Halford & Brough in the Morning - The Canucks Goalie Conundrum

Episode Date: November 7, 2024

In hour one, Mike & Jason look back at the previous day in sports (3:00), they set up tonight's Canucks road matchup at LA (6:00), plus the boys preview Week 10 with NFL.com's Nick Shook (27:44). 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.

Da-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na- And it's Alex Ovechkin on a feed from behind the net. Hannafin score. Two goals for Noah Hannafin. He always busted my balls because I never won a playoff game. Now I won two. So, you know, so probably he's stuck. You're breaking my balls. I said you're breaking my balls, Mr. Thompson. My balls.

Good morning. Thank you. 601 on a Thursday. Happy Thursday, everybody. It is Alfred. It is Brough. It is Sportsnet 650. My ball. Ethan, good morning to you as well. Halford and Brougham for 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 Northstar Metal Recycling. Vancouver's premier metal recycler pays the highest prices on scrap metal. Northstar Metal Recycling, they recycle, you get paid. Visit them at 1170 Powell Street in Vancouver. We are coming to you live from the Kintec studio.

Kintec Canada's favorite orthotics provider, powered by thousands of five-star Google reviews. So, Rafit, what are you waiting for? Kintec, got a big show today. Halford & Brough on Sportsnet 650. Guest list begins at 6.30. Nick Schuch, our good buddy from NFL.com, is going to join us. Good Thursday night or tonight.

AFC North battle between the Ravens and the Bengals. We'll talk to Nick about that. We'll look ahead to the weekend's games as well. No Seahawks to preview this weekend. They're on a bye. But there's lots of other good football games. Need a weekend away from the Seahawks. Don't need to deal with it this weekend. We'll talk to Nick Shook about all that at 6.30.

7 o'clock, Adnan Virk from MLB Network. MLB News still very much in the forefront because of all the potential free agents. Yeah, the Rays are going

to sign Juan Soto. That's so funny to me that he took a tour. What's there to tour? He knows he's not going to sign there. We know he's not going to sign there.

Here's our stadium. It doesn't work anymore. It sucked before. It's now an open-air stadium. Adnan Virg's going to join us at 7. We'll also talk hockey because he is the host of Amazon's Monday Night NHL coverage. And this past Monday, he covered the Connor McDavid-Less Edmonton Oilers. Now, McDavid returned last night.

Of course, the Canucks will play the Oilers on Saturday. So we'll talk to Adnan about that at 7 o'clock. 7.30, you heard him in the intro, Vanni Sartini, manager of your Vancouver Whitecaps. So it's a big 48 hours in the Vancouver versus LA rivalry, Jason, because tonight, the Canucks

are playing the Kings in Los Angeles, and tomorrow night, the Whitecaps are playing LAFC, also in Los Angeles. Beat tomorrow night the Whitecaps are playing LAFC also in Los Angeles. Beat LA. Just destroy LA. Beat LA. Both fronts. Feel like we're in Boston here. Beat LA. We'll talk to Vanny at 7.30 about

the task at hand there. 8 o'clock, Thomas Drance, the Drancer from the Athletic Vancouver and Canucks talk as mentioned. Canucks are in action tonight, 7.30. Note the start time. Another late one for your Vancouver Canucks. They'll be in LA at Crypto.com to take on start time. Another late one for your Vancouver Canucks. They'll be in LA at crypto.com

to take on the Kings. We'll talk to Drance about that. Day four of five of the $100 gift card to Mucho Burrito Giveaway. It's a contest. At 8.15,

you need to be caller numero ocho. Number eight. The number 604-280-0650. That number again. 604-280-0650. That number again. 604-280-0650. Where's my burrito? Where's my burrito? You'll find out

at 815. It could be yours. It could be in your pocket. $100 gift card to Mucho Burrito Up for Grabs. It's a good sports night. Finally. Very good sports night. Thursday night football. Ravens-Bengals. Canucks-Kings. One of 12 NHL games on the slate tonight. So we got a lot to get into. 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? 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. The Vancouver Canucks, well, they got back to practice yesterday, and it was a sight for sore eyes for the Vancouver Canucks because goalie Thatcher Demko participated in practice with teammates for the first time this season.

He took part in some drills, albeit in a limited fashion, along with Kevin Lankanen and Artur Silovs. As mentioned, participation limited, but participation nonetheless. He also left the ice before practice was finished, so he didn't have to address any of the media.

So the timeline now for Demko still up in the air. No one's sure when he's going to come back, but I think for the first time in a long time, we have seen a pretty clear progression in terms of taking steps forward. On Saturday, he took some shots from Dakota Joshua after the morning skate in San Jose. Tuesday, took some more shots from a healthy scratch, Noah Juleson, and skills coach Jason Krog.

And then yesterday, the biggest step of all, returning to practice, albeit in a limited fashion. Talk, it said, of Demko's session. Look, it's part of the plan, and we're just going to stick with it. No timeline on Demko still, and with Kevin Lankanen playing the way he's playing, and with the Canucks getting a few wins in the last little while, there doesn't seem to be a lot of pressure on getting Thatcher Demko back in net right now.

Dakota Joshua was, I thought, curiously not at practice yesterday. And Tuckett said, look, there's been no setback for him. But then he said, we're taking a cautious approach with him, which I thought was just odd. Like, why was he not at practice? Why didn't he practice? Like, why not? Like, he's trying to get back into,

into game shape. Um, what, what happened there? I mean, we don't know. I'm not asking you to come up with a question. You don't know.

