Halford & Brough in the Morning - The Canucks Do Not Respond To Big Moments

Episode Date: November 15, 2024

In hour one, Mike & Jason look back at the previous day in sports (3:00), they talk yesterday's embarrassing Canucks home loss to the Islanders (6:00), plus they look ahead to Sunday's Seahawks matchup at the 49ers with ESPN's Brady Henderson (26:16). 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.

Dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-d carries into the Vancouver zone. Driving to the net, backhand pass in front. They score. Anders Lee all alone in front. Oh, no. Philip Perunik. He's been dragged. No, he hasn't. The pitch to Barkley. Barkley across to 30. 25, 20, 15, 10.

Good boy! I'm going to die, and it's going to be over. Who cares about a legacy after that? Ladies and gentlemen, the weekend. Good morning, Vancouver. 6-0-1 today, Friday and gentlemen, the weekend. Good morning, Vancouver. 6.01 today, Friday. Sweet, sweet Friday. It is Alfred.

It is Brough. It is Sportsnet 650. We are coming to you live from the Kintec Studios in beautiful Fairview Slopes in Vancouver. Jason, good morning. Good morning. Adog, good morning to you. Good morning. They call him the Leon Dreisaitl of Hamilton.

Laddie, good morning to you. I like that. Hello, hello. Alfred and Brough in the morning is brought to you by Vancouver Honda, Vancouver's premier destination for Honda customers. They have a friendly, knowledgeable staff that can help with anything you're looking for, sales, financing, service, or parts. We are in Hour 1 of the program.

Hour 1 is brought to you by North Star Metal Recycling. Vancouver's premier metal recycler pays the highest prices on scrap metal. North Star Metal Recycling, they recycle, you get paid. Visit them at 1170 Powell Street in Vancouver. We are coming to you live from the Kintec Studio. Kintec, Canada's favorite orthotics provider, powered by thousands of five-star Google reviews. Soar feet, what are you waiting for?

Kintec, a big show ahead on a Friday. We're both dressed in black. Black t-shirt and black hat. We are in mourning after that effort from the Canucks last night. It's a somber mood here at the Halford & Ruff show. Very somber mood. Lekker Mackey scored his first individual goal. So really, who cares about anything else? Nothing else matters.

It's fine. Okay. We are going to talk about the Vancouver Canucks on today's show, but we're going to do some other stuff as well. A palate cleanser, if you will, for all of those with a bad taste in their mouth from last night. 6.30, Brady Henderson's going to join the program. You know him as our Seahawks insider from ESPN.

Seahawks are in San Francisco, six and a half point dogs, seven points at some books. Depending on where you go, Seahawks have not beaten the 49ers I think since Richard Sherman had that interception it's been a long time it's been a long time we'll talk to Brady about all that at 6 30 7 o'clock AJ from AJ's pizza is going to join us 7 30 it's the Moj ahead of the Grey Cup this weekend we'll talk to Moj about that and maybe some big changes on the horizon for the BC Lions. There were a lot of teases about that yesterday.

Yeah, it sounds like there's going to be some changes at the GM and probably coaching levels. 8 o'clock, Rick Dollywell is going to join the program. You sent along Rick's notes. I think we're going to get into the U.S. roster for the Four Nations face-off, which is what everyone wants to talk about after that game for the Vancouver Canucks last night. We'll talk about some other stuff as well.

8.30. Now, here's an interesting wrinkle for Halford and Brough on a Friday. We're not going to do what we learned in Ask Us Anything in the final half hour of the program. What? I know.

Instead, we're going to talk to Marty McSorley. Yeah, that Marty McSorley. He's in town right now because the Vancouver Giants, in conjunction with the Langley Events Center, are doing this thing called Legends of the Sin Bin, Greg. Are you familiar with this? They do a Legends Week every year.

So this year it's the Legends of the Sin Bin. Legends of Pimms. Legends of Pimms. That's right. So it's going to be McSorley, Archie Henderson, and Bill Goldie Goldthorpe, who was the inspiration for Ogie Oglethorpe from the Slapshot movie. So anyway, Marty McSorley is here to

talk about all the penalties he racked up over his playing career. So we thought, you know what? Let's get the chase out. Lo and behold, we're going to talk to Marty McSorley at 830 today. I wonder what he thought about getting the invite from the Vancouver Giants. Yeah. I don't even know if he's done media in Vancouver since the Donald Brashear incident. You and I spent a fair amount of time researching the subsequent.

One of my questions could be like, how did your life change after that? Because I think I only saw one real clip and it wasn't him and Brashear sitting down and talking about it together. Yeah. They were spliced together. Very interesting anyway. So we're going to talk to Marty McSorley at 830.

Looking forward to it. Should be very interesting. We're just getting all the, all the favorites on. Is Messier up soon? We got to have Messier on soon. Don't we? Continuing our series

of Vancouver monsters. Yeah. Mark Messier is going to join us. No, he can't get on. He won't come on the show. So working in reverse on the guest list. 830, Marty McSorley.

8 o'clock, Rick Dollywall. 730, it's the Moj. 7 o'clock, it's AJ630. It's Brady Henderson. A reminder, Ask Us Anything Friday. We're giving away a $100 gift card to AJs.

