Halford & Brough in the Morning - The Canucks Really Needed That

Episode Date: December 13, 2024

In hour one, Mike & Jason look back at the previous day in sports (3:00), they talk a big Canucks home win over the Panthers (6:00), plus they preview Sunday's Seahawks game versus Green Bay with ESPN's Brady Henderson (26:24). 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.

Whoa, wait a minute. Huh? Hold up. What? Oh, okay. Did we just lose to the f***ing Canucks? You're listening to Halford and Brough. Jennifer Besser shot wide to the net. Rebound in front. He scores. Brock Besser. Brock Besser. We know that they're going to be coming all over us everywhere on the ice.

I thought the D were scrappy, and obviously Langs had a great game. Hey, Soto, want to say thank you to the Yankee fans? No thank you. No thank you. Thank you would have been coming back to us. Anti-Italian discrimination. Ladies and gentlemen, the weekend. Good morning, Vancouver.

6-0-1 on a Friday. Happy Friday, everybody. Sweet, sweet Friday. It is Alfred and his brother at 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. Laddie, good morning to you as from the Kintec Studios in beautiful Fairview Slopes in Vancouver. Jason, good morning. Good morning. Ada, good morning to you.

Good morning. Laddie, good morning to you as well. Hello, hello. Alfred and Bradford in the morning is brought to you by Vancouver Honda, Vancouver's premier destination for Honda customers. They have a friendly, knowledgeable staff that can help with anything you're looking for, sales, financing, service, or parts. We are in hour one of the program. Hour one is brought to you by North Star Metal Recycling. Vancouver's premier metal recycler.

Well, they pay the highest prices on scrap metal. North Star Metal Recycling. They recycle. You get paid. Visit them at 1170 Powell Street in Vancouver. We are coming to you live from the Kintec studio. Kintec, Canada's favorite orthotics provider, powered by thousands of five-star Google reviews.

So, Rafi, what are you waiting for? Kintec, we have a huge show today. We have so many things that we need to do over the next three hours. I'm going to try and break it all down right now. Guest list begins at 6.30. Brady Henderson, ESPN, Seahawks Insider. Huge, huge game Sunday night.

Seahawks, Packers, Sunday night football, Lumenfield, Packers are two-and-a-half-point road favorites. I hope it's a better game than Rams-Niners was last night. So the first primetime game of the week, not great. Second one, hopefully better. It's a chance for the Hawks to stay atop the NFC West with a win because, as Jason mentioned, the Rams and the 49ers played last night. Rams won.

AJ's going to join us at 7. A reminder, $100 gift card today goes to the best what we learned or ask us anything Dunbar Lumber text line is 650 650 get them in now hashtag WWL or AUA put a pizza emoji into your text 705 Kurt Malosky

head coach of the Vancouver Warriors the Vancouver Warriors have their home opener tonight at Rogers Arena they're going to host the hated Rochester Nighthawks tonight Vancouver Warriors. The Vancouver Warriors have their home opener tonight at Rogers Arena. They're going to host the hated Rochester Nighthawks tonight. The Warriors did get their season underway a couple of weeks ago with a loss in Colorado. A reminder, you can get tickets for tonight's game at VancouverWarriors.com. 7.30, Bob the Moj Marjanovic is going to join the program.

8 o'clock, Rick Dollywall is going to join the program. We are giving away another pair of tickets to see Creed and Big Rec next August. A reminder, we're going to be giving away tickets at 8.15 this morning. Caller number five. Five. Phone number 604-280-0650. That number again, Laddie. 604-280-0650.

Call in at 8.15. It's your chance to win a pair of tickets to see Creed and Big Rack next August at Rogers Arena. Where'd you see Laddie? Finally, finally, don't interrupt me when I'm on a roll. I'm on a roll. Why did you throw me into the middle of that? You love Big Rack.

Okay. Boston's favorite Canadian band or Canada's favorite Boston-based band. Finally, Food Bank Friday. It goes today from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. in support of the Greater Vancouver Food Bank. So what you can do is, you used to be able to text a bunch of different emojis,

and they would represent different dollar values. Yeah, yeah. That got too complicated. I mean, it's one banana mug. What could it cost? $10? So we've made it. It got confusing for people, I think.

People were texting peaches and eggplants and carrots and everything else. Bananas. Someone texted in an emoji that cost them $500,000. It was the most expensive vegetable ever. Text the carrot emoji to 30333 to donate. Real simple. So you can either donate $5, $10, or $25 via the carrot emoji. You get to pick your own.

So it makes it a lot easier. We streamline the process. Food Bank Friday and the Greater Vancouver Food Bank, obviously a tremendous, tremendous initiative. We want to support it. We want you to support it all day. It runs from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. today. We'll be reading this throughout the show.

So if you missed any of that information, don't worry. I'll be resetting it a couple times as we are here until 9 a.m. Okay, that is everything that's happening on the program today. I'm not going to repeat any of it. I'm not going to work in reverse. 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 busy. We know how busy your life can be. What happened? You missed 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 reason I had to get through all that stuff so quickly is because we need to talk about your vancouver canucks their best performance at home by a mile last night maybe their best performance of the season kevin lankanen he's blanking gotta be thanking him 27 saves jt miller a pair of assists in his return canucks win four nothing over the panthers at

rogers arena on thursday night i mean just Thursday night. I mean, that was the performance that they needed. That was the exact type of performance that we were talking about because yesterday we set up these next three games and you could feel the tension in the Canucks fan base and we said, listen, there's three pretty good teams coming into Rogers Arena over the next week or so. And it started with the defending Stanley Cup champs from Florida who were playing really good hockey. It's going to continue on Saturday against Boston and then Colorado on Monday.