It was just, I have no answers. I just thought it was, he didn't skate. I just thought it was curious. Yeah. You know, um,

hopefully everything's going okay with his recovery. But, uh, yeah, I, I thought that was weird. Cause I thought he'd be like itching to get back into the lineup the only thing i thought the canucks would be like all right let's get let's get you going he was he's been out skating with the canucks a lot as an extra but

he's been at all the practices and uh you know this is a bit of it's a bit odd and new for all of us because this isn't you know a knee injury or ankle injuries the only thing i thought of when i heard it was that when talk it said quote we're taking a cautious approach i do wonder if the sort of new look health and medical approach that the team is taking on all fronts remember we saw jt miller not participate in any of the preseason except for one game because he was, quote-unquote, dealing with something. Yeah. And here's the thing.

I mean, could just be cautious. Maybe he's tired. I don't know. Thatcher Demko, they are obviously playing a long game with his return. And I think with Joshua, the other part of it, too, is when you look at the current forward group, you'd say, we're not in any huge rush to get him back in. If the strength of the team right now is the forward group,

maybe if it's I'm not feeling great or I might have strained something or a little tweak or something like that, why rush it? Why take the rush? I'm just saying, like, hopefully everything's going okay with his recovery. Derek Forbort, man, it's a tough time for him. Um, he's out for a few weeks with an injury that was suffered in practice. Of course he had a personal leave, uh, because his father passed away.

So it sounds like he could be out for a little while, a few weeks, maybe up to a, up to a month. So, um, you know, Eric Branstrom is going to keep playing and he's been good for the Vancouver Canucks, but I do feel badly for Derek Forbort. Other talk of things from his scrum yesterday after practice, said he liked how the Canucks were more connected against the Ducks

and he said he's been going over some video and, I don't know, yelling at guys, telling them to be more connected. Now, tonight's game is obviously going to be a tougher test than what the Anaheim Ducks gave us. And I'm still thinking about the Ducks. I don't know if that's what they're going to give on a nightly basis. Maybe they just had a really bad game. But, you know, I don't know.

That team just looked in disarray. Um, he also talked about Lankanen playing a lot, and this is something that I've been thinking about because Kevin Lankanen has never been in this position really in the NHL, unless I'm mistaken there where he's playing pretty much every game because the starter is hurt, and the backup right now, Shelovs, is not playing well. And there haven't been back-to-back games for the Canucks. The schedule has not rewarded them, but it's been good for them in that way. Some back-to-backs are coming up in mid-November, but for now, Lankanen can play pretty much as much as he wants.

And he was asked about, Tauket was asked about how that has been for him, I imagine, both physically and mentally. Yeah, here's the audio from Rick Tauket speaking about his new starting goalie. Tauket also lets it slip to Lankanen, will be starting tonight as well. For you poolies out there, fantasy poolies,

here, Rick Tauket from yesterday's practice in Los Angeles. I think that's what he is. He's staying in the moment. He's not even, you know, he doesn't even think we're playing Saturday night. He's just, you know, obviously he's going to play tomorrow. And that's all he's thinking about. And he's thinking about his practice with Marco at 12.30 today.

The goalie, the drills he has is like, you know, I talked to him. Like, he doesn't think too far ahead. And talk about staying in the moment. He is staying in the moment. And I think that's the best way for any player, but even for him. It's got to be a challenge for him. But right now

he's feeling it. And he hasn't lost in regulation yet, so let's keep going and get a win tonight. Dude is playing until he either suffers an injury or starts playing poorly. Can you imagine? No, no, no. But that's the risk right now. I think overplaying him is partly, if you ask the organization,

or overworking him is why they're in this situation with Thatcher Demko. Sure. To a certain degree. To a certain degree. Some of it was bad luck. Some of it was rushing them back for the playoffs. But it really does sound like that was one of the major disagreements that the management had with the goalie coach, Ian Clark,

who is no longer the goalie coach and probably not long for the organization. So the Canucks don't want to do anything that's going to risk Kevin Lankanen wearing out. And I think that was what IMAC was getting. I think it was IMAC who asked him the question. Sure. It's a fair question. He's like, hey, you know, you got this injury situation

with Thatcher Demko. You've got no real great backup right now. So maybe don't run the guy that's playing really well into the ground. And put it that way. He should have. That would have been funny. Yeah, but then you have to play the not great backup. It's true.

Once in a while, man. That's the conundrum. That's the conundrum. Yeah. No, no, no. Absolutely. That's the conundrum. And the Canucks have two games coming up where these are going to be tests

where they don't really want to put Seeloffs in there. The Kings tonight and then the Oilers with Connor McDavid back sooner than expected on Saturday in Vancouver where everyone's going to be looking forward to that game. And I don't think that's going to be a game where their talk is going to be like, all right, let's go with Seeloffs. Artie, you're up't think that's going to be a game where their talk is going to be like, all right, let's go with Seelovs. Artie, you're up.

I know you didn't expect this. I got a hunch. It is 9-0 Oilers. This was tough. The hunch didn't go the way I thought it was going to. Hindsight being 20-20, he should have played Seelovs against the Ducks. He could have played Latty against the Ducks, and it would have been fine. It would have been close.

Yeah, but you would have been okay. I like your have been close. Yeah. But you know, you would have been okay. I, I, I like your reverse VH or regular VH, whichever one you play. I'm not sure, but, but you know,

it's, it is, it we're not cause for concern time yet because Lincoln has been great. Talk. It said his mental approach is perfect for what they're doing. It's only eight games. Lankanen has played a career high of 37 in a single season. That was back in his rookie year with Chicago.

