Halford & Brough in the Morning - The Canucks Are Undefeated Since Trading Quinn Hughes

Episode Date: December 22, 2025

In hour two, guest hosts Josh Elliott-Wolfe and Israel Fehr talk all the latest NFL Week 16 action with Too Deep Zone's Mike Tanier (1:06), plus they look ahead to tonight's Canucks matchup at Philly (27:00). This podcast is produced by Andy Cole and Greg Balloch. The views and opinions expressed in this podcast are those of the hosts and guests and do not necessarily reflect the position of Rogers Media Inc. or any affiliate.

Welcome back to the Halfford and Brough show. No, Halford, no Brough, Josh Ellie Wolf, and Israel Fair. Filling in, coming to you live from the Kintech studio. Happy holidays from all the team at Kintech Footwear and orthotics. so you can text in 650, 650 is the Dumbar Lumber Text Line. Halford & Brough 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 sands-trustee.com.

In this hour of Halford & Bruffs for Jason. Mortgage, if you love giving the banks more of your money, then don't let Jason shop around to find the perfect mortgage for you. That's jason. Dot mortgage. It is the Halford & Bruff Show, Josh Elliott-Wolf, Israel Fair. and we welcome in now Mike Teneer, writer, editor, and founder of the Two Deep Zone.

Appreciate you taking the time, Mike. How are you? I'm doing great. I just discovered that according to the DVOA analysis, the Seattle Seahawks are now the Super Bowl favorites. Huge, huge news. Do you believe it? Do you think they're Super Bowl favorites? I bet I believe it more than most of the listeners do. I've been on the show for a couple weeks

the level of dumerism around the Seahawks team was shockingly high, and I'm from Philly, so I know dumerism. But, you know, if not the Seahawks, who, and if not now, why? I totally see it. So, I guess my thing, and I'm a Vikings fan, so maybe I'm a little jaded from last year, but my holdup would be the Sam Darnold and the Bright Lights thing. And I know last week against the Rams, it was like, hey, he came back, they won it overtime, it was great. Do you have any doubts about Sam Darnold in a playoff game?

Absolutely. I absolutely have Sam Darnold doubts in a playoff game. I also have Calib Williams doubts in a playoff game. I have whoever the Packers quarterback is going to pay down the road because Jordan loves in concussion protocol. I have doubts about that. I have Matthew Stafford doubts if it's in any way cold or damp or snowy or wet. And my Matthew Stafford might have to go on the road to Chicago or Philly. So I have doubts there. So you kind of see the problem. Yeah, I have doubts about everybody, certainly about Sam Donald.

But I'll take those doubts and I will mix them with, you know, faith in Jackson Smith and Jigbin, faith in Rashid Shaheed, and faith in all those defensive players and faith in the kicking game. So it's not like I'm saying, well, this is it. You know, Sam Donald solved all's problems. Away we go. It's just that look at the NFL right now. The people you have faith in, like Patrick Mahomes,

gone. So it's time now to invest some faith in some of these other guys. Seattle's win over the Rams on Thursday was, you know, incredible television, incredible theater, some moments there that would not be replicated, I imagine, in a playoff game, but they did manage to make an incredible comeback. Sam Darnold was part of that. But which part of the Seahawks game, maybe even just their resilience, stood out to you as the main reason for why they should be seen as one of the top contenders, if not the top contender? Part of it is the resilience. Part of this facing the best offense in the NFL, that's what the Rams have, is red zone stops.

Okay, that you consistently, Seahawks found themselves in a position where they needed to enforce the Rams to settle for three. They did that. And I don't want to discount the addition of Rashid Shahid. You know, when a team goes out in the trade deadline and brings in a guy who may be one of the fastest players in the NFL. Yes, he's one-dimensional, but the whole idea

is this guy's going to get the ball once in a while and deliver that big splash he play. And all Shaheed has done for the last couple of weeks, as a return man plus with some end-or-rounds of things, is provide that one splashy play. It doesn't always have to be about Sam Darnold. It doesn't always have to

be about the passing game. It's these opportunities and ways to manufacture the victory. Shehid adds that dimension, just as the defense adds that dimension, just as Kenneth Walker, et cetera. You have all these dimensions, all these pants to victory. And that's what happened in the fourth quarter where, you know, the Rams kind of started making a couple of mistakes.

And here's the Seahawks team that's built to capitalize on those mistakes. You mentioned the doubts, I guess, around a lot of teams, not only in the NFC, but the AFC2, it just feels like any team I look at that's in a playoff spot right now, I feel like it's very easy to make the case for why they shouldn't. you know, go on a Super Bowl run. Is there a team you look at as having ultimate confidence in heading into the postseason? No. No team with ultimate confidence.

And maybe midway through the fourth quarter, I might have said the Rams were that team, but you've got to play four quarters and you've got to play overtime. So that's why I turn to teams like the Buffalo Bills and say, well, in the past I've seen them be that championship caliber team. in the fourth quarters they often look like when the chips are down they look like that championship team

so maybe it's them I look at the Eagles and it's like well I know what it looks like when they win a Super Bowl probably is that's not what they look like right now

they look like something you know a step lower than that and so we have to dig into the well and that's where you go to the Seahawks and you go to the Patriots who are having this charm season you look at the Bears having this charm season you dig into the well

and you say what's my confidence level on these teams and it waxes and wanes based on the information we get every week when they play another game. You mentioned the Patriots. They were in prime time last night to pull out a win over a pretty flawed Baltimore team at this point. They, as you said, have been living a charmed existence this year.