And we said, look, you can look at this two ways. One, this is an opportunity to get your game back, make a statement. And the other is, if you don't play well, things are going to get dicey. Not only are you going to flirt with falling out of a playoff position, the team is going to be in trouble. And I'm real glad the Canucks chose the former. And it was everyone contributing in some big way or little way.

Unexpected guys like Max Sasson and Mark Friedman playing big roles and contributing. And then you had Brock Besser scoring, JT Miller picking up a couple of points. Everyone was making plays in some sort of way, whether it was offensive, defensive. And of course, you had Kevin Lankanen goal with the defensive and of course you had Kevin Lankanen goal with the shutout but what did Kevin Lankanen say after the game he couldn't say enough about the defense in front of him right like everyone was chipping in in some way big or small yesterday the first period was the Max Sasson show believe it or not if you didn't watch the game the 24 year old rookie was everywhere that guy is fast man he had he had a he had a rate he had a rush up the wing it didn't result in a goal

but i actually texted shorty i was like hey how do you find out how fast these guys are going like because sometimes you hear shorty's got that information i'm like i want to like i want to yeah did someone have the radar gun on max sasson? At any rate, the first goal he's involved in gets an assist, and Carson Soucy scores. The second, Danton Heinen scores. Danton Heinen ended the night as the high man among forwards in ice time, which goes to show you that Danton Heinen had a much-needed good performance, but also that the ice time was so spread to show you that Danton Heinen had a much needed good performance but also that the ice time

was so spread out along the four lines because they all deserved it and it was great that some of the other guys that have been playing a lot got a little rest and some of the guys that hadn't been playing as much got to contribute a lot more. The Canucks are not the fastest team so it's great to see a burner like

Sasson making an impact in the bottom six there's some yannick hansen and tyler mott or mason raymond potential there especially if he sticks on the wing like i i know he was a center in the ahl but you know maybe he's going to be he's going to be that speedy four four checking winger that we've seen in the past in vancouver speaking of making an impact how about the pairing of Friedman and Forbort? The double F pairing. I know a lot of people were upset that Brandstrom got scratched again, but those two were a good pair last night.

Friedman is a tough dude. He took a puck to the face the other day. He was laying the body. And Forbort, he made a really nice pass up to Bluger to get the rush going on Heinen's goal. Forbert has been a bit of a forgotten man on the Canucks this season just because he's missed so much time, personal reasons, injury reasons. But he is more than capable of holding down a third pair of role

so long as he can stay healthy, which was an issue in Boston. But when he came back from his injuries with Boston, like the Bruins players could not say enough about him. That was just his fifth game of the season yesterday. He's been the forgotten man, the forgotten man of Derek Forboard. That's a good way of putting it, because you kind of, you never get a true sense of what the team looks like until everybody's there. And they're still not at 100% full strength.

Of course, Hronik's still out of the lineup. But to get him back, and he played almost 20 minutes last night. He's a journeyman like Ian Cole was. Yeah, that's a good way of putting it. Do you know what I mean? That's a good comp. Like, he's a good, he's a third pair guy who's more often than not going to get the job done.

He's not really a wild card. Yeah. And I thought he played that way last night. The Canucks made it 3-0 in the second on a goal by Brock Besser, who was playing in his 500th NHL game. Lots to like on that goal. It started with a big hit

by Friedman that got the puck to Quinn Hughes, who skated around and around and around and around and eventually up the ice and dished it to JT Miller, who slipped it to Besser in the middle of the ice. Besser shot, missed the net, but he was able to grab the bounce off the end boards and put it behind Bobrowski.

Now, that was probably the end of the game, but just in case, the Canucks got one more with just about seven minutes left in the third when Jake DeBrusque, front of the net, front of the net, Jake DeBrusque, good hands and willing to go to the front of the net, t of the net, Jake DeBrusque, good hands and willing to go to the front of that. Tipped home a Quinn Hughes point shot on the power play. Miller picked up his second assist of the night on the power play goal.

It was party time at Rogers Arena. The only question was whether or not Kevin Lankanen could pick up the shutout, and he did. What a night. It was great, right? And I think the big talking point that you're going to hear throughout the day as the narratives and the analysis continues here on Sportsnet 650 is that the depth of the team really came through in a major way yesterday. It came through in the sense that Rick Talkett was allowed to give some of his heavy minutes guys relative nights off. He was able to roll four lines pretty effectively.