For the best what we learned or Ask Us Anything, we'll intersperse them throughout the show, and we'll announce the winner right at the very end, okay? Sound good? Good. Without further ado, Laddie, let's tell everybody what happened. Hey, did you guys see the game last night? No. What happened?

I missed all the action because I was... We know how busy your life can be. What happened? You missed that? What happened? I missed all the action because I was... We know how busy your life can be. What happened? You missed that? You missed that? What happened? What Happened is brought to you by the BC Construction Safety Alliance. Making safety simpler by giving construction companies the best in tools, resources, and safety training.

Visit them online at bccsa.ca. Well, it started well for the Vancouver Canucks with Jonathan Luckermackey scoring his first ever NHL goal, and it ended well for the Canucks with Tyler Myers scoring the last goal of the game. The problem was everything that happened in between those two goals. Scott Mayfield and Pierre Engvall both scored their first goals of the season, and the New York Islanders got a 5-2 win, a 5-2 win in Vancouver over the Canucks on Thursday night at Rogers Arena. Yeah, like you said, the night did start out pretty well with the return of Dakota Joshua to the lineup after a cancer scare this summer. And then just two minutes and 40 seconds into the game, Jonathan Leckermackie scored his first NHL goal, taking a JT Miller pass and ripping it past Semyon Varlamov. It was a memorable goal, great shot,

and that's his, you know, that's kind of his bread and butter for Lekaromaki's first in the league, and it was the last time Canucks fans felt any semblance of joy for the rest of the night. That was it. The Islanders simply took over this game. They tied it on a power play late in the first, and tied it rather easily,

based on the defending the Canucks were doing on that power play. But then they downright embarrassed the Canucks in the second period. It started just moments into the second when Quinn Hughes casually and blindly threw the puck up the wall to, I think he was trying to get it to Pew Suter, but it went to, you know, the Islanders, and they took it, threw it on net, and JT Miller tipped it past Kevin Lankanen.

The problem is JT Miller is teammates with Kevin Lankanen. So that was a great start to the period. Well, guess what? It got worse. A couple of minutes later, Pierre freaking Engvall, the guy was on waivers earlier this season, got position on Carson Soucy as his season continues to spiral and banged one into an empty net behind Lankanen. By the end of the second period, the Canucks were trailing three to one and had just one, two, three, four, five, six shots on goal to the Islanders, 24.

This game was played in Vancouver and not in the late 70s or early 80s when the Islanders were a dynasty. Somehow it got even worse in the third after Bo Horvat. Remember him? He used to play for the Canucks. He was their captain. Captain Goldshirt. He went coast to coast before dishing it between

Hughes and Hronik to Anders Lee for an easy one. JT Miller had a good view of that one as he coasted back. The score finished 5-2 for the Islanders. And look, the Canucks lost to the Devils 6-0 a couple of weeks ago.

The score last night was closer, but from a process perspective, this one was worse. I gotta think it was the worst game they've played during Rick Tockett's time here. The Canucks didn't even blink when Quinn Hughes, their captain and best player, got rocked by, what was it, Max Siplykov? Siplykov. Late in the first. It was a clean hit, so maybe if they'd play well, we wouldn't care. But they played awful, so we do. Where was the response?

The Canucks are now 2-3-3 at Rogers Arena. Their last three home games have been blowout losses. They have been a very confusing team this season. So if you're wondering about the level of frustration right now, a good gauge is how Jason Brough just broke it down with the sense and the urgency in his voice and the confusion at the end.

They're a very confusing team right now. That's a frustration that usually leads to frustration. Confusion leads to frustration. I'm going to play a handful of clips from the head coach, Rick Talkett, following last night's game. Some described it as fiery. Some described it as a frustrated guy.

I'd go with the latter. Here's Rick Talkett right off the hop. Before anyone has a chance to ask a question of Rick Talkett, Rick Talkett lays down the law and says, here's what the questions are going to be about. More specifically, what the questions aren't going to be about. Let me start. Don't ask me about individual players today, okay?

No offense. I've got to apologize to the fans. We're not playing good enough at home. It's on me. Guys played light tonight. I thought we were ready to go. We weren't. It's on me. I've got to get this team to play harder in the first period. Spurts here and there, but not enough from a lot of guys. I've got to get this team to play harder in the first period. Spurts here and there, but not enough from a lot of guys. So,

got to go practice tomorrow and go right back to the drawing board. So, that's really what it is. So, don't ask me about individual players. I'm not going to answer that. You guys saw it. So, thanks. It was a good move by the head coach, in all honesty, because I think if you asked about any individual player last night, he would have had nothing

positive to say. Maybe Kevin Lankanen. Maybe Kevin Lankanen. Maybe Jonathan Leckermackie because he scored his first ever NHL goal. But that was a collective fail from everybody that was on the ice for the Vancouver Canucks last night, and the head coach knew it. Now, playing light. Playing light came up an awful lot. Unprompted, I might add.

Rick Talkett was bringing it up all on his own. Very frustrated by the lack of heaviness that the Canucks had, and especially at home. The head coach was very cognizant to point out two things last night. One, his team hasn't been playing well, and most distressingly, has not been playing well in front of the ticket-buying public. Here's Rick Talkett now on his guys playing too light at home.

I don't know. I have no idea. That's the answer I got to do. We have to change pregame skates. We got to do something different because we cannot play light. We're too light of a team. You cannot guess where the puck goes. You don't have to kill people. You don't have to ram guys to the boards.

