Halford & Brough in the Morning - That Was Not The Start The Seahawks Wanted

Episode Date: September 8, 2025

In hour one, Mike & Jason look back at a busy weekend in sports, they chat a disappointing Week 1 loss for the Seattle Seahawks (3:00), plus they look back at the life of the late Ken Dryden, with Sportsnet's Montreal Canadiens reporter Eric Engels (27:05). 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.

You're listening to Halford and Brough You're listening to Halford and Brough. Prater's kick is on the way. It is good. And the Bills win. The Buffalo Bills pulled one out of the fire. Have some faith next time. Rogers under center. Play action pass. Rolling to his right,

fires off the back foot. Talbottsk, touchdown, Pittsburgh Steelers. It was nice to win, especially hearing some of the catcalls out there and the boo-birds. I was saying boolards. Good morning, Vancouver, 6-1 on a Monday. Happy Monday, everybody. It is Halford. It is brough.

It is SportsNet 650. We are coming to you live from the Kintech Studios and beautiful Fairview Slopes in Vancouver. Jason, good morning. Good morning. Adog, good morning to you. Good morning. Laddie, good morning to you as well. Hello, hello.

Halford and Bruff of the morning is brought to you by Sands and Associates. Learn how a consumer proposal could get you on the road to being debt-free in just two weeks. Visit the online at Sands-Trustee.com. We are in Hour 1 of the program. Hour 1 is once again brought to you by North Star Metal Recycling. Vancouver's premier metal recycler pays the highest prices on scrap metal. North Star Metal Recycling. They recycle.

You get paid. Visit them at 1170, Power. Street in Vancouver. We are coming to you live from the Kintech studio, Kintech footwear, and orthotics working together with you in step. A lot to get into on the program today. Absolutely loaded Monday show, so much NFL

stuff to get into. We are going to start, however, with some sad news that hit the hockey world over the weekend. Eric Engels from SportsNet, Montreal is going to join us at 6.30 to talk about the passing of Ken Dryden. Hall of Fame goaltender, help the Habs win six Stanley Cups in the

70s, died on Friday after a fight with cancer at the age of 78. Eric wrote about Dryden's presence and legacy for Sportsnet over the weekend. We'll discuss that with him at 6.30. It's always difficult to pivot from an emotional story like that to the news of the day, but I also do want to ask them about the other big news out of Montreal on the weekend that the haves dealt Carrie Price. Yeah, carry price to the sharks.

So we'll get into the ramifications from what that move might be. That's going to be coming up at 6.30 with Eric Engels. 7 o'clock Mike Tannier, our NFL insider from the two deep zone. So much to get into with Mike today. We will recap Sunday night's absolutely outstanding Bill's Ravens game and that outrageous Buffalo comeback. We will also talk about Aaron Rogers' debut in Pittsburgh, Russell Wilson's debut in New York.

Maybe we'll get to the Seahawks. Maybe we'll do the Seahawks stuff ourselves. We can also look ahead to the Bears Vikings tonight as well. Mike Tanier, our NFL insider, is going to do. join us at seven for all that. At eight, we are going to do some CFL talk with J.C. Abbott, BC Lions reporter for Three Down Nation. Yikes. Lions. The Lions found a new, exciting way to lose a football game on Friday in Ottawa, this time blowing a 14.4th quarter lead to lose to the Red Blacks, 34 to 33 in Ottawa. So the Lions are now five and seven on the season. They've allowed

the Argos and the Red Blacks, both to creep back into the crossover spot running. and Edmonton is now tied them for fourth spot in the West after upsetting Calgary on Saturday night. Great times to the BC Lions. We'll talk to J.C. Abbott about all that at 8. It's Abbott at 8. It's 10 here at 7. It's angles at 6.30.

That's what's happening on the program today. Laddie, let's tell everybody what happened. Hey, did you guys see the game last night? No. No. What happened? I missed all the action because I was. We know how busy your life can be.

What happened? Miss that? You missed that? What happened is brought to you by the BC Construction Safety Alliance. Making safety simpler by giving construction companies the best in tools, resources, and safety training. Visit them online at BCCSA.ca. Despite all the other things that are happening in the sports world right now, this is your home in the Canucks, SportsNet 650, and we will begin with the Vancouver Canucks.

Because over the weekend, Ian McIntyre, SportsNets' very own, getting all the good interviews right now, had a sit-down Q&A one-on-one with Canucks's general manager, Patrick Alveen, in which Alveen, and I believe this is a steely Dan song, said, the years are just flying by as he enters his fourth year as the general manager of the Vancouver Canucks. And yeah, and he mentioned that that search for more centers that began after last season where they essentially, they all but guaranteed that they were going to pay big to get a center. You're going to do whatever it takes. And then they lost one in Pew Souter and didn't get another one.