You mentioned Dan Heinen ended up being the high man time on ice for forwards. We mentioned that Derek Forbord played almost 20 minutes. And this is what, when we talk about the team that they built in the offseason and what they envisioned, some things have worked out and some things haven't. We'll get to the Deharnais thing and the news that broke during the game yesterday on the side of things that haven't worked out. We'll get to that in a minute. But Rick Tockett spoke about this in two separate clips following the game yesterday. The first one talking about how depth helps and actually is

able to establish more of a role on the team when injuries and adversity hit. And then what happens when you get over the adversity and the injuries go away? Here's Rick talking on why depth is a big help when you battle adversity. Yeah, I mean, you know, every team goes through injuries or some adversity and how you handle it. That's why depth, you know, Sass tonight, depth player. You know, Heinen gets more ice time. You know, obviously, you know, Friedman I thought was good tonight. Like, you know, he gave us some minutes.

Vormerk came in. I thought was good tonight. Like, you know, he gave us some minutes. Forberg came in. I thought he was good. I just think that depth helps when you have these stretches of injuries or adversity. And then when you get a full lineup, it just kind of elevates everybody. My son is also named Forberg. Anyway, Ray Forberg. Ray Forberg. Now, there's a second part to this.

Is that it's not just about depth players filling the roles and then returning to their regular roles when everyone's back and healthy. It's also about internal competition. And I think this next clip, this was maybe Talkit kind of, not necessarily clapping back, but pointing out like, hey, maybe I do know what I'm doing when I'm rotating in defensemen, and I'm not playing Eric Branson for two consecutive games, and I'm moving guys around the lineup, and we're making these call-ups from the American League

because guys pushing guys from within makes everybody better. Here's Rick Tuckett on competitive and competition, keeping players on their toes. I think it's big. You know, it doesn't necessarily, the guy's not dressed, he's not playing well. I think, you know, we have a group where you can rotate some people in you know like you know whether friedman plays a few more games or brantz comes in or you know there's a rotation vinny we we have that luxury and it keeps people on their toes i mean you know if you play well you stay in that's the way that's what internal competition does so i

think the thing with uh brandstrom getting scratched is they wanted to bring forbert back in right he'd been waiting to play uh they need him back in there you know he's supposed to be pretty much an everyday player yep for various reasons he hasn't been this season beyond his control um well you're not going to scratch hughes on the left side you're not going to scratch susie he left side. You're not going to scratch Soucy. He's playing better. So that's the left side, right? So where are your options for Branstrom? I guess you could put him in on his off side, on the right side.

Which he's done before. But they don't like doing that. They don't like doing that. And I think what they wanted against Florida especially, remember how we talked about the game in Florida earlier in the year yesterday and how physical it was? It was big boy hockey, and the Canucks really played well against Florida, and they were up to the physical challenge.

They wanted Freeman in for that. They wanted Freeman in for that. I mean, you could talk to them before the game yesterday. And Juleson and Soucy have been a pair that has had some good moments and then myers is with hughes so you know branstrom is just kind of the odd man out here and i would be surprised if talk it makes any changes to the lineup on saturday against the bruins so branstrom's probably gonna be sitting again i mean look i think there was there's a few things that are happening here right right? One is

the coaching staff and management definitely thought that there was some Rubik's Cube where they could twist things around with the eight or ten defensemen they had available and find a group that could get results. Like last night against the Panthers,

that's their best win of the season, right? That team? I don't think there's any question about that they were able to do it with a defensive group that still you look at it on paper and you're like I don't know how they did that but they did it it was a 4-0 victory like Lankland played great I think they played to their identity if you're

looking for that right like if you're looking for I don't know how they did it well they played to their identity and the identity is that Quinn Hughes is the puck mover and the rest of the guys hit you here's what I mean like the rest of the guys check and they block and they and they box out in front of Kevin Lankan and they win battles in the corners and you know like that's that's it's a pretty simple equation so that's when I'm talking about the Rubik's Cube is like they knew that there was a set of guys that they could get out there that could do the things that Talkit wanted wanted them to do that would lead to success.

Unfortunately, Deharnais and Brandstrom weren't it. They just didn't fit. They didn't do the things. Why is Julsen in over Brandstrom? Because he hits and he boxes out. And he's a right shot A-Dog. Have you been keeping up? They want to go lefty-righty, lefty-righty, lefty-righty.

I get why. I'd rather have Brandstrom than Julsen. Yeah, I know you do, but they also just beat the defending Stanley Cup champions for nothing with Julsen in. Yeah. Right? Julsen kills penalties.

Julsen, there's roles that you have to be aware of. It's not just any particular big, heavy-bodied thumper. DeJarne is not getting it done, and we can get to that again in a moment. But if they are able to somehow unlock the code and figure it out, even in the interim with this defensive group, it is a major, major win. And honestly, it lets them off the hook a little bit with this group because I know management still wants to improve this blue line. There's no question about it.

Let's see them do it a few more times. Sure, but last night was a great building block. Absolutely. Great building block. Absolutely, and I would be shocked. Unless there are injuries, I assume the same lineup, same combinations, same everything, except for maybe the goalie is going to be the same against the Boston Bruins on Saturday.

Let's talk about this goaltending situation. I joked last night that I'm going to have to bring out the Dave Pratt machine of, you know, the goalie controversy machine. I think we all need to just chill right now. No. Yeah, we do. What's the opposite of chill?

We just all need to chill. We need to start trading Demko. Here's the thing. Here's the thing. Demko has played one game in his return to the lineup. Four goals against. Let's enjoy the fact that we've got Kevin Lankanen playing really well. No goals against.

