Halford & Brough in the Morning - The Best Of Halford And Brough 9/11/24

Episode Date: September 11, 2024

Mike & Jason look back at the previous day in sports, they chat the Canucks announcing their Young Stars roster, they talk all things Seattle Sports with 933 KJR's Ian Furness, plus the boys tell us what they learned. 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 the best of Halford and Brough. You're listening to Halford and Brough. In Springfield, they're eating the dogs. Hmm, needs more dog. They're eating the dogs. Mmm, needs more dogs. They're eating the pets. Shove along more dogs, won't you? Aye, aye. More dogs.

More dogs! That's like my two-year-old throwing a fit because I take away his dessert before he's finished. You're a monster. They're eating the cats. Good morning, Vancouver. 601 on a Wednesday. That was really good. Happy Wednesday, everybody.

It is Alfred. It is Brough. It is Sportsnet 650. We are coming to you live from the Kintex studios in beautiful Fairview Slopes in Vancouver. Jason, good morning. Good morning. Ada, good morning to you.

I like how there's not a single sports clip in that intro. Good morning. In Springfield, they're eating the dogs. And Laddie, good morning to you as well. Doesn't get much better than that. Hello, hello. We have to protect our dogs. We love our dogs.

Well, sometimes we love our dogs. Halford and Brougham in the Morning is brought to you by Vancouver Honda. Vancouver's premier destination for Honda customers. They have a friendly, knowledgeable staff that can help with anything you're looking for. Sales, financing, service, or parts. We are in hour one of the program. Hour one is 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 Powell Street in Vancouver. We are coming to you live from the Kintec studio. Kintec Canada's favorite orthotics provider powered by thousands of five-star Google reviews. So, Rafi, what are you waiting for? Kintec, we got a big show ahead on a Wednesday.

Lots to get into. Guest list actually doesn't begin until 7 o'clock. Ian Furness from KJR Sports Radio in Seattle is going to join us. We're going to talk about the Mariners, the Seahawks, maybe some UW football, a little crack and talk, and you want to ask Ian Furness about the NBA's return? Question mark. Yeah, well, the NBA said that they're going to look into expansion

when they get their CBA figured out and when they get their rights deal figured out. Well, two for two. Yeah. Where are the Sonics? Give me the Sonics. Where are my Sonics? I want the Sonics back.

Where are they? Come on. So we'll talk to Ian Furness about that at 7 o'clock. 7.30, Eric Francis from Sportsnet in Calgary is going to join the program. Flames made a couple moves yesterday on the back end. Jared Tenorti comes aboard. So, too, does Tyson Berry. What's going on in Calgary? What does this

mean? When are they going to start moving guys out? Why would they go into the season with guys like Rasmus Anderson, Mackenzie Weeger, maybe even Nazem Kadri? They're definitely going to the season with Jonathan Huberto because nobody's taking that contract. They're going into the next six seasons with Jonathan Huberto.

But the rest of the guys might be able to be moved. So we'll talk to Eric Francis about that at 7.30. 8 o'clock, Mike Zeisberger, the Zeis from NHL.com. He's down in Vegas for the NHL player media availability. Wrote a ton of things yesterday.

There's a lot of stories coming out of Vegas, obviously, with all the players that are down there. So we'll talk to Mike at 8 o'clock about all the happenings down in Vegas as we take another one of those preseason dates and markers off the list. The, the annual media tour for players. There's a representative from all 32 teams in Vegas.

That's another one that you take off the list. Other teams were doing their golf tournaments, right? Their version of the MILF saw those getting underway. So we're getting closer and closer to the start of NHL season. So again, working in reverse. 8 o'clock, it's Mike Zeisberger from NHL.com.

7.30, Eric Francis from Sportsnet Calgary. 7 o'clock, Ian Furness from KJR Sports Radio in Seattle. 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. What happened? I missed see the game last night? No. What happened? I missed all the action because I was...

We know how busy your life can be. What happened? You missed that? What happened? 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. We're going to have a little test here on the Halford & Brough show in the morning.

We're going to do a little experiment. We're going to see how much content we can drive out of a sporting event in which nothing happened. And not many people were able to watch, probably. Last night in Texas, in Arlington, at Jerry World, AT&T Stadium, one of the new great spectacles in the sporting stadia world. Not a lot happened. Canada played Mexico in a friendly.

The two sides, CONCACAF rivals, ended nil-nil, but they did manage to put a lot of fouls on the board. There was 43 combined fouls. To give you an idea of what that looks like if you didn't watch the match, there are 90 minutes in a soccer match. If you do the math, that means there was a foul every two minutes in this match. Who was fouling more? Mexico.

Mexico. Yes, which was a very interesting thing. Okay, so Mexico nil, Canada nil. Entertainment value nil. Was there any team that deserved to win? No. It was impossible. It was just impossible to get anything going.