He said, you know, we continue to talk to teams, but there hasn't been a whole lot available here leading up to this point. Obviously, it comes down to the cost of acquisition, and, you know, where the fit is for Coach Adam Foote and his style of how we want to play. That's definitely something we continue to look at. You know, I was thinking about this while I was watching, oddly enough, the Seahawks over the weekend,

because I was like, we went into the season going, hmm, I wonder if the loss of Tyler Lockett and D.K. Metcalfe and replacing those two with like Cooper Cup. And then nobody else. And I wonder if that's going to have an effect on the team. And it did. Yeah. Because JSN looked like the only receiver they've got out there.

So I do wonder if this is going to be an ongoing issue. for the Canucks. The thing with finding a second-line center in the NHL is that is one of the premier spots. Like if you think, okay, obviously one C and then number one defenseman, and then maybe a number one goalie, and let's say like a top scoring winger.

Yeah. Those are your big four? Yep. Wouldn't you say 2C is number five? It's right there, especially when you get into the playoffs. I mean, I can't remember the amount of times that we've gone,

when you do the pre-series roster breakdown and you're talking about that all-important second-line center matchup because oftentimes your one-seas are going to cancel each other out. Yeah. Because what do you got behind them, right? And we talked about all these teams throughout the course of history.

I remember spending countless hours writing about the Chicago Blackhawks during their peak. Their continued search for a second line. I think the very important thing on it. The difference with the hawks is that they had Marion Hose on the second line that could that could, you know, carry a second line and they could have a so-so 2C.

And they always found a way to bring a guy in. They always find it might not have been the shiniest toy. Antoine Vernet, Brad Richards, Michael Hansus. They always found a way to bring a guy in. The Canucks haven't done that yet.

Jack Roselvick still twisting in the way. Just waiting for that money to come in. Okay, we can have another conversation about this at 7.30 when we've got an open segment. But I would love to hear from the listeners. As usual, text in to the Dunbar-Lumber text line, 650, 650 Metro Vancouver's Trusted Choice for Contractors

and renter Warriors for over 50 years visit them at one of their three locations to serve you or online at Dunbarlumber.com We will have a lot of audio to play on this station and for obviously our show tomorrow because today, out at Northview in lovely Surrey, it is the Melfth. The Jake Milford Tournament

and we should... I don't know if... I guess Quinn Hughes will be there but he has a lot of other responsibilities with the league so hopefully we see him there but a lot of the connects have already been skating informally together out at UBC and I expect more of them to be available out in Surrey today and yeah we should have some audio to play on the station and tomorrow to discuss I you know I'm sure everyone's focus is going to be on on Pedersen and maybe some conversations we'll be had with the likes of Atu Ratu, Ty Muehler, and Max Sasson, because those guys are going to

come into camp because of the issues at center or the lack of depth at center, those guys are going to be coming into camp with like, hey guys, I hope you're ready because we kind of need you. All three of them, named checked by Patrick Alveen in the interview with Ian McIntyre. So real quick before we pivot to the Lions and then to the NFL, this is going to be a busy week in Kinnockland. So the Jake Milford, they call it the Jake. We call it the milf, goes today. This week, the Canucks are going to stage a mini camp in Abbotsford for their prospects.

And that will lead into this weekend where you're going to get your first semblance of Canucks hockey. The Canucks and Cracken, their prospects are going to play in a mini tournament down in Seattle this weekend. That'll set the stage for next week, which of course is the start of training camp. So things are very slowly starting to come along. most of the guys are expected to be at the milf, also known as the Jake. Today, again, we don't have a full list of who's going to be there, but Sportsnet 650 will be boots on the ground at the golf course today, and we should have a bunch of audio to parse over tomorrow, as Jason said.

Let's go to the BC Lions. Friday night in Ottawa, the BC Lions found another new and exciting way to blow a football game. They let a 14.4th quarter lead slip away to lose 34 to 33 to the red black. Of course, it's very difficult to stop Dustin Crum, who was the quarterback for the Ottawa Red Blacks on the night. Is he related to Harry Crum, and who is Harry Crum? Or Denny Crum, former Louisville coach. Basketball.

Nobody got my John Candy movie reference. No one got my... Denny Crum's a legend. It's a shame that... Was that Uncle Buck? What? Uncle Buck? Who's Harry Crum...

Plains and automobiles? Is a movie... Yeah. Is the name of a movie. However, we should point out that that's spelled CRUMB, Harry Crumb. This is just Dustin Crum, CRUM. So missing the playoffs is now on the table for the BC lines. Oh, yeah.

If it wasn't already. But we had our eye on that third play spot in the Eastern Division. But honestly, the lines might not even be the team to get that third play spot if there indeed is a crossover because guess what? Edmonton is now tied with them. The team that the Lions easily beat twice early in the season and we were like, well, at least we'll beat the Elks.

They're 5 and 7-2 because they beat Calgary. Big upset on Saturday. In the rematch of the Labor Day game. And as you mentioned, honestly, maybe a team that can't be Dustin Crum even after taking a 17-point lead in the third quarter and having a 14-point lead in the fourth quarter, well, maybe that team deserves to miss the playoffs. So J.C. Abbott, and we won't talk about too much of this right now because we're going to have J.C. on the show later in the show.

