Halford & Brough in the Morning - The Seahawks Are Going To The Super Bowl!

Episode Date: January 26, 2026

In hour one, Mike & Jason look back at the previous day in sports, they talk the Seahawks taking out the Rams in a close one to punch their ticket to a Super Bowl versus the Patriots (3:00), plus the boys discuss a weekend of Canucks losses to the Devils and Penguins (27:00). This podcast is produced by Andy Cole and Greg Balloch. The views and opinions expressed in this podcast are those of the hosts and guests and do not necessarily reflect the position of Rogers Media Inc. or any affiliate.

You're listening to Halford and Brough. Sam steps up, goes back inside. Come, make the catch. Seahawks. Ball is caught. Pooka Nakua slides out of bounds. No, clock keeps moving. Nakula.

Ken to the Super Bowl. Now, Kindle of a drive. He scores. Another. Morning, Vancouver, 6-1 on a Monday. Happy Monday, everybody. week Monday. It is Halford, it is brough. It is Sportsnet 650. We are coming live from the Kintech Studios and 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. Halford and Brough in the morning is brought to you by Sands and Associates. Do you have payday loan debt? Sands and associates could cut that debt by up to 80% with no upfront fees. Visit them today at Sands. That's trustee.com. We are an hour one of the program. Hour 1 is brought to you by North Star Metal recycling. Vancouver's premier metal recycler pays the highest prices on scrap metal. North Star Metal Recycling, they recycle you get paid. Visit them at 1170

Powell Street in Vancouver. We are coming to live from the Kintech Studio, make 2026 your year to move better and step stronger with Kintech custom orthotics. Boy, do we have a lot to get into on the program today. What an exciting weekend in the world of sports. What a

championship Sunday in the National Football League. Congratulations to the Seattle Seahawks who are on their way, somewhat improbably, to Super Bowl 60, where they will take on the New England Patriots and a rematch of Super Bowl 49. Who are also there somewhat improbably. Pretty crazy that this is the Super Bowl matchup we got, but we got it. So we're going to begin our guest list today at 7 a.m.

Full hour right off the hop of uninterrupted Halbro. Mike Tannier is going to join the program at 7 a.m. Our first guest today on the Duick Morning Drive, of course, brought to you by the Duick Auto Group. It's our morning drive. Super Bowl 60 is set. As I mentioned, Mike is going to join. to break down everything that happened on championship Sunday. What a terrific, terrific yesterday it was.

We'll go through it all with Mike Tanier, our NFL insider from the two deep zone at 7 a.m. 7.30, Luke Fox is going to join the program. NHL writer for Sportsnet. Very busy weekend in the National Hockey League. There's another five games on the slate tonight. We had the Mitch Marna return in Toronto this past weekend. Willie Nealander flipping the bird on national TV.

Vegas getting stomped in Ottawa? What happened there? We'll get into all this and more with Luke Fox at 730, our NHL writer from Sportsnet. 8 a.m. Satyar Shah is going to join the program. Canucks Central pre-imposed game host right here on SportsNet 650. Canucks lost a pair of home games since we were last on the air. Friday, rather entertaining loss to the Devils.

Yesterday, a somewhat less entertaining loss to the penguins. Also a super greasy hit from Brian Ruston, Brock Besser, in that Pittsburgh game. Lots to chew on with Sat. We'll do that at 8 a.m. Finally, speaking of 8 a.m. Today and every day this week, we are giving away a $50 gift card to the big football party

at the Clayton Public House on Sunday, February the 8th. Caller number 5 at 8 a.m. 604-280-0-650. We'll win the $50 gift card. We're going to do that every morning this week at 8 a.m. 604-280-650. $50 gift card to the Clayton Public House is up for grabs. That's the show. That's what's happening today.

Laddie, without further ado, let's tell everybody what happened. Hey, did you guys see the game last night? No. No. What happened? I missed all the action because I'm losing. We know how busy your life can be. What happened?

Missed it? You missed that? What happened is Brett Tew 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 BCCCSA.ca.c.a. It was Big Sam. Sam Darnold throwing for three touchdowns. Seahawks defense came up with a couple big stops late,

and the Seahawks advanced to the Super Bowl beating the L.A. Rams 31 to 27 in the NFC title game on Sunday afternoon. You know, Halford, we bemoan our sports luck a lot on this show. We do. Mostly because we have to cover the Vancouver Canucks most of all, and we will get to them in just a bit. Well, maybe we won't. But we've just seen both the Vancouver Whitecaps

and the Seattle Seahawks make unexpected runs to championship games in the last few months. Now, hopefully the championship game goes better for the Seahawks than it did for the White Caps, but, I mean, these, for me at least,

these came out of nowhere. A nice little unexpected treat. Yeah, I had no expectations for the White Caps heading into this season, and I thought if the Seahawks made the playoffs, that would be okay. This season, I certainly didn't expect number one seed in the NFC

and to be favored in the Super Bowl against the New England Patriots of all teams. 16 wins for our Seattle Seahawks this year, all told. It is a remarkable total. I want to dive into the game here a little bit because it was a very entertaining game. By far, of the two AFC and NFC title games, it was by far the most entertaining game yesterday. Let's hear now that aforementioned fourth downstop. We're going to turn our attention to Kevin Harlan over Westwood One on the call.

