Halford & Brough in the Morning - The Best of Halford and Brough 9/8/25

Episode Date: September 8, 2025

Mike & Jason look back at a busy weekend in sports, plus they discuss what's next for the Canucks this week, as preparations for the upcoming season begin to ramp up. 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. Praeter'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. Top at Austin. Touchdown, Pittsburgh Steelers. It was nice to win, especially hearing some of the catcrawls out there and the boo birds. I was saying boolards. Good morning, Vancouver, 6-1 on a Monday. Happy Monday, everybody.

It is Halford and his 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 in 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 Powell Street in Vancouver.

We are coming to you live from the Kintech studio, Kintech footwear, and orthotics working together with you in step. We got 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 630 to talk about the passing of Ken Dryden, Hall of Fame goaltender, help the Habs win six Stanley Cups and 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 him about the other big news out of Montreal on the weekend that the habs 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 630 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 join us. at seven for all that. At eight, we are going to do some CFL talk with J.C. Abbott, B.C. Lyons reporter for three-down Nation. Yikes. Lions. The Lions found a new, exciting way

to lose a football game on Friday night 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 5 and 7 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 o'clock. It's Abbott at 8. It's Tanier 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 General Manager Patrick Alveen,

in which Alvin, 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. We'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 was, 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. Those are your big four? Yep. Wouldn't you say two C 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 the difference with the hawks is that they had Marion Hosa 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, 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 Roslovick's still twisting in the way, just waiting for that money to come in. Okay, we can have another conversation about this at 730 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 Renner 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 Miltth. Right. 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 uh 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 will be had with the likes of Atu Ratu, Ty Muler, 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, name 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 Canuckland.

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. We'll 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 Blacks. 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 Crum.

This is just Dustin Crum, CRUM, C.R.U.M. 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, riddering away right now. 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 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 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 Crum 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, they take, 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 Crum to score

the game when he touched it. 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 they 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 The Rams won and Arizona won as well

and congratulations to, is it JD and Coquitlam? Yeah, JD and Coquitlam who texts in a lot and he's a big Niners fan and congratulations to him 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 pretty 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 Wollin 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 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 is 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 nine-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 let it 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 outtouched. Outtouched 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 yesterday. They had one very interesting play yesterday, which was that gadget play on the lateral pass.

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 faces. 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. That every game is designed to be in the neighborhood of 1713, but hopefully you've got the 17th. Rick Talk at football. Seriously.

We talked about this last week. There may be some parallels this year between the low event, low excitement hockey that the Canucks play and the low event, low excitement football that the Seahawks speak. It's a difference makers. It's playmakers.

On offense for the Canucks, who are going to be their playmakers? That's why we talk so much about Pedersen, needing to bounce back. 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 sec, 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 but 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 woolen in the end zone

for that game winning there are some screen grabs of that ball in the air where woolen 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

He didn't get body position. I don't know what he didn't do anything. He didn't do anything. Well, I think he jumped 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.

He's like, just take the man, you know? Like just make sure that the guy beside you doesn't get the ball. And he did the same thing. 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 slugfest 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 deliver? 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. And the bills win. The Buffalo Bills pull one out of the fire, and they win 41.40.

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 1 and 0. What a comeback. Just a hot take. This is going to be good for the Ravens. This is going to be good for the Ravens. You think it's going to fire them up?

think it's going to be good. 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 the 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, 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 Darnold threw for 150 over four quarters on the weekend. Just to give you an idea of how explosive the bills were in the aftermath. 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 scoreagami 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 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 ripped some smelling salts right before he did his kick

so there's a big thing in the NFL this year is that you have to buy your own smelling salt because I guess for liability issues, the league doesn't want teams providing them to the players anymore. So I think, like 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 goal through. Awesome day of football. Awesome day. So I have to admit that I also enjoyed very much the Steelers Jets game, even though... Great game. 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. Brown's 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 Valiant. In a game, they were major home underdogs to the bank. 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.

You're listening to the best of Halford and Brough. You're listening to the best of Halford and Brough. You're listening to the best of Halford and Brough. I like this one. It's called Best Foot Forward. Yeah, you should put your best foot forward on a Monday. Get out there with a positive attitude. And now it's time to talk about the Cadux.

