he's believed to be dealing? with. What's his pain tolerance? You know? That sort of thing. It sounds greasy and dirty, but if you're talking about making a major investment in a

player if you bring in Elias Pedersen. And also, how much is it going to cost you? What are the Canucks going to? That's a great question. I have no idea. I mean, the Canucks have been very aggressive in their asks. for players. And there's nothing wrong with that.

But if you want to move a player, you got to make a deal. You got to make a deal. You can't just be like, well, we'll see what the offers are. Eventually, you have to acknowledge, like, you might not get the best deal, but do you want the player? Do you want the player long term? In that vein and on that level of discourse, there are some veteran players on this team

that have a lot of term left on their contracts that I think you absolutely have to, if you're going to move them, get a great return for them. Right at the top of that list, I'd put Hronick and Garland. Because I do think you can make an argument that they are ultimately beneficial

to the group because of the way they go about their business. Ellen Walsh doesn't want you discussing that. Right. Okay, so Alan Walsh, aside, I'm going to say it anyway. I will continue to say this and won't waver from it. You're not, you can't do the same with Pedersen.

And I think part of it has to do with the fact that he needs a change as much as the organization needs one. There's just way. But it's so hard to find centers. I could see, this is not my endorsement, by the way. But I could see the Canucks going like, are we going to trade Pedersen. We'll see if we can get some semblance of a center back. You're not getting byfield, though. I guess what I'm trying to.

But hold on. Yeah. They've already got issues down the middle. If they trade Pedersen, they've got Rossi who, you know, undersized guy. Minnesota is willing to part ways with him. You know, he can get injury concerns too. Heedle has serious injury concerns.

What do they have down the middle? They got nothing. And then they've said, well, we're going to try and turn this around in two to three years. Well, if they get the first, second or third overall pick in this draft, picking a center would be a reach. I guess what I'm trying to say is the driving force for some other deals would be maximum asset return. for this one, I think it would be trying to get the player out and getting the contract off the books. I don't think that there's a huge net gain here other than you rid yourself of what is going down as one of the worst contracts that the organization has ever signed.

And maybe the most onerous non-Lelongo division. And there's a massive culture issue there too. Again. So if those are the pluses and that's what you net out of the trade, dust your hands off and say, we did it. Like, we did it, Joe. We did it, right? Mission accomplished. But there's other guys where I think asset coming back is the key.

I don't think that's the case with him. I don't think this is a hot take, but I don't feel the Canucks can truly rebuild if Elias Pedersen is still on the team. I just don't see a rebuilt team in three to four years with Elias Pedersen, one of the headline players. I can't picture that in my mind.

Can you? No, not at all. I just don't, and again, I don't want to put this all on Pedersen. But I've always said it starts with him. Yeah. And I think that's okay. I think this starts with him. Well, financially, it's hard not to look at it.

Financially, culturally, he's supposed to be part of your leadership group, but we all know he's not. Yeah. You know? Yeah, yeah. And why try and change this person? he is who he is. So send him to a team where he might have a better chance

because I think in Vancouver, it's unfair to everyone involved if you keep doing this. Is it going to be challenging to refill the center position after you've traded away Bo Horvatt, J.T. Miller and then Elias Pedersen? Yeah.

It will be. But let's see if they can do it. it. Before we go to break, here's something exciting. One to Watch, brought to you by Limitless A.V. Is back. That's right, everybody. Our favorite segment is once again back, and tonight, our one to watch. A little bit of a different vein. I'm actually going to watch and see if Teddy Blugher will get back into the lineup for the Vancouver Canucks. Missing nearly half the season with an injury that took a lot of rehab. And according to him, some frustrating times with the backbacks during that rehab. It appears as though Teddy Bluger could be on track to play tonight.

Now, a couple of things that have to happen, one, in terms of transactional stuff. I think he actually needs to be physically removed from IR before he can get back into the lineup. But that's some paperwork that Canucks could take care of today. We'll find out more at the morning skate, but Bluger skated on the third line with Liam Ogren and Connor Garland yesterday. So the real question is, do we call it the gob line? or do we call it the bog line? So many options sitting out there

if Bluger does return to the lineup tonight. So that is your one to watch. Brought to you by Limitless AV, Vancouver's most trusted audio visual integration experts specializing in seamless video conferencing solutions and hybrid workspaces.

Book your personalized tour of their experience center today at Limitlessavit.ca.ca. Two hours are in the books one final hour to go. Kevin Woodley's coming up next. You're listening to the Halford & Brough Show on Sportsnet,

650. Thank you.