And Thatcher Demko, who needs to get his game back. If you didn't expect him to be rusty in his first game back after everything he went through, come on. You're being unrealistic. So let's be happy that it can be either Lankanen or Demko. through, you know, like, come on, you're being unrealistic. So let's be happy that it can be either Lankanen or Demko. I think until Demko gets his, why not just alternate starts? Just alternate starts.

Where is your... It's all the Demko trade, of course. Where is, what happened to my co-host that I knew and loved and was... Yeah, I was promised a goalie controversy. Yeah, where's your sports radio spirit? You pick which one do you want? Do you want Demko or Lankan? Let's go. I only get one.

Yeah, you can't have both. You get one, I get the other one. It's like, well, I made a joke on Twitter last night and I'm a little gun shy because, you know. Yeah, that went well. Yeah, well, also, a lot of people, a lot of people, many people, many people say they liked the joke, but it was me making fun of myself about a player I'm not even going to mention today.

It was Ilias Patterson. Who went pointless. And didn't have a shot on goal. Pointless, I repeat, pointless. Stayed on the right side of the puck. Made some good defensive plays. His number is between 39 and 41. At any rate, this whole goaltending thing, we need to wait.

We need to just wait and see how it plays out. We need to give Demko like 10 starts, and then if you want, if you want, we can have a goaltending controversy in about February. No, I don't want to wait that long. Well, you have to. Listen, Santa's going to bring you some stuff at Christmas, and you can enjoy and get excited for that. And then when the Christmas excitement wears off

and you're wondering what's next, maybe in February, if you're good, we can have a goaltending controversy. Because I feel like collectively our hearts were never into the BC Lions quarterbacking controversy. Mine was. We just never had the same zest and zeal like our predecessors did. This is something we can really sink our teeth in. When's the last time we had a legitimate goalie controversy?

It would have to be Luongo Schneider. There hasn't been anything in the interim, right? Nothing to that magnitude. Black Miller? No. No one was invested enough. That playoff series, they had to decide who to start. Miller was injured.

Yeah, but we were invested in Luongo Schneider. I feel like we can get there with two good goalies. I agree, though. They should just alternate starts for now. Yeah, that's fine. Just go back and forth. What we need is for one of them to win all their starts and the other one to lose all their starts.

Anyway, all joking aside. But we also can't for the next few weeks, you have to give Demko a little bit of leeway to make some mistakes. Yeah, yeah. He's getting his game back, okay? All right.

You get one more start. Demko got his groove back. You get one more start, Thatcher. I do want to mention JT Miller's return to the ice last night and just in over 15 minutes ice time you know what we'll play one more Talk It clip Talk It was speaking about the impact that Miller had spoke very glowingly about

the guy that we've called the emotional heartbeat of the team I thought it was great and I know that almost every national sports broadcast last night picked up on the fans at Rogers Arena chanting JT Miller which was fantastic I thought they should have done a Derek Forbort one too. I mean, he was out for a while as well.

But alas, it was JT Miller's name being chanted from the rafters. Here's Rick Talkett on Miller's return and what he meant to the team in a big win over the Florida Panthers. He's arguably one of the best players in the league. He's a big part of our team. That's hard to do.

Not play for a month and come in there and do what he did. What, he had a couple points? But I thought he played him against Barkov. I don't know, he played 14, 15. That's kind of what I wanted to play him, but I thought he did a good job against Barkov. He's a big guy in the middle. You know, it's tough to go around him.

So prior to the game, JT Miller did meet with the media. It was after we were off the air, and he started his media availability by saying he wasn't going to answer any sort of questions regarding his absence from the team for personal reasons, said he was going to look forward, not back.

And if you wanted to ask any questions about hockey, he would be more than willing and happy to answer them. I guess that puts a bow on that chapter because it does not sound that we're going to get anything,

nor do we think at this point that it even really matters from our perspective. He's back. He's playing. It's a chapter in this season. And I think when we look back on this season, there's going to be a lot of chapters that, quite frankly, are incomplete when it comes to plot and narrative and details. I just think that that's the way that this team is going to operate this season. It does feel a bit hollow from where we do our job on this side of the desk

because people are kind of leaning on us to know these things and we don't. But at this stage of the game... Like seriously, to my buddies texting me, I don't know. I don't know.

To my credit, as an intrepid journalist, I've asked people that I think might know. As a great gossip. They don't know. To my credit, as an intrepid journalist, I've asked people that I think might know. As a great gossip. They don't know either. You know, like, we don't know. And I don't know if this is the wheels of change on, you know, the NHL and how we address things in society and privacy

and media availability and leaks. Maybe this is the brave new world that we live in. Whatever the case, I'm actually okay with looking forward and not looking back, because to be dead honest, the first two months of this regular season weren't great for the Canucks. I think there was a lot of frustrations and there was a lot of angst and there was a lot of hand

wringing about everything that was going on. Yesterday, it was a big game. You put it very well. That was a big game, man. You put it very well a couple weeks ago when you said it felt like there was a bunch of little fires everywhere. Well, the number of those little fires that you can stamp out and say that they're extinguished and move forward, it does feel like a good thing.