Even though every once in a while I wouldn't mind it, I'd rather a guy just stay in front of a guy. That's your man. We're just spinning off people. We're not front. There's too many goal-like scramble goals. It's just got to stop. So that's really what it comes down to.

It's a bizarre team right now. We're in November 15th, so we're six weeks into the season. We got to see all of October and what it brings, and the first half of November. And the team has played well enough in particular games to make you think they're not a tire fire.

But there have been, like you said, this is the worst game of the Rick Tockett era, and I'd say yeah, and there's been a couple other candidates this year. 6-0 to New Jersey was right up there. If I may ask, why do you hate this one more than the Jersey loss? Why do I hate this one more? The shot totals. Shot totals, yeah.

I know, five shots through two periods. I can't even believe that's sad. They were just dreadful last night. The New Jersey one, also I think New Jersey is a better team. They had some skill. Sealobs was in goal. That's fair, yeah. Last night was, you know, Dakota Joshua is returning to the lineup.

Lekermackie scores his first NHL goal of his career early on, and then they just stopped playing. I don't know how he only managed two shots against the Islanders. I also think that it's worse because it followed two really poor home games. Now, I know they beat Calgary the other day at home, so it wasn't consecutive, but they lost 6-0 to the New Jersey

Devils a couple weeks ago. When was the loss to the Oilers? It was on Saturday. Correct. That was 7-3 at home, and the Oilers were by far the better team. That was a disappointing effort that the Canucks had on prime

time, everyone watching. Canucks also blew a 4-1 lead at home to the Calgary Flames in the opener. That's right. Forgot about that. 6-5. So this has all been piling up. So it's always, you know, if you ask me why it was worse

than the New Jersey game, it's like, that's why. Because the Canucks are clearly not getting the message that they need to come out stronger. I mean, this went up 1-0 last night, but the first periods have been pretty dreadful. Last season, the Canucks only lost five games in regulation at Rogers Arena. They've already lost three in regulation at Rogers Arena, and all three of them were kind of embarrassing losses.

It's not even remotely close to the fortress that it was last year. I ran the numbers, and by that I mean I added up goals against. Some real advanced math here on the Halford & Brough Show. Through the first eight games last year, when they got off to that great start, the Vancouver Canucks had two shutouts at home and 16 total combined goals allowed through

eight games. Through the first eight games at home this year, they're 2-3 and 3, and they've allowed 34 goals. They've allowed double the amount of games at home this year they're two three and three and they've allowed 34 goals they've allowed double the amount of goals at home that you got to understand how big a change that is for a team that a lot of last season was predicated on the fact the hashtag the start and how good it was especially at home they had that shutout against the blues that was a very comprehensive victory at home to start last year. They had another one against Dallas, where

they slammed the door shut and didn't allow anything and played defensively, responsibly as a team, not just Thatcher, Demko and Nett. It's jarring because they have had some really good performances on the road this year. That win over the Kings at the end of the California trip

was a good performance on the road. The win in Florida earlier in of the California trip was a good performance on the road. The win in Florida earlier in the season in overtime was a good performance on the road. So you know that they have the capabilities to go out and do the things that they need to do. It would be more concerning for me if they looked like this consistently. These aberrations though,

and when the coach says like, I don't know what's going on, we might need to change a pregame skate skate that raises my concern because at least publicly it sounds like a guy that doesn't have the feel for his team at this given moment it was a dreadful night for the canucks defense in terms of protecting the front of their net uh in of, I mean, Quinn Hughes. At the beginning of the second period, it's the face-off to start the period. The Islanders won the face-off and they dumped it in.

And Quinn Hughes goes back with not much pressure on him and just kind of flips it up the wall. And I guess he assumed that Pugh Suter would be there, but Suter's not the fastest guy out there apparently. And he wasn't in his spot at all. And Hughes just ended up flipping it right to the Islanders. And it was a tough night for Quinn Hughes, and I would also say Philip Perronik on the Anders Lee goal, Horvat races coast to coast, goes around Hughes.

And then I'm not sure what Hronik was trying to do, but it wasn't taking a man because Horvat just kind of flipped the puck between them. Not flipped, just slid the puck between them. And Anders Lee is like, thanks, I'm wide open now. And you also have the ongoing struggles of the Soucy-Myers pair. And I would say almost especially Carson Soucy. And it's just because, you know, last season he was so solid. Like he missed a bunch of games through injury. But when he was out there, I don't remember anyone really complaining about him.

He did his job. He was just solid. He wasn't flashy or anything, but he did his job. He was good defending the rush. He was a good player for the Canucks. I don't know what's happening this year, but if I'm the coaching staff, I'm at least having a conversation about

maybe we're going to switch up these pairs because Hughes and Hronik have been together the entire season and pretty much the entire time that Hronik has been in Vancouver and Susie and Myers have been together the entire season and it's not looking good. And I realized that long-term it's probably going to be best for Hughes and Hronik to be together. But I was kind of feeling last night. I was like, you know what? Maybe Hronik, because someone texted in yesterday, actually, and was like, are you concerned about how Hronik's playing? And at the time, I was like, I don't know. That pair has been pretty good.