So, I mean, that's not a huge workload, but it's not an insignificant one. He was honing in on 40 games, which is basically half an NHL season. So, if you want to go from a historical context, you're not at any point of being concerned yet. The only reason that our, you know, antenna,

collective antennae are up or whatever is because of demko because we saw what happens when a guy now here's the thing is carrying a huge workload in terms of minutes played but also i think part of it was the way that demko pushed himself in practice or was pushed or was pushed however you want to frame it so there's a couple different ways that you can get guys rest and a couple different ways that you can get guys ready for games so that's the Canucks story um hold on hold on hold on before we move along I did want to do for the second consecutive day in a row I wanted to talk about Kiefer Sherwood and I want to play the audio from Rick talking when are you getting a Kiefer Sherwood jersey I don't know like I might

get one I can't no you can't because you've got your stupid rule. His stupid rule. It's not a stupid rule. It is a stupid rule. It was a stupid rule. You're talking about the past tense. It's a stupid rule right now. Should we explain this for people that might not know what we're talking about? It was a fine rule when you were like 30, but you're like 100 now. So Halford's got this rule where he won't wear the name of a player on his back,

whether it's a jersey or a jersey who is younger than him. That's right. So any player. So any player in the NHL right now. It has to be a retired player now. Or a dead one. This was fine I think. When you're 25 you don't really want to be like It's always weird. There's no time

this isn't weird. No, no, no. I think I didn't think it was weird. I kind of felt the same way. Like when you're 25, you're like, I don't want to. This guy was in grade four when I was in grade eight. But now, you know, like it's a ridiculous rule because it limits you and all you can do is wear a throwback jersey. How can we even use a Sherwood stick?

No, can't do it. Can't do it. Really regimented, yeah. Anyway. Anyway. You still love Kiefer Sherwood and so does this market. I was actually wondering the next time I'm really regimented, yeah. Anyway. Anyway. You still love Kiefer Sherwood, and so does this market. I was actually wondering, the next time I'm at Rogers Arena, are we going to start seeing Sherwood jerseys around?

He has become real quickly a fan favorite in Vancouver, and for good reason. I wasn't expecting him to have so much offensive pop. I just thought he'd run around hitting guys. Good point. But he can score goals, too. I'm glad you brought it up. Also, there's a nod to the teams that sort of passed him over,

passed him by, or in the case of Nashville, just let him walk. And I want to bring that up because we'll talk about Nashville later in the show when we do our NHL wraparound because Nashville's in a bad way and it's hilarious that Barry Trotz is already talking about a rebuild. I'm like, dude, it's October or November 7th. Like, you just built this team. Anyway, Talk It was asked about Sherwood yesterday, including a question from IMAC about that history that Sherwood's had

bouncing around the NHL. Talk It on Kiefer Sherwood from yesterday's practice. Well, I got to give credit to the staff, our pro scouting staff. Obviously, Patrick and you know they identified you know what we you know what I like which is great but also what they like and they they try to go find those players I mean obviously he's uh you know he's been he's been a bright spot with our team because he just adds that juice even when our team's a little quiet he's chirping on the bench he's getting he's getting people that usually don't talk much on the bench talking.

So it's contagious. And, yeah, and obviously, you know, I talked to him this summer three or four times, and he said, you know, he had some offensive game to him. You know, and you can see that he hasn't. Does he have a certain drive that maybe he's got because it hasn't been easy for him? You know, undrafted, a bunch of different teams, three waivers, three agents. He's got a chip on his shoulder.

He's kind of like Garz. You know, they got that every day, prove everybody wrong. And I think if you have that chip on your shoulder, you know, that chip, it makes you not comfortable. He doesn't want to be comfortable. And I like that.

Well, I like him a lot too, Rick. I think that, and we've talked about this a lot, filling out those bottom six forward roles with guys on affordable contracts. But it's finding diamonds in the rough. Hey, Doug, how old do you think Kiefer Sherwood is? Sorry, I was cutting audio. How old do you think Kiefer Sherwood is?

26? He's 29. How many NHL old do you think Kiefer Sherwood is? 26. He's 29. How many NHL teams do you think he's been on? Five. Okay, well, now you're just getting exaggerated. What is it? This is his fourth NHL. I was close.

This is his fourth NHL organization. One number away. Okay, but my point is that he is kind of playing like he's a 23-year-old being given his first opportunity in the NHL, which is a great thing for the team that acquires him and gives him a shot. Yeah. Because it can go one of two ways.

It can be like, okay, well, like, you know, I got it. He's really been on a lot of, like, one-year, two-way deals. Like, he's been up and down as recently as 2023. So last year, he was still playing American League games. He's a point per game player in the American League. He's got offensive flair to him. It can go one of two ways. It was a nice goal he scored the other day.

Nice pass from Brandstrom to just put it right into that slot where he can hammer it. But he did hammer it and he got up the ice really quickly. Yeah, and it's good to find guys that, I mean, at 29, that still have that hunger and the guys that still want to be... Chip on his shoulder. He's like Garz. But that's not... Yeah, I mean, it's funny because

Garland's in a different stratosphere, especially financially and his established NHL role, but he still does play like a guy that has probably been passed over a number of times in his youth and professional career because of his size. It's funny about perceptions that you get of these players, though.

Like I mentioned, his AHL numbers, he scored at half a goal per game clip. He was scoring one goal every other game in the AHL. Yeah. Like that's a pretty bonafide scorer right there. It definitely sounds like the evolution for him was, I'm going to go somewhere this offseason where I'm going to be maybe not just appreciated a little bit more, but given more opportunity than what he had in Nashville.

If he had re-signed in Nashville, where are you going to play with all the wingers that they've got now? We got a text into the Dunbar Lumber text line. Just a reminder, Dunbar Lumber text line, 650-650. The Bridge Street, Dunbar Lumber, and Ladner has moved to Progress Way in Tilbury's Industrial Park. Everyone must know this by now. But if you don't, more room, more product, more awesome.