Did any teams have scoring chances? There were scoring chances on each side. Each keeper was called into action to make one very good stop each. So I'll say that. And then he was fouled. Yeah, promptly chopped to the ground. There was one good scoring chance. Kyle Lahren had a header off an Ali Ahmed cross,

which was a great cross. And it looked like that was going to find the back of the net, but the Mexican keeper made a nice save. And then the second half, Mexico had a great chance to score. But Dane St. Clair, starting over Max Crepeau in the Canadian net, made a great save. And that was it for action. So does that not tell you a lot about how Mexico looks at Canada now

compared to maybe five, 10, certainly 15 or 20 years ago when Canada, if they were to play Mexico, regardless of whether it was in Mexico at Azteca or in somewhere in Canada or at a neutral site location, they would just be like, it's Canada.

We're winning this game. Let's go. That's a very good point, friend, because that's actually the point that the Canadian manager, Jesse Marsh, brought up after the match. Now make one thing very clear here. In a nil-nil draw, there was one team that was very determined to knock the other team off its game by using very physical tactics, some craphousery, as we like to call it. And that was the Mexican team. The game by using very physical tactics,

some craphousery, as we like to call it. And that was the Mexican team. The Mexican team went out there. Is that what they call it? Yeah, that's what they call it. They don't use the S word. We are all PG here. Oh, okay.

Let's hear now from the Canadian manager, Jesse Marsh, about Mexico's approach to upsetting his team, not the other way around, in last night's nil-nil draw from Arlington. On the night, you know, it's a fight. And it says something about, I think, our team that Mexico almost approached the game from the beginning like they wanted to try to eliminate our ability to press them and find space.

And they didn't want to try to play through the middle. And there was a lot of long balls and duels and second balls and I think it's a compliment to the progress that we've made as a team that a team like Mexico comes into this match and and and that's their strategy it was a dour affair that's how I'd like to describe it we're not going to spend a ton of time talking about it this morning because for all the stuff that you want to try and squeeze out of it like it was you know you might have matches like that at a big tournament if you're canada and you know you got to figure out how to play them if someone wants to play cynical football it was really really really difficult to watch and a lot of you weren't able to because it was on one

soccer and what's more are they gonna did you hear any more about um the news that Canadian soccer business had made an offer to change that deal. I only know that there was... That is so handcuffing the Canadian program. There was an offer made? I only know that there was an offer made. I don't know the details of the offer. Okay.

They got to figure that out. They got to figure that out. We're less than two years to the World Cup. Yes. They got to figure that thing out. This team figure that out. We're less than two years to the World Cup. Yes. They got to figure that thing out. This team needs more exposure nationally. And they need more resources. I don't want to go into a World Cup where Canada is the host

and they can't afford the drones that they need. That's right. You need. You need that sort of stuff. No, but in all seriousness, in all seriousness. It is kind of serious. I had to throw a drone thing in there. But in all seriousness, I don't want to hear about that.

Yeah. We're hosting the World Cup. I don't want to hear that, oh, we don't, we're, we got to kind of cut corners on some stuff. That would be really pathetic. So that's something to keep an eye on going forward, see if they can rejig that deal. Because if you're Canada soccer business,

you're kind of like, that deal was great for us. It was great for the CPL. It was bad for the men's program, though, so there was a lot of pressure being put on the guys on Canada soccer business. It's all very confusing. You know what, though? I do want to say just one thing before we move along.

The state of CON conca calf right now is a very interesting thing because mexico is anyone happy 100 with their program like canadian fans are probably pretty happy with the on-field product certainly recently but um you know we've still got that the financial issues uh the united states you can talk about. Is a disaster. Well, yeah, but they're probably feeling pretty optimistic. Pocatino's coming in and maybe he'll fix some things. But what's going on with Mexico? So Mexico's in a very bad way right now in terms of its soccer team.

They've had very poor results over the last five or six months. They changed managers yet again. This is the current manager. It's actually his third stint. He's like Billy Martin. It's his third stint in charge of the team. The really interesting thing is that the fans are staying away. This was always kind of a layup for the program

is they would do this American tour, and they'd host a newer. For example, they've played 14 games at AT&T Stadium. Jerry World, right? Yeah, but most of them have been against the Americans, though. There's a way bigger hook. Okay. Even if it's not American fans going out, there's a way bigger hook to Mexico playing the United States in Dallas

compared to Mexico playing Canada in Dallas, even though Canada, you know, like that's not. No question. Okay. In those matches I'm talking about, you know what the average attendance was? 67,000. And they went from that to 20,000 against New Zealand, which I didn't even bring up. Why would anyone?

Because it's the Mexican national team. Well, 20,000, that's pretty good. Last night was 32. Okay. Yeah. It's not good. All right. Yeah. Let's pretty good. Last night was 32. Okay. Yeah. It's not good. All right. Yeah.

Let's move on. The Vancouver Canucks announced their Young Stars roster. And before we get into the players that everyone will be interested to watch, in a tournament like this, for me, I really only care about the guys who haven't played much in the ahl or much pro hockey um i think once you've shown you can play in the ahl you should simply be expected to be pretty solid at tournaments like this or maybe even you might say some of these guys might have an issue trying to like get up for like they're they're like i'll wait till main training camp sure to to really this is the training camp for training camp yeah this is the training camp for

training camp um standing out for somebody like atu rat, that shouldn't really help a stock too much because you're talking about a tournament that's for, it's like a rookie showcase. You know, sure, if Ratu or Max Sasson scores five goals in a game, you know, maybe I'll get off my hands and clap a little bit. But with that in mind, my guys to watch here are certainly jonathan lecker amaki i know he played a game in the hl last season came over but i really want to see something from that guy in this tournament he should be one of the best players in this tournament in terms of talent. A guy like Riley Patterson, who was kind of like a late bloomer draft pick for the Canucks.