And when's the last time that this team has had that kind of performance on home ice, which is vitally important? Because, yeah, they've been great on the road, but they've stunk at home. So for them to be able to do that, it was a very good thing. I know we got Brady Henderson coming up, so we can do the DeHarne thing real quickly here. Let's just do the DeHarne thing after Brady Henderson. Colesnose version, he might not be long for Vancouver,

which a lot of you are like, that's fine. Well, he might be because I think it's going to be hard to trade him. He might be long for Abbotsford, actually. That's a possibility as well. That's probably a better shout. Brady Henderson's going to join us on the other side to talk some Seahawks. We've got a loaded show. We've got a ton of things to get into. A million stories from the National Hockey League last

night. And of course, we'll circle back to the Canucks stuff throughout the show. You're listening to the Halford and Brough Show on Sportsnet 650. It's Canucks Central with Dan Riccio and Satyar Shah, your destination for everything Canucks. Exclusive interviews, inside info, and even the post-game show. Listen 4 to 6 p.m. weekdays and on demand through your favorite podcast app. 6.32 on a Friday.

It's a Fiesta Friday here on the Alfred and Bruv Show on Sportsnet 650. Alfred and Bruv of 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. This is actually the theme song from last night's football game. Oh my God. This is too uplifting for last night's game.

It's the bloopers though. It is. This is the Brock Purdy highlight reel. Did you know, did you know that yesterday's game had 11 punts and nine first downs? The first half was just,

I stopped watching it because I started watching the Canucks game, obviously, but I flipped back a little bit, and it looked the same. And every time I looked at the fans who were wearing their sad ponchos, like their rain ponchos, and it looked just miserable there. It was a miserable football game, and everyone, like Rams fans, Niners fans, they're all just like, when the hell is this game over? Four days ago, the Rams participated in Niners fans, they're all just like, when the hell is this game over? Four days ago, the Rams participated in the highest scoring game of the season, that wild game against the Buffalo Bills.

Four days later, they participated in the first and only game this season that didn't have a touchdown. What a wild ride for Rams fans. Okay, let's not get too cocky because the Seahawks have a tough game on Sunday. Joining us now, Brady Henderson, ESPN Seahawks insider here on the Halford & Breff Show on Sportsnet 650. Morning, Brady.

How are you? Morning, fellas. Good to talk to you again. I'm doing great. How are you? Good. Did you get a chance to watch that game last night? I didn't get a chance to watch it, but I was following along and when I turned on the postgame show and on the little set,

they have the score, it said 12-6. I'm like, wait, is it only halftime? It just came over. I could not imagine an NFL game ending 12-6. Look, we've been treated to some pretty good Thursday night games this season for all the talk about how bad those games tend to be. There have been some very good Thursday night games. That was not one of them.

I'm really hoping that the other primetime game that's coming up in two days' time, Sunday night football between the Packers and the Seahawks can provide at the very least more offense because that was real tough to watch last night. And if there is going to be some offense, it might be on the ground for the Seattle Seahawks. I know when we had you on the show

a couple weeks ago, we were talking about how the coaching staff and the players said that they saw signs that the ground game was going to get going, to which I replied, I don't see them, but I'm not a professional football player or coach. I guess they were right because that performance from Zach Charbonnet and the offensive line in the ground game against the Cardinals, that was really a very impressive performance,

being able to churn out the yards that they did. It really was yeah and they did see you know a good performance from the run game coming i don't know if they saw 176 yards necessarily but you know they saw on film that some holes were there they saw an offensive line that was gaining continuity after know, so many moving pieces for the first, you know, 10, 11 games, whatever it was. And so – and it happened. And, look, they obviously had a 51-yard touchdown. I think even if you eliminate that run, it was still a pretty good rushing day.

And that run happened, so you can't eliminate it. So, yeah, I think it was a lot of things. I think it was the offensive line kind of coming together. Zach Charbonnet had a very good day, and I think the kind of fortunate irony, I guess, for them is that Charbonnet is not really known as a home run hitter, and yet there he was ripping off a 51-yard touchdown run. He also looked kind of explosive on a couple of those other runs that went for 10, 15, 20 yards.

So he's a talented back. He obviously doesn't go from 0 to 60 as easily as Ken Walker does, but when you can get him going, he gets a full head of steam going, he's got some explosiveness to him. So it's a really encouraging performance, and I think it wasn't just the offensive line in the run game. It was the offensive line holding up in pass protection in a way that we just have not seen that group do this season.

Yeah, talk to us more about this offensive line, maybe some of the pieces and why you think it's come together because the running game, how many times have we talked about the running? It was like, does this team open up holes, gaps for the runners to go through? Usually it's Kenneth Walker bouncing it out to the outside because he's trapped behind the offensive line. Geno Smith was comfortable in the pocket. He wasn't sacked at all.

Tell us who's responsible for this. He wasn't sacked. It was also a season low pressure rate of something around 17%. Only hit twice. Look, they're finally coming together and you know we've spent so much time we meaning people who cover the Seahawks and people who follow the Seahawks and root for them have spent so much time talking about Abe Lucas and how big of you know how big that would be for their offensive line when he gets back I think

Abe Lucas is still working his way back into football shape. He's been fine. I think there's still a ways to go before he's the Abe Lucas of, you know, 2022. And to tell Almea, there's been a lot of focus on him and, you know, how good he looks like he might be able to be after, you know, he's really their third option at right guard. And he's been better than either of their first two.