He notes that Dustin Crum joined a list of second-string quarterbacks who have beaten up on the Leo's this season, a list that includes names like Nick Arbuckle, Jake Mayer, and Chris Treveller. Three of those four, he noted, have looked like all-stars against the Lions. Crumb passing for 301 yards while rushing for 69 yards Nice, good for him And two touchdowns I want to ask J.C. If Buck Pierce could be another

One and Done head coach for the Lions joining the likes of Devon Claybrooks and Jeff Tedford The latter of whom did resign to be fair But man, it is not looking good for Buck Pierce I don't think we're at that point but I don't think you know I know a lot of people are focused on Mike Benavides the defensive

coordinator but like the team is not disciplined either no that was a take they yeah I mean so it was one of the problems that they had in Ottawa right it was a late hit out of bounds on a kick return late that set up the great field position that allowed crumb to score the game come on buck get these guys playing

this is embarrassing these last two games have been embarrassing for the Lions the crazy part is that they've scored a ton of points they've scored 30 points in five straight games. So offensively, you could say that he's got them humming

and he's got them scoring enough to win games. They've won two of their last five despite scoring 30 points in all of them. I think I got to fire the defensive coordinator. From one disappointing football team to another, the Seahawks dropped their first game of the season and they fall to dead last in the division.

Tough start. Tough start. Because obviously the Niners won because the Seahawks played them. Yes. The Rams won. and Arizona won as well. And congratulations to, is it J.D. and Coquitlam?

Yeah, J.D. and Coquitlam, who texts in a lot, and he's a big Niners fan. And congratulations to him. You know, I don't have very high expectations for the Seahawks this season, but that was still a really frustrating loss. Consider, they picked off Brock Purdy twice. Yep. they blocked a field goal.

They saw the Niners miss a chip shot field goal. The Niners lost both Kittle and Jennings to injuries, Kittal early in the game, after you got a touchdown on them. Yep. And Jennings later. So that's two very valuable receivers for the Niners. Seattle was playing at home in a place where they were hoping to like turn things around? No, they still lost. And I know people want to blame Rick Wollen for the loss and don't get

me wrong. I do too. He deserves some of the blame for sure. Dreadful performance by him on two specific plays on the Niners winning drive. But that loss was mostly on the offense. 230 total yards, that's it. They lost the time of possession battle 38 to 22 and coughed up the ball twice with fumbles, including on the last drive where they had a chance to go out and win the game. I don't know who's going to catch the ball besides JSN on this team. No more Metcalf, no more locket, and that was always going to be a challenge. And it, it's a challenge. And it especially on the offensive side of the ball, the Seahawks just don't have enough stars.

They don't have enough playmakers, not enough difference makers. They've got JSN on offense, and then who else are you like, wow, that guy's a real weapon? Nobody right now. Absolutely nobody right now. One game in,

and there are some very concerning signs offensively. I do want to play the pivotal moment of the game, though, because despite all of this, Sam Darnold and that Seahawks offense put themselves in a good position, to win that football game. They were in position to win after JSN was hit

with a 40-yard bomb late, but on second down from the 9-yard line with an opportunity to put the ball in the end zone and take the lead late and maybe escape with a home victory. This is what happened to Sam Darnold and the Seahawks. Eventually a 17 to 13 loss.

Here's what the fumble sounded like. Darnold. Hit as he going to go. The ball is loose. The 49ers have it. It's Bosa! They tried to call it a strip sack, but that was really just some bad, bad positioning and gap control between Darnold and his offensive line.

And you talked about this offense. Sam Darnold threw for 150 yards and 124 of those went to Jackson Smith and Jigba. That's not going to get it done. You talked about the no stars on offense. I have no idea who the number one running back is in Seattle right now. on the day Kenneth Walker

out touched out touched Zach Charbonnet 13 to 12 but that's total touches including the three catches that Walker caught out of the backfield if you look at handoffs to the running backs

Charbonnet was the lead guy by a little bit but neither of them were really able to get anything going on the ground this very innovative very exciting play calling and playbook that we expected from Clint Kubiak was nowhere to be found yet so they had one very interesting play yesterday, which was that gadget play on the lateral past. And it just blew up in their

faces and almost was like a complete abomination of a play. Outside of that, it was... What, the lateral? Yeah. I mean, it didn't really blow up in their face. It could have blown up in their faces. Yeah. It didn't work. Yeah, it was a vanilla milk toast, very, very pedestrian approach. My concern is that that's what they're going to do all year. Yeah. That every game is designed to be in the neighborhood of 17-13, but hopefully you've got the 17-Rick talk at football. Seriously. We talked about this last week. There may be some parallels this year between the low-event, low-excitment hockey that

the Canucks play and the low-event, low-excitment football that the Seahawks speak. It's difference makers. It's playmakers on offense for the Canucks. We're going to be their playmakers. That's why we talk so much about Pedersen needing to bounce back. Sure. and who are going to be the playmakers for the Seahawks because it's not going to be Sam Darnold.