Details at DunbarLumber.com. Questioning, which NHL team has been the biggest surprise so far this season? Well, I think both teams from a good and a bad perspective met last night when the Washington Capitals defeated the Nashville Predators 3-2. The Caps are now 9-3-0 and might be legitimately good. Now, if you look at their shooting percentage in PDO, yes, it's high. They've got the highest five-on-five shooting percentage in the NHL, so maybe there's a bit of regression coming.

But if you look at their expected goals in terms of a percentage, they're third in the NHL at five-on-five. So they are playing some good hockey. In fact, the top four teams, if you go to natural stat trick, Carolina, which is crazy, they're at like 64%. LA, who the Canucks are going to face tonight, then it's Washington, then it's Vancouver, then it's Edmonton. So those numbers aren't everything,

but they do paint a pretty good picture of what's happening at five on five in terms of expected goals. So it doesn't take into account shooting percentage or goaltending or special teams. But for the most part, the teams that are at the top of this list are usually pretty good teams in the NHL. The Caps might be for real. It's not just, you know, I know people look at the Caps and they're like, oh, it's the OV story. This Connor McMichael kid is pretty good.

Is he even a kid still? He's been around for a while, but he's a good player. He's kid adjacent. Let's put it that way. Yeah, yeah, yeah. He's a Connor, right? So he's. He's got to be young.

I mean, you might have to bring him in. A Connor Mc, no less. You might have to bring him into the Connor group with McDavid and Bedard and Garland has forced his way into the Connor group and now maybe there's a Connor McMichael. They're a really funny team because they've got a bunch of very sort of unheralded players. Alexei Protis, every time I watch

one of their games, he's doing stuff. They're doing this with a goaltending tandem of Charlie Lindgren and Logan Thompson. I'll also add to what you were talking about, the hot start to the season. They have played a lot of games at home, and they've been virtually unbeatable at home. That win against Nashville last night was their seventh straight win on home ice. So you look at them and you're saying, is there a regression coming? Maybe.

But at the same time, you win nine of your first 12. You've taken advantage of a soft schedule to start the season, and you've taken advantage of this really high shooting percentage because you played a lot enough defensively to win the games. Also, Ovi scored again last night. Yeah, up to eight goals, tied with Connor McMichael, eight goals. Nashville lost again, and they are now 4-8-1. And I want to play some Barry Trotz audio.

He's, of course, the GM there now. And he's the guy that went out and made all these moves, letting Kiefer Sherwood go so that he could sign Jonathan Marcheseau and Stephen Stamkos. And I guess he was on Nashville radio. And was it radio or was it podcast? 102.5 The Game. The Game. The Game in Nashville.

Where we talk Preds. This is Barry Trotz. Yeah. Where we talk Preds. This is Barry Trotz. Mostly Pikes. Yeah. Where we talk Preds for three minutes a week. This is Barry Trotz talking about what he might do if things don't improve soon. We will be limited a little bit because some of the contracts that we do have, you know, if we don't get it going,

then I'm going to start our rebuild plan a little bit. You know, what we did in the summer was, as I say, fantasy hockey until we become a good team. If we do not become a good team, then, you know, we're going to see a lot more of our kids start, you know, starting their process. What do you think Stephen Stamkos is thinking? He went to the Preds.

Jonathan Marcheseau goes from Vegas. They're like 12 games into the season and their GM's like, we might rebuild. What? There's a lot to unpack here.

That's just throughout the work, too. Isn't it? Well, he said he... Playing the kids is one thing. The call goes on that he said he's already

been reaching out and making calls across the league. Remember last year. Everyone remembers what happened last year, right? The Preds were just middling along, not playing very well, and then Trotz and the head coach, Andrew Burnett, in conjunction made the bold move to take away their trip to Vegas

to go see U2 at the Sphere. And it jolted this team. It led them to, I think they went unbeaten in 16. They went 14-0-2, if I'm not mistaken. Get these guys some Taylor Swift tickets. No, yes, and then take them away. And then take them away. You might be onto something.

Trotz, this is a dangerous game that he's playing because sometimes when those things happen it's not necessarily that you you know sort of came with the whip and gave them the lashings it's that you caught lightning in a bottle everything clicked and everything happened and one didn't necessarily cause the other like you can't keep going back to the well on this publicly announcing on november 6th that you might start your rebuild plan like you can't keep going back to the well on this publicly announcing on november 6th that you might start your rebuild plan like you've got it in a glass box somewhere that says break in case of emergency it's a hollow threat because what are you gonna do you just signed stamkos

marcia so and brady shea for tens of millions of dollars. Yeah. You can't just scrap that. They're like, no, we have our money, we have our contracts, and we all have various no-movement clauses. So if you're going to do a rebuild plan, what are you going to move? Ryan O'Reilly? The Preds are in action tonight against the Florida Panthers. We didn't have time to get into the Oilers' 4-2 loss to the Vegas Golden Knights, but we will do that later in the show.

Not a good night for Evan Bouchard, who was so much better than Quinn Hughes, apparently, according to Edmonton. Nick Shook is going to join us next. We'll talk a little NFL, and then maybe we'll talk about those Edmonton Oilers, who we'll see here in Vancouver

against the Canucks on Saturday. You're listening to the Halford & Brough Show on Sportsnet 650. Canucks Talk with Jamie Dodd and Thomas Drance. We'll dive deep into all that's happening with the Vancouver Canucks. Listen 12 to 2 p.m. on Sportsnet 650 or wherever you get your podcasts. 6.32 on a Thursday. Happy Thursday, everybody. You are listening to the Halford & Brough Show on Sportsnet 650. 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. We are in hour one of the program. Hour one is brought to you by Northstar Metal Recycling. Vancouver's premier metal recycler pays the highest prices on scrap metal. Northstar Metal Recycling, they recycle, you get paid. Visit them at 1170 Powell Street in Vancouver. Do you know what the word avulsion means? E-V-U-L? A-V-U-L. Uh. Avulsion. You know what? I don't.