But the guy who sort of gets overlooked is Olu Oluwotemi. It's funny, when they signed Connor Williams, they did so thinking that he would be an upgrade over Olu and that he would be this kind of veteran, calming presence, guy who started a lot of games and played at a high level. And really, that wasn't it. I mean, he made a remarkable recovery to be ready for the season coming off that torn ACL from last December.

But Connor Williams wasn't very good, and he obviously was dealing with some of his own stuff, you know, personally off the field, which led him to retire. But, you know, go figure that Olu, the guy who only started one game last year as a rookie, he's been the steadying force. And I've heard that term, you know, in talking to a source about how much of a calming influence he is on that line when stuff gets chaotic. And that's just not something you would expect from a second-year guy who really, you know, doesn't only have one start under his belt coming into the season. But he's been that guy.

And he's been playing really well. I think Connor Williams might have been a little bit more athletic, but they've got the same ability to anchor, especially because Connor Williams was playing at not his typical playing weight. So they signed Connor Williams to be the upgrade, but really Oluwetemi has been the upgrade over Connor Williams. You mentioned LaMea there. I think it's important for everyone to know that this is a rookie sixth-round pick that they've thrown in, and he's played well enough

at the very least to stick in the starting lineup on the offensive side of the ball. And then if you look at the defensive side of the ball, they've done it with another later-round rookie in Tyrese Knight, who has been unbelievable at linebacker and is coming off Rookie of the Week honors following that double-digit tackle performance against the Cardinals. I think this really speaks to one of the things

that McDonald's done really well as head coach is he saw some things that he didn't like. He was unafraid to trust the young guys that they drafted to make these big jumps and put a lot of pressure on them and i guess he's coached him up to the point where they're not just playing but they're thriving um that feels like it's been a big turning point in this season for the hawks when he's made those roster moves and trusted the young guys more yeah there's so much to get into

there and it's a really good point because this team i don't know if I've seen a winning team, you know, change over its personnel so many, at so many spots throughout a season. It's crazy. The offensive line. Yeah. And obviously there's some injury situations in there, but the offensive line, the two inside linebackers, both returners, the number three cornerback, the, you know, the second safety spot. So, and the inside linebackers, and you said, I think the key word there is that coaching them up. And, you know, Tyree Snite was not really ready to play early in the season. And that's why they, you know, went with the two veterans that they had there.

But this is a testament, and I think the same thing would apply to Laumea and even to Olu on the offensive line is it's a testament to coaching and getting guys ready. And so much when we talk about whether a draft pick succeeds or fails, we tend to put that on the scouting department. And we say, you drafted this guy, and this is what he was bound to be. And nobody really knew what he was going to be, but he was always going to be this thing or that thing or one thing or the other.

He was always going to be the player that he ended up being. But we forget that there's a lot of potential variance there based on how well the guy is coached. And so I think you're seeing a coaching staff that has really kind of developed guys in season, and that's why LaMea has gone from a guy who was a healthy scratch every week to a guy who's now starting, and it looks like he's going to hold on to that job.

And that's why Tyrese Knight goes from a rookie fourth-round pick who wasn't ready to play early in the season at a position where Mike McDonald demands a lot, and now you're seeing him. You're like, wow, this guy looks like he should have been starting all along. Yeah, I don't know if you would have got the same level of play earlier in the season from him. I think this is a rookie getting his feet under him and a guy who's been coached up pretty well for three quarters of a season. So I guess in hindsight,

we should have been cheering for the Niners last night and it would have been better for the Seahawks if the Niners had beaten the Rams because the Rams are now 8-6 and currently they've got the tiebreaker with the Seahawks who the Niners had beaten the Rams because the Rams are now eight and six and currently they've got the tiebreaker with the Seahawks who are eight and five but I'm looking at the Rams schedule they play the Jets the Cardinals at home and then their final game of the season also the Seahawks final game of the season is against each other and I wonder if it's going

to come down to that for the division it might but the Seahawks have to kind of keep pace because they've got a pretty tough schedule they host Green Bay then they play Minnesota they go to Chicago which will be I don't know could be trapped you never know but and then they finish of course with the Rams how do you see this all playing out do you think it's going to come down to that final game against the Rams? For the last two months it felt like that. It just wouldn't be a Seahawks season if it was all wrapped up going into Week 18.

It felt like it was going to come down to that. At ESPN we've got this great analytics department and they run all these computer simulations and it spits out playoff percentages. Your team has x percentage of making the playoff x percentage of winning the division and i think for the seahawks they've been those percentages have been a lot lower even if the team has won you know strung together this winning streak um i think the

percentages as we speak are like 50 something percent to make the playoffs 50 something percent to win the division. And some people kind of scoff at that and say, well, how can you only be a coin flip to make the playoffs when you're leading the division? And when you're, you know, you're one, four straight games. And I think the counter is look, look at how tenuous their hold is on a playoff spot. They only lead the division by one game now it's a half a game over a team they've already lost to and in the meantime if you look at the you know

the wild card standings you've got minnesota with 11 wins green bay with nine wins washington with it has the same record as the seahawks but they've got a better conference record so now that the rams won last night if the Seahawks lose on Sunday, not only are they not, not only are they no longer leading the NFC West, they'd be out of playoff position because they'd be behind Washington for that third wildcard spot. So yeah,

as great as the job, a job as the Seahawks have done in turning their season around and turning their defense around. And now their offensive line looks like it could be passable, if not better than that. It's still a very tenuous hold on a playoff spot because the other wildcard teams are really good, and as you mentioned, their schedule is pretty tough down the stretch.