Like he's not, he's not a playmaker out there. He's not a guy that makes stuff happen. He's, he's a guy. By the way, there are, okay, there are some screen, and I just want to focus on the defense for a second. There are some screen grabs out there right now before Jake Tongis caught that. By the way, the third string tight end,

third string tight end, who coming into this game had never got a pass in the NFL, somehow managed to, I don't know what the word is, out leap, out, muscle, out maneuver, reek Wollin in the end zone for that game winning.

There are some screen grabs of that ball in the air where Wollin is in the most ideal position to pick it off. He's in front of Tongis. There doesn't look like there's any way that that could be a complete pass. But you didn't get body position. I don't know what he didn't do anything.

He didn't do anything. Well, he got, he, I think he generally. jump too early. Because when you jump, you are in the air then, and you're like, well, I can't really adjust to anything there. He was going for the pick. And that's, he was going for the pick. He was going for the heroic pick instead of like, God, the hockey guy gives me, just take the man. You know, like just, just make sure that the guy beside you doesn't get the ball. And he did the same thing, I think, on the play he blew on the drive, he was looking for

the pick. He stopped moving his feet. And then he's like, oh, I have misjudged this ball. Mike McDonald was very terse in his postgame remarks yesterday. I won't even bother playing it. But he said of that sequence, for the 10 seconds that elapsed on the game winning touchdown for the Niners, they played 9.9 seconds of the 10 perfectly. And then he kind of muttered something about Rieke losing his guy or losing his position. So he wasn't happy with the individual play for sure it's a disappointing loss as you mentioned everyone else in the division got wins yesterday they all managed to slug them out i don't know what you can say about arizona beating up on a bad saints team i watched the rams texans game it was a slug fest too very weak one football a lot of the

games yesterday were except for the sunday nighter what a treat we were given with the amount of hype that was coming into this game it was going to be hard to live up to it and man did the bills and the Ravens delivered. Josh Allen led Buffalo to three scores in the final four minutes of the Sunday nighter. The last, a 32-yard game-winning field goal by the old man. Matt Prater, his time expired.

Bill's rally from 15 points down to stun the Ravens 41 to 40. Here's what it sounded like on a Sunday night classic. Prater, the veteran is ready. Ferguson sends it back. Robbins puts it down. Prater's kick is on the way. It is good.

bills win the buffalo bills pull one out of the fire and they win 4140 buffalo opens the 2025 campaign with a win here at home from down 15 in the fourth quarter they come back and win it and the buffalo bills are one and oh what a comeback just a hot take this is going to be good for the raven this is going to be good for the raven you think it's going to fight Fire them up. Yeah, I think it's going to be good. Like, I, honestly, if I were the bills, I'd be excited that I won that game and I'd be happy that I've got Josh Allen, but I'm still looking at that game and going, our defense was terrible. Yeah, they got gouged, gouged on the ground. They made a terrible mistake fumbling the ball away.

You're talking about the Derek Henry Fumble late. Yeah. Yeah, I'm talking about the Bill's defense getting gouged on the ground, but you're right. No, oh, yeah, the Ravens, yeah. The Henry Fumble was so uncharacteristic and such a shock for a guy that otherwise had an amazing game. And let's be honest, the bills pulling that one out of the fire is a one in a billion chance. According to the next gen stats, they're at its peak when they were down 14, their percentage of winning was around 1.1%. They had no shot at this thing.

Buffalo scored 16 points in the last four minutes of the game. To give you an idea, the Seahawks scored 13 in the entirety of their game. Josh Allen threw for 250 yards in the fourth quarter alone. Sam Donald threw for 150 over four quarters on the weekend. Just to give you an idea of how explosive the bills were in the after. And I'll tell you what, Josh Allen was all kinds of fired up. In his walk-off interview, he took note not just of the crazy comeback in what it meant, but all the fans who decided to leave early in Buffalo.

Here's Josh Allen after a crazy comeback victory, 41 to 40 on Sunday night football against the Ravens. Our team didn't quit. I mean, I think there's people that left the stadium. That's okay. We'll be fine, but have some faith next time. Ooh, shots fired. It was a pretty amazing game, I got to admit.

Like, there's not a lot of times, like I said, right from the onset here, where the hype exceeds what you had going into the game. but that was an all-timer. 81 points, amazing quarterback play on both sides. Scorogami. Scoragami? Scoragami.

Week one of the season, there's a score-agami already. I love it when there's an eight-point deficit because you're like, okay, there's a lot of exciting things that could happen right now because you could get a game-tying touchdown with the two-point conversion or like last night. I mean, that's another thing. The Ravens stopped the two-point conversion.