This one was the one that really settled the game. It's fourth and goal for the Rams late. Looks like they're going to score. Looks like they're going to take the lead for just the second time in the game. Seahawks defense comes up big. Here's Kevin Harlan on the call for Westwood One. Six of Seattle, fourth and four, down by four. shotgun snap, four-man rush.

Stafford winds up, throws back in the end zone. Incomplete. Underneath, looking for Ferguson. Witherspoon broke it up. On down, Seattle will get a bat. They've held. The Seahawk defense has held. And the Seahawks defense only needed to hold one more time beyond that.

Now, I will say this, as we turn our attention to the Rams ever so slightly here, I know a lot of Rams fans. I got to be sick to their stomach. for losing that game yesterday. This isn't to say that the Seahawks got lucky or were fortunate or didn't deserve to win, but in a game where you just couldn't make as many mistakes as the Rams made,

they did it at so many different levels. So that play at the end, and I know this is a lot of revisionist history there. A lot of people are saying, why are you not taking three points there, making that a one-point game? And then if you get the ball back, because remember, at that stage of the game,

the Rams got all three timeouts left, and the two-minute warning, why are you not kicking a field goal, trying to get the ball back, and then setting yourself up so that you don't have to go the length of the field for a touchdown, you're trying to kick a field goal.

Broncos fans are listening right now. Yeah, why are you not kicking the field goal? Why are you not taking points in those moments? I understand that over the course of an 18-game regular season probably bears out that being aggressive and going for it on fourth down over a larger sample size makes more sense. But in those particular, moments. You still got to think critically in the moments.

You gotta take points. You gotta take points. What a shocking turn of events for the Rams in their season. Yeah. Who had made it until week 16 in Seattle, which they led 30 to 14 at one point in the driver's seat, I would say, to win the division and go to the Super Bowl. And, you know, I know the Rams lost the next

week in Atlanta. I feel like they would have won that game if they had beaten Seattle. I think they were still shell-shocked. I think they were too. From losing that game. Yeah, I think it's a really good point. And, you know, because of that and because the Seahawks were able to finish it off and get number one seed in the NFC, all they had to do was win two home games and go to the Super Bowl. The Rams had a much tougher road there. They nearly pulled it off, but they had a much tougher road. So that game, that you're talking about that comeback win for the Seahawks. One of the things that happened there was... When they got that ridiculous two-point conversion break.

And the Rams were awful on special teams. To the point where they spot... They fired their special teams coordinator after that game against Seattle, which was a bizarre in-season movie, don't see it very often, and bold that late in the year. To have the special teams

screw up as badly as they did yesterday to sort of cap off this season where Rams special teams have been so bad all year, that's got a sting. That absolutely has to sting for Rams fans. But enough about those losers. Let's turn our attention now to the Seattle Seahawks. And I got to say, as one half of a sports talk radio show that has been pretty critical of Sam Darnold and very unsure if a guy like Sam Darnold could lead you to the Promise Land.

Yeah. That was an unbelievable performance yesterday. Unbelievable. His ability to make plays while not turning the ball over, go toe to toe with a Rams offense. Rams offense put up 479 yards of offense in that game. It was remarkable. And isn't Sam Donald kind of the number one reason why a lot of us are shocked that the Seahawks are in a Super Bowl and they just had the season that they did? Not that we didn't know that he had a very good season for to last year until the very end. But it's just, you know, I've been winning as a Seahawks fan.

I'm like, yeah, okay, all right, yeah, Gino Smith, fine. Okay, we're not winning a Super Bowl with Gino Smith. He's not terrible. He's not the worst quarterback in the league. But, you know, in order to win a Super Bowl, you need a great quarterback. And then they go and they sign Sam Donald and you're kind of like, yeah, I guess. He's like a, he's the caretaker quarterback. placeholder.

While the defense continues to improve and they add some weapons on offense. But, you know, how are the Seahawks going to get over the hump? Now, look, they haven't won the Super Bowl yet. And the find a great quarterback narrative could still play out because Drake May is a pretty good quarterback. And people might not know him as well as they know Matthew Stafford because Stafford is like, you know, 40 years older than him. But if the Seahawks are going to win the Super Bowl, I think it's very interesting that they will have to beat back to back

the two MVP candidates. Like you're either in the Drake May camp or you're in the Stafford camp. Or you're throwing your vote away. But yeah, no, I mean, no one's in the Sam Darnold camp, right? No. Not at all. Well, we are. Well, I mean, we are now.

Definitively, big Sam, Sam, Sam Darnold. Here's the thing. And he made some great throws. He made some great throws. 25 of 36 passing, which is very, very accurate and a high completion percentage for 346 yards and three touchdowns. You could make the argument quite convincingly that Sam Darnold played the best game of his professional career in the biggest game that he's ever played in, which is a tall order for a guy that you've had questions about. Never mind the fact that in the aftermath, his head coach Mike McDonald is talking about how he barely

practiced this week because of the oblique strain. Here's the other thing with Donald. He didn't just do it against any regular opponent. He did it against the team, the Los Angeles Rams, who had his number all regular season. Six interceptions across the two games. They had him figured out. I know he mounted a nice comeback in the second half of the second game, but he was a mess in the first half of that game. For him to not take the sacks and not turn the ball over. There was a handful of times yesterday when he dropped back to pass and I got the lump right in my throat thinking like, oh man, this is it. This is the Darnold pick. It just never came. And he missed a couple passes. His accuracy was off because you're not going to be perfect,