But then all it took was one game i'm like maybe this guy should go on another pair and like show that he's worth the money that they gave him because you know like with the way that the the canucks defense looks right now like i think it needs a shake-up and and i know i've heard i've heard a lot of people they are like, well, bump up Brandstrom to the second pair. I'm like, ah, okay. Let's not maybe, but I don't know. I think you need the guys

that the Canucks are paying, the guys that the Canucks have put their trust in to just do a better job. And, you know, Hronik has never really had to prove that he could carry a pair. And I think it would be a wake-up call

for the Canucks and Hronik himself if you're like, hey man, you're playing with Soucy now. You're the second pair. Look at your paycheck. Go out and get this job done.

Okay. I'm glad you bring this up because there was another, the final of the three clips, Laddie, where Rick Talkett at the end, I think this was more of a, I don't want to pile on the players too much, so I'll shoulder some of the responsibility himself. But the end of this clip is interesting

because he says that he got outcoached by Patrick Waugh last night. Here's Rick Talkett following a very disappointing 5-2 loss to the New York Islanders on Thursday night at Rogers Arena. Didn't move our feet. We talked about hitting the weak side. We didn't. We were jamming pucks.

Fours were skating backwards instead of knifing through. It's not the defense of the forwards. It's a collection of five. I give Nylunds credit. They played a great, well-coached team tonight. And Patrick outcoached team tonight. Patrick coached me tonight. So here's something that I think is worth exploring.

Brock Besser gets hit by Tanner Jeannot in the LA game. There's no response. We chalk it up to the guys on the ice and the circumstances in the situation. Quinn Hughes gets hit last night by Siplykov. There's no reaction.

We maybe shrug it off because it's a clean hit and there's no penalty on the play and we move along, even though that doesn't seem to be the case for a lot of other players and teams and organizations in the NHL. Dakota Joshua makes an emotional return from testicular cancer to play in his NHL debut. Or sorry, his season debut. And Jonathan Lechermacki, the team's prized rookie, scores his first ever NHL goal.

All of these things have happened in the last week. to point to a team that doesn't really have the jam or the lift or the push or the hardness or whatever talk it's speaking of in all these different terms it doesn't seem like any of this gets a rise out of the guys right now which is very concerning we've had people text in over the last few weeks it's like at the end of a blowout at home in front of your home fans how are you not sending some sort of message? And I'm like, well, sometimes you take your lumps and you go home and you regroup and you play the next game. After the fourth or third or fourth blowout

where you're getting your head kicked in, I know it sounds barbaric and maybe archaic, but people do want to see some notion that you're not happy with the way things are going. Some notion. And I don't know if all of these things are connected. I don't know if no response to Brock Besser getting a cheap shot from Tanner Juno is related to having a listless game against the Isles.

But Tuckett seems as though he's very confused as to how to push the buttons for this team. I think that's what he's talking about when he's talking about coaching. Like, I need to get these guys ready. I need to do something different. It's not X's and O's. He's not talking about X's and O's. I think he's having a hard time figuring out what buttons to push, and maybe most concerningly, if there is a button that he can push.

Because I think some of this has to come from the players themselves. You saw DeJarne try. He tried. He got into a scrap with Matt Martin, and then Martin pulled his jersey over his head, and that was the end of that. Does the team lack heart? I don't do that.

I don't do that. Intangible, but I mean, you know what I'm saying? The motivation isn't there from all these things that you just listed. You think the team should be able to get up for all of these things, and they don't. I prefer to point. They're not embracing hard. Yeah.

Call it whatever you will. But do you remember talking at the beginning of the season and said, like, if you think last season was hard, now it gets harder. Yeah. They haven't really been able to scrap their way to that next level. They haven't been able to work their way to that next level. They haven't been able to work their way to that next level. I think they're going to work today. They're going to practice out at UBC at noon.

And Talkett said this is going to be a hard practice. And there is some risk in that for Rick Talkett because they played last night, practiced today, game Saturday at home against Chicago, game Saturday at home against Chicago, game Sunday at home against Nashville. I think talking at this point is like, I don't care if you're tired. We're working.

Well, he's got to try something different. So if the idea was traditionally we're going to give him the day off, the different thing would be make him work. Look, we're not saying that the season is torpedoed. We're not going blatant overreaction. Yet last night in a vacuum was bad. The issue is so too was the Edmonton game and so too was the New Jersey game. And what all three of those have in common?

They were on home ice. So you're seeing a trend and Rick Tockett sees it too. And that's why he addressed it the way that he did following the game yesterday. Okay, we got a lot of texts coming into the Dunbar-Lumber text message in basket, as expected. We also said, off the top, we're going to get into a bunch of different subjects today. We are going to spend about 10 minutes on the other side of the break

getting into some NFL stuff, especially the Seattle Seahawks, who are in action this weekend in San Francisco. Big NFC West rivalry game, although it's been incredibly one-sided for the last few years. We'll talk to Brady about that. We'll get back to the Canucks talk in the second half of the 6.30 hour. Coming up at 7, AJ's going to join us. Moj is going to join us at 7.30.

Dollywall at 8, and then Marty McSorley at 8.30. So we've got a big show ahead. Don't go anywhere. You're listening to the Halford & Brough Show on Sportsnet, 6.50. Does the team lack heart? Something was lacking. Let's call it heart. No hustle either, Skip.