The schedule's been easy, but it does seem like when they've had to step up, they've managed to do so. How real are the Patriots? What is the thing that could put them over the top? Well, when you watch Drake May deliver like a 40-yard pass that kind of bends around the cornerback and then bends back around the pylon and lands in Kyle Williams' hand and you think you what, you just saw some kind of

video game magic. They're like, yeah, obviously. You have to believe in this team. If they could do that once in a while, deliver those 50-yard plays, deliver those splashes, you're like, yeah, I see it. And then you realize, well, they were down by 10 to a Ravens team with Snoop Huntley at quarterback. You're like, oh, there's some real

flaws here. They shouldn't have had to do that if they were this team. And for the Patriots, I don't want to, I don't want to be like a disbeliever. I don't want to be a skeptic. I'm just going to read out to you the teams they have not faced this year. The Patriots have not faced E. Rams, Seahawks, 49ers, Packers, Lions, bears, Eagles, Broncos, Chargers, Chiefs, Texans, Jaguars. They didn't even get the early season Colts that were good. They haven't even gotten the Cowboys on one of those days when Back Prescott has his Wheaties. You get the picture? It's a stunningly easy schedule, and it's hard to extrapolate

from that schedule into, oh, they're going to run a playoff gauntlet. They're going to beat the bills, they're going to beat the Broncos. They're the team that's going to be there. Yeah, it does feel for them that it's just like, hey, we'll see what happens when they get there. And to me, I don't know, I don't know how you feel about the Jigs, but they kind of fall in that category too, where I don't know, I feel like we're underrating them a bit as far as an 11 and 4 season goes. Do you feel the same way? Yeah, I do. And one reason why is because they just really played their best game of the year on Sunday by far against the Broncos. Denver, where they kind of ran away with that game. And I'm starting to believe that we have to flip the script on the Jaguars a little bit

because early in the season, when Leon Cohen was installing his offense, it didn't look like everyone was on the same page. They were very penalty prone. Obviously, Trevor Lawrence was making a lot of mistakes. You know, Brian Thomas was making a lot of mistakes. They had Travis Hunter out there as a rookie trying to play on both offense and defense. That was kind of an experiment that probably was getting away from them a little bit. this is a different team now

they're not committing dumb penalties Trevor Lawrence has gone four weeks without an interception Jacoby Myers is now at wide receiver he provides some stability on offense Parker Washington was kind of a role player early he's stepped up on offense so their defense their front four is

very good this is a different Jaguars team than the one we kind of saw ha ha you know they're losing to they lost the field they also the Bengals early in the season etc this is a different team they might a team that's peaking at the right time. I have seen over the last couple of weeks

a lot of praise for Liam Cohen and the offense there. What is specifically that he's been able to get out of Lawrence and make this offense take this step? I think some of the silliness of early season, there was a lot of, hey, let's get the

ball to Hunter, let's throw the screen, let's let's make these really overly complicated plays to get the ball to some of these guys. I think he strips some of that away. It really boils down to the, they were in first and 15, second and 15 constantly because of the amount of penalties they were committing, the amount of motion, false start, procedure. A lot of times that's a new coach, it's new motion, new cadence, all these things that these guys have to

learn. The receivers are trying to figure out new formations. One of them's a rookie playing both ways. All of that stuff in the early season was plaguing them. When you take that away and it's no longer first in 15 is first and 10 again. And then you take away some drop passes and things like that. It allows guys like Trevor Lawrence to play better and allows them to play better complimentary football. And I think that's what's been going on really in the last six weeks. It is the Halpert & Brough show.

Josh Alia Wolf is real fair filling in for Halpert & Brough joined by Mike Tenier of the two deep zone. So one of the more interesting games yesterday, especially with the ending, Steelers beating the Lions and that guarantees Mike Tomlin extends his streak of non-losing seasons to 19. Every year I go into the season being like, well, this is the year, it's going to end. And then it just doesn't happen. What do you make of the Steelers this year and going into the playoffs and maybe just that whole game yesterday as well? On the one hand, that felt like the freakiest, flukiest game in the world where, you know, Aaron Rogers just launches a ball in the general direction of Kenneth Gainwell.

and he kind of falls and the ball lands on him and then he gets up and that's a touchdown and it felt like the whole game plan from the Steelers was made out of that and it was made out of Lions' mistakes as the Lions kind of started to fall apart in the second half and then almost coughed it up at the end

that's part of it and then you know the other part of it is Mike Thomas been doing this for years and years and years it's been you know the geyser quarterback or the not really you know pass the prime I'm prepared quarterback and you know oh it's the defense but PJ Watts out, and yet the defense is still playing well enough.

There has to be something to be said to be having a team playing within itself, manufacturing victories, not scoring own goals. You know, you have this Lions team that always seems to go for it on fourth down and screw it up. The Steelers don't do a lot of that. I don't know what it means for the playoffs for the Steelers. Because, again, they look like one of those teams, but I have a lot of reasons to doubt them.