And then they're like, oh, there's still time left. The clock, there's still time left. The bill's clock management at the end of the first half when they got, remember they caught a ball with one second left on the clock and got a field goal at the end of the first half. And at the end of the game, to be able to execute your field goal unit without a time out, and they just let it run. And an old man, Matt Prater, I don't know if you guys saw this or not,

but he also, he ripped some smelling salts right before he did his kick. Oh, really? So there's a big thing in the NFL this year is that you have to buy your own smelling salts because I guess for liability issues, the league doesn't want teams providing them to the players anymore. So I think jokingly, you have to show your own receipts for the smelling salt.

So there's 41-year-old Matt Prater who joined the team like a week ago because Bass, the regular kicker is injured, ripping a smelling salt out there on Sunday night football and then booting a game-winning field go through. Awesome day of football. Awesome day. So I have to admit that I also enjoyed very much

the Steelers Jets game, even though I wasn't exactly cheering for Aaron Rogers. That was a very exciting game. The two teams that I often associate with just like their fans just being like,

God, I hate this team. Are the Jets who lost a tough one to the Steelers and the Browns who lost a tough one to the Bengals? Got punch for both of them. Browns kicker missed a chippy with two and a half minutes left

and that was after missing an extra point, just a rough day for the Browns, who fought valiantly in a game they were major home underdogs to the bench. I thought Slack will look good. Yeah, he was all right. It wasn't his fault that final pick. No, he didn't get a lot of help from his receivers.

No. Okay, there's a bunch of other stories that we can get to from the National Football League. We'll do that with Mike Tan here at 7 o'clock. Coming up, Eric Engels from Sportsnet and Montreal is going to join us to talk about Ken Dryden and Carrie Price. And before we go to break, I need to tell you about Jan Pro. From the boardroom to the break room and everywhere in between JanPro keeps workplaces tidy, clean and disinfected. For a free quote, visit them online at Janpro.ca. You're listening to The Halford & Brough Show on Sportsnet, 650.

632 on a Monday, happy Monday, everybody, Halford and Brough, Sportsnet 650. Halford and Brub of the morning is brought to by Sands and Associates, B.C's first and trusted choice for dad help with over 3,000 5-star reviews. Visit them online at sands dash trustee.com. We are an hour one of the program. Eric Engels from Montreal is going to join us in just a moment here. Hour one of this program is brought to by North Star Metal Recycling.

Vancouver's Premier Metal Recycler pays the highest prices on scrap metal. North Star Metal Recycling, they recycle you get paid. Visit them at 1170 Powell Street in Vancouver. To the Power West Industries hotline, we go. Eric Engels from SportsNet in Montreal joins us here now on the Halford & Brough Show on SportsNet 650. Good morning, Eric. How are you? Good morning. I'm great. How was your summer? It was great. Yeah, it's an exciting time now.

We're getting back into the swing of things with hockey and football. season and it's always a hard pivot to talk about the excitement of the day with something very sad that happened over the weekend, but I did want to start with Ken Dryden's passing, but also the article that you wrote for Sportsnet.com talking about his quote mammoth presence on and off the ice and how it left an enduring legacy. I guess personally I do want to ask you what were some of your recollections of interacting with Dryden over the last few years taking on this job as SportsNet covering the habs and the role that he had maybe within the organization and then the city of Montreal

on the whole. That's a lot. I'll try and encapsulate it succinctly. You know, 18 years working the Canadians be growing up Montreal, I'm 42 years old, so naturally you'd understand Ken Dryden's place

in the history of the Canadians and the city very quickly at a young age and so to be able to interact with him in those 18 years covering the team or this is my 18 season was really something. in that he was such a thoughtful, insightful person. And he spoke and carried himself with gravitas.

He was a really, really bright person, someone who always stood tall, both in actions and in what he had to say, you look at the later portion of his life and how much of an advocate he was for a safer NHL and hockey world, as the example that the NHL was setting, strictly related to concussions and head injuries and all that stuff.

You know, it's a huge loss, a guy who was six foot four and stood much taller than that. It's a huge loss for Canadians fans. It's a huge loss for Canada and all that this man did in service of the country. There are generations that never got to see him play that I hope went to YouTube just to see how athletic and how incredible he was. You know, I wrote about the image of him standing on, you know, in his crease, leaning over his stick as he watched what he termed the greatest show on ice in the book, the game. If you've never read the game, if you're still into reading books out there, it is the greatest sports book. If it's not the greatest sports book, it is the most captivating one. He is literally putting you on the bench of a dynasty and in the room.

And it's just, it's incredible. I wish I could write as well as he does, or he did. So what a huge loss. What strikes me is that the conversations he brought up in the game, we still have those today. Like he talked about, you know, the limited time that an athlete has and what that is like for the player. And also here's a big one that we talk about every day.

You know, the team versus the individual and how do you balance being an individual while also being part of a group? And I think that gets to the deeper part of hockey culture and what that is for better or worse. What were some of the things that really interested you about some of the topics that he brought up? You know, beyond the topics he brought up, does anybody in sports have a better record? than winning six Stanley Cuts and five as a Kahn-Smith before a Calder Trophy in eight seasons playing.