That's right, Daryl. It's Canuck Central with Dan Riccio and Satyar Shah, your destination for everything Canucks. Exclusive interviews, inside info, and even the postgame show. Listen 4 to 6 p.mm weekdays and on demand through your favorite podcast app 6.30 on a Friday. Happy Friday, everybody. Halford Brough, Sportsnet 650.

That's the nice thing about this show is whenever things are going bad, you come in and all the listeners are angry because the Canucks got skunked the night before. Yes, the Friday. Who's not in a good mood hearing this? I did a little dance in my chair. This is talking to alarm music when he gets up in the morning.

It's true. Keeps him going throughout the day. He's like, uh, too much tequila last night. We gotta try something different. It is 631 on a Friday. Halford & Brough, if you're listening to it, Halford & Brough in the morning is brought to you by Vancouver Honda. Vancouver's premier destination for Honda customers.

They have a friendly, knowledgeable staff that can help with anything you're looking for. Sales, financing, service, or parts. Brady Henderson's going to join us in just a moment here. The highlight of Hour 1. Hour 1 of the show is brought to you by North Star Metal Recycling. Vancouver's premier metal recycler pays the highest prices on scrap metal. North Star Metal Recycling, they recycle, you get paid. Visit them at 1170 Powell Street in Vancouver. To the phone lines we go. He joins us every Friday here on the Halford & Brough Show on Sportsnet 650. Our Seahawks insider from ESPN, Brady Henderson,

now on the Halford & Brough Show. Morning, Brady. How areahawks insider from ESPN, Brady Henderson. Now, on the Halford and Brough Show. Morning, Brady. How are you? What's up, fellas? Interesting week in Seahawks land, and I got a feeling things are about to get a lot more interesting over the next few, and maybe not in a good way for that team. So, explain to us what the most interesting thing was

from this very interesting week, Brady. Yeah, well, we started with the Seahawks cutting Tyrell Dotson, which sort of came out of nowhere, and I think that was a reflection of them doing a lot of self-scouting over the bye and realizing that you might be better off with Tyrell Dotson in there. Now, I still think there was two interesting decisions there.

The first is that, like I just said, you feel like he should be benched and that you should go with the rookie fourth- round pick in Tyrese Knight, I should say. And then the other is the decision to then cut Tyrell Dotson, even though you would only owe him about a million dollars over the rest of the season. So they do save that million dollars, but it's really less net savings when you consider that they had to sign somebody to replace him on the 53-man roster. So they easily could have kept him as a backup for a million dollars over the rest of the season. So it was interesting that they decided not to do that. And then the other development that's going on is that Connor Williams is not practicing. I really don't

think he's going to play. And I got to be careful with what I say because I've done a lot of reporting on this situation over the last few days, and I don't know quite enough to feel comfortable reporting it. So I've heard conflicting things about what exactly is going on, but I will say this. I would not be surprised if Connor Williams, if it takes him several weeks to come back to the team, and I wouldn't be surprised if he's not back at all. Okay. So that's not an injury or anything? It's something else?

Yeah, it's a personal thing from what I understand. It was listed as non-injury related slash personal on the injury report. So we're going to hear from Mike McDonald. This whole thing kind of came about or started to come about Wednesday after we heard from McDonald in his Wednesday press conference, as it often goes. When things happen between Wednesday and Friday or Wednesday afternoon and Friday, there can be that gap between when we hear from the head coach

and get official word from the team on what's going on. So we will hear from McDonald later today. But I'm hoping he can provide some on the record clarity because i've heard uh you know just from from doing some reporting on the situation that yeah it might be a while before he's back and i suppose it's possible he doesn't come back at all okay uh we won't press any further on that one i think i understand the position you're're in there. But on the subject of the offensive line, Abe Lucas, and it's again, you don't usually talk this early in the hit about offensive linemen, but it's been a problem for the Seahawks this year.

Lucas was a big part of it. He's gone through some pretty serious injury issues. Is he on the verge of returning this weekend when they take on the Niners in San Francisco? I think so. Yeah, I mean, that was the word from Mike McDonald earlier in the week where he said it's a realistic expectation at this point that Lucas plays Sunday versus the 49ers.

Lucas, I think, took a pretty big step yesterday when he was a full participant in practice for the first time since he returned to practice on October 23rd. And the reports were pretty positive from Ryan Grubb afterwards, saying that he thought Lucas looked pretty good. And I briefly talked to Abe in the locker room yesterday. He's kind of a man of few words. I think he has really not wanted a lot of this.

He's not wanted a lot of, like, specifics about the injury out, which I think is why there has been kind of some mystery as to what exactly has gone on with his knee. You know, we know is that it's been a right knee injury. He had surgery in January. And then beside that, not a lot has gotten out. And he didn't want to discuss specifics of it when I talked to him, but he just said it's been a long and painful process since he had the

surgery. And when I asked him how he's feeling now, he said, about as good as you can feel. And you could read that two different ways. I don't think he was saying, I feel great. I think he was saying, I feel about as good as one could feel in the situation that he's in, coming off knee surgery and, again, taking quite a long time to get back. I want to go back to some of the cuts and trades that the Seahawks have made. How does it make the offseason that John Schneider had look?