but I think with us, you're kind of like, oh, God, come on. Yeah. Kenneth Walker, too. Yeah, great game. How many unbelievable moves did he pull off? I thought that they were going to burn him out. The shaking big. I thought they were going to burn him out early because in the first, in the first drive, especially. It felt like every play was either a hand off the walker or some sort of screen pass. And I was like, I don't really want to see that much of George Halani so let's see if we can try and keep Kenny

on his feet. He was great though. Fantastic effort from him. Do we want to talk about Reek Wulin now or do we want to just be like, ah, you little scamp? Get out of here. I don't know. I don't know. I'm not in little scamp. So I... Someone texted in already about it. So I played a late

beer league game yesterday and this guy walks in and he's wearing a Seahawks jersey. I'm like, yeah, and then I realized it was a Rieke-Wollen jersey. I'm like, that's a bold, that you were nearly in, you're nearly a lot of trouble. You take that off right now. That was awful, by the way. I know you

said it was a brutal call. Here's my, okay, yes. But like, that was taunting, man. Here's my thought. He got warned on it. Here's my thought on it. Multiple times, and he still did it. My bar for getting a taunting penalty in the NFC title game is like you basically have to

whip your pants down and like dangle on a guy. It should be the highest of thresholds. It should be so gratuitous and so in a game where... But he was being warned by the ref, go away, and then he went closer. In a game where it was heated and there was a lot of stuff after the whistles, don't get me wrong. He put himself in a terrible position. It was embarrassing that he got chewed out by a rookie Nick Eman Iman Wari, who was appropriately chewing him out for his lack of discipline. But it's embarrassing that a rookie is telling a vet to calm down in those moments. Also, So, Wulin, that might have been the only play he made up to that point.

Yeah, Eman Worry, I tweeted this out too. Eman Worry is running around making plays everywhere on the field. He didn't feel the need to jump up and gesticulate after everyone. Well, he was celebrating, but he wasn't taunting. Wollin breaks up one pass. Granted, it was a big third down play. And that's the response. Like, just get back to your sideline.

Like, here's a thing. Do I think it was a stupid call? Yes. Did he put the referees in the position, to have to make it also yes. So I don't know. I mean, I saw that he got to make it. I was also joking.

I tweeted out yesterday. Very active on social media, by the way. Two tweets. He got up on the podium, Rick Wallen afterwards. No, no, no. There was like a divide of like guys that got to go to the podium. Oh, okay. And guys that didn't.

Okay. They were like podium and non-podium people. And Wollin was a podium person. And I tweeted out. I'm like, they should demote him to non-podium. Oh, I see. Right away. Yeah, yeah.

Like McDonald should have been staring daggers. No, no, no. But he had to be on the podium. because all the reporters were like, yeah, we want to talk to that guy. Sorry, this was in the post game celebration. Oh, is she okay. Joe Allen was up there. Mike McDonald was making a speech.

He didn't deserve podium status. Someone should have pointed out and be like, get down. Yeah. Right away, get down. So, I mean, someone texted it. And do you think Rick Willan's going to play in the Super Bowl? Obviously, he's going to play in the Super Bowl. But that was one of the stupider plays I've seen in a championship game.

I did keep the channel on the Seahawks post game for a while. last night just enjoying it. And I heard JSN, who was massive. Unbelievable in that game. And he was talking about proving all the doubters wrong. And, you know, like,

and I was like, hey, they're talking about me. That's right. I was one of the doubters. There was another guy, I think it was, I think it was Witherspoon, was saying,

you know, and all you people that doubted Sam Darnold, I hope you take a look in the mirror and I'm like I will I'm taking a look in the mirror right now and I'll be honest with you spoon I don't like what I see either I didn't believe in this team

and you are appropriately and rightly making me feel guilty yeah no it's good he had a tough game yesterday he made a couple plays but early on he was getting chewed up by puka yesterday yeah which is fair just don't fall he kept falling you were looking in the mirror you're like

hey, I'll tell you one thing. A little bit of advice from the guy in the mirror. Stop falling down, baby. I don't know. Try it. It was a great game. Great game. And again, I talked about the Rams earlier.

That was kind of what I expected. I know we had this weird like back and forth going into the game where you didn't want to see the Rams. And I was like, bring it on because it's going to make for an unbelievable NFC championship. Like those are the two best teams in the NFL. I know we've got some Tom Brady fans lingering and Patriot. land and those that was that was such a better game than the a fc title game it wasn't even close that's that's i wish you hadn't said that what because we meet again boston yeah will this be redemption for all the seahawks also slash canucks fans that listen to this show or another punch

in the groin or the head or the gut wherever you want it because two of the most, if you're in that camp of a Canucks slash Seahawks fan, your two most painful losses came against Boston teams, the Bruins and the Patriots, respectively. And I know that this won't make up for the Canucks losing to the Bruins or the Seahawks, even losing to the Patriots. Like it won't.

The way that went down, that will be remembered forever. The Seahawks had a chance of back-to-back Super Bowl. balls and we all know what happened. Yep. I'm a little bit, I'm always a little bit worried when people are like, oh, the title game was the, that was a Super Bowl. I realized that for a lot of the NFL era, that was the case. Like the NFC title game would be the Super Bowl.