Josh Bloom. D. Petey, I want to see something from him. And then there's a couple defensemen, Sawyer Mineo and Kudryavsev. I think that's how you pronounce it. Look, I'm not a big prospects guy, and Halford isn't either, and we'll probably get some guys on to talk about this tournament that know a little bit more about these guys,

but those are the ones who will be fighting for time in the preseason. You know, like a guy like, so guys like that have been invited. Baines, Ratu, Sasson, Akita Hirose. They're obviously going to go to training camp and frankly, they're obviously going to get exhibition games. But the younger

guys, you're not so sure about. And you want to see them because they're fresher. You know, like I, if Max Sasson plays well in the but the younger guys you're not so sure about. And you want to see them because they're fresher. Yeah. You know, like if Max Sasson plays well in the Young Stars tournament, that doesn't help him make the Canucks. No. He needs to play well in his training camp. But if, you know, Riley Patterson plays well in the Young Stars, maybe he gets an exhibition game, which is a big deal for him.

Yeah. I think for me, with those guys you mentioned the aforementioned baines ratu sasson harose i think it's going to be very interesting to see uh how much of a impact they are going or almost need to have right from the get-go because the competition is really fierce on this team for for everything right like i would suggest that the trickle-down effect would be, if you're that competitive for minutes at the NHL level, and spots, and roster rotations, that should push its way down to the American team,

where it's like, this is not just going to be handed to you either. There's going to be guys here where you're going to have to compete on a nightly basis. That's the goal of every organization. But for those guys that played in the NHL last season, wouldn't you say it's safe to say you can't really make a good impression here, but you can make a bad impression? I think that's exactly what it is.

If you're invisible, it's like that's a problem. And again, we're not trying to voice too much importance on the tournament. Look, the tournament at the end of the day is a lot of fun for everybody involved. The young stars. Right. Yeah, the young stars.

Right. Andy goes up there and says that repeatedly over and over again. Most of them are the young stars. It's a kickstart to the season, right? It's an opportunity. I mean, I know for a fact that NHL executives love this thing because, you know, there's still like remnants of summer weather. They can go up to the Okanagan. They can drink wine. They can play some golf and they can watch a bunch of hockey like it's a good time right the prospects that are up there they know what the deal is they know

exactly where they slot in right now some of them are probably thinking this is my first opportunity to kick the door down but the reality is they need to get to the main training camp just to have a real opportunity to do that the The fans are going to love it. It's their chance to see some guys that, you know, in a year or two, although there's always one guy that surprises, these guys will make an impact at the NHL level. And then finally, the players know that this is the appetizer that leads into main camp.

And I think that's the big thing, right? Main camp is going to be at this same location. And everyone is very excited to get this season going you know if you have listened to this show or you've seen the countless interviews that players and coaches and executives have done this offseason this is a team that finished with more than 100 points and 50 wins last year and to a man they feel that they got better in the offseason. And then, of course, you've got the goaltending saga as well. So there's a lot of intrigue going into this next couple of weeks here. Laddie, what do you know about the goalies that are invited?

Tolopia, so he's already been with the organization, spent last season in Abbotsford. I don't know. He might be the starter for the start of the game next season. He could be the starter for the start of the GDX season. He could be. Jonathan Lemieux, I believe, was an invite to this camp. And then there's Ty Young, the Prince George goalie, who was a fifth round pick, I want to

say. So who are you excited to see at this Young Stars tournament, if any of them? Yeah, Lemieux's not officially with the organization. He's just the guy that they got there to fill out the rosters. But Young is pretty exciting. He's a guy who's played in Prince George the last few years

and sort of steadily built his reputation. Like you said, a fifth-round pick, so there wasn't a ton of expectation on him going in this career that he has now. But he's a 20-year-old now, so now's the time where he's got to kind of make or break and make a move. But, yeah, he's just another depth piece. But he's another guy that you're excited to see. So moving along, there's a lot going on around the National Hockey League right now.

There's some smaller notes that we can get to a little bit later. But Mike Russo of The Athletic had a Q&A with Bill Daly yesterday. And we finally started to see a very loose blueprint of what international competition is going to look like beyond this year and next year. Now, if you've listened to this show for any length of time, you know that Jason and I have bemoaned the lack of best on best international competition. We talk about it an awful lot. Now that it's arriving, we're getting greedy. We don't just want to know what's happening this year with the four nations face off. And in 2026 with the Olympics, we want to know everything.

I want to know it all. So Daly actually had some pretty specific talking points about what the NHL's competition in the World Cup of Hockey is going to look like moving forward. So there's a few points here. He told Russo, we are 100% committed to doing this in the February time period. So that's important because when I was growing up, a lot of the international hockey was played in August or September. It would be playing right now or it had just finished up. I think about the Canada Cup.