Alford and Brough of the morning. It was 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 them online at Sands-trustee.com. This music made all these reads sound like so much happier. Ready? Hour 2 of this program is brought to by Jason Homunock at Jason. If you love paying too much for your mortgage, then don't let Jason shop around to find the perfect mortgage for you.

Visit them online at Jason.com Mortgage. Wow. I think I will. All right. Hour 2 is brought to you by Bills Crematorium. Come see Bill. He'll put a smile on your face in these trying, trying times. Good job, eh, dog.

That was very well done. Okay, let's get serious here. The serious sports show. You're going to talk about the Canucks. This is your home of the Canucks, Sportsnet 650. Up on Sportsnet.com.ca right now is an interview that Ian McIntyre did with Knoch's general manager, Patrick Alvin. Now, there's a lot of takeaways from this Q&A.

One of them, as we talked about already, is the ongoing search for both, I think both a 2C, but also center depth in general. Have they put up, like, a poster around the neighborhood that they're looking for a 2C? One of those old school ones where there's all the little tickets underneath that you can take a phone number. It's like, call me, Patrick. Yeah, they might be at that point. The quote, and I'm sure he didn't mean it to sound this way, but. So the quote is this, the more depth. you can have it center, probably the stronger you are as a team that tracks.

Okay, yeah. It's an area where we've identified that if we're going to make a trade, our preference is to strengthen our lineup with a center iceman. Right. But Ratu is what, 22 years old. Ty Mueller was a horse in Abbotsford at the end. Smaller horse. And we have Max Sasson.

The end we have Max Sasson. I mean, that's not fair. I mean, theoretically putting a horse at 2C isn't the worst thing you could do. But he was an Abbotsford horse. You never know what happens when they got to change locales. Yeah, but I think that would distract the opponents at the very least. That is true. Yeah.

Anyway, the big takeaway is not a... The horses are never great puck distributors, though. Yeah, it's true. Can't really stay up on their skates, but... I wasn't focused so much... I wasn't focused so much on the horse part, although I should have knowing our show. But the end, we have Max Sasson was, I was like, come on. Like, there's got to be a better way to say that.

And we have Max Sasson. Also, he is here. He remembered last... Oh, and we have Max Sasson. And then he puts down the phone. He's like, did anyone invite him to the golf? tournament we got to get them out there on monday anyway the center position is one thing the i think the more interesting thing for me because i like doing the big picture philosophical kind

of dives into these things is when alveen kind of became reflective of his tenure as the general manager and he's you know he's talking about the chance to start a new season and be in the playoffs and another chance to get after it. Then he said but man it's so competitive and when you're in there the years are just flying by

I think I owe it to the fans and ownership and the players that's the way I see it. It's truly an honor and a privilege to be the general manager of Vancouver Canucks. The years are just flying by and they really are so I started thinking about it. This executive group, the Alvin Rutherford duo

like this is their thing now they're on their third head coach they've traded j t miller and beau horvett they've signed the most lucrative contract in the entire history of the vancouver canucks like they've this is their thing they've got enough of a CV and a resume and a track record that it's they're well well past the whoa we got got to clean up the Benning era. Like they're well past that. Now we're talking about, I don't want to say like jobs are on the line, but.

They are. They are the season. Well, you said, I didn't. They're fine. They are. But if we have a repeat of last season, there have to be big changes. That's inevitably where that conversation goes.

When you start talking about year four on the job, you're on coach number three. You've missed the playoffs last year. You've got all of these, you know, sort of hallmarks of the team are yours. They're not the ones you inherited. They're not the ones that you had to deal. with because the previous GM left you mess.

These are all your moves now, or at least the majority of them are your things. The problem that they're looking at right now is you can't just conjure up a center in the NHL. We talked to Eric Engels earlier in the show, and he was like, yeah, the Habs a lot of promise. They're a young team, made some moves. But, you know, we're going to see if, you know,

Kirby Doc or one of these other guys can be the 2C because they don't have they don't have a 2C they can rely on either like they've got they've got their own heedles right

well we don't know if this guy's going to be able to handle it um and I think that the Canucks misread the market

heading into this off season because the way they were talking after last season they made it They made it sound like, yeah, we're going to have to give up some futures to get that second line center, but we're going to do it. Rutherford said they would do whatever it takes. That's an exact quote, whatever it takes. And he basically said, I think one of his quotes, and I'm paraphrasing here a little bit, but he said, it's going to be expensive to get a second line center or another center or whatever.