There were, you know, it was what, the 80s and the 90s? Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. The NFC would go and they would, and it would be like, you know, either the Niners, or the Cowboys or whoever. Yeah, for you kids, though, they don't remember. The NFL used to be very conference heavy. Used to suck. Yeah, yeah.

The Super Bowl would be blowouts. But, you know, Drake May is a, he's a hell of a quarterback. He just hasn't looked that good the last two games. Well, it's pretty hard to look good in the snow in Denver. Yeah, the week prior. No one was going to look good there. Well, Jared Stidham sure didn't. We can get to that minute, but, okay, I get exactly what you're saying.

there is going to be an element and I think as this week progresses so see the Seahawks Open is a four point favorite last night across multiple sports books I would assume that number is going to grow once bets start coming on this to the point where when Super Bowl week actually kicks off a week

from now I wouldn't be surprised that that line gets like seven or maybe not that high but it's going to be by the time they get on the planes to go to Santa Clara the Seahawks are going to be decided favorites going into this game and I don't love it either, right? I would much prefer that it was a game of, hey, here are two

unexpected Super Bowl finalists going up against one another instead of having the Seahawks are going to be fairly significant favorites going in. Also, you know what I'm not excited for? Endless, endless, endless references and allusions to Super Bowl 49. I've already tired of it. They haven't even started yet. I know. I don't want to... Just run the ball this time. I don't want to hear about Malcolm Butler. I don't want anyone. I don't want anyone to rehash the final play at the goal line. I don't want to hear from, I mean, I know they're going to bring back. Yeah, she got some audio here for you guys.

Oh, my God. Richard Sherman and Marchand Lynch and I, Russell Wilson will be doing the speaking tour. I'm sure it's all going to happen. And they'll be like, Drake May, what do you remember about that? It was like, I was nine. Yeah, he's like, I think I kind of remember seeing it, but I'm not sure. So that's some preemptive stuff from us. Just be ready to be, and I'm not talking about blanket coverage.

you're going to be inundated with references to that game because one of the things that I think a lot of people don't remember is that aside from the goal line play, that was a classic Super Bowl. Yes. Right? That was the fourth quarter was incredibly back and forth. If you go to and the plays that were made to get to that, that play. Was it the Baldwin catch? Was it? Curse?

Curse? Yeah. Anyway, there were, there were so many plays down the stretch that if you go to any sort of definitive list of the greatest Super Bowls of all time, Super Bowl 49's on that list. So you're going to get a lot of references to it because the hope is that these two teams will put forth a show. There's been a couple people texting in

saying this is an awful Super Bowl matchup and they're not excited for it. I really hope that we get a good finale here. Last year's Super Bowl was so forgettable that I'm really hoping that this will be a good, compelling matchup and it's not especially one-sided. What you said about Drake May,

I ultimately hope holds true that it was the conditions that were preventing. because, wow, I obviously want the Seahawks to win. No, I'll take a blowout. I'll take a blowout. Yeah, I was going to say that would be awesome. I'll take an absolute blowout of the Patriots.

Yes. Because Boston fans are already like, it's easy. It's easy. We just got back to, you know, when you're a Patriots fan, you just have high expectations and you go to the Super Bowl. It's the culture that Robert Kraft built, et cetera, et cetera. Wouldn't it be something if the Seahawks two Super Bowl victories were just absolute blowouts?

like because I'm not be awesome I would be incredible I don't know how many teams I want the Seahs to absolutely annihilate them I mean I don't want it to be close I wanted to be like a lopsided score yeah I mean I would be amazing you know you're not gonna

I don't care if it's a boring game you're not going to argue with a win yeah yeah I mean I get that part of it 100% right I mean I'm what I'm thinking is you beat an NFL candidate MVP candidate in Stafford close to his best yesterday Stafford was very good yesterday there's no question about it

the Rams were very good yesterday there's no question about it to go in and to be able to do it to the Patriots and the other MVP quarterback that you pointed out, I think it'd be amazing. It would cap off, quite honestly, one of the most improbable, but also highly successful.

Never mind Seahawks franchise. It's one of the greatest NFL seasons of all time. They've lost three games this year. There aren't, and barely those games. There aren't Super Bowl matchups that occur like this. There have been some teams that have gotten there unexpectedly. but not many times both teams get there unexpectedly. And I don't want to act like the Seahawks or the Patriots

were expected to win three or four games. But if you go back and look at their over-under-win totals, they were like eight and a half, nine. They were awful last year. Something like that. The Seahawks, you know, haven't made the playoffs. What they missed the last two years? Yeah.

So, you know, I think everyone said, yeah, yeah, they're building something on defense. They got a good coach and Mike McDonald. and a pretty good weapon in JSM, but no one expected the Seahawks to go to the Super Bowl. Nobody expected the Patriots to go to the Super Bowl. I was actually trying to think of another Super Bowl matchup that's been this unexpected from both teams.

So don't give me this team that got there unexpectedly. Like I realized there were those, maybe Rams and Titans back in the day. That's not a bad one. Other than that, I can't really think. There aren't many, I don't think. Because there were so many, I don't think. there were so many dynasty teams that got through. You just assumed they would be there.