It was played before the season. And you would hear the famous stories about the 1972 Summit Series and all the guys were out of shape. They played their way into shape and they're like, oh my God, we're going to lose to the Russians. I should lose these 20 pounds that I've been playing.

Maybe half a pack. Down from a pack, I'll just smoke half a pack of cigarettes. I'm only going to drink in between the second and third periods. Yeah, exactly. Right? So I think that is pretty important to note

that they're 100% committed to doing it in the February time period. And that, of course, is when the Olympics is on. Yep. And then he said, we're going to have the 2026 Olympics, the 2028 World Cup, the 2030 Olympics,

and the 2032 World Cup. So it's going to be like international soccer, where in Europe, for example, if you follow one of the European teams, you've got every four years you've got a World Cup, but also every four years you've got a Euro. Yep. So every two years you've got a Euro. Yep. So every two years you've got a major tournament.

Now, here's another big question that Bill Daly had. How many teams are you going to invite? And he said, historically we've had eight teams. Okay. And they'll probably want to have eight teams at these tournaments, these World Cups. The Olympics isn't their thing. So, you know, we're talking about the World Cups here. But they might have a qualifying tournament.

Yeah. So six teams will be guaranteed and they'll just be invited and then they'll have another four teams that will be playing for two spots. So 10 teams in total. Hanging over all of this is what's going to happen with Russia. Pretty hard to predict what's going to happen on the international stage if the Russians will be invited.

We don't know if that war is going to end, if it's going to just carry on, if it's going to escalate at all. But that's hanging over everything um but it's especially you know we're talking about right now in terms of their actual plans because we're gonna have a four nations tournament that some people are kind of like only four nations yeah i mean no czech republic it's gonna be going to be obviously no Russia, but there's going to be Canada, US, Finland, and Sweden. It has been one of the big detractions from this tournament.

I mean, I've talked about it as well. At the same time, I think you have to understand that they needed to get their international calendar going. So they needed to do something, right? They needed to have something here. And I think this is a reasonable solution and i'm glad that it's not that they've looked further down the road like we want to get back to a traditional world cup model like the way the way that this is mapped out it was actually i laughed

i'm like this is almost like it makes too much sense for the nhl it's like they did too good of a job of planning it out because this is exactly what you need and you know what else it does it wipes out the all-star game every second year which is god yeah which is a good thing i mean and i don't know what they're going to do in the in-between years if they're going to bring back the all-star game or do something else in that february window so adog you got to chase out for bill daly and we've had we've had him on the show a couple of times so become a halbro tradition okay he's in starting tradition so hopefully bill daly yeah we'll see can come on our show in the next little while.

Because I do have some follow-up questions. One question I would have is, has the attitude among the league and the owners changed at all with regards to international hockey? Because we heard so often about the fact that we didn't want to send our players to the Olympics because it breaks up our season. There's injury risk. And now you've got Bill Daly saying we're 100% committed to doing this in February every second year, starting in 2026. So is that just recognizing that the players really want this and the fans really want this, so fine, we'll do it? Or has there been something that's happened either at the league level or at the ownership level where they're going,

maybe we should be doing this? You know what, I mean, maybe we'll get an opportunity to ask Bill about this. I don't know what his relationship is like with the National Basketball Association, but I'd be very curious to know if what happened at this year's Summer Olympics maybe buoyed them to thinking like, yeah, we made the right decision here. Because that was an awesome advertisement for the NBA. What happened this summer?

I mean, it was Steph Curry in that final. That was, and the numbers. I mean, I think you saw the television rating numbers. They were off the charts. I think they've always pushed back on the whole advertisement part. I know. But this was. Even in 2010 when the Olympics were in North America and everyone was watching it.

And Canada was playing the United States in the gold medal game. And hockey was everywhere. They were still hesitant to do it. And what I've always wondered is, was this just, and this is the cynical side of me, is this just a bargaining chip that they thought they could play against the players? I think that was a valid way of looking at it. The reason I bring up this year is because,

and this would resonate with the NHL, is that you had such competition in the basketball from all the internationals. Like France hosting and going to the final with Wemby being the face of it and being a star in the NBA. How much of it has to do with the Americans are a pretty good team now? Yeah.

I mean, well, that was part of it, right? For sure. No, no, no. I'm talking about the hockey. Yeah, that's it. I knew theicans were going to be quite solid at basketball they've been very good traditionally basketball um no i think it's i think it might be a fairly big part of it is that you've got someone a legitimate challenger to the throne like if you were to go in and you were to look at sports books for the 2026 i don't know if they've even got lines up right now yeah but i mean the americans you would have to look at sports books for the 2026. I don't know if they've even got lines up right now. Yeah.

But, I mean, the Americans, you would have to think, anyone that knows a lick about hockey would say that they're right on par with Canada as a gold medal favorite. And that is something that is very enticing for an international audience. We're the sauce on your steak. We're the cheese in your cake. We put the spring in Springfield. They're eating the cats.

They're eating the dogs. They're eating the pets in Springfield. You're listening to the best of Halford and Brough. You're listening to the best of Halford and Brough. To the phone lines we go. Ian Furness joins us now on the Halford and Brough show on Sportsnet 650. Good morning, Ian. How are you?

