Halford & Brough in the Morning - The Seahawks Keep Pulling Us Back In

Episode Date: November 25, 2024

In hour two, Mike & Jason discuss Week 12 highlights with Too Deep Zone NFL insider Mike Tanier (1:16) including the impressive play of the NFC West-leading Seattle Seahawks, plus they talk the latest hockey news with Amazon Prime NHL host Adnan Virk (23:50). 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.

🎵 703 on a Monday. Happy Monday, everybody. Halford Brough, Sportsnet 650. Halford Brough in the morning is brought to you by Vancouver Honda, Vancouver's premier destination for Honda customers. They have a friendly, knowledgeable staff that can help with anything you're looking for, sales, financing, service, or parts. We are in hour two of the program.

Mike Tanier is going to join us in just a moment here to kick off hour two. Hour two is brought to you by Jason Hominick from Jason.Mortgage. If you love giving the banks more of your money, then don't let Jason shop around to find the perfect mortgage for you. I am being silly.

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So, Orfee, what are you waiting for? Kintec, to the phone lines we go. NFL insider Mike Tanier joins us now on the Halford & Brough show on Sportsnet 650. What up, Mike? How are you? I'm doing great. Are we going to be talking about the first place Seattle Seahawks today? Boy, are we.

You know what we're going to do? We're going to – I got in trouble at the start of the show. Let me dial it back here because I said that the NFC West was mid, and Jason said it was the wrong way to start a show because we should be celebrating a great defensive performance from the Seattle Seahawks. And then I countered by saying I was just going with our best friend and good host, sorry, good guest, Mike Tanier wrote about that he was trying to make sense of, quote,

the highly competitive, unpredictable, and utterly appalling NFC West race. How dare you? How dare you? How dare you? How many combined wins does this division have? They're not great, but they're not terrible either. What do you think about it, Mike? You know, I started my headline.

It was going to be how the West was boring or how the West was numb or how the West was dumb. And then I went to how the West was mid, and then I went to how the West was meh, and I landed on how the West was blarg. Because I didn't have an actual word or even like a slang term to properly define NFC West football right now. And the Seahawks are a part of that.

They did have an unbelievable defensive performance, especially on the defensive front. Great play by Leo Williams. Great play by Boye Mafe. They're kind of coming together there. And then you look at the offense, and it was like, yeah, they were there. They were there. They were part of the game as well.

And I look at the last two wins, and it's like, the best thing you can say about the last two wins is that they beat two of the other teams in the NFC West. The problem with all the NFC West teams are kind of the same. They're kind of disappointing. They kind of just play down to each other's level. And it's hard to get enthusiastic about anything that's going on in that division. Well, I mean, yesterday was funny because we're like, the Seahawks won.

That's great. But the three of the other four teams didn't just lose yesterday, but looked pretty bad doing it. Let's start with Arizona because that, to me, was probably the biggest disappointment of the day. I was happy as a Seahawks fan. But you're the first place team in the division. You played good football recently. You had a bye week and you come out with that six points on the road. Kyler Murray looked awful.

The offense looked awful. It just looked like they kind of proved that maybe they were pretenders rather than contenders. Yeah, I feel that way. And, you know, all during the season, I kept pointing out to people, look at this Cardinals offensive line. And I'm not just talking about when the Cardinals played weaker teams when they when they lost to the Lions it was a tough game against the Lions

and the Cardinals offensive line looked great it's like these are great run blockers they're pretty good pass blockers and Kyler helps them by moving around the scheme is really cool wait till you see this it It's all nothing. Again, got beat up by Williams and some of the other guys on the front there. The running game disappeared. Kyler was left doing the things he doesn't do well. You don't want him constantly in second and long, third and long because

then he's got to fire a ball downfield and he's only got a tight end in Marvin Harrison to throw to. So you saw that and then as the game progressed, big short yardage mistake, they're attempting a field goal, 22-yard field goal, and it's like maybe this is time to try to go for the touchdown because it's a little bit of a do-or-die situation. A team that looked unready and looked like they themselves felt unready

against the Seahawks. Let's move to the 49ers here. So they get bombed 38-10 in Green Bay against the Packers. Now, a lot of people are going to say, well, they were without Boza and they were without Purdy. That's to be expected. But Kyle Shanahan came out after that game and said that we got embarrassed.