You go chiefs, and then prior to that, you go Patriots, then you can go down the list. There was always these teams that you expected to be in. Oftentimes it was, like you said, one expected, one surprise. Never like this have we seen two surprise teams, although they were the number one and number two seeds in their conferences. Yeah, but preseason I'm talking. Preseason. Preseason. Preseason.

Okay. The Vancouver Canucks. Yeah, we got a lot more to get to on them. We'll get to them on the other side of the Halford & Brough show. on SportsNet 650. It's Canucks Central on SportsNet 650. From exclusive interviews to insider scoops and post-game breakdowns,

we've got it all. Tune in weekdays 4 to 6 p.m. on radio and on demand through your favorite podcast app. Shotgun snap to Stafford. Nine seconds left. Stafford looks, fires, ball is caught. Pooka Nakua slides out about.

No, clock keep moving. The cool. And we're going. Break your helmets off. Players, they're breaking the glass next door. 631 on a Monday. Happy Monday, everybody. Halford, brough, SportsNet, 650.

I say happy Monday. No one can be happier than Steve Rable. Physically impossible to be happier than Steve Rable. I thought he was going to pass out. So that clip goes on, actually. I feel bad because he's got to temper the enthusiasm of going to the Super Bowl with not being 100% sure that the game was over. Right.

Because on that last plate, I wasn't sure either. I wasn't sure either. I was like, oh my God, is there one second left with a chance for a Hail Mary? Should we just,

what the hell? It's our radio show. Just let it roll. It's pretty funny. I've been in this situation before where you're excited about something, but you have to temper your enthusiasm

in case it doesn't play out. But you're also. That was me at home. I was like, I don't want to celebrate it right now. I feel like they're going to put one second back on the clock. The only difference was that you weren't talking to thousands of people at the time.

True. This is, I was talking to Pedro, though, and Pedro was like, what's going on? Pedro, my dog. It's okay if you can't get it, Laddie. I know I threw you on the spot there, but what a fun time that was yesterday. Seattle Seahawks advance to Super Bowl 60, which will be in two weeks time. A reminder, if you want to go to the game, Clayton Public House, Sportsnet 650 is hosting the big football party on Sunday, February the 8th.

We're giving away a $50 gift card every morning this week at 8 a.m. 604-280650 is the number. That number again, 604-280650. We've got it now. Here's Steve Rable, the full unedited. Final play call. Seahawks going to the Super Bowl. Shotgun snap to Stafford.

Nine seconds left. Stafford looks, fires. Ball is caught. Pooka Nekua slides out of bounds. No, clock keeps moving. Nakua. And we're going. to the Super Bowl.

Take your helmets off. Players, they're breaking the glass next door. A completion to Pooka Nakua. He can't get out of bounds. The Seahawks are on the field. The Rams are saying, wait a minute. There might be time.

And Clay Martin, the referee is in the middle of it all. The flags are on the field. Just confirming the runner was down in bounds. The game is now over. Seahawks just. win. Seahawks win and the Seahawks are going back to the Super Bowl. Can you believe it?

The fourth Super Bowl appearance in franchise history. Did the official have to say Seahawks win at the end of that? I like that. Did he have to say it twice? Fox win. Fox win. Yeah, he threw his hands up in the air. What a great time.

That was a lot of fun. And kudos. There was only two texters in the morning that said, can we please talk about the Knox. A new record for this show when we do non-Kinnock's content. Usually it's 10, 15, 20. Oh, the Seahawks are only going to the Super Bowl, you know. Yeah, and the Canucks lost two more games at home.

What a great transition. What a great pivot. Yeah. New Jersey and Pittsburgh. Friday's game was the perfect tank game. It was very entertaining. Because it's not like the fans got shortchanged on entertainment. Sundays had an exciting finish, I suppose.

And it was very cool since we don't care about wins or losses. to see a local kid, Ben Kendall, score twice and get named first star in front of all his friends and family. 180, Kindleites. That's awesome. What an incredible moment for him. 18 years old.

It's crazy. And frankly, so were the Penguins. The Penguins are a great story this season. They're still avoiding talking about the Knax. I think a lot of people probably expected them to fall off after their strong start, like some of the other teams did. You know, the Flyers, the Blackhawks. The ducks did fall off, but now they're back.

So back. It's weird. But I guess so I guess Anaheim is back, but San Jose is kind of hung on. But if you look at the penguins and they're goal differential, and if you believe goal differential says something, and I do, they're legit good. Yeah. And they're led, of course, by Sidney Crosby. Ben Kendall.

I mean, Sid had a quiet game against the Canucks, but I mean, he's having an incredible season. And it's interesting that, you know, we expected this offseason and we're like, okay, well, there's only one seller, and that's a Pittsburgh Penguins. They haven't sold. No, not nothing. And no matter of fact, I would imagine that they're in buyer mode going into the deadline. Fun fact on Ben Kindle, by the way, just to put this in perspective. Two goals yesterday, so it was his second multi-gold game of his career. Career is a grand total of like 50 NHL games.

He becomes the fourth player in Penguin's history to have multi-goal games as an 18-year-old. He joins Sidney Crosby, Yarmier-Yager, and Jordan Saul, as the only three 18-year-olds to have more than one multi-goal game as an 18-old. It's a remarkable total. And Kittle was really struggling before this, too. I think you got 20 straight without scoring goal. I mean, he's 18 years old. I'm sure the league is getting a little bit difficult. I'm not like throwing him under the bunch.