And yet a team that isn't going to self-destruct. in a playoff field full of young teams, younger quarterbacks, untested teams, don't count out that team that has been in the playoffs before has a lot of veterans

and knows how to not beat itself. Aaron Rogers joining the Steelers in the offseason was understandably a big story. It got a lot of people talking in season. There have been a couple of flashes of this is a little strange and Aaron Rogers is at a weird point

in his career, but it's been I guess relatively stable now that he's back playing and healthy. What are you seeing from Aaron Rogers down the stretch here? It's really the best possible outcome for the Aaron Rogers Steelers where, you know, he's only been a little weird. He hasn't been that weird for much of the season. He hasn't got, he had the one injury, but he hasn't gotten seriously hurt.

And he's been able to be like the 40-something-year-old knuckleballer, you know, he's been like old Nolan Ryan or somebody like that and get the job done. You know, as we approach the playoffs, I look at the last three Steelers victory, the injury, and he faced a Ravens team that has no pass rush. We saw that last night. The Ravens have no pass rush. Just face the Lions team that has Aiden Hutchinson and nothing else. So you can really kind of control their pass rush. You just have to kind of double team Hutchinson. They face the dolphins who, you know, give it up. So everything is going

well. It remains to be seen if the Steelers face the Houston Texans or the Denver Broncos, one of these teams that wants to go out there and their front floor can just come at you and beat your offensive line and get your quarterback in a Harry. I don't know what's going to happen. I don't think it's going to be good. But still, Rogers, this was a feather in his cap

in terms of a capstone season that's much better than what we saw when he was like than what was happening with the Jets. Let's put it that way. On the other side of that game, the Detroit Lions, they still technically have a shot at the playoffs, but it's dwindling as the season goes on here.

what do you make of where they kind of find themselves now over the last couple of seasons, feeling like a team that was on this meteoric rise? Yeah, I look at their last couple of wins, you know, Cowboys, a team that you can't play defense. Giants falling apart. They beat the commanders on November 9th falling apart. And they beat the Buccaneers who are now in the process of falling apart.

They don't have a good win on their schedule since summertime, really. And that speaks to their defense collapsing as the season wore on. It speaks to their offensive line falling apart with a couple of injuries on the interior. It speaks to Goff kind of reaching his ceiling yet again and reaching it earlier this year than

in most years. They're not going in the right direction. A couple of years ago, they were one play away from the Super Bowl against the 49ers, and they couldn't convert a fourth down. Then they kind of got both raised in the playoffs last year by the upstart commanders. Now they're in danger of not reaching

the playoffs. They can't seem to be the good team. Brad Holmes, Dan Campbell, the coaching staff, the administration, they have to face the big, hard, existential questions. Building the team was easy, sustaining it seems to be harder for them. They've got to figure out how they're going to turn this thing around because now it's time. They have to turn around. They can't say they're at the top of the mountain anymore. To take this back to Seattle, in a way, the Seahawks control their destiny for the one seed. They've got the Panthers coming up on the weekend.

that's a game that a few weeks ago look like a pretty easy win but the Panthers are playing some pretty good football right now what kind of challenge could the Carolina pose for the Seahawks on the weekend Panthers are not very good

honestly if you look at their schedule carefully and Panthers fans know this it's like good week bad week odd weeks they're good even weeks they're bad and so you got an odd week so you have that going for them I wouldn't count on that

the Panthers like to let you beat yourself and then just make one or two plays to kind of shove the dagger in. That's kind of what they do. That's what they did to the Buccaneers. There's the Buccaneers, run around, get nothing done on offense, make one or two mistakes on defense. Ha ha, we beat you.

That's kind of what they did with the Rams. Oh, you threw a pick six. Oh, we got a fourth down, touchdown. Now we're going to stand here and watch you kind of make mistakes and beat yourself. So if the Seahawks play a consistent sound, normal Seahawks game where they don't where they don't make any unforced errors, they should be in position where they're going to have no problem against the Panthers.

Hey, Mike, really appreciate you taking the time. Thanks for this. Absolutely. Take care. Happy holidays, everyone. Enjoy your week. You too. There is a Mike Tenier, writer, editor, founder of Two Deep Zone, joining us on the Halpert & Brough show, Josh Elliott Wolf is real fair. Someone texted in. It's not the Halpern & Brough show this week. It is the Fairwolf show. I don't know if that's taken off. A good try. Good point or effort. I appreciate the effort.

I don't know. I don't know. Okay. So a lot to get into. And before we move off of the football, I did one who, like the Steelers game yesterday. There was so much that went into it.

There was the ending call where, you know, Amuner Ross St. Brown gets called for the offensive PI. And then also the ref was announcing it weird. And the Lions fans were like, oh, we won. Ah, you didn't win. And maybe went,

maybe went about things the wrong way and also D.K. McCaff is almost punching a fan maybe punched a fan that was crazy. That was bizarre. I have to imagine that Metcalf will get some sort of discipline surely

because that was caught on video. Yeah, that's the I don't know. I did see a lot of Seahawks fans happy that you know that headache is gone. The D.K. Metcalfe like at some point he's going to get upset about something. I mean, he did it all the time. He was a really fun Seahawks player to watch and he could

do things that very few, if any, other players in the NFL can do. This one is, you know, him getting into an altercation with a fan as even a next level for him. I mean, there were a lot of instances where he would be chirping with fans, but potentially putting hands on a fan is a different level than him. I mean, he took a lot of swings at opposing players over the years in Seattle. You can do that. Yeah, this is different. Yeah, it is different. And surely I think something has to be coming, but yeah, I don't know. Also, the, the Mike Tomlin streak, 19 seasons, 19 consecutive non-losing seasons as of this year is crazy. Because again, every year I go into it being like, well, this is the year. And then he just, they always find a way to get to previously eight, now nine wins. And I don't have any hope or like