It's incredible. You talk about every athlete's dream to go out on top. I think of Pete Sampras winning that last U.S. Open before calling it quits. Maybe it's top of mind because Carlos Akras and Yanik Bitter following in those footsteps so quickly.

Like who could lay claim to a record, even remotely similar to Kent Dryden's, you know, other than maybe Michael Jordan. Like, it's, it's, and he certainly, you know, didn't go out that way with Washington. So, I mean, that in itself is one of the most astounding things ever. It makes him one of the most prolific athletes of all time. He will never be probably discussed in the, he's the greatest athlete of all time category, but you win six chance.

championships for them in a row, the one year that he stepped away to pause his career, which made him completely unique to continue his law degree. It was in a contract dispute. The Canadians, you know, lost in playoffs, and he came back and they won again. Like, in 1971, the Boston Bruins probably should have been carrying forward with a dynasty. They had the best team in hockey, and Ken Dryden got in the way of that. Like, behind an incredible Montreal Canadiens team where Jean Belvoir was on. his way out and Gila Flore was on his way in.

I mean, there's just so much about his hockey career that stands out. And then that stuff that you were just talking about. The quote that I put in my article over the weekend about what it feels like to be walking away from the game at 31 years old, as I don't even want to butcher the quote by not reciting it word for word, but it is really one of the most brilliant things. anybody could say about an athlete's short career span and what the feelings and sentimentality behind that is. The guy was brilliant. He was filled with brilliance. He spoke, as I wrote, in paragraphs and not in sentences. He was a hard guy to quote. You'd have to chop up everything

he said because he would go on and on. But he was captivating with everything he had to say. Yeah, as we get older, and now it's sort of almost our, I guess, obligation or responsibility to tell the stories of athletes of the past like this one. Walking away after eight years at his peak at 31, it's such an interesting story in the modern era because the athletes now are, the majority of them anyway, are singularly focused on one task, which is their particular sport that they become a professional in, but also trying to squeeze every bit of longevity out of their careers. like play until you can no longer play

never even consider why I mean there's a handful of guys that might do it for one reason or another but it felt like the interesting thing about Dryden walking away early is he felt like he had and he did have more to do outside of the sport which is something that I mean I doubt we will ever see again given all that he accomplished in his post-playing career but it is a very interesting thing

in terms of a parallel to the modern athlete who just wants to seemingly play forever yeah I can't think of any bit I mean, is Connor McGregor running for office in Ireland? He is. Yeah. And I don't think we'd put him and Ken Drive in the same sentence in terms of articulation. Look, he was one of a kind, which you could say, ironically, about a lot of his teammates, too, from those 1970s Canadians.

You know, I think there's a lot of people out there that are huge hockey fans that might not realize that their team in 1970s. 76, 77, lost eight games, like in 80. They were, if not the greatest team of all time, because I know there's been plenty of votes on this, the Oilers or whoever you want to go through that had an undefeated run in football. I mean, the 1976-77 Canadians, in my view, are the greatest team hockey's ever seen.

And he was the backbone of it. He was the goaltender. And to know that, to know what he produced and achieved athletically and then consider what he did after his hockey career and teaching law, in getting involved in parliament as a cabinet minister, in presiding over the Toronto Maple Leafs and everything. It's, there's not a lot of athletes, especially from his era, that you would say would go on to do those types of things.

We're speaking to Eric Angles from SportsNend and Montreal here on the Alford & Brough Show on SportsNet 650. Eric, I did want to pivot to the other Montreal news over the weekend, and that's the Habs trading carry prices contract to the San Jose Sharks. So big picture in looking ahead, what does this mean for Montreal now the price and that eight-year $84 million contract have been moved to the Bay Area? It means the Canadians are going into the season with cash-jaced rather than having to operate in long-term IRA for the, you know, fifth of six years in the 2000. 2020. It's a complicated thing. And I'm the first person to say that, you know, talking about

cash space is a really boring subject and the machinations of manipulating the cap when you're in long-term IRA is an even more boring one. But all to say that, look, the Canadians are now in a place where they have $4.5 million available to them. They have 43 of 50 contracts that they're allowed to have on the books, which leaves them space for seven more. They have a full roster of players, and they've done a lot of good work over the summer. Did they get everything done? No, they're going to give another shot to Alex Newick and Kirby Dog to prove that potentially they could fill that hole at second line center.

But now they've not only created the space to have the flexibility that if a trade becomes available, because all those teams, you know, back in July that want to take the step forward and be competitive, quote-unquote, say they faceplant, some of them, at least, between now and the beginning of December. you could see some of those teams looking to move early to get a jump on, you know, the prize at the end of the rainbow, which is the number one overall pick this season, which I know we throw this term around a lot and quite loosely, but I think Gavin McKenna is going to be a generational player.