And what he was talking about was the billion pre-snap penalties, the three turnovers, and they couldn't stop the run at all. Like, Boza or no, they just could not deal with Josh Jacobs yesterday. I do wonder if this is, it's just one of those years where the 49ers might have to say, it's not going to happen. We're not going to turn it around or find the magic elixir. We're just not good enough this season. That's exactly it.

You know, if that game was, you know, whatever, a 27 to 20 final and you say, well, you know, the quarterback was out there and they couldn't mount a pass rush. It would be different from what you saw. All the arm tackling of Josh Jacobs that amounted to nothing. You're right. All the pre-snap penalties, and you can be like, oh, you know, they're on the road in Lambeau and they're not used to the quarterback's hands. Come on.

Come on, you can't keep doing that. And it just was not good. And the thing with the 49ers is, okay, you're without your starting quarterback, you're without your best defensive player. You can't be 5-5 going into the game. You can't be 5-5 going, because it's like if you are, you know, 8-2 or whatever you're supposed to be, oh, we're out without Purdy for a week, we can take an alley here and survive it.

The problem of yesterday was it was manifest of the fact that they had a loss to the vikings lost to the rams lost to the cardinals okay lost to the chiefs whatever lost to the seahawks entering that game so they eliminated their margin for error and then they went out there and they did not play a smart they did not play a tough game when they really needed to, we were having this discussion earlier, and I'm going to ask you the question. Who is more dysfunctional slash embarrassing, the New York Jets or the New York Giants? All right, I'm calling the Giants on this one.

And for a couple of reasons. First of all, the Jets haven't done a couple of things that we're all saying they're going to do yet. They haven't benched Aaron Rodgers yet. Yeah, they fired a coach, fired GM, etc. And the Jets did all of this in the name of flying too close to the sun. We brought in a Hall of Famer who was a cantankerous weirdo at the end of his career, and that gave us a chance of maybe reaching the Super Bowl or winning a bunch of playoff games,

and now this is the residue of the fact that that didn't work out. The Giants are doing this all over Daniel Jones and Brian Dayball and a team that peaked going 9-6-1 a couple of years ago and has been treading water ever since. All of this dysfunction is built out of the desperation of something that was a doomed non-idea from the start. They didn't gamble big and lose like the Jets did. They gambled small and are now losing big. So I'm calling it the Giants going out there yesterday. Again, they could have made a little rally around Tommy DeVito. He won a couple of games from last year.

They got Malik Nabors back. They got Kayvon Thibodeau back. They've got a good defensive front four. The Buccaneers aren't exactly the 19, you know, 2007 Patriots here. They could have gone out and done it. They were demoralized. They were flat. They looked like a team that didn't care anymore.

And that makes sense because they just watched their starting quarterback treated like a third-string backup because the team wanted to save money and i think everyone in that locker room got that message on sunday so the seahawks are actually in new york to play the jets next week is aaron rogers guaranteed to be the quarterback for that game no but i have a hard time with the signal-to-noise ratio when the New York media, when the WFAN gets in deep dutching and they get a hold of a rumor. I would put it at about 90% chance that you're going to see Aaron Rodgers. You kind of want to see him right now.

He's got all his surrogates out there saying, gosh, he's really banged up and everything to protect his very fragile ego. And he's a below-average quarterback right now. He does some very savvy, smart things, but he doesn't have any mobility. He doesn't have the elite arm. It's all savvy. It's all like the quick throw when he sees a mismatch and stuff like that. And he's a very beatable opponent.

I've been spending weeks, and like the other people I talk to, spending weeks saying, you know, the Jets remain dangerous. Watch out for them. They've got these guys. You know, Rodgers can do this. The defense can