I'm good, gentlemen. How are you? We're well. We've had a few days to let Game 1 of the Seahawks season sink in and marinate. And we have our thoughts on the matter. Curious to get your thoughts about a season-opening 26-20 win over the Denver Broncos on Sunday for the Seahawks. Well, I mean, ultimately, the NFL is a results business, right? Like, all that matters is it's not like college football down here where, you know, you've

got to win by style points. If that was the case, it would have been worse. But they won. They're 1-0. They made some changes and got things going in the second half offensively. The defense, really, for the most part, start to finish was really good. You know, we just started with the defense last year. They were bottom third in the league in almost every category statistically.

And by the eye test, maybe it felt worse at times, which was weird because there is some talent there. But Mike McDonald, the new head coach, is a defensive guy. So he came in and expectations were that he would elevate the play. It helped playing against Bo Nix, who is just adverse to throwing the ball, you know, past the line of scrimmage. It looked like a Pop Warner quarterback throwing it out there.

So that helped quite a bit. But defensively good, offensively it couldn't have started worse. But they were able to kind of right the ship and make plays when they had to, including a key third down conversion at the end with Geno hitting Tyler Lockett with a one-handed catch. And they got out of there with a win. It wasn't pretty.

It probably was harder than they expected, but they're 1-0, and that's the bottom line. How is this offensive line going to progress throughout the season? Because it was the number one concern heading into the season, and then the game started. And I don't know if there's more concern than the number one concern, but, you know, George Pham got hurt too. We don't know what, frankly,

what Abe Lucas' future at all looks like. So what do you think about this offensive line? Yeah, Abe Lucas, the right tackle, has been, you know, really for a calendar year now. I mean, he got hurt or left game one last season in 2023 and came back for a couple games here or there, but was never right physically, surgery in the offseason, and now we're just waiting.

He has to sit out the first four games because he was on the PUP list, so physically unable to perform. So he's out in the first four, so he's got at least three more. He's got to sit out. Tank gets hurt early in the game on Sunday. They went to Stone Forsythe, who's, you know, I guess option three or your third string right tackle. They've got Michael Jarrell, a draft pick, a late-round draft pick

from a Division II school down here, which Division II is the same level as Simon Fraser, or I guess, rest in peace, Simon Fraser's football program was. So, yeah, they're hurting at that side. And the trickle-down effect was massive. I was more surprised. I was, in fact, very surprised that the right guard situation with Anthony Bradford was bad as it was.

The left guard, Lakin Tomlinson, who came in, he's a veteran and former Pro Bowler. He struggled early on. Didn't get better as the game went on. Wasn't surprised the center was struggling. Connor Williams hasn't played a game in eight and a half months,. He struggled early on. He did get better as the game went on. I wasn't surprised the center was struggling. Connor Williams hasn't played a game in eight and a half months, including no preseason games. I think Williams will be better at center.

Tomlinson should be better at left guard, and they just got to figure out that right side. It wouldn't be spicy for Ricky Chris Haynes to start at right guard this week, and we may say Jarrell or Forsythe, some competition at right tackle. We won't know until later today because they're off. There was no update on Fant on Monday, and then they were off yesterday,

so we'll find out later. If you had to put a percentage or odds or whatever on it, where would you put Geno Smith being the Seattle Seahawks starting quarterback beyond this season? Ooh, probably a little over, I'd probably say around 65%. They can, the contract's easier to get out from under, but they have confidence in Geno. And, you know, listen, we saw that even on Sunday.

It's hard to find a solid quarterback. It's hard to find a solid quarterback. It's hard to find a good quarterback oftentimes. And, you know, Geno's probably, you know, somewhere in the middle of the pack. He's good enough. They've got a good running game. They've got elite wide receivers. And if they can protect him, when they protect him, he's fine. I just, you know, Bo Nix serves as a great reminder that, you know,

even drafting a quarterback in the first round doesn't, it doesn't, you doesn't give you instant success. And Seattle never, with John Schneider as the GM, and before that Schneider and Pete Carroll, they've never been in a mode of rebuild since 2010, really. So they want to win.

They've got guys they're paying to win right now. So unless they find a viable option that makes sense at quarterback, I think Gino's the guy next year. It was a quiet first game for DK Metcalf. Also took some bad penalties. How much do you guys talk about his future in Seattle? And, you know, you see all these big contracts going for wide receivers

and some of them negotiate pretty hard. What do you guys talk about when it comes to D.K. Metcalf and his future in Seattle? Yeah, he's kind of a polarizing subject at times down here. I look at him maybe a little differently. I think he gets a bad rap. I mean, the two penalties were both holding penalties. They weren't so-called undisciplined ones,

which he's been criticized for before. And actually, I did a breakdown on those for my show, and it's not as egregious as people think. So you notice him more because he's 6'5 and 236 pounds. And one of the holds was actually, to be honest with you, just a brutal call. Like it wasn't even a hold at the goal line. Charminé was in the end zone already.