Not good. Yeah, not good. I mean, and I don't think, I think I've said this before, but I don't think that Baker and Dotson were their first choice at inside linebacker. I think some things happened in the market that they maybe weren't hoping for or planning on, and they had to pivot to those guys. Whenever you move on from two starters that you signed in the offseason, you know, midway through that first year, that's not good. Now, what I will say is those were not huge financial commitments. I think they will have only paid Dotson about $3 million for half the season,

which is not nothing by any means, but these weren't like huge financial swings that they totally whiffed on. And with Baker, I think they at least have a chance to make that situation right with the Ernest Jones trade. But just by and large, when you look at the players they brought in from other teams, I don't know if you could point to a single one of those guys that has really been having a nice impact season. We mentioned the two linebackers.

Lakin Tomlinson, I think for as bad as that offensive line has been, I think for what you're paying him and for what he is at this point of his career, a 32 year old offensive lineman, I think he's sort of been what you could expect at that point. So I would even say that that one notwithstanding, but Farrell Brown hasn't given them a whole lot. Rayshon Jenkins, the safety that they signed after cutting Quandre Diggs,

he's obviously on injured reserve. I don't know if he was playing all that well uh before that and so there you just can't really point to a move that they made jonathan hankins i think it's been okay but you know the run defense obviously has by and large been not very good i think roy robertson harris the trade acquisition i think he's been a good player but um you know unfortunately for them you had to trade for him just because your depth wasn't all that good to begin with. Had Mike McDonald been hired by the time they went through all these offseason additions? Like, did McDonald and Schneider work together in adding players?

Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. So it wasn't just Schneider. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I mean, McDonald was hired, I think, what, end of January after Baltimore season ended, and then these were moves that they made in free agency and obviously the draft. So, yeah, I think these guys worked together on it. And, you know, look, I think that when you – going back to the linebacker decisions, and specifically the one on Dotson,

again, I'm not trying to spin this into a positive because it's clear that they made the wrong decision there I do think though you've got to acknowledge the fact that it takes it takes I don't know I don't know what it takes it you've got to give them I think at least some credit for deciding to cut bait but I think in that situation a lot of teams might be so worried about how bad it looks and worried about, you know, just kind of the PR hit, and they would try to stick with the player to try to make it work. So I suppose you've got to give them at least some credit for being willing to admit mistake and move on. That said, it was a mistake, and I think it was, you know, that inside linebackers,

the two that they signed and moved on from, you know, I think it was you know that that inside linebackers the two that they signed and um moved on from I you know I think it's safe to say that that has hurt them quite a bit over the first half of the season I'm with you on that big time because one of my concerns through the first after the first three games where they got their wins is when things started to you know really pile on and the defense looked awful I was kept saying defensive guru Mike McDonald and I was almost doing it mockingly I'm like where is the guruness like where and the defense looked awful. I kept saying defensive guru Mike McDonald, and I was almost doing it mockingly. I'm like, where is the guruness? Where's the defense here?

He can't be happy with what's going on. So the fact that they made these moves, and like you said, didn't keep Dodson around to be a backup, made the clean cut. I think it was almost more of a message sent than a player personnel move. They wanted to make it known like what's happening isn't acceptable to the point where we're not even keeping you around and i know dodson said after he uh after he left that he was pretty pissed off about the way that it all went down those to me are all good things from the seahawks because the way the season is gone

i don't think you can just sit there and let it play itself out you have to make bold actions and bold decisions yeah and i and i think that, and I think that could be the case, where they felt like they really had to make a statement to the rest of the locker room. And in some ways, maybe Dotson is kind of the sacrificial lamb, so to speak. I remember in the very early stages of the Pete Carroll and John Schneider tenure in 2010, I think they made some of those moves for the same purpose,

cutting Lindale White after trading for him during the draft. I think that was a sign, and that was before the season, but I think that was a sign to everybody that, hey, if you're not with the program, you're not going to be there. And I think trading for Charlie Whitehurst and giving him a press conference despite this guy being a backup. And despite the, at that point, the best quarterback in franchise history and Matt Hasselbeck still being

there. I think that was a sign to everybody and something of a statement that, Hey, no, nobody is on scholarship here. Not even the quarterback. Who's the only one to have taken the Seahawks to a super bowl. So the point is,

I think sometimes do make moves with an eye toward, A, there's just the football, the personnel side of it, but there's also kind of the message that it sends. And I think you're right. I think that could have been something of a message that they wanted to send to the rest of the locker room, that, hey, if you're not getting it done, you're not going to be here. Charlie Whitehurst and Lendale White, both references in the

same hit. We're speaking to Brady Henderson from ESPN, Seahawks insider here on the Alfred and Brough Show on Sportsnet 650. Brady is our NFL insider, brought to you by the Clayton Public House. Pre-game to post-game, the Clayton Public House is your home of football. Catch all the action on 15 screens and two giant projectors. Visit them

online at theclaytonpub.com. Speaking of historical Seahawks references, Brady, let me ask you, do you remember the last time that the Seattle Seahawks beat the San Francisco 49ers? Yeah, I believe that would have been in December of 2021, and that was the game where Jamal Adams, I believe he retore his shoulder labrum. That was a game in Seattle.

Is that correct? You are correct. Seven. So even though they did it, there was bad news in it. Seven straight victories. Yes, exactly. Remember when this used to be a rivalry? It was like Seahawks, 49ers.