No? Dak Prescott does, because he's dealing with a partial avulsion of his right hamstring. I hate that. Which means part of the tendon has pulled away from the bone. Gross. Sounds painful. Failure of bone in which a bone fragment is pulled away from its main body part by soft

tissue that is attached to it. That's an avulsion. I was not aware of that. Dax got that. He might be out longer than a month. That's not good. And if he's out for longer than a month, he might just be out for the season. For more on avulsions and the National Football League, Nick Shook from NFL.com

joins us now on the Halford & Brough Show on Sportsnet 650. Good morning, Nick. How are you? I'm good. I don't claim to be a Twitter doctor,

nor do I know the ins and outs of injuries, but this sounds kind of gross, guys. It's not good. It's not good. Jack Prescott is out with a gross injury.

Yeah, and it wasn't good before he got hurt. Let's just make this abundantly clear. It was not good before he got wasn't. Dak Prescott is out with a gross injury. Yeah, and it wasn't good before he got hurt. That's what his talker said, too. Let's just make this abundantly clear. It was not good before he got hurt. And C.D. Lamb. Real simple question. Just how screwed are the Cowboys?

Oh, they're in a tough spot. They lack talent offensively. They have a losing record right now. Two teams in their division are hot. Two of the hottest teams in the NFC being Washington and Philadelphia. They're in a very rough spot. I don't see it turning around for them. I think it's no matter what they did at the deadline, getting Jonathan Mingo and giving up a fourth for him, by the way.

It's crazy. It's not a good situation for them. Thursday night football tonight, Ravens, Bengals. I got a question a little bit off the board for you. What's your favorite team to watch right now in the national football league because for me there's a lot of them to choose from detroit philly mentioned a couple of them uh i guess the chiefs because they always win but for me it's the ravens because on offense they're so much fun to watch and it just feels like they can do pretty much whatever

they want at times including blow games that they should win so for me it's the ravens but for you nick shook who's your favorite team to watch right now, just from an entertainment standpoint? They're probably among the handful that I really enjoy. We can eliminate the entire AFC South. Unfortunately, Houston can't protect their quarterback well enough to make it worthwhile. I would say probably Detroit and Baltimore.

They have two of the most explosive offenses in the NFL. It's kind of fun to watch the Vikings, too, when everything's looking for them. And the Eagles are starting to really roll in the last few weeks. They look like the Eagles of a couple years ago. And when they have A.J. Brown and Devontae Smith both healthy and obviously Saquon Barkley rolling, that's also a very fun team to watch because they've got talent on both sides of the ball. It's funny that both you and I failed to put the Kansas City Chiefs in that list

because they're 8-0, and the games are entertaining in that a lot of them are close and come down to the wire, including Monday Night Football that they won in overtime. I know that you watched Monday Night Football, and you wrote about that one for NFL.com. The Chiefs moved to 8-0. What did you learn about the Chiefs? Anything new in that win over the Bucs?

That this style that they have this season is here to stay and is they could build on it. It is a foundation. They could become more explosive with DeAndre Hopkins. You saw it kind of in spurts there in that Monday night game. But what I really learned more than anything is that yeah, it's not going to be pretty, I guess, necessarily offensively with this team, but Patrick Mahomes is having a fantastic year. I know the numbers don't suggest, I know it took him a while to get over the one-to-one ratio and touchdown interception. I don't care. I get hate for this every week because I put

Mahomes in the top three of the QB index and I don't care. Because if you watch the play-by-play situations with them, the way that he has found ways to move the football on third down with improvisation and things out of structure. It's not pretty at times, most times, but he's done it so consistently over the entire season. He's a massive reason, obviously, why they're undefeated, but also why this type of offense can work. They've been a grinded out offense without a super reliable running game.

Kareem Hunt's been up and down. He's had a nice couple of nights, but for the most part, this has been Mahomes, a methodical offense because of a quarterback like Mahomes who can still catch you by surprise with a deep shot at any time. So I have a ton of respect for the way he's been able to adapt within this offense. Obviously, Andy Reid is a masterful play caller and everything else,

and I give a lot of credit to Travis Kelsey for just keeping know, just keeping the faith and kind of riding this out as he's, as Mahomes has been forced to rely on other players, other tight ends. I think we're going to see them hit their full form at the perfect time. And everybody's going to sit back and say, Oh, we should have seen that coming other than the fact that there ain't no, I still feel like people don't pay a lot of attention to them. One more from that Monday night game. What did you make of the decision from Todd Bowles and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers

not to go for two at the end of regulation, or sorry, with 27 seconds left in regulation, instead tying up the game and then risking kicking it back to Patrick Mahomes and the Kansas City Chiefs? I just feel like, and we operate with the benefit of hindsight here, right? But even in the moment,

I felt like, what do you have to lose? Like, you're going to give them Like, you're going to give them, first, you're going to give Patrick Mahomes roughly 22 to 25 seconds to go down the field. I know this offense is not the vertical offense it was a few years ago, so maybe you feel a little bit better about that, but I also just watched this defense get slowly

picked apart and kind of strangled to death like a bow constrictor. That's essentially what the Chiefs offense is, is a bow constrictor offense. They just slowly squeeze you to death. And I watched your defense have that happen to them twice in that second half. It's raining. You're right here. You have an opportunity to take a one-point lead and put all the pressure on them. Or you lose. Why not go for it? So I thought it was, and he's not the only coach that has made that decision, that situation for most of this year. But I thought if there ever were a time to beat the Chiefs on the road,

it had to be right then and not in overtime. Well, the Buccaneers host the 49ers on Sunday. The 49ers are 4-4, and the Buccaneers, the Cowards, are now 4-5. The Niners are six-point favorites in this one. There's been some talk, because we are Seahawks fans, maybe Arizona can win the NFC West. But do you still expect San Francisco to get it done, or do you think there are some fundamental issues with that team right now?