It was just ridiculous. But, you know, the catches or lack thereof on Sunday, I think what that did do is it helped everybody else. Certainly helped the run game. Certainly helped, you know, I mean, look at Tyler. I mean, Tyler hadler had what five catches four were for first downs i think because patrick sirtan the arguably if he's not the best cornerback in the nfl he's number two behind sauce gardner and you know they denver does something that every

team does seattle never did this with richard sherman for example like sherman never shadowed the other team's number one guy if they had such a thing. But Sertan did. So that's fine. Those two guys can cancel each other out, and that opened things up for everybody else. And that won't happen every week. So DK, to be honest, I'm a DK apologist. I think the guy's fantastic. I think you can't build a guy to look better and play.

And he works hard. He competes. So the contract thing will be interesting. That will be an interesting thing because, yeah, these top guys at that position are making $30 million a year. But you don't win without that guy in your roster, not as presently constructed. So I think he'll find a way to keep him here for a long time.

How upset are Mariners fans right now with this franchise and the leadership and the ownership? Well, it's amazing, guys. They're in contention for both the division and the playoff spot, sort of. I mean, when I say sort of, they're four games out of a wild card with two teams in between them before that final wild card spot. They're four and a half out of the division. I mean, they lost an opportunity last night. Houston lost against Oakland.

They could have gained the game, but they're four and a half out with 17 left. It's funny. I was trying to think about this. You guys can help me with this. It might be good for my I need some help from my show today. If you do it in hockey terms, they're nine points out of first place with 17 left to go. Is that in it?

No. No. Yeah, it doesn't feel that way, right? No, and fan graphs gives them a 5% chance of making the playoffs. That's normally what I go to. I just go to these probability websites and be like, that's what it is. Yeah, and usually it's pretty close, although at one point they were 98% back on June 18th

or whatever. Who knows how those work? They're hated by a lot of people out here. It's crazy. I don't think the people, the fans, Kate, the players, they just are so fed up with

the ownership group. It trickles down to the GM, they just, they're so, they are so fed up with the ownership group and, and it trickles down to the GM who now we know is coming back in Jerry DePoto. And there's just this, this feeling of just absolute disdain for ownership and management that it's hard to get past. It's, it's a weird dynamic because yeah, fans want their team to win, but at the same time, they just really can't stand what's going on in the front office, and it's hard. They're very oblivious to it. They don't care. You know, DiPoto, you can make the argument, yeah,

he's built a good, great pitching staff and all that. Yeah, he has. At the same time, the other part, the other side of the coin there is that, you know, they can't hit. You know, they just don't hit. and we saw what happened again last night if their pitching staff isn't great uh and there are there are some issues castillo's now on the injured list and you know kirby wasn't great last night bullpen's not as deep as it used to be if they if the pitching's not perfect they lose games and you know there's just no and the lack of spending money you know things like

that all and it's such a different sport guys it's such a different sport than the other three in hockey and and nba and nfl because there is no salary cap yeah and this is a and this is a big market team like this is it's media market 12 in the united states of America. That's a big market team. You cannot get past that. And you can add on to that, we don't have a state income tax. It should be easier to spend money and get players here, and yet they're reluctant to do so. They'll build a new bar or tavern across the street that they benefit from

and do stuff like that. They'll invest in the restaurant business, but they don't invest. In the eyes of the fans, they don't invest enough in the product on the field. The owner's not rich enough. He's a billionaire, but he's not rich enough. That's the crazy part about professional sports now. Like, yeah, he's rich. Yeah, but that's not – no, but here's the thing.

They were the fourth most profitable team in Major League Baseball last year. Oh, that's infuriating. And that's where the problem is. Yeah, I probably should have pointed that out. Yeah, they are one of the top ten most profitable organizations year in and year out in Major League Baseball. They make more money than two-thirds of Major League Baseball, if not more, every year.

And the fans feel like they don't invest it back in the product. And honestly, even if you or I own the team, guys, or any of the three of us did, it wouldn't matter because the way sports franchises appreciate, they make money every day just in the appreciation value of the organization. It's kind of like the Pittsburgh Pirates. The Pirates fans are all upset at them, but they've got a beautiful ballpark

so people still go once in a while so their attendance doesn't go down to like 3,000 a game. It's exactly the same except for Pittsburgh's a far smaller market. Here's the problem. They've got issues with their regional sports network down here that they own. They own Root Sports where the games are broadcast. And because of that, and I think the number I heard yesterday is interesting. Root Sports only reaches four and a half households of 10 in their viewing area.

And that's a problem. But, you know, if you're completely dependent on payroll on your local television deal, when there is revenue sharing in Major League Baseball for, they put all the money together for local television, and there is a, there is a revenue share element involved in Major League Baseball, you've got a bigger problem. They're just, they're just cheap. There's no way around it. They're just cheap. And, you know, I mean, Root Sports is a problem. It may go out of business.

Who knows what's going to happen next year with baseball. They've lost every other entity, including the Blazers out of Portland, the Kraken, obviously. Hell, even Gonzaga basketball is pulled off of there, too. So, yeah, they're struggling. We're talking Seattle sports with Ian Furness. NBA expansion. I was under the impression that once the CBA was figured out,

once the TV rights deal was figured out, that the Sonics would be back. And yet the commissioner was asked the other day, is it coming? And he was like, we're still not ready yet. How much talk is there in Seattle about the NBA expansion? Yeah, a couple of things. Don't believe anything he says.