49ers have won seven straight against the Seahawks. Six straight. Six straight. They're going for their seven straight. Sorry, my bad. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, and it's crazy. I went and looked up the uh the the you know

just knowing how lopsided that rivalry was in the other way uh yesterday can you believe that it was the seahawks won 17 of 21 so over the the previous uh 10 seasons you know from 2012 to 21 they won 17 to 21 that includes 8 of 12 uh over kyle shanahan's first five seasons as a 49ers head coach so it seems like the 49ers have owned this rivalry forever it's really only been two and a half seasons and for a decade before that it was very much in the other direction and it's just amazing how much it's flipped because san francisco is i mean brock purdy is a new player there but by large that the core of their roster was really there before 2022. So it's hard to really point to, you know, find what is the common denominator.

The 49ers are favored by either six and a half or seven points, depending where you get your lines from. They will host the Seahawks this Sunday. 105 kickoff, our time in one of the games on a very tantalizing afternoon slate in the NFL. Brady, thanks a lot for doing this today, man. We really appreciate it. Enjoy the game this weekend. We will do this again next Friday. Alright, sounds good, fellas. Talk to you then.

Talk to you then. Brady Henderson, ESPN Seahawks Insider here on the Halford & Brough Show on Sportsnet 650. So the Seahawks play this weekend in San Francisco. Return home to play Arizona, another division rival the following week, quick trip to New York to play the Jets, and then they go into Arizona.

So these next four weeks, they got one game against the Niners and two against Arizona. So this is pretty much the season right now. I'm going to be in Arizona for the Seahawks. Oh, you're going to go to that. Yeah. Well, the season might be done then.

I might buy some Cardinals gear and jump on board there. I've been to that stadium. It's kind of cool. All right. Yeah, I'm looking forward to it. Okay. Let's get back to the Vancouver Canucks here because a lot of people are diving in headfirst into the Dunbar Lumber text message in basket following, let's say it, a disastrous 5-2 loss to the New York Islanders last night at Rogers Arena.

A-Dog asked earlier why we thought that this particular game was worse than some of the other blowout losses the Canucks have had at home this season, most specifically the 6-0 losses they had to the New Jersey Devils on Huesapalooza night back in late October. I think we are maybe not focusing on the fact that the Islanders are a

very, very average hockey team. The Canucks made the Islanders look real good last night. Someone sarcastically, I think it was

sarcastic, texted in earlier that we should replay all the negatives that we said about the Islanders yesterday about how they were a mid-team

with a mid-record with mid record with mid players. To that texter, I say, I still kind of stand by that assessment. I think we called them sub mid. Yeah, the record was sub mid, although technically it's NHL 500, which is exactly mid. But the Islanders are not a very good team. I know talk, it was complimentary of them and the head coach, Patrick Wah, but he was taking a bullet for the head coach, Patrick Waugh, but.

Oh, he was taking a bullet for the team there, though. It was a big bullet. When he's saying like, that's on me, you know, all that sort of stuff. I got outcoached. He got outcoached by Patrick Waugh. He's taking a cannonball for the team. And when he says, when he comes out and says, I'm not, don't ask me about individual players, that is protecting his players because, you know. From himself?

Possibly from himself, yeah. It's very obvious what he was doing, and I respect it because he could have easily gone in on the guys yesterday. But there's a lot of different angles to that. One is I don't know if you want to play or you want to shoot that bullet out of the chamber this early in the season. Jim Montgomery tried it in Boston. Not going great for him right now.

His team lacks heart. I'm telling you. Okay. I'm not, we're not doing this. Hey, everything you said in terms of the fact that they have this lack of response leads to that. So I pointed to specific. That's what that is.

It's the same thing. You don't know what it is. All you can do is point to what happened and present it as factually as possible without inferring anything and then let people decide why those instances happened. I'm going to be really curious to see what happens. Bad attitudes too, Skip. I'm going to be really curious to see what happens at practice today for a number of reasons. It's not going to be fun.

Yeah. yeah, I want to see how hard Tockett skates them, but I also want to see if there are any changes to the line combinations and defensive pairs. Harmon Dial noted in his piece for The Athletic that the Canucks did actually switch the defensive pairs, and they had, I think, Soucy with Hronik and Hughes with Myers for a bit down the stretch. I think I'd stopped watching at that point closely. And at the end of the game, you're like, eh, whatever.

DT made reference of it when it was very obvious that it wasn't just like a mix-up between, because they were coming off the kill and going to even strengthening. He's like, this isn't just a jumble. Like they're consciously changing up the pairings. That goal that the Islanders scored when Horvath went coast to coast and eventually dished it to Anders Lee for a goal was dreadful defending from both Hughes and Hronik.

Hughes played Horvat so softly and to use Talkett's words, I guess, lightly on the entry. I mean, Horvat just went right around him and Hughes was not skating hard. Yeah. And then goes around Hughes and then I don't know what Hronik was trying to do. I guess he was trying to stop the pass, but he didn't come close to doing it. And in trying to stop the pass, he left Anders

Lee wide open and JT Miller was coasting on the back check. If I was a coach and I really wanted to tear into my players and some of my top players too, that would be the goal. I'd be like, that's what you guys are giving? You're down 3-1, only two goals in the third period. You can get two goals, and that's the way you defend? Yeah. That was bad, man.