Yeah, you know, I think a lot of this is going to rely on Christian McCaffrey and whether he can come back and perform. I think, you know, as much as D'Evo Samuel, in my opinion, has been the key that unlocks their offense, he can't stay healthy. I mean, he's been off the field three times this year already. He lost Brandon Ayuk. Brock Purdy statistically has done well. He's been a little inconsistent at times,

especially against the better opponents that they've faced. Having said all of that, I still feel like the pedigree of the 49ers plus the talent that's still assembled on that team is going to be enough to get them in the conversation. I don't chalk up this division to the Niners as a whole right now. There's way

too much football to play. The Seahawks have proven to have an explosive offense. At times, I can keep up with most anybody as long as Geno isn't throwing a pick in the end zone throwing a pick in the end zone or another pick in the end zone or another pick along the goal line, situations like that. They're a good football team, too. They're just a little inconsistent as well.

Arizona is like the wild card to me, and the Rams. Don't forget about the Rams, either. They're half a game back of the Cardinals. This entire division is wide open, but Arizona is the wild card because if James Conner doesn't run the ball well, they're not going to win a football game. But if they do have a good running attack and Amari DiMercato gets involved, then suddenly everything opens up.

They beat the Bears handily last weekend, and Kyler Murray didn't really have to do anything in that game. So they're an interesting team that are going to surprise a lot of people. They're fun to watch. I said at the beginning of the year they're going to be fun to watch, but I'm not sure how many games they're going to win. Well, right now they're 5-4, and they're in a good position to surprise a lot of people. They're fun to watch. I said at the beginning of the year they're going to be fun to watch, but I'm not sure how many games they're going to win. Well, right now they're five and four and they're in a good position to make a playoff run, but it's a division that every game is going to be a battle. It's like, I call it like,

it's like great value brand to make a reference to Walmart or like Kirkland brand to Costco version of what the AFC North was supposed to be and what the NFC North actually is right now. How would you rank the quarterbacks in the NFC West? That's all we got. Geno Smith. Stafford won. Yeah. Stafford won.

Geno and Purdy are really close for two. We'd call it 2A and 2B, and Kyler right behind him. It's a good division in terms of quarterbacks for sure, and Stafford's had a lot of volatility in my quarterback indexes this season so far. But a lot of that had to do with the fact that he had nobody to throw to for about six weeks. And as soon as he got those guys back, he was right back to who he was before, which is nice to see. What are you seeing from Kyler Murray?

Is he showing some improvement this season? I think that Kyler has been – so he hasn't had to play a ton of hero ball. It's, it's really about staying on schedule for him and the Cardinals. And I guess that's true for any football team, just in the most basic sense, but it's really about staying on schedule for the Cardinals. Cause I saw,

I've seen in many situations in the last four to six weeks where they'd get into third and long and he would have nowhere to go. And you knew he had nowhere to go and it would either be hope he scrambles or he's going to throw it away and they're going to punt. They've gotten out of that situation by staying on schedule and relying more on the run in the process. But he hasn't had to make like the spectacular plays that he did

week two and that blowout win over the Rams. And I think that's a good thing because you know that's still in him. He has ripped off a couple of really nice runs of like 45 plus yards for touchdowns. So that element is always there as well. I think he's playing good football. He has ripped off a couple of really nice runs of like 45 plus yards for touchdowns, so that element is always there as well. I think he's playing good football. He's clearly a very solid quarterback. It's just in terms

of production, he's had a few games where he hasn't had to because their running game has worked so well as the defense has gotten them opportunities, but I think he's having a very fine year. Are the Pittsburgh Steelers Super Bowl contenders with Russell Wilson? Doesn't that hurt to ask me that? Yes.

Do you feel that in your heart? Yes. I hope you say no. I was hoping you'd just be like, no. No, I mean, in my heart of hearts, I know that bad Russ is going to show up, okay? Because he hasn't. He did for a half against the jets, right.

And they were able to overcome that and win that game. Um, I just feel like he can't sustain this throughout the entire season without some crushing mistakes. We have such a small sample size right now. We just don't know. Um, he had a stretch like this at the Broncos last year before things kind of fell apart. So I'm still waiting and seeing on that defensively. Absolutely. They could, they have a title-contending defense they have all year, and they just went and got Preston Smith from the Packers

to add another edge rusher to that group right now. They have incredible depth up front, and they're a very good defense. It's just a matter of whether the quarterback can play well enough, and so far he's kind of unlocked this offense and brought it to a new level, so we'll see. If he can sustain it, they got Mike Williams. I mean, they were a productive team at the deadline that realized they had an opportunity in front of them

and they're trying to seize on it. So we'll see if they can do it. The biggest thing that stands in their way is the Baltimore Ravens, I think, and maybe a little bit of Cincinnati Bengals, too. It's just that the Bengals are better than their record suggests, maybe not on the defensive side of the ball, but offensively they are, and it's going to be a division that's going to be tougher to sort out than people realize at this point.

But I think the Steelers are absolutely in the conversation right now. Well, I didn't think the Steelers and the Commanders would be a must-watch game in Week 10, but 6-2 Steelers versus the 7-2 Commanders. One final question for you, and I know you follow this team closely, whether you like it or not. Will Deshaun Watson play another game for the Cleveland Browns? No, I don't think he will.