Struggles or struggles. You don't score for 20 straight. That's a struggle. We'll see if Brian Rust. And he was one of the guys that I thought was going to get traded. Gets any supplemental discipline for illegal head contact on Brock Besser in the final seconds of the game. Halford, you showed me an angle this morning that looks a lot more damning

than the one that was going around on social media yesterday. I had the specials of Pruder films. Yeah. So, I mean, having watched that, I think he's going to get something. I'd be pretty surprised if he doesn't. Foot didn't mince words about it. No, neither did any of the other guys.

Like Jake DeBrest didn't either. Yeah. Foot called it a vicious headshot in his post-game media availability. Also said that he was, quote, unquote, sure that the league would look at the hit from Rust. If you watch, and we won't go too far down the road here, because I think everyone can kind of universally agree.

Maybe not Penguins players, but everyone that saw it. it. There was some thought that Raquel might have pushed Besser into the hit, but on the Zapruder film that I showed you. Yeah. And what makes it worse is if you really slow it down and start looking for things,

it very much looked like Russ took a few strides. Like, I got a guy in a prone opportunity here to really lay him out. Well, he was trying to clean. I mean, it was desperate times for the penguins. They were trying to protect that lead and he was like, I got to take this guy out. And you sure did.

He was given a penalty on the play too, not to cut you off, but he got a a minor by officials for an illegal check to the head. Jake DeBrasse scored just his second five-on-five goal of the season yesterday. And that is insane because he's had a ton of chances at five-on-five. I think his shooting percentage at five-on-five is something like two and a half percent. Bluger has two five-on-five goals. And he's only played five games on the season. I think David Kamp has two-five-on-five goals.

goals. If Debrusk is finishing his chances at a normal rate, how many more points does Pedy have? Because if you look at Pedersen's assists, I don't know how many assists. He passes the puck a lot. He does. You remember when they signed DeBresk to be PD's winger, that goal scoring winger that was so elusive? How'd that turn out? Should have kept McKeough. Well, I will say, because I saw your notes on DeBrusk, maybe even though it's so one-sided with his special teams output, maybe you can turn that story

into a positive glass half full to a potential buyer and say, is your power play looking for a boost? Yeah. Because we have a guy. Or are you looking

for a guy who is very due at five on five? See? There's two stories you can sell on them there. Will the Evander Kane trade be coming soon?

Or are teams going to be too cheap to pay players like Kane hundreds of thousand dollars to sit? around during the Olympic break. I imagine the Canucks are motivated to trade Kane asap. They're obviously waiting for the best deal.

It's been reported by a few people. I mean, they just did the math that Kane sitting around doing nothing during the Olympic break is going to get paid like $400,000. Right. It's just paycheck. It's your paychecks. Yep. They get nicer paychecks than we do.

By the way, as per ESPN's Kevin Weeks, He put this out on Friday. Per multiple sources, he's being told that the Dallas stars in the Colorado Avalanche are among the likely destinations for Evander Cain. Now, that's interesting. Is Cain going to go win a cup? And then get another contract.

I mean, he sure got a hell of a shot if he goes to Dallas or Colorado, especially Colorado. Yeah. You got to remember that the L.A. Kings have been reportedly interested as well, which goes back to a conference. That doesn't make sense. It doesn't make sense. You know what?

The Kings can't be loving their chances of doing anything right now. I'll tell you why. It makes sense because I think a lot of people rightly or wrongly, fairly or not, are still enamored by the idea of Evander Cain. Well, and Ken Allen's there too. Right. But I'm not even talking about LA. He's already been fascinated. I'm talking about Dallas and I'm talking about Colorado. Yeah, yeah. When you say his name still, I think there's still that notion of, man, remember that big, tough, power forward that we saw. Well, we've seen him a couple times in the last couple of weeks for, for Vancouver when he's motivated and he's on and

right but we've seen a chance at getting something for him then he's she's good but you've seen you've seen flashes brief flickers of it like the consistent I know the game he played against the Islanders was more than flashes but that was one flash in 50 it was one game but there were like three or four flashes yeah right in that within that flash there were several little flashes I'll say this there's going to be a team that's going to take a chance

Because I think for a fourth round pick, which is what the Canucks gave up to get them, I think any team would take the flyer on it. Like, okay, let's bring them aboard and let's see what happens. How many Canucks games are left? Too many. But, yeah, a lot. The Canucks are now 5, 16, and 3 at home. There is exactly 30 games left, by the way.

They played 52. They are at least playing a few entertaining losses on this homestand. The Islanders game, I was there, and it was, It was fine. It was okay hockey. They've got three games left on this eight-game homestand, and then they still have another eight-game homestand to come. I'm aware.