So we'll see what happens, but the Canadians are now in a much better position with price off their books. Had they not gotten him over to San Jose, which, by the way, he had to wave is no movement clause to go. So that's one last save from him. they would have been $5.9 million over the cap scrambling to get under the cap so that they could place carry price under long-term IR or placing them in off-season long-term IRA, which is not enable you to accrue cap space as the season goes along, which is important come deadline, right? You have a pro-rated salary that you're taking on at the deadline.

I know the rules just changed for the playoffs. I was at the GM coaches meeting. This stuff is being brought in now, and in the playoffs, it's your full cap value that counts against the cap. Anyways, like I said, at the beginning of his answer, talking about the cap is the most boring thing ever, we should move on from it. Let's move on to Noah Dobson then.

How much of a difference maker is he going to be for the HABs? And what chance do you think he's got to play for Canada at the Olympics? That's a great question. I mean, I think they are thinner on the right side than they are the left, maybe. But I don't know. I guess we'll see, I think that the first three months of the season will be determined in that factor, and it will play a big role in his.

who gets named to that team. And you could say the same for Nick Suzuki. You know, Dobson comes in with a profile of being an electric, offensive producer. He can play well defensively. He's not going to blow guys up despite his size. Big right-handed defensemen come at a premium. That's why he was paid $9.5 million over the eight years that he's been put under contract with the Canadians. He's 25 years old.

He's perfectly in the wheelhouse of their core. You know, him and Suzuki are almost the elder statesman of that core. Canadians somehow got younger, despite being the youngest team going in the playoffs last year. So, look, like, this guy has an incredible opportunity to come in, redeem himself from what was probably a little bit of a down year in New York, but with a team that was often injured and not quite at its capacity. Playing in Marty-St. Louis system, where the defense is quite active from up the ice to getting up the ice, you know, that fits with everything he does.

he's also really good at chasing down pucks in his own end and getting them up quickly, which is a huge component of Marty's system. I see it as a really good fit. We'll see how he can round out defensively and how he's complimented with guys like Caden Gouley. David Reimbacker will have a chance to make this team, and he also is in the Gully mold

and Navlaine Hudson. I think when you look at the back end with the Dobson acquisition, the Canadians are in the process of building one of the best blue lines in hockey. It's a young blue line, and it still has some formation to go through. But you're looking at something that could be the foundation of what they're trying to create here, which is a cup contender year over year. Are they there right now?

Not necessarily. But they're certainly trending in that direction with him coming in. One last one for me, but it is a two-parter. So I guess it's two. Did you get any good or straight answer as to why Hudson wasn't invited to the U.S. Olympic camp? And what did you make of his father's reaction to the snow? I got an answer from Bill Garran from the GM Coaches meeting last week to which he said

this is the deepest crop of American players the U.S. has ever seen and that Lane is a great player who will have every opportunity to continue to prove himself to be a part of USA hockey in the future. That's not a verbatim quote, but it's pretty much what he said and I don't necessarily take issue with it. I can understand that he's the Calder Trophy winner that what he did in his first season in the

NHL, you know, putting himself in categories that, you know, are occupied by people like Larry Murphy and Nick Lidstrom and go down the list of great defensemen, I think he's an exceptional player. I could see how it would irk Canadian fans and I could see how it would really bother Lane Hudson and his family that he's not one of 16 defensemen named to their orientation camp.

But the orientation camp is not the Olympic team, and it's not the future Olympic team, you know, four years down the line. Lane is 21 years old, and I love his chance to be able to do, to be able to make his way onto that team one day, whether it's immediately in the near future with the start of the season, which I wouldn't put past him, but more likely, you know, four years down the line or whatever Olympics are to come from there or World Cups or, you know, you name it.

Like, the opportunity is in his hands, and I don't think it's been robbed of him with this decision. As far as Rob Hudson's reaction is concerned, you know, like, these are emotional things. Like, and I imagine there's some emotion behind this reaction, and it's understandable. I don't really have much more to say about it. I can't, I don't know if it's, you know, I'd imagine Rob Hudson wants nothing more than to say, serve his son's best interest. Whether or not he's doing that making some of those comments is

something he'll have to consider. Eric, this was great, man. As always, thanks for taking the time to do it. We really appreciate it. We will do this again soon once the season gets underway. My pleasure, guys. Good to speak with you again. Thanks, sir. Nice to chat with you. Eric Engels from Sportsnet in Montreal here on the Halford & Brough Show on Sportsnet, 650. Is Lane Hudson going to make a team

if Quinn Hughes is there? Could he make a camp? Yeah, camp. Yeah. There's 16th. I mean, taking 16 other defensemen ahead of the reigning rookie of the year, it does seem a bit strange. Yeah. No, no, but Quinn Hughes is blocking them out, right? Like, are they going to take two undersized puck-moving D-Men?