any confidence that they're going to do something in the playoffs, but that's impressive. and like the culture I guess he's built is impressive it's something I think a lot of teams could look at and be like well that that would be awesome if we could just do that for two decades yeah it's fascinating because there has been frustration mounting in Pittsburgh with them not being a real Super Bowl contender

now for a lot of years but to get into the playoffs year after year and do it with rosters that are pretty flawed and then they usually get to the end of the season and you go well the defense is pretty good The defense gives them a pretty high floor, and they've had tons of questions since Ben Rothlisberger retired. And frankly, at the end of Ben Rothlisberger's career, too, when he wasn't the same player about that team offensively. And they're interesting in the sense, too, that they were always and have been historically a defensive team. And their Super Bowls in the early part of, you know, in the 70s were largely based on defense.

And then they were a defensive team, you know, through the 80s and the 90s. And then they had that period there with Ben Rothlisberger and Antonio Brown where they were getting 13 wins a season with a great offense and it's still a very good defense. Now they've kind of gone back to being that team that's really good defensively and has the questions offensively. And I'm a guy who's definitely gone out of my way to criticize Aaron Rogers the last few years. He's looked pretty good over the last month or so playing with an injury that's not affecting his ability to throw. he's not the guy that he was in the prime of his career with the Packers but he certainly looks a lot better

and this is got to be clear him not being part of the New York Jets the maybe the most cursed franchise in the history of North American professional sports he looks like a competent quarterback and he had moments with the Jets

you could look at the numbers and be like oh you know what he's not he's not as bad as you're making it out to be it's like well when you watch the games the Jets are terrible he doesn't look good at all he has raised the bar and been a more consistent, a more effective quarterback for the Steelers. And Mike Tomlin is the steady guy guiding this ship for this team. And I know, of course, that Steelers fans believe and expect that this is a franchise

that should be consistently competing for the Super Bowl. But to manage this, what has been effectively a transition window in the way that Mike Tomlin has, I'd sign up for that. Because watching losing football is, brutal. It might be, baseball might be worse. I'm trying to think of like what the worst sport to watch down the stretch when your team just sucks. It's probably baseball because you've got to watch it every day. Yeah, it's the schedule. But like this weekend in the NFL is funny where there was about half the games that were huge. The Seahawks game against the Rams is huge. Green Bay,

Chicago is huge. You know, you've got the teams that are really going for. And then you've got like Miami, Cincinnati. Well, we got to play this game. It's on the schedule. It's on the schedule. Vikings Giants Jet Saints Yeah Just get pumped up Get pumped for those games 650 650

This one from TableSaw James Metcalf versus that fan Was better than the Jake Paul fight on Saturday Jake Paul Anthony Joshua I mean if you If you're not a Jake Paul fan I think you got what you wanted

Got his he got his bell run You got his jaw broke Vicious Yeah dude And the smile you like There's a video of Anthony Joshua was smiling before he delivers the punch? He knew what he was doing.

He's like, he deserves this. Look what happens when he isn't fighting retirees. Yeah, a guy that's just clearly much better than him. I mean, this one was like so predictable. Because the whole Paul thing is like, he's actually pretty good boxer. And he's like at a borderline professional level. And it's like, again, yeah, he's fighting retirees and like memes essentially. It's like, oh, now he's going to fight someone who's generally accepted as one of the best

boxers of the century. This is not going to go well. Oh, no, it went poorly. Who would have thought? This one, donkey truck driver. So it is, it's not a Friday, but we have decided it's going to be an ask us anything week because we only have two shows this week today and tomorrow on the Halford & Brough show. This one, ask us anything from donkey truck driver.

If you are at Christmas dinner in a non-sports household, is it acceptable to put your phone on your chair between your legs and watch football? I say no. Wow. I say, and I'm like, like, the Vikings play on Christmas Day. I'm going to want to watch that game. I think at dinner, you got to, you just got to be there. Outside of dinner, if you're like, hey, if you got the phone on while you're like

chilling on the couch or whatever, and that's fine. But what if it's your team? What if it was the Vikes? No, I'm still like, hey, I'll, I'll check after. Now, you rest the phone on the turkey in the middle of the table. Yeah. Stop talking. I'm listening.

As invasive as possible. Yeah. If the Seahawks were playing on Christmas, I would watch. during dinner. It might be, I feel like it's different if it's on a TV somewhere in the, so I think it was Thanksgiving. It was Thanksgiving. Jays were in the playoffs, right?

And I went over to my aunt's house for dinner. And to be fair, they are like, they're a sports household, so it's different. But the Jays game was on. And while we were at the table, it was like in the reflection of a mirror that I could see. So I was really not locked in during the dinner. but I think at Christmas dinner for a non-playoff game you've got to be

you just got to be there I'm sorry and I usually support these things but we see where the line is now this is the line if it's a playoff game yes

if it decides the fate of a team for the playoffs too it depends on the the consequences of the game I guess is what matters to me and this week I don't think it's going to matter

I think you can can get through dinner and then catch up after. So the game this year is, yeah, Broncos chiefs. We're real excited for that, right? Yeah. Third string quarterback for the chiefs. Yeah. So, like, I mean, if you're a Broncos fan, maybe, but even then, it's like, well, you're making

the playoffs. I guess you could be worried about the buy, but you're going to beat the Chiefs. Like, there's no way the Chiefs win that game, right? Maybe they do. Okay, it is the Halford & Brough show. Get your ask us, anything's in, and we'll try to hit them on the other. We have a full hour coming. up of no guess.