Massive game this weekend. Game of the week, really. Sunday night football. Seahawks host the Packers at Lumen Field. A reminder, Seahawks are two and a half point to three point dogs, depending on where you get your lines. But as mentioned, they have a chance. Yeah, because they're playing at home. Yeah, they have a chance

to stay atop the NFC West with a win over the Packers. Brady, thanks a lot for doing this today, man. We really appreciate it. Enjoy the game this weekend. It should be a good one on Sunday night football. We'll do this again next Friday. Let's do it. Sounds good, fellas. Talk to you next week. Thanks, Brady Henderson from ESPN's NFL Nation here on the Halford & Brough

Show on Sportsnet 650. Hey, if the Canucks can get a big performance at home when they really needed it, they'd been struggling at home, they get a big performance last night against the defending Stanley Cup champs. How about the Seahawks getting a big performance at home where they're only 3-4

this year, Sunday Night Football against the Packers? Well, the Seahawks getting a big performance at home where they're only 3-4 this year, Sunday night football against the Packers? Well, the Seahawks... Give me a good sports weekend. Come on. The Seahawks, Canucks, Comps, don't stop there. The reason that I brought up with Brady what the Seahawks have done midseason is because there's some potential similarities to the Vancouver Canucks. So if you missed it for what the Seahawks have done this season, Brady alluded to it there.

They made a lot of personnel decisions and sent a lot of guys out. More importantly, and as it pertains to the Vancouver Canucks, they sent a lot of guys out that they just brought on board. And the two big ones were Tyrell Dodson and Jerome Baker at linebacker. They signed them in the off season. They thought they were going to be fits for Mike McDonald's scheme. They were veteran, experienced linebackers that were going to come in and were going to hold down the fort with Bobby Wagner now gone

and a thing of the past and Jordan Brooks gone. And then at the bye, less than halfway through the regular season, the Seahawks got rid of both of them. Mike McDonald came in and said, this isn't working. Baker, you're gone. Dodson, you're gone. We're going to go with a rookie linebacker fourth-round pick, and we're going to go from here.

And since then, not only has the unit improved statistically and become one of the better defensive units in the league, it kind of sent a jolt through the rest of the team. I mean, my theory in it is that everyone realized that they weren't just going to stand pat and be like, well, we're going to play this year out. We're going to try again. They wanted results. And more importantly, everyone was kind of put on notice.

Now, I bring this up because... Mike McDonald's a new coach. He's not going to sit around and do nothing, right? You just don't see that many changes during a season. I know. Anyway, I bring this up because there was a report, and how about Freed's drop into 32 thoughts mid-game during the

Vancouver Canucks game, their win over the Florida Panthers last night, in which he kind of confirmed what had been out there through Dollywall and a couple other rumblings and rumors and whispers that the Canucks are ready to move on from Vincent Desharnais. One of their, I don't want to say ballyhooed, but it definitely drew some attention when they signed him to that two-year deal at the start of free agency on July 1. In part because I think it caught a lot of people by surprise that they were willing

to make that investment for a guy that really hadn't proved himself as a legitimate NHL defenseman. He played a lot of games for the Oilers last season and the regular season, played a fair amount in the playoffs, but eventually was taken out of the lineup in favor of Broberg. He's left a free agent and he comes to Vancouver. He's this project. He's this big, big project. But the Canucks, at least this is what they thought, since they've got this, quote-unquote,

plug-and-play system for a defenseman, they thought, okay, we can bring in this guy. He's got length. He's tall. He's the right shot. You know, we can coach him up. Yep. Right? And they couldn't coach him up yep right and they couldn't coach him up and I think when you when

you were watching Darnay on the ice I mean you don't even have to be like a hockey expert you're like that guy is kind of running around a little bit he's a little out of position he the game seemed too fast for him yep at times and then there were parts where you're like why are you in that area of the ice? You should be over there. You know what I mean? And I think it just, it probably got to the point where management went to the coaching staff and they said, what do you think about this guy?

I was like, I think he's got, it's too much. Like it's a bridge too far to coach this guy up. And that's why you've got, even with Philip Hronik out, so you got issues on the right side, he can't get into the lineup over Mark Friedman. I mean, listen, Mark Friedman played

a terrific game yesterday. We'll see if he can keep it up. But I don't think anyone really expected Mark Friedman to be part of the plan in Vancouver this season. It's great to have depth, but I'm just curious to see if they're going to be able to move this contract because they did give him an extra year and

maybe there would be a team out there that would be like, alright, we'll see if we he is tall, he is physical, he has an outgoing personality and he is a right shot. So some teams might have been, all right, we'll take a chance on him. So the conversation, but he's got that extra year,

right? So how are you going to move that? I think that's going to be real tough. So part of the conversation is absolutely about day Harney, right? Like the player, the individual and the movement or lack thereof. But there's another bigger picture story here.