I think honestly Andrew Berry's press conference while he was intentionally vague yesterday I think that kind of reading between the lines and the tone of it kind of told you everything you need to know. He's basically like I'm not ruling anything out with Deshaun playing again. I am. I'll rule it out.

Financially, physically, and in terms of ability, none of it's there. And there's only two years left in this deal after this season ends. He's not going to play until like the middle of next season because of the Achilles injury. And frankly, I don't know if he ever plays in the NFL again. That's how bad he was this year. And when you're coming off an Achilles injury, you don't usually get many opportunities again unless you're Aaron Rodgers or Kirk Cousins to prove your worth, especially a quarterback whose strengths in the past were mobility and he's not

a super mobile quarterback anymore. Not to mention he's not an accurate quarterback and he's not a quarterback who can sense the rush and actually keep his eyes down field. Instead he just pulls them down and tries to run away. That's all he did this season. So I don't think he'll play a game for the Browns again unless they can't find a way to move that contract,

which they could via trade and save the majority of his cap hit, but they'd have to find a partner to take him. Kind of like a Brock Osweiler to the Cleveland Browns 2017 deal where they got a second-round pick just for taking on Brock Osweiler. Otherwise, though, I don't think he's going to be on this team and we'll see if he's on a team at all in 2025.

Nick, this was great, buddy. Thanks for taking the time to do it as always. Enjoy the game tonight and all the games this weekend. We'll do this again soon. All right, guys. Thanks. Have a good one. Nick Shook from NFL.com here on the Halford & Brough Show on Sportsnet 650. JD and Coquitlam text in. Do you guys agree that Geno and Brock are tied for second best quarterback

in the division? I put Geno as a clear fourth, but I'm admittedly biased. Well, I mean, after the game he just had. I had him fifth. Yeah, right. I'm sure there's a backup in there that could be better than that. But Geno has some great games. I think about the game that he had

earlier in the season in New England where he was just balling. And he throws some really nice balls. But his mistakes are so bad.

And I think that's the issue. But so is his offensive line. There are numbers that you can point to. And not just like these sort of dreamed up, really like niche micro stats or anything, like passing yards per game. He's one of the top guys in the National Football League. He can make a lot of nice throws.

And statistically, he's had four 300 passing yard games already this season. Like those, those aren't easy to come by in an NFL this year, which I don't know if you've noticed this or not, but passing stats and scoring stats are down. Like it's not as prolific in terms of chucking the ball around. So there's that part of it, which is I think why Nick is looking at it from a statistical lean

yeah the 300 yard games can be a little bit um i don't know i mean i think all like three of them what did you say he's got four of them three of them are in losses yeah but he's also got another two where he came close to 300 they're also in loss yeah it's also because the cx can't run the ball yeah i'm just saying like he's statistically the numbers are what they are. I mean, he had 56 pass attempts against Detroit. I hope he got to 300 yards. Yeah, and he had 52 against San Francisco, right? I get it. I get that he's not a perfect quarterback,

and I get that he makes loud mistakes. Not just mistakes, loud mistakes. But ones where, yeah, they're loud, but you're also like, what are you doing? What are you doing? If there's anything that's been solidified this year, it's that he's not going to be a guy that is going to carry this team beyond

a 500 football team. He's the quarterback of a 500 team. Now, other guys in their later stages of their careers, I think Kirk Cousins is one of them, have sort of turned themselves into a guy that you believe that you can win with. And I stress the word believe.

I just don't even think Geno enters that equation. I think the Seahawks are probably going in a different direction of quarterback next season. So we wanted to talk about the Edmonton Oilers who fell to six, seven, and one last night with a 4-2 loss to the Vegas Golden Knights. And if you want to read a scathing column, read Mark Spector on sportsnet.ca because he really took the boots to the Edmonton Oilers.

And defensively, if you watch the Edmonton Oilers last night, I mean, Evan Bouchard, if you want to pick on one guy, he looked like he was just out there for like a public skate. And on Jack Eichel's goal, was that the first goal for Vegas? You know, Bouchard just was skating so slowly through the neutral zone backwards that Eichel was like, yeah, I'm just going to skate by you and then I'm going to take the puck and see you. And then on the winning goal for the Vegas Golden Knights,

and the Oilers went into the third period with a 2-1 lead and Vegas scored three times. On the winning goal with about a minute left in the game, Bouchard just gets caught puck watching in his own end. And of course his man, or the guy that he should have at least known might have been there, gets the puck and scores. And it was pretty dreadful for the Oilers to lose that way at home. They have not done much of anything at home this year. Unfortunately, the Canucks have to play in Vancouver on Saturday against them.

And I would also say, remember their penalty kill and how good it was in the playoffs? It was better than their power play. It was maybe the top reason they went to the Stanley Cup final was how good their penalty kill was. Now it is, I think, at about 60%. One, I thought their penalty kill was the reason they beat the Vancouver Canucks in that series. I know you can point to a billion different things, and that's fine, but I think that their penalty kill over the reason they beat the Vancouver Canucks in that series. I know you can point to a billion different things and that's fine, but I think that their

penalty kill over those seven games was the one consistent and the biggest reason why they beat the Canucks. Right now, the Oilers are sub 60% on the penalty kill through 14 games. To give you an idea of how bad that is, they're the fourth team in NHL history with a sub 60% penalty kill through the first 14 games and that puts them in conversation with some truly like ghastly teams like the canucks of a few years ago the 8384 vancouver canucks not just like the one the travis green one that couldn't kill a penalty worse than that that basically got greener fired. Yep. The 77-78 Minnesota North Stars, if you want to go look them up,

they were a tragic team too. I think the only reason more people aren't panicking is because small sample size and that the Oilers have done it over a large sample size before. We saw it last year. And their underlying numbers in terms of expected goals and all that sort of stuff still looks fine. And they've got Connor McDavid and Dreisaitl. They're still, I think – I'd be shocked, shocked if they missed the playoffs.