After the Olympic break. And for me now, if you're going to go to these games, it's about who they're playing. It's not about the Canucks. I wanted to go see Schaefer in person, and I wasn't disappointed in what I saw. I know a lot of people wanted to see Sid. It was a tough time with the Seahawks game also being on, but from what I heard, there were a ton of Crosby jerseys in the stands. And there's only so many more times that Sid's going to come to Vancouver

for a game against the Canucks, and that number is 12 based on the way he's playing. It's incredible what he's doing at his age. Thursday's game against Anaheim, if you're looking to see a game in person and you normally can't afford to go and let's face it, that's a lot of us in this city with the ticket prices for the Canucks, I think that's the one for you

because Tuesday, there's going to be enough people that want to go see Celebrating with the Sharks. Sure. And then Saturday's the Leafs game. Yeah. So sandwich in between is a Thursday, there's 15 games on Thursday night, by the way. The schedule this week is very bizarre,

but 15 games including the Canucks Ducks one, And the Ducks, as you mentioned, one of the hottest teams in hockey. What a bizarre season. If you go back and look at their start and then the swoon in between and then this recent seven-game win streak that they're on, they're going to look for an eighth straight win. They're in Edmonton tonight, by the way, so there's a game to watch. We might be doing that one later, just a little tease for some content later on in the show.

They're a really interesting team, and you're right. That's a game that you haven't been to one this year, and you're interested in seeing a team that is obviously going to be a factor moving forward now with all the young talent that they've got. Beckett Seneca, who's 19 years old, had a hat trick his previous game. There's a team that they're going to be in the thick of that Pacific Division for an awfully long time.

Quite frankly, if things go the way that they're going, the ducks are going to be beating up on the Canucks over the next few years if things continue to go this way. Because the Canucks are going to be one of those teams that everyone is expecting to take two points off, especially next year. I know this year everyone's already like, tick, that's one that we should.

You never know, man. You never know. I mean, I know pretty well. I think I got a pretty good idea. I feel like I got a pretty good idea. Yeah, so like you look at it. San Jose has risen back to prominence in a major way. We're going to get to see them Tuesday with Celebrini.

I wonder if Sherwood's going to play. I know he's been skating. Don't know if he's going to be able to make his return in time. But regardless, San Jose is going to be one. Anaheim's going to be one. Edmonton, Anaheim are 2-3 in the division right now. Hold on. You just brought up an actually a decent talk.

topic to dive into. Yes. How would the Canucks be not terrible next season? I have no idea. No idea. Would it start with the coach? Would it start with the coach that came in with the system and got buy-in? Okay, you did say not terrible.

Not terrible. Right. So I'm not talking like, Seahawks are going to the Super Bowl or White C-Ox going in the Amos Cup. I'm talking about like, you know, the Cleveland Indians like, these guys aren't so bad, you You get Lou Brown in the door? I don't know. Good question.

A coach of, how should I put this gently, a different caliber would be great. Now, this could be in any shape or size because. Could be a rookie head coach. Look at what the Montreal Canadians did with Marty St. Louis. He had no professional coaching experience. But they thought, what if we got a guy who is not that far removed from a Hall of Fame playing career, is respected by the players because of the way that he played

and the way he came up and is going to teach our guys specifically the type of players that we had, Coffield, Suzuki, these good young offensive players, Demadoff, take your pick, right? It's worked, I'd say, so far it's worked. Which good young offensive players

do the Canucks have? They don't have them yet. That's a problem. Oh, that is a problem. If you were to be, so just let me finish my thought. If you were to be not terrible next year, you would have to bring in a guy that's like, we are playing

0-0-0-0-2-1 and 2-2 games all year. We're going to be incredibly stout defensively. We're going to teach all these mistakes that you young guys keep making. We're going to eradicate those from your game, but we are not going to be very adventurous offensively. One thing that I've been wondering is how committed the Canucks are going to be to playing the three young defensemen that they're playing right now

in V-Lander, who didn't play against the penguins because he was sick. There has been a bug going around. DPD and of course Zeev Bouillon because listen I know some of the vets are making mistakes too I think you know Marcus

Pedersen is definitely having a tough season Tyler Myers makes mistakes out there right we all know that but I also think it's really hard for those guys when they're paired up with the young guys Yeah it leads to it some of these young guys are so raw Yep like they really They have

I don't want to say they have no idea what they're doing out there, but they're loose out there. Yeah, they are, absolutely. They are. And it's okay. It's okay because this is the season. This is why Jim Rutherford says it. This is the season to do it,

but he never talks about next season. He always says, like, this is the season to go out there and play these young guys. Let them make mistakes. You're actually fine if they make mistakes, because not only do you get some losses that help you with draft position, you let them learn through trial and error, what they can go through, but is that something they're willing to commit to having these three very young, very inexperienced

defensemen in the lineup playing pretty significant roles? I think the follow-up question you have to ask there is who's going to be playing behind those aforementioned defensemen? What's your goalending going to be next year? I think that plays a big role in whether you're going to win or lose hockey games. because right now, I don't think you're going to blame Kevin Lankinen for what's happened this season in the slightest. But Kevin Lankinen has also not pulled a game out of the fire. He's just not that guy. He's not.

What are you shaking your head at? You pulled a couple games out on the fire. Oh, you are. Okay. Sorry. I was ready to do it. I thought you were. Harvard's like, I'm not accustomed to this.

Yeah. Right? What's happened? Has he really? The Boston game. In Boston. Yeah. I think.

I don't know. They all kind of go together in my mind right now. One of the things that Demko. had an ability to do when he was healthy and when he was at his peak was he would give them a shot to win games they really quite frankly had no business winning. He would make those kind of saves

and he would have that kind of and it was the consistent almost getting in the heads of opposition shooters like you're not beating this guy tonight or if you are it's going to take something special and this is man there's no disrespect to Langen but he just doesn't have that profile, that style, any of it.