They're doing the same. It's like, it's the same thing, like, maybe a little bit different. But I don't think it's... I think Evan Bouchard is in real... It's going to have a real challenge making Canada as long as Kel McCar is there. Sure. I think this is just more...

The story got legs. but I'll take Lane Hudson The story Got legs because of the father's reaction Yeah I think if it had just been The snub was there and Garen explained it Which is a fair explanation You could have even added to it with like

You know he might be blocked out by other players With similar stature and skill sets The old man popping off Kind of made the story a lot more than what it was Okay We are going to talk to NFL with Mike Tannier coming up I did want to circle back on one thing And we addressed it

With regards to the Seahawks in the opening segment and we've talked about this last week and that is the uncanny parallels granted it's early but the uncanny parallels it might be between the Seahawks and the Canucks this year

we talked about how they approach their game stylistically Seahawks don't have a second line center either right they're still looking for one of a second receiver yeah see there's the that's the parallel now neither the Habs we have not seen the Canucks play a single hockey game this season

under Adam foot with this current roster. So we're doing a bit of projecting here. But here's something else to consider as we go through the parallels. The Canucks were awful on home ice last year. Dreadful. It's one of the biggest reasons why they did not make the postseason last year was their inability to collect points at Rogers Arena. They had an awful home record down there with some of the worst teams in the Western Conference, the Chicago's of the world. That's where they were at. 17, 16, and 8. That's that's an awful home record and it's impossible to make the playoffs if you're only getting 17 regulation wins on home ice.

Now, I turn this to the Seattle Seahawks. Lumenfield is an easy place for opponents to play right now. The Seahawks have now lost seven of their last 10 home games, and this is courtesy of our good buddy Softie Mahler from KJR Sports Radio in Seattle. They're 16 and 19 at home since they started allowing fans. back in the field, or fans back in the stadium after COVID. Three games below 500. What's Mike McDonald's record there?

I believe he is three and eight at home and he won his first two home games. He walks in there, he's like, I hate this place. It is just not a tough place. There were a lot of Niners fans. There was a lot of red in the stadium yesterday. There always are, but. But it is not a difficult place to play at all. Well, it's because it's not a difficult team to play.

I mean, look, look, I understand. That was a good defense. performance yesterday. But a bad offensive performance. But there should have been enough energy on the defensive side of the football. Like where the fall starts, there was one yesterday that they triggered because of the crowd noise. It's just, Brock Purdy

who did not have a good game yesterday. No. He's 4 and 0 as a starter for the Niners at Lumenfield. He has not... And for the most part they've brought in significantly better teams than the Seahawks every time he's played for them. They're a record in that

rivalry right now. They're one and seven against the Niners since 2022. Right now the story of the Seahawks is based on the narratives that they built up over the Pete Carroll tenure are no longer a dominant force at home,

no longer beating up on their opponents, and in their biggest rivalry game, it's one-sided in a major way. I know that the 49ers have been a better team over the last few years, but to go one and seven in a rivalry,

over the last four years that's brutal yeah that's brutal by the way on the subject of pete carroll did you see him and gino yesterday i saw gino piling up the passing here and they gave pete the game ball do we have the audio here let's fire this up so this is a this is a mashup that the the raiders put out after the game yesterday super good vibes coming from the room after their win over the patriots pete starts talking and then gino jumps in to give him the game ball for his first win as a raider let's play it's a short clip but here's what it sounded like. Pete first, addressing the guys,

and then Gino jumping in to give Pete the game ball after the Raiders beat the Patriots. A beautiful job for me together. I hope you can feel what it feels like. Now, this is why we work so freaking hard. It comes big. We don't know what's going to happen. But if we keep staying with it and keep believing in it,

it's going to happen and it happen again. This ain't the only time we're going to get one of these. Man, that's just no win. We hear for more than one win. I've got to get a game ball. First win in the silver and black. Yeah. So Gino finishes, and this is, again, after the day that Darnold had,

Gino finishes with 362 yards, and he set a record, or he set a record that it hasn't been broke. In 1991, the last time this happened was 1991, he had nine passing plays for 20 yards or more. So the big strike ability was there all day. You know, Russell Wilson got the game ball, too, from the commanders. Oh, man. They give it to them. We're out of time on that one. They're like, I loved how panicky you looked.

I wish, I wish, okay, you know what? I do want to, we'll talk about this with Tannier coming up because it's week one and Brian Dable is already ducking questions about whether Russ is going to be his starter in week two. It was a lousy performance for the Giants in that offense. We will get into all of this on the other side of the break. Mike Tannier, our NFL insider from the two deep zone is going to join us. Our one is in the books.

Our two is up. More NFL talk to come. And then at 7.30, we're going to dive back into the Canucks talk. Layout everything that's happening this week. We can dive deeper into the Q&Toneman. and A that General Manager Patrick Lveen did with Ian McIntyre on Sportsnet. You can read it right now on Sportsnet.ca. Hour one in the books.

Hour two is coming up. You're listening to The Halford & Brough Show on Sportsnet, 650.