So if you've got a question, send it in 650-6-50 is the Dunbar-Lumbered sex line. It is Halford and Brough. No Halford. No-Broft. Josh Elliott-Wolf Israel Fair filling in on SportsNet 650. Hey, it's Jamie Dodd and Thomas

Grants. Get your daily dose of Canucks talk with us weekdays from 12 to 2 on SportsNet 650. Or catch up on demand through your favorite podcast app. Welcome back to Halford and Brough. It's Josh L.A. Wolf, Israel Fair, filling in for the next couple days here. And we are coming to you live from the Kintech Studio. you can text in $6.50, $6.50 is the Dunbar Lumber Text line.

Seeing a few ask us, anything's coming. We'll try to hit them as the show goes on. And if you got more, you can text them in right now. 650, 650. Halford & Brough is brought to you by Sands and Associates. Get out of the penalty box of debt and back in the game with a financial fresh start. Visit sands dash trustee.com. This hour of Halford & Brough is for jason.

If you love paying too much for your mortgage, then don't at Jason shop around to find the perfect mortgage for you. That's Jason. Dot mortgage. Good job on the music today, Zach. I'm feeling festive. Yeah, I can tell. Based on all the holiday music.

And that's the conclusion I came to. You were feeling festive. But you're doing good songs too, because APM music sometimes. You can just go down a bad road on APM. Well, especially with Christmas songs, there is some shocking material in here. Yeah. Some people just make horrible music. There's a couple Christmas raps in here

that should not be played. Okay, well. Oh, well, then I got to play them. Maybe we should play them. Why did you say that? Obviously, they must be played. At 8 o'clock, I definitely want you to play one of those. If they're as bad as you say, they must be put on air.

Yeah. 650-650 is the Dunbar Lumbertsex line. This one comes in. I think if everyone did the ad reads with the same energy as Josh, I'd have way less money. Am I, I'm just excited about ad reads. I'm mainly excited about how. how many there are, and when I'm able to, like, do them properly, because there's so many

on this show. Yeah, this show has a lot of them. They do. Yeah, you really put all your energy into them. I know, and it leaves... That's a good thing, though. It leaves nothing for the rest of the rest of the thing. You read every single one, like it's the first time.

Yeah. In a good way. You always remember the first time. I can't wait to go home and do my homework. This year, give her English muffins. Uh, okay. So we got some ask us anything's coming in. I'm just going to move off.

One from Comox. What would be on the Christmas wish list for all Vancouver sports teams? So, should we start? I'm going to start with the obvious Vancouver White Caps. A stadium. Stadium. Yeah. Yeah.

That's what they want. That is all they need. They've taken step one. Canucks, that one, I guess it might be tougher, like long term. Well, obviously you see the cup, but I mean, in the short-term practice facility is probably number one. Yeah, I guess. It's got to be the practice facility. Yeah.

Not the number one pick. That's what I was going to say the number one pick. But that's like a June. Oh, number one, sure. Yeah, number one pick as well, absolutely. Yeah. Or just like, I don't know, I guess. I mean, we started the show with it.

It's not more wins necessarily. Yeah, that always makes it a little bit more complicated. Yeah, because I would say like, hey, 10 game winning streak, but I don't know. And then the Vancouver Golden Eyes to win a road game. That would be nice going back on the road because they've won at home. They lost on Saturday, but they've been able to win at home. And then the BC Lions to make a big addition? I don't know.

I don't know if the BC lines are pretty chill right now. I think they're fine. Stay at BC Place. Yeah. Sure. Nathan Rourke, stay healthy. Yes, that would be nice. This one, Ash from Surrey, I've made it to the fantasy football finals.

First game is on Christmas Day. How do I convince my wife to watch the game? Also, if I win this year, it will be my third straight championship. Congratulations, Ash. Nice. I didn't think about that when I answered the question about watching games on your phone.

Oh, now he's changing his mind. Because I didn't make the fantasy football finals and so for me it's like well, I just didn't even factor into my decision but now if you have like... Yeah, but it's not, it's the first games of the week so it's not like it's going to decide the...

It's not necessarily going to decide your championship. But if you got like Bonix and Cortland Sutton? You're making the... the championship game with Bonix and Cortland Sutton? I think he could. I think he could. I don't know. I think picking up Kansas City

QB3 off waivers for the championship. Sometimes things get tough. You got to do what you got to do. Maybe that changes things. If it's really... You're not benching Travis. If you've made the championship game and you happen to have Travis Kelsey,

he's got to be benched. I don't think you bench Travis Kelsey. With QB3? With QB3? He had two points this week, who am I going to throw to? Who am I going to throw to? You, Travis Kelsey.

The other team. Yeah, exactly. Maybe if you have Broncos defense, then you want to watch the game. I got criticized by our good friend Bick Mazar the other day for being in a fantasy league that has defense. I do hate the leagues that have defense. So if you're in a real league, then you're the type of person that's going to watch these games during Christmas dinner. You're not in a league with defense, Josh. Right.