Don't believe anything in terms of it's on hold or there's a delay. It's going to be here either 2026, 2027. I don't even pay attention to anything being said by the commissioner in the commissioner's office because I know what's going on behind the scenes. It's going to be here. The plan's in place.

Staff's in place. Everyone's, it's moving full steam ahead. I'm thinking, I've always thought all along and I've been told by people in the know, so to speak, because it's the same ownership group as the hockey team. And there may be another element to ownership too. And that's an interesting dynamic that you guys will call me on sometime soon. But I think it's 2027 is my guess.

There's some people that are optimistic and say follow 2026 in two years. I think it's 2027. But the NBA will be back here within the next three years max so who are the owners going to be expected uh well it's basically much of the same hockey ownership group led by david bonderman and he's got to sell his share if he hasn't already in the in the boston celtics uh because they're for sale he's got a minority interest there and and uh once he does that um and they've already they haven't sold yet i we hear rumors about who's going to buy them but um but yeah it'll be bottom and those other investors as well but they i i just know this watching how they run the hockey team there

are no ownership issues here at all that's that's in place done deal they're going to be fine um it's it's yeah it's it's full steam ahead it's that whole same group is it going to be the sonics again for sure oh yeah yeah yeah you know it's funny guys you appreciate this with the white caps and their history going back to the 70s um and i'm sure timber fans would as well but although nobody cares what portland takes um they uh you know the the uh when adrian hanauer who's the owner of the sounders when when they brought him back to the mls and when was that like oh eight i think it was when they started uh when that happened he he had a press conference he's like yeah we're gonna do a name the team contest and people lost their mind. What are you doing? Like you're, you're, you're maybe not going to name the, the, you know,

the soccer team, the Sounders, like that's it. And he just got hammered for that. And like, you know, a couple of days later, I was like, yeah, okay. It's the Sounders. We're not going to. And he grew up a Sounders fan, which was weird. The Sonics are going to be the name. They retain that right.

They said he did. It's one of the few, they got to retain the right to the name Sonics, and I think they have the championship banner in a museum around here somewhere. That's about all they kept. They don't go to the city, but it'll definitely be the Sounders. There's no doubt.

Hey, Ian, what do fans down in Seattle think of the NHL's salary cap once they've started to learn it and how restrictive it can be? I mean, we're in Vancouver here. There's injuries to the goalies. There's a bit of a curious case going on with Thatcher Demko. And the Canucks are reportedly poking around the goalie market.

And it's like a salary cap issue. You know, it's so restrictive that you have to think hard about how you're going to add, for example, a third string goalie. And I'm wondering what people down in Seattle, some of whom or a lot of whom might be new to following the league on a day to day basis. Think of the NHL's hard cap because it is the hardest of the hard caps well right now they think nothing of it because ron francis has gone out and spent a bunch of money in the summer it doesn't seem to affect these guys down here it honestly hasn't been anything that they've been discussing because you know with the montour stevenson now larson contracts maddie benears i don't i don't know what they even think that there is a salary cap down

here. It doesn't feel that way. It's because you guys don't have any superstars yet. That's exactly it. I mean, the highest paid guys are in the $7 million range, right? And I always point out there is no salary cap because we look

down to Vegas and see that you can circumvent it if you're smart. So what does it matter, right? It doesn't feel like, you know, Kelly McCrimmon and McPhee and those guys in Vegas operate with a salary cap. Well, they're going to figure that out. We were just talking about the loss of Jonathan Marcheseau and how much it's going to affect those guys. That guy scored 42 goals from last season. He just walked away. Yeah, no, it really hasn't been a factor here.

And I think it's just because of what you said. They haven't, you know, everybody they've had to resign or when they've gone out and they've picked, I mean, you know, the argument down for some, you know, for the diehard fans out here was a lot of they overspend and overextend themselves with the long-term deals with, you know, Montour and Stevenson. And, you know, the Beneers contract is different.

I think it's, to me, The Beneers contract is different. I think it's, to me, the Beneers contract feels really, really player-friendly for maybe a year or two. I don't think he certainly isn't playing into that contract level right now. Didn't last year. Took a step back. But if Matty Beneers is, you know, with the cap going up every year, if Matty Beneers progresses and, you know, just gets back to where he was as a rookie of the year two years ago,

that's a really team-friendly deal later on. So that's kind of a unique one in that regard. You know, you could make the argument about Stevenson and Montour and having a seven-year deal for those guys and a little bit too much there, but it feels like that's the way of the NHL, right? You kind of have to go down that road

a little bit to get guys, and frankly, they fill two big needs know a one or two center and a you know top pair defenseman that can move the puck a little bit uh any hype for the apple cup this weekend a little bit weird having it in week three of the college football season i was actually disappointed they're playing it at lumen because i was thinking of coming down because i love husky stadium and i love husky stadium in september but going to the seahawks stadium there it's just not as scenic Because I was thinking of coming down because I love Husky Stadium and I love Husky Stadium in September. But going to the Seahawks Stadium, it's just not as scenic. Well, yeah, there's no real buzz.