But right now, things are not going well for them. And I don't know if it's good or bad for them that they're going to play a pretty hyped-up game Saturday against the Canucks at Rogers Arena. I hope it's bad for them. I'm going to play a pretty hyped up game Saturday against the Canucks at Rogers Arena. I hope it's bad for them. I'm going to tell you what the one thing that so when they made their offseason moves and granted, some of this was before some of my analysis was before St. Louis came in and swooped Holloway and Broberg with the offer sheets was I said, I don't remember a team that went to game seven to the Stanley Cup Finals that kept as much of their roster intact as they did. Then you started to see what happened to the blue line

after they lost Broberg, who's been very good, very good for the Blues before getting hurt, losing Deharnais. And then if the guys that they were relying upon weren't going to step up, suddenly you're like, I can see why this team is in trouble. They couldn't afford...

I think a lot of people liked what they did up front, right? Adding Skinner and adding Arvidsson. Right. I think in hindsight... But when they lost Holloway and had to replace him with Pod Colson, that was a loss for them. By the way, you see Pod Colson's playing with Dreisaitl

and what's-his-face Arvidsson now. That's all mine. Anyway, the forwards I'm not worried about. He's the enforcer on that line. Yeah, he just knocks guys out like crazy. The forwards I wouldn't be super concerned about. But here's the thing. You can't suffer the kind of body blows that they had to their blue line.

Because now they're playing Troy Stetcher and what's-his-name Emberson on a regular basis. A lot of what's-his-faces and what's-his-names out there. You can't have Bouchard regressing to where he's been through 14 games and then expect Darnell Nurse, who is a limited player at this point, and Brett Kulak to do a lot of the heavy lifting. Eckholm's good, for sure, but he's the one that's sort of shouldering all the defensive responsibility on that pair with Bouchard because Bouchard just is playing that poorly. So that, again,

I do, I have no concern's not the right word, because I have no concern for the others whatsoever. I don't care about them. I'd like to see them fail on a regular basis. I am pretty confident that they're going to be fine, because they've proven it, and they've got McDavid, but I would

be, you talk about teams, and we talk about Vancouver all the time needing an upgrade on the blue line. The Oilers are right there putting their hand up saying we also need some help. Stan Bowman is like, I would also like to get in the queue to get some defensive reinforcements because they can't go the full season playing.

I love Troy Stetcher, and I love what he's forged out as an nhl career but he's a spot duty defenseman at this point you can't be playing him with regularity speaking of that spot duty defenseman i noticed yesterday when they were playing the vegas golden knights that ben hutton made his season debut for the vegas golden knights so i did a little digging on it and i was like i wonder if ben Ben was hurt or maybe he was... Nope, just a healthy scratch for the first month of the season. Do you think the Golden Knights

have the best top four in the NHL in terms of defense? Noah Hannafin, Alex Petrangelo, Braden McNabb, and Shea Thedar. It's pretty good, man. It's really good. That's pretty good. I don't like doing this exercise

because it rekindles my hottest of hot takes from the summer where I thought the Vegas Golden Knights were going to fall off so badly that they were going to miss the playoffs. They're going to miss Jonathan Marcheseau so much. That one ain't looking so hot, folks. That one ain't looking so hot. Wait till the injuries hit. The Halbro hot take?

Wait till the injuries hit. He's never hit one. Wait till the injuries hit. Never. Then I'm going to be looking like a champ. That blue line is very good. Very consistent. McNabb and Theodore have been playing together, it feels like, for two decades.

But the team hasn't existed that long, so I know it's not two decades. They looked good. They looked good last night. I watched that game. It was a pretty comprehensive. It was tight. It was a tight game, but pretty comprehensive. You know who else looked really good? It looked good last night. I watched that game. It was a pretty comprehensive. It was tight. It was a tight game, but pretty comprehensive.

You know who else looked really good was Aiden Hill. And I'm starting to see more Aiden Hill love for Team Canada. Binnington. It's going to be Binnington. It's going to be Binnington. Don't even start. You know who else is getting a lot of push right now from back east? Cam Talbot. I've seen it about four or five times now from fairly reputable pundits.

Adjusted numbers have been very good the last few years. Can you really bring Cam Talbot to a tournament like that? No. Unless he's a ticket-buying public member. Can you really? I don't know. But I know it should be Binnington. I do. I know it makes sense.

It's logical. He's probably the best goalie. But I feel like if there's one guy that's going to upset the apple cart in terms of personality or ruin whatever vibes they've got going, I also feel that's Jordan Binnington. Who's the one guy that would either fly off the handle or do

something stupid or say something stupid? He wouldn't do it in an international game. You don't know that. He seems like a hothead. Does he not? Wearing the Team Canada crest, I feel like he would keep himself in check. Also, has he ever

represented Canada at the junior level? At the junior level? Yeah, he played in the World Juniors. I guess it's got to be him. I'm going to have a real hard time cheering for him.

I got to be honest. You dislike him that much? Don't you? It pains me to... Beat the Bruins. I was happy when he did that. It pains me to say positive things about Jordan Binnington, but he is likely the best option.

He just seems like a huge chud, like personality-wise. Like I don't. Not going to get a lot of pushback on that. Yeah, like everything about him. Maybe from Binnington. Yeah. I am not a chud. He just seems like, I mean, I don't know.

Then he asks, what is a chud? Yeah, I don't know. Anyway. And then you just point at him. Yeah. Ed Nenberg is going to join us next on the Halford & Brough Show on Sportsnet 650.