And I think this is the important one to hone in on, is that this management group, time and time again, is not afraid to put its hand up and say, we got this one wrong, and we're going to fix it right away. Kuzmenko, Mikheyev, Sprong, now Desjardins. I do respect that because I remember there would be a previous management regime that almost seemed scared to acknowledge those mistakes. Just stubborn.

Stubbornness, scared, worried about the backlash, and then would either chase good money after bad or whatever adage you wanted to use. Wouldn't just cut your losses and say, you know, that cost is sunk. It's gone. We're never going to get that back. We made a mistake. How do we fix it? That's progressive thinking. And I do like that.

I understand that there's a risk is that sometimes that can fall on the side of impatient. You're not patient enough. Right. I think that with good managers and good coaches and good analysts, you don't need a massive sample size to know what you've got isn't working. And that's where I go back to the Seahawks. Well, let's talk about another guy then, Danton Heinen.

He was another guy that was rumored to be available in a trade. Similar contract, two years, just over $2 million for Danton Heanton heinen and then last name he plays a terrific game he scores a goal he plays almost i think i i rechecked the the ice time i think connor garland might have played three more seconds than him but regardless he was one of the high ice time guys for the canucks that first, the star line was the fourth line. Bluger, Sasson, and Danton Heinen. They contributed for two goals, and that was the type of game that he needed. But I think if the Canucks still do want to move Heinen

and more for cap reasons, like if they were able to clear his two million, maybe it makes it easier for them to acquire a defenseman. He's going to be the guy that's more movable than Derrida. There's a few different ways that you can cattle prod the modern NHL player.

You can reduce their ice time. You can sit them on the bench for extended periods. And then you can do the more subtle things. Like float someone's name in trade rumors. Because it'll go back to them and they'll hear it. I mean, there right now is a push for competition.

And we played the clip from Rick Talkett after the game yesterday where he was saying, you know, competition keeps players on their toes. Knowing that you're not comfortable keeps you on your toes. This management group could have a big board, like with the mugshots of Kuzmenko and Mikheyev and Sprong, and maybe DeJarne would be like, hey, if you want to play here, start playing. And if you don't,

you'll end up on the mugshot board with the rest of these guys where we just acknowledge we made a mistake. And in the case of Danton Heinen, you know, there are guys down in the AHL that are chomping at the bit to replace him.

Here's Elliott Freeman on the latest 32 Thoughts podcast in the wake of last night's 4-0 win for the Canucks, arguably their best game of the season, certainly their best home game of the season, about what they are thinking roster-wise. I keep getting mixed messages. I keep hearing, like, they're happy that Demko and Miller came back,

and they want to see how their group looks with the two of those guys. But also I'm hearing that they still want what they want they they might want to move a couple of bodies and sometimes and they're very aggressive like rutherford is aggressive and alvin is aggressive and sometimes you're at the mercy of the other team right like i think with blackwood this week um you know, San Jose, one of the reasons it happened was San Jose had Carolina interested and they had Colorado interested. And I'm sure there were others, but those were the two I knew. And finally, San Jose was in a position where they could say,

okay, we've got multiple teams pushing hard at us. Let's go. Give us your best deal. And they made the trade and so sometimes that's what it comes down to like if you're vancouver you've got to be on top of things in case that moment like another team is like san jose and says we're going to do this now so like i keep hearing different things about where they're going but i think they're interested in a forward and a D. They want to see what they look like with their guys back,

and they're trying to make moves around some of the depth players in their roster. So I think there's a few different balls in the air, Kyle. Like, I'll be honest, I'm not 100% sure what the timelines are going to be or exactly how this is going to go. But the key thing for them is the biggest questions is, what the timelines are going to be or exactly how this is going to go. But the key thing for them is the biggest questions is, did their two guys coming back get through their first challenges? And the answer is going to be yes.

And I think something else too is I think this was a reminder of, like when you look at the Canucks, Hughes a phenomenal player like he is he's one of the best players in the league he's a calm guy Pedersen is beyond talented and he's a calm guy you know I think you want one of your cornerstone players like they've got some fiery guys like garland is a really fiery guy um you know sherwood is obviously a very fiery guy um you know joshua is a fiery guy but there's nobody among your top players who has got the spark of miller and you know i think vancouver here they were getting calls from other teams what's going on here what going on here? Are you thinking of moving on? And the Canucks were like, no, and Miller hasn't asked. And like, I think it was just a really challenging time because

teams are always going to call you and say, what are you thinking here? And Vancouver's like, this is kind of out of our control and we don't like the noise. But I think again, like we kind of said here, Miller brings something to your table. A lot of other guys don't have in his personality. And for sure, you know, I think you're trying to say we've got to make this work in our team concept, but he's unique to us and we need that. I also forgot about Curtis Lazar on the mugshot list of guys that they signed and they quickly shipped out afterwards.

It's interesting, right? Like it's, they are active and given their history from the, and I'm talking about Alvin and Rutherford, from their time in Pittsburgh, you just know that they don't sit on their hands and wait. They're dying to make a deal. You just know it.

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