There's only 36,000 seats sold in a 65,000-seat building. If it was played at Husky Stadium, it would be probably sold out. If it was in Martin Stadium in Pullman, it would definitely be sold out. It was, you know, as the rotation goes, it was supposed to be in Pullman this year. Instead, what they did when they now this, this is the greasy part of it. So the athletic director

at Washington, Pat Chun, he was the athletic director at Washington State. He cut a deal to extend the Apple Cup, including this year's neutral site game in Lumen Field at the expense of Pullman, the businesses in Pullman, etc. to be in

Lumen this year as a so-called neutral site game. Third party, the Seahawks over, the Seahawks group that runs Lumen Field first to go are operating the game. It's not a home game for either team. And then Sean went to Washington. So there's a lot of bitterness there because there's really no reason for it to be being played at Lumen.

It's just if you're going to continue the series, it'd be Pullman this year, Seattle next year, back and forth we go. Instead, they have this weird neutral site game that no one likes. It's not a part of either team's season ticket package. So you're selling tickets from ground zero. And really, it's so poorly run right now. They haven't advertised, marketed at all. So unless you're

listening to sports radio, you get your clip on the news or something. The average fan that is kind of like a periphery fan doesn't even really know what's going on. And it's just a weird deal. It's a weird dynamic for sure. And there's a lot of Washington State fans.

I'm a Wazoo alum. We'd rather just tell those guys to pound sand and hit the road and not see them again. So there's just so much bitterness and emotion tied to it. There's a lot of people that just have no interest. Ian, this was awesome. As always, thank you very much for taking the time to do this. Enjoy the weekend.

Lots of good sports on the horizon. We'll do this again soon. Thanks, fellas. Anytime. Talk to you soon. You too. Thanks, Ian Furness from KJR Sports Radio in Seattle here on the Halford & Brough Show on Sportsnet 658.

Of the eight teams, I'm going to put you on the spot. I love doing this. Okay. Eight teams in the Canucks division, including the Canucks. So Canucks, Oilers, Kings, Vegas, Calgary, Seattle, Anaheim, San Jose. Which one could surprise in either a good way or a bad way? Vegas. Are they the wild card for you?

I mean, the only way, which way would they surprise, up or down? I think Vegas could miss the playoffs. You think Vegas could miss the playoffs? So I've got the Leafs potentially missing the playoffs, and you've got Vegas potentially missing the playoffs? Red meat for the listeners. Here's what I know. And I said this earlier, and I'll reiterate it again.

The rank and file, boots on the ground, lunch bucket guys that had to carry the load and get them into the playoffs when Hurdle and Stone and everyone else were on LTIR. Is Hurdle overrated? Yeah. I thought it was a horrible decision to go and get him. Horrible. I was dumb and i you look at it and it wasn't just marcia so right marcia so was the big the big one that that went away like i look at it and i'm like i think they're gonna miss like the carriers of the world and guys like alec martinez and all

these guys that did the heavy lifting when the stars either were unable to or were forced to be held out because they were so far over the cap and they had to stash guys on LTIR. Like Vegas was not a stone cold lock for the playoffs last year. That wasn't an impressive regular season. They got in as the last seed. And what happened? They went into the playoffs and they were out in the first round. Right? Could this division be the worst division?

Is it probably going to be the worst division in the NHL? When you think about Calgary, it's in a rebuild. So probably not going to be very good. I don't think Anaheim and San Jose are there yet. Seattle, they might be a tiny bit better. I think they'll probably be in the mix for a playoff spot, but I don't think they're terrific by any means. And then you've got the Canucks, Oilers, and the Kings.

We know the Oilers are good. And the Canucks and the Kings you expect them to make the playoffs this season yep um I think it's like the division does not look all that great when you compare it to well I don't know that's a good debate because if you go to the Atlantic for example um you've got Florida you got the defending atlantic for example um you've got florida you got the defending stanley cup champs and then you've got three teams that have been good for a while but we kind of don't know what to expect from boston toronto tampa bay and ditto for like detroit buffalo and ottawa because we've been waiting for these guys to break through and they

just haven't been able to yet i I think the answer is the Pacific, because I think the Pacific is going to have three of the worst teams in the NHL in it, in Anaheim, Calgary, and San Jose. Yeah. Right? But I think you could make that argument for bad teams being in the Metro, for example,

with Columbus and Philly. Philly was almost a playoff team last year. They're not a good team, though. No, but they're better than the three I just mentioned, I'd say. If you were to give me... Hey, you know what? Washington's weird because Washington loaded... I don't think the Islanders are very good.

They made the playoffs. Washington loaded up. I'm saying, if you're going to talk about a division, if it's at its worst, how low does the basement get? I think the division is just your total points. Yeah, I would look at it. That's the qualification. I would look at it how many cupcake teams there are.

And remember, that San Jose team last year was one of the worst teams. Well, if you're talking about how many cupcakes, it's probably the Canucks division because you've got Calgary, Anaheim, and San Jose. You're listening to the best of Halford and Brough.