But it's going to be more expensive if we don't, which means the cost of it is going to be, oh my God, you're going to go into a second line center. next season without center depth or without a top six that you like down the middle, which is pretty important in the game of hockey. What I don't think they expected, and I don't know if they should have been expecting this because I think a lot of GMs found this out is that almost nobody was looking for futures. All those teams out the other were like, we want to be better this season. We want to have, we're going to have NHL players and we're not looking to get rid of them.

You know, Marco Rossi was available from Minnesota, but the problem with that was Minnesota was like, well, you know, we're not looking for futures for Rossi. He was a pretty important part of our team. We're not looking to just give him away for draft picks. Yep. We need a player back. So they went to the connection and they're like, what are they got?

He was like, well, we're not really looking to move anyone, right? you know like with the cap space everyone was like we want to be competitive and yeah there's a couple teams out there maybe Pittsburgh but even Pittsburgh didn't really sell they don't really sell much Pittsburgh gets actually it's crazy they haven't really sold but they don't have any centers available I think that I think they misread the market the caveat there is that I think a lot of general managers did as well or that they were putting up a smoke screen of some kind or you just go into the off season expecting yeah every every off season you know there are sellers but we'll find the sellers

sure and we'll find I mean we're talking about you know Miami selling Tyreek Hill after after one game that's just the way you expect there are some teams out there that have good players yes but don't have expectations so maybe they'll give up some of their good players they're just like the you know if you go to Pittsburgh right you're like Well, who are your centers? They're not selling Cid. Right.

I think the other part of it for me was that, and as we talk about legacy and tenure and this era of management and executive, they have been able to orchestrate a lot of moves. I don't think anyone can argue that point. Since Alvin and Rutherford had come aboard, they have been able to orchestrate a lot of trade, and trades of significance.

And I think, again, I don't want to call it like, because that's like excessive pride or self-confidence and that's maybe unfair to these guys. But I do think there's a level of self-confidence between Alvian and Rutherford that they're going to be able to move the pieces on the chessboard to get the moves that they want done all the time. And in the most recent iteration of this was how the Miller trade eventually led to the Pedersen acquisition, you know, moving the pieces around, right? And they rounded out their blue line. and I think that there was probably a little bit of a pat on the back that they were able to work their way out of the Miller issue and also flip some stuff around so that they could build their blue line out

and they're happy with their blue line I would imagine they did it too late last season I mean their lack of depth on the blue line was a big reason why they started so bad they did it too late but they did it I think the latter part is the important thing here is that I think that they honestly believe and Rutherford because he's maybe a little bit longer in the tooth and more experience and maybe a little bit more stuff Like, he's always been able to do this.

Throughout his tenure, he's always been able to be this guy. That maybe when the landscape chains around you, you don't even recognize it. You just assume that it's going to be business as usual because you've done it in the past. But I'm looking at across the board in the National Hockey League right now. And it makes perfect sense that there's a log jam when it comes to acquisition, like acquiring people. Like you said it perfectly. No one wants futures. And for years, that's been the currency of the day.

It's been an industry of trading picks because, people were more than ready to stockpile them. You always had teams that wanted futures. And now we've hit a weird, almost a gully where there's no longer all those teams that are like, we're ready to take on your picks and your futures. Like even that trade between Buffalo and Ottawa, Cousins and Norris was like, that was a hockey trade.