You're fraudulent. Your league is fraudulent. In my league, I have Seahawks special teams in defense, and they've been awesome this year. They've been great. I dropped them early in the year, like a fool. This one from Justin and East Van, ask us anything. Does Liam O'Grane deserve an audition in the top six for the Vancouver Canucks? Why not, to be honest?

Like, I think you're kind of at the point where if you, the thing I've said is that if you tell me that, like, hey, you want to see the Canucks try, whoever in a top six role or whoever on the power play with where they are in the standing I'm like sure why not like I and from what we've seen from Liam Ogren I have been impressed by the shot I've been impressed by his size what it and yeah he's got he's got some juice

feels like he's able to like do things that I wouldn't have it expected from a guy who had zero points in 18 games in Minnesota coming into this so it feels like he's kind of gotten a fresh start I wouldn't mind seeing him in the top six especially if you late in the season if you call up Lechermacki

after you made a couple of trades and I know they used to play together before getting drafted so if that's kind of your plan you got those two guys playing on the same line Ogrin kind of makes up for Leckermacky being a little bit smaller too like that to me would be an interesting duo

and then maybe got Marco Rossi or Elise Pedersen if he's healthy and playing at the time like I don't know that to me could be interesting I wouldn't mind seeing him get a shot on the top power playing it too at some point. But I don't know that might be a situation where like, hey, if you trade Connor Garland, then you can try Liam Ogren on the top unit because that's a little more crowded than the top six for the Canucks is right now. Yeah, I mean, I think if you're

trying to put a lineup together that has the Canucks best long-term interests at heart, you need to have Keith or Sherwood in a prime slot. You need to have a VanderCain and as prime a slot as possible. And then it's, it's quite frankly, going to be pretty hard to move off of Brock Besser, Connor Garland, and Jake DeBrosky in top six roles because of the contracts and what they can do. It's not like those guys are necessarily going to get moved down as well. So long term, though, I mean, when Ogren was acquired, the talk was, hey, they're going to give him an NHL chance, but don't be surprised if he ends up in the H.L. And the first week for him has gone really, really well.

So all he can do is continue to put himself in a position to push up the lineup and get those opportunities. And the thing we hear, I think Yannick Hansen mentions it often on the station. It's more in reference to a call-up when you have the adrenaline and you're like, okay, you can be good for a few games and you can look like you're having this big impact, but it's what you do five to ten games in. When you kind of get into the rhythm of like, okay, I'm in the NHL and I've gotten used to this.

I feel like there's a similar effect when you get traded to a new team too. It's like, oh, I want to impress this team. I want to show them like, hey, they're giving me this new chance, especially for Ogrin. Like he was in the bottom six in Minnesota. And I guess he's in the bottom six here. But I think he probably can tell that there's more of an opportunity in Vancouver than there would have been, you know, playing behind Caprizov and Boldie.

And I know you mentioned Betzer Garland de Brusk, but clearly not the same level of those two guys, right? So I think he can view it as there's a road here for me And that can be a motivating factor But how long can he keep it up? And that's going to be the big thing for both him and And I think Zee Buoyum too But there's also I think Booyum's just going to have a longer road Than Ogren would

Yeah for sure Although I did I couldn't help but think over the weekend As Ogren's playing pretty well Is this just going to be Neal's Hoaglander all over again where it's like, let's give this guy a chance up the lineup, like this physically impressive guy, and we're just going to debate this player forever and ever.

Those aren't the vibes right now, because it's just kind of been surprised at how well the teams played, or at least the results that the Canucks have been getting since the trade. But, I mean, he looks good. He looks like a player that could be, I'm not going to say he's going to be a top of the lineup impact player, but seems like a guy that, I mean, Josh, you mentioned, and the Lekaramaki connection,

that is something I could see Canucks fans dreaming on a little bit because in Lechromacki's time with the Canucks, we've seen that the shot certainly plays, so it's about finding him the right fit, what that looks like. And at least for the Canucks, we're not talking nearly as much

about the center depth as we were just a couple of weeks ago. It's gotten a little bit better, and the thought is when Patterson is in there as well, regardless of what you think of him as a franchise building block at this point. He's obviously an NHL center. It would be funny if

Ogrin, I mean, I know you're talking about Rossi, but Ogrin would be, it would be funny if Ogrin ended up being the best player in that trade, like sneaky, like, you're not expecting much from him. He's often forgotten about because obviously Boogam has such high pedigree as a prospect, and Rossi's an established 2C, not talking about

the first overall, or sorry, the first round pick, because who knows what that's going to be. But of those three players, it would be very funny if Ogrin ended up being the best one. It would be great, I think. And he looks like he's got like two he's got the tools like yeah you could see it you could see it there like you can see why he was drafted so high if the if the reason ogren ends up being the best of those three is because he hits so well that would be that would go such a long way in like right now I don't

think we can look at this trade in my opinion as a as a win for the knox maybe making the best case out of a out of a bad situation when it comes to the quinnu's trade but they were just always going to lose that trade uh in my opinion but the way three or four years down the road, we look at this trade as a win, I think is if Liam Ogren hits. And then also Z. Bouillon ends up being a top pairing defenseman. Marco Rossi stays a second line center.

And then whatever happens with that first round pick happens. But if Ogren hits, there's a very real chance we look back at this trade in four years. And at the very least, we're going, hey, that was a win-win. And that's something the Canucks had to do. They made the most out of it at the time. And that's, it's a lot of projection for O'Grath.