And if you put him behind this defense next year you've got a good chance to lose more games than you're going to win. He's just not that good. guy. I hate being that guy, but he's not that guy. Demko would be, and I have no idea, I have no idea what the future has in store for Demko right now. No idea. Would not be surprised if he doesn't play another hockey game this year. Well, we talked about the defense. We talked about the goal tending. Let's talk about the other position that's responsible largely for the

play in your own end, which is the Kinnock's issue right now. I know, well, it's everything, but I think it starts with that. Some of the breakdowns they have. I mean, it's what a last place overall team by a fair margin looks like and that's the center position I have no idea like Bluger's going to get traded yes

unless they sign them camp isn't camp isn't come back he's probably going to be traded maybe for like a very late Brown doesn't even exist anymore and then we and then all the other guys are also

wild cards Pedersen because we don't know if he's going to be with the Canucks next season and we have don't know what he's going to look like. I think he doesn't look more confident with the puck on his stick right now, but I mean, the bottom line isn't there. And I don't know if you want to blame his line mates, but whatever, Pedy's Pedy. Heedle, no idea. Like, I think he's, I'm just happy he's been healthy in his return so far. It's been very short, but I'm glad he's been able to

get through the games. I can't say if he's been good or bad. I don't have a read on it yet. And then Rossi, I, you know, he's got to get healthy. And then I still don't know what he's going to be. I think it was a pretty tough situation that he comes in and is like, go, right? And the team is not in a good, good spot. But I wasn't knocked out by his play. I wasn't sitting there going, oh, yeah, there's definitely something there with him. So the center, no idea what it looks like down the middle of his coot's going to be on the team. Who knows? No, they can't do that. You can't bring them into this kind of environment. It's tough enough for the young, defenseman cutting their teeth in this environment.

I will say this. What you're talking about at the center position and the unknown and how dire it might seem, that could be the final reason why they're terrible last next year. I don't see there's any way that this team will be any good next year. Will they try? They could try, but it'll take a lot of try

in and it would very much deviate from what even a hybrid retool or rebuild, never mind a regular one looks like because you would be stepping on the gas so emphatically in a free agent pool that's shallow. in an NHL where trades aren't that easy to make,

I don't see it happening. I think the reason that Rutherford doesn't talk about next year what you keep referencing is because I don't think he knows if he's going to be here. I think he would like to, but I think... I think it's more he doesn't know

what the team's going to look like. I think it's a combination of three things. Very unclear outlook on the team. Job security, quite frankly, his age. He has no idea how much longer he's going to be able to commit to this. He can say, you know, X amount of years, but things change pretty rapidly. It is remarkable.

I mean, it's not his fault. He is the age he is, but it is remarkable. He's like, you made a two to three year process. How long are you going to be here? Oh, probably not that long. Yeah. Like, oh, yeah? But that's, what's the succession plan?

Well, they should have that in place. Well, do you think they will? No. Because they need to make a decision on Patrick Alvin, I think, in the next couple of months. I think before, I really do. because I think that's one opportunity where if you ask the question, if Jim Rutherford

were to resign today, are you comfortable with Patrick Alvin taking over? If the answer is no to that, then you've already made your decision and they should bring in a new general manager and have a succession plan

that way. I think that's another way frankly that they could sell, hope, sell optimism. Like I think new coach, new GM, would go a long way. Because look at the optimism that people took from Adam Foote. I know. A guy that had never been a head coach in the NHL.

And the only time that he was a head coach was in the WHL. And it didn't go well. But we liked the vibes. You always forget. We liked the vibes. We like the golf trips. And we like the conversations. And we like the fact that he had gotten a really good handle on the dynamics of the room.

It's just the other stuff that kind of fell short. By the way, there had the coaching. That part. Right. And what the players were supposed to do. Also, there have been a couple instances in the National Hockey League recently where teams have very publicly laid out a general manager or front office executive succession plan. I think to the blues always do it. The blues do it a lot.

They love it, right? They love having the guy in wait just sitting there being like, hurry up and retire, old man, I want to take your job. The Capitals did it too when Patrick took over from McClellan. The Sabres did in a sneaky way. Yeah. They didn't tell the guy that was getting taken over. No, no, no, Kev. Yarmos just here to observe.

He's like, Mr. Vagula, did you just hire my replacement? He's like, don't be silly. That's going to happen in December. And then the team is going to take off without you. This is honestly, I've never seen a new GM bump midseason. It's one of the best things I've seen. They keep going. They keep going.

Okay, got a couple things to do before we go to break. One, I need to remind you that you need to reserve your spot for the big football party at the Clayton Public House hosted by Sportsnet 650. Email info at the Clayton Pub.com for more. Clayton Public House, good food, good people, good times. Finally, this whole show, all of it. The reason I got here this morning is because of the Duick Auto Group. Find out why nobody beats a Duick deal since 1926.

Visit Duick GM on Marine Drive. Visit them downtown, visit them in Richmond, and visit them online at the duikato group.com. First hour of the show is in the books. NFL talk coming up with Mike Tanning. our NFL insider from the two deep zone next on the Halford & Brough show on Sportsnet 650.