You know, it's just like, okay, well, let's see if maybe if they switch teams, things will go better for them. There was no team out there that was like selling for the future. But look, maybe it's a bit of an odd comparison when you're comparing an NFL team to an NHL team. But I went into the Seahawks game yesterday thinking, I wonder how the Seahawks are going to score points this season

because they've got one playmaker, JSN. Yep. You know, he's a guy that knew he was going to get all the attention. Dude, Kenneth Walker did not look like a guy at all yesterday. But you used to, you could at least put him in the conversation before you'd be like, yeah, KW, you can run. He can bust one to the outside and he can go. Not happening. My point is, is that the Seahawks, the concerns we had about the hawks coming into the season played out exactly the way, you know, some would have predicted.

they didn't look like they had any playmakers on offense except for JSN and they're going to have to find them or they're not going to score it's about guys making things happen McCaffrey does it for the Niners I don't know if they've got enough playmakers either especially if they keep

all their guys keep getting injured McCaffrey could be next but it's kind of a I realize it's a simplistic way of looking at things but it's also a perspective. Who makes things happen up front for the Canucks? Can I ask another question? Well, can you answer the question first?

Who makes things happen for the Canucks among their forward group? Connor Garland. Yep. Connor Garland. And when he's on. Pedersen. Who else? They're open to Vander Cane and they're open Philippeal.

Kane doesn't really make things happen. He does things out there that he's not, he's not, guy that will start a play with it's not a guy that a start of play he's a finisher he's actually a driver in the truest sense of where he drives the net you go straight

to it he often doesn't have the puck right but he's going there Kane if Kane is going to do some stuff he's going to lay some big hits he's going to get in fights he's going to hopefully he's going to score some goals but he needs help and so does Besser

and so does Besser and so So does Debrusk. I would like Debrusk to do a little more. I'd like to be a morbid driver, yeah. But I think those guys are complementary players, and there's nothing wrong with good complementary players. You need complimentary players.

He'dl showed flashes of it at times. He's got to stay healthy. It's so simple for him, right? But also, yeah, and he showed flashes of it. Yeah, like he's got, you can see the skill. You can see, like, white guys would be like, yeah, this guy theoretically can be a two. So he's got all the tools.

Beyond the skill, it's the mentality in which he approaches. is it that he's, I think part of the reason he gets hurt is he puts himself in some vulnerable positions, but he's willing to go there because he's willing to make things happen. Lucas the fuel guy texts in, and he said, the fact that no one wants futures in a McKenna draft is weird. They can't

all win their divisions. Maybe, this is why some teams are like, I wonder if teams will change directions, depending on how the first 20 games of the season go. Yeah. They're like, all of a sudden, they're like, we're not good.

let's enter the McKenna sweepstakes. I think, okay, I think a lottery ticket to the McKenna sweepstakes is the sort of like standoff that's happening right now. I think a lot of the teams that are interested in acquiring futures are like, that's what we want. And the teams that are willing to sell them are like, I'm not ready to go there and then dot, dot, dot, dot yet. You know what I mean? Like that's the one where it would tilt the scales, I think, is if you put an unprotected lottery pick for the McKenna sweepstakes, that's tantal. and I don't know how many general managers

are willing to do it right now so far the answer is probably zero because we haven't seen a trade yet involving one but that would tip the scale significantly I would say the chance to get in on that but it would also be a huge risk

of the general manager just sending it out the door and what kind of teams are in that position I got a question here from fish dancer he says guys do you think Patrick Albine really would be on the hot seat Benning lasted a decade

fish to answer my answer to that would be betting lasted a decade and it was way too long if there's anything to be learned from that they were way too patient and the owners admitted it way too patient they said we waited too long

they're on record saying it yeah if you're going to be an organization that's moving in a positive direction you have to learn from the mistakes that you've made in the past and I know

and I think Rutherford might resign I know if things go as badly as they do this season you might walk away I know change and changing the regime is tough

because you're not changing a coach is more of a, like, pulling the choke chain to get a reaction from the guys on the bench. The general manager dismissal, you're talking about a pretty significant overhaul, but there is something to be said for when you feel like it's not going right and you don't like the direction you're in, you've got to pivot quickly because once you start tails, it's tough to get out of, like the decade of bending has been tough to get out of. And it all depends, like first of all, the Canucks might make the playoffs.