I mean, there's a chance that Canucks end up winning that trade flat out. If all three of those, like, if Rossi even gets better than he already is, if Ogrin turns into a stud, top six player, and if Boeum is that, you know, legit star first pairing defenseman, maybe not to the caliber of Hughes, but nevertheless, a star first pairing D man. Yeah, like he's like a legit number one D man. If all three of those guys hit, then you might look back at it four years from him,

like, you know what, the Canucks might have actually squeaked out of the, the trade with a win. Especially if you get someone that plays NHL games with that first round pick too. It's going to be a late first round pick so I'm not expecting, you know, this home run pick. But if you get someone that can tangibly play in the NHL, you got four legitimate NHLers out of that trade,

that's huge. That's more than I think I would have asked for going into this whole huge debacle is what the Knucks could theoretically have four years down the road. Now a lot of it is still projecting, right? and a lot of it is like, hey, best case scenario, but sometimes I just want to live in the world of best case scenario. And that would be, if we're looking at O'Grane as a top six winger in the future, I think that is the case for that trade being a win.

It definitely helps dull the sting of losing someone like Hughes. Yeah. It would also. Franchise demand, which you may never get again. Yeah. It would also, to make it win, I think you might need Hughes to not sign a Minnesota. But I guess it doesn't matter. like even if he signs Minnesota it's still

you got whatever you got back that's not changing 650 650 is the Dunbar Lumber text line this one ask us anything Bruce in BC why is Jake Debrusk still in the top six what does he do

he is the definition of a passenger I think he's fine I don't know I like I've got no I've seen some complaints going around about him and Brock Besser and I Well, they're very similar players.

They're both very streaky. They have these runs where they're doing great, then they kind of disappear for a little while. But they have enough consistent runs that you're just like, oh, they're good, good players. And there are going to be moments during a season where you look at each of them and you go, oh, what is this guy doing right now? And I can see why you would be frustrated. But at the same time, there's going to be runs, especially for DeBrask where it's like, oh, he scored seven goals in the last 10 games because that's what he does. And so I get the frustration, but I, I, I, I, I don't know. I still think he's fully worth his contract. He's, he has his moments.

He's been playing, you know, even some penalty kill minutes, too. Like, I don't have, who would you replace him with? Exactly. Like, they don't have a lot out there. I mean, I guess you give Ogren more minutes. You can argue that, but I mean, he's maybe deserved it. But if someone wants to make the case that like, hey, you want to see him play less, sure, but I don't know, I don't have a problem with him. No, I mean, this is what he is. This is a talent level. Same, same with Brock Brasser. They're not play drivers. They are guys. You might, passenger is obviously. pretty derives of

term for a player it's more complimentary but that's the truth and then Connor Garland is a play driver but needs help because he's not a shooter and there would be some version of this team that is more competitive

where they could move some of the players around you might like you know what Garland brings is best in a certain role right it's best as a guy who's getting decent matchup in a middle six where you don't need that shooting pedigree

and Besser and DeBrasch have that and they do it I guess in slightly different ways but that's their skill set that the issue there with those three is that none of them are bona fide first line wingers right like legit you talked about Caprizov and Boldie with Minnesota those guys are legit number one line players you don't have to think about and the Dabrosk and Besser I get the

frustration you're right because it's exactly the case I was at the game against Detroit a couple of weeks ago, which now feels like ages ago because Quinn Hughes played in Vancouver Canucks. And that game, Besser and DeBresk were, in my view, pretty bad. And the whole team was bad. And they were getting a lot of shots, but they weren't really creating a lot. And they get shut out at home. Matt, you know, felt like a low point just a few days before the Canucks ended up trading Quinn Hughes. And that was a game where I was at and I was like, well, this is a game where neither guy is doing much. And Garland was good that game.

Carried the puck a lot, made a lot of things happen, but the flaws in his game not being able to be the guy that's going to drive the scoring chances outside of making passes limits the impact that he can have. And those three guys were front and center, right? Because that was a game with no Pedersen. Yeah. And this is also why when we talk about,

especially when we were talking about the Quinn Hughes trade, it was just like, hey, get, it doesn't matter what position they play. Just get as much talent as you can right now for the Canucks because you can look at the wingers and you can say hey they have a lot of wingers and they're in a good spot but also at the same time when we talk about the high end wingers the Canucks still need more help and down the middle clearly they're still going to need more defensively maybe you feel fine but you're still going to need more down the stretch like they need more talent everywhere so when we're talking about trades leading up to the trade

deadline when we're talking about the draft and I bet unless they're picking first or second overall the question about, hey, should the Canucks target a center specifically or targeted defenseman specifically, that conversation is going to come up. And I just don't think it matters. I think you got to in a trade, get the best player available in a, in the draft, get the best player available. And, you know, this year it might be Gammon McKenna, might be Stenberg. Like, those two guys are wingers. I'd have no problem with either of them on the Canucks because they just need help. They need help in every facet of the lineup. And whatever you can get, you got to go get.