That was bad. Mike from Thunder Bay with an Ask Us Anything. Thunder Bay. And be sure to text in to the Dunbar Lumber text line with your Ask Us Anythings today, 650-650. The Bridge Street, Dunbar Lumber, and Ladner has moved to Progress Way in Tilbury's Industrial Park. More room, more product, more awesome details at DunbarLumber.com. Mike asks, last year when Susie was good, was he mainly paired with Myers or Cole?

Hoping the team gets it set right soon. I mean, Susie played way more last season with Tyler Myers than Ian Cole. If you want the exact numbers from Natural Statric, 383 minutes with Myers and just 95 minutes with Ian Cole. That pairing was together for most of the time that Susie was healthy. Um, that pairing is just not working right now.

And they're asking a lot of them to be a second pair in the NHL and to be the guys out there penalty killing. Like that's asking a lot of those guys. And right now things are not looking good at all. And I think Susie is the most concerning one because he was kind of like last season, you know, we watched him and it was like, yeah, he's solid. He's solid.

We don't have to worry about Carson Susie. I mean, it's not probably not going to do much offensively, but defensively he's fine. Well, defensively right now he is looking lost, and I don't know. I know how good Hughes and Hronik are together. I realize it. But at some point, you've got to make some changes,

and it can't just be for half a period during a game at the end of a game that's already out of reach. See, I get that the personnel, especially on the blue line, isn't perfect right now. But I do think that there's something else going on. And I'm not talking like nefarious or something unspoken or anything like that. But here's the thing. When Tarkin explains what's gone wrong and what's not happening, he knows exactly what it is.

And is it switching up the pairings? Potentially. But it's also, they have a very clear and defined way of the way they want to play. Laddie, go into Teams and grab me the audio from last night where it's Toc was at a loss for words why guys are playing. It's hilarious that that's a slug because he wasn't at a loss for words at all.

He knew exactly what the problem was. It's a very good breakdown where a coach is frustrated because he knows what the answer is, and he's perplexed as to why the guys aren't doing it. Let's hear it now. This is Rick Talkett from last night's game, talking about some of the things that ailed his team in a 5-2 loss to the New York Islanders.

Yeah, I really, I thought the morning skate was, the game plan was there, and then I just, after the first hit, I'm talking to Foday, why are we playing so light tonight? And we did it against Edmonton, and I don't, I don't know what we're doing at home. Obviously we're 6-0 on the road, or whatever our record is, play a simpler game, stick to the game, I don't know.

But we just have some guys that are just really playing light and we got to correct it very quickly because you know you play like that you could lose six seven eight eight in a row he's very cognizant of what the team has done and has played the style that they need to play to be successful the issue is they've gotten so far away from it in some of these games that it almost doesn't look like the same team that we've seen this year. And I do wonder when it comes to coaching

and if your message is being lost or it's not being received, then it comes down to how am I going to have the guys respond to that? Because that's where you get into, you don't want to listen to me? Okay, watch what happens now. Or I can't explain this to you any further. We're going to have to start hammering this message into you

as opposed to delivering this message to you. Well, does management send a message soon? Possibly. Bill in Poco texts in, Alvin needs to make a move on the blue line. You can't ask for more offense when three out of six defensemen are immobile and can't complete a pass over 10 feet. Off the glass or aerial flip to center is not conducive to offense. Yeah, I do wonder because you know Jim Rutherford

and Patrick Alvin is obviously going to have some similarities to Jim Rutherford. Otherwise he wouldn't be the GM. Um, you know, that Jim Rutherford is not a patient man and he likes to make moves. And, you know, I remember we had Jim Rutherford on when he first got the job and we asked him, why do you make so many trades? And he said, yes, sometimes just teams need the boost. Gotta shake it up.

You gotta shake it up sometimes. What a freaking boost. And I think that's, I think that's accurate. I really do. When, what Token is talking about, if you, if you listen to him and when he's upset about the team, it mainly comes down to guys aren't willing to put their bodies on the line.

You know, playing light. Yeah. Um, not, you know, playing through the other team. That's another thing. It's like, if you're out there dancing around contact, then Rick Tockett is not going to like it because hockey is a hard game. You can't play it on tippy toes out there.

Sometimes you just have to lean on a guy. Sometimes you have to go through him. And sometimes you have to risk getting a stick in the chops or an elbow in the chops, something in the chops to make a play. And it hurts. And that's why he went into this season with a slogan like, embrace the hard because it's not going to get easier.

And JT Miller said it also. We are starting to show a habit of making it really easy for the other team. And that's what the Canucks did to the New York Islanders last night at Rogers Arena in front of a very frustrated 20,000 people who paid a lot of money to be there. They did not

put their bodies on the line. They did not show up. They're going to have a hard practice today and they got two games this weekend against teams they should beat, Chicago and Nashville. Okay, coming up on the Halford & Brough Show on Sportsnet 650, AJ is going to join us for some exciting announcements

about our favorite pizza place and the best pizza place in the world. And then we're going to get right back into this Canucks conversation. We got a lot more to say, and so do you, the listeners. Dunbar Lumber text line is 650-650. Text in with anything you want to get off your chest about yesterday's game. We got another half hour to talk about it all. You're listening to the Halford & Brough Show on Sportsnet, 650.