sure um the you know there's there aren't many perfect rosters in the nchel you look around their division and there are there are teams that you can pick apart and go what about that what about that the same way you can pick apart with the connects sure missing the playoffs is you know you can't just say well if they miss the playoffs this will happen how do they miss the playoffs um god i was watching a game yesterday and I actually you know what I think it was the Jets game it was the Jets Packers game and Jet Steelers

sorry Jets Steelers game and and I don't want to compare the Jets to the Canucks but I'm going to do it let's do it and they asked the coach there what are your goals for the season

and he said like I want the fans to be proud of us you know and it's just I want the fans to show up and just be like these guys are working hard and you know they're doing their best and they're it sounds so childish and so lame but I immediately understood what he was talking about there are teams that can punch above their weight and still miss the playoffs. Sure. And I personally want to see a

Kinnock's team that everyone's getting along. That's important to me as a fan. And everyone's pulling in the same direction. And just trying. Like you might get unlucky. You might get unlucky with some injuries.

That might happen. But how are you going to react to that? Are you going to be a team? because Quinn Hughes said like we're going to be a team this year and we kind of chuckled because Pierre Dorian said something similar to that

with the Ottawa senators when they were down in the dumps and said we're going to be hardworking and we're going to be his team okay now go show us because last season you had a big fight between two of your leaders and one of them had to be traded

well in that regard I think the Jets are a more than apt comparison because the last two years in New York Jets football the fans were out on that team they were on an unlikable football team Aaron Rogers tenure as a jet was there weren't many people that were like this is great they're super likable they're super relatable right they got Robert Saul of fire they brought in Jeff Albreck he had issues they brought in a bunch of Rogers's ex-teammates and that didn't work out

there was reported riffs among everybody and then they bring in Aaron Glenn is the new head coach like you were saying and he's like we just want to I mean almost in a way make the team likable again And there's some... For me, that's a big deal with the Canucks. I know not everyone feels the same way. It's a big deal of fan base. It's a big deal of fan base.

Like you can't have a year last year like the Canucks had where you've got star players feuding with one another and openly disliking one another. And we've talked about this and this is a millionth time I'm going to say it. And then you go out in front of your ticket buying public and stink to join out with regularity. Losing as badly as they did as often as they did on home ice made them even less likable.

Because to the casual fan, there was a correlation between, well, these guys don't like each other in the room. And now it's showing up on the ice. Yeah, and Tyler Myers can come out and say it wasn't as bad in the room as everyone is making it out to be. And maybe not. But that was a perception. Perception can be reality sometimes. If you're coming out on home ice where you're supposed to have a lift and an advantage, and the fans are there holding up their end of the bargain.

And I'm not talking about valiant one goal loss. where everyone worked their ass off. Like there were eggs laid repeatedly at a horrible. Didn't we come up with a Mount Rushmore, a bad home losses? And then we had they come up with a second Mount Rushmore because the first one was full. Yeah.

And the first one wasn't applicable anymore. There was one that was so bad that was like we need a, I think we called it this statue of liberty. It could carve out a whole new mountain. There was just one. It's bad when you need two Mount Rushmore's. Yeah. But one is not enough.

It was terrible for the environment. Yeah. What? The loss that they had, the loss they had to New Jersey in the beginning of the year where Silabs was an end, they lost 6-0, and it was Hughes-a-Palooza.

And I think it was right around Halloween, was maybe some of the worst vibes I've ever felt in a building in my life. Because it was also the backdrop of people still trying to have fun because it was Halloween. They'd put like, look, there's a kid dressed up as a pumpkin up on the big...

Everyone was booing them. You know what, the loss, I think that got the Statue of Liberty loss? It was 5-1 at home to L.A. January 16th when J.T. Miller looked like he had no interest in playing hockey. That was a bad one. None. That was a really bad one. Yeah. They'd come home from a road trip. Remember they had lost to Winnipeg 6 to 1?

Yeah. And everyone was like, they're going to bounce back tonight. Three games before, PD won the Selke in Toronto. That was great. They beat the Leafs 3-0. Then they went to Winnipeg and got totally outclassed. Yep. And then they're like, okay, we're going to come home. We're going to have a better effort against L.A.

And that was, that was the one where I was like, I'm not sure we're going to see J.T. Miller in a Canucks uniform again. Now, we did see him six more times in a Canucks uniform, but then he was traded to the Rangers. That was also around the time that everyone's, the realization that the playoffs were in major jeopardy was happening. January. January. Everyone was like, this is not going well.

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