Yeah, front line players. Those are those are the ones. And yes, of course, if you're deciding between a center and a winger, you're going to take the center. And we know the impact that a true number one D-man has on a team. But if the Canucks are in a position in the draft to get a winger, that's a legit first-line winger, right? Like the caliber that changes the dynamic of your lineup, that's obviously still a good thing to have. 650 650 is the Dunbar Lumbert Sacks line It is Halpern and Brough

Josh Elliott Wolf and Israel Fair filling in so earlier in the show We started talking about The Canucks being on a four-game win streak right now Trying to make it five tonight When they take on the flyers in Philadelphia But the question coming out of it Is just how are fans feeling about this win streak

Winning four in a row Especially after a Quinn Hughes trade Where people kind of It felt like there was an acceptance of this team is going to be bad, I'm okay with it, it's fine. Well, you know what's going to happen, right? I mean, the Canucks Luck, you talked about it in the first segment. They're going to win just enough games to fall out of a top three or even a top five pick,

maybe 9th, 10th, 11th in the West. You know what's going to happen. Just prepare for it now. They're going to pick 7th to 8th. Yeah, and that's okay. Just prepare for it. I mean, you know, obviously you know you want them in the top three, especially with this draft being how deep it is, but just expect it.

Expect that they're going to get enough wins somehow. Demko's going to go on a couple of heaters himself. I mean, he's already playing great, but he's going to can continue to play as Demko plays when he's healthy. And they're just going to squeak just enough wins in there to get out of that time. Is Demko a liability right now in terms of like, too? In terms of the tank? In terms of the tank.

Yes. He's too good for a tanking team. It's also, so the one issue I've had, especially with the four-game win streak, and I don't know if it changes much, but Thatcher Demko coming off injury, start of four games in a row. And if you're a team that, to me, should be concerned. concerned about his long term health, especially since you gave him a contract extension in the off season. And if you're talking about a hybrid build, you're not expecting to be good this year, but you might be expecting to be good next year the year after. Like if that's in the cards for you, if that's your plan, I feel like there should be a more conservative approach when it comes to Thatcher Demco. And then you reap the benefits from it because A, it gives him a little bit more time to rest. He's an oft injured goaltender. And that. that can only help.

B, if you're talking about tanking, not having a great goalie in there, that's going to help too. You might lose another game here too, here or there. And then the third reason, Kevin Lankenen is also getting paid $4.5 million.

Yeah, he's a capable starter. And so I don't know, maybe there was a reason he started four games in a row, but I don't know if I want to see that more often than not down the stretch. No, it has to go back to what the original plan was.

you know, couple games. Lankening gets a game, even if Demko is on an incredible heater because you're not, of course, the Canucks themselves as a team that is not embracing a tank and they still have a goalie of Thatcher, Dempco's caliber. If he's playing well,

the instinct is going to be to keep him going out there, but they have to weigh the injury concern. They have to weigh the assing. Well, maybe it's 40 chest. They're playing him so much to try to get him injured again. Oh, my God. Yeah, but then you can't trade them.

Yeah, you know, under the scenario where... You think they trade Demko this season? Not necessarily this season. I don't know. I'd be very surprised. He has to stay healthy this season to have any value. Otherwise, you're not... Yeah, the thing, like, if he gets injured one more time, I don't think he can move him at all.

Because then it's two starts... Yeah, if he gets hurt, let's say, in the next couple of months again, it's two straight years of not being able to stay healthy. Yeah. With a new contract coming in at an inflated cap hit. Yeah. And to answer the question, I don't know if they move him this year. I would entertain it.

Like, if team comes to you and they say, hey, here's a first-round picker. They can't be fully on board. I just don't think that Canucks are on board. I mean, I'd be fine with it. Yeah. That's exactly the kind of move you'd want to make to try and get a high draft pick is move that guy that's preventing it from happening because he's such a good goal-tender. But I don't know. I'd be very surprised if the Canucks did that deal.

As would I. But we do get some texts about how fans are feeling about the wind streak. This one, Tatiana and Langley, I am fully enjoying this win streak. I think it's great for morale and getting the new guys comfortable. Well, obviously it won't last, so why not just enjoy it for the moment? The season has sucked so bad, this is fun right now. I do get that. I mean, it is fun.

I won't disagree with that. It's fun to see the team play well and win. Just in the background, you're just like, couldn't you have done this to start the year? Yeah. Why are you doing it right now? This would have been more fun when you had Quinn Hughes. Yeah, exactly. You could have just started the year like this.

You can go to run. But I do get it. The morale and getting new guys comfortable thing, I think, is a good point in terms of it's just a better environment for guys to try to integrate into if you're if you're winning games as opposed to losing four in a row after you make a big trade like that but yeah enjoy for the moment i'm not going to fault people for uh for enjoying the wins right now i know we've got to go to break but i just see how impressed i'm with um with booleum's like confidence level as a young kid like he's so well-spoken he talks like a leader i mean i've been really impressed with him so far just how he

carries himself and he seems like he has a good head in his shoulders and Again, very well-spoken guy. Yeah, I would agree. I would agree. It's been fun so far. I do wonder what it's going to look like. Does he keep the confidence when they go on a losing streak? Because that's going to happen at some point.

But we'll talk more about this and get into what we learns on the other side. Send them in 650, 650, hashtag WWL. And we'll try to hit them on the other side. It is a Canucks Game Day. And Canucks Game Day is brought to you by Panago. day the Panago way. Get any large pizza plus cheesy bread for only 2499. Use code Canucks at panago.com. Pana, go for it. Restrictions may apply. It is the Halford and Brough show. No Halfer, no Brough. Josh Elliott Wolf and Israel Fair filling in back on the other side on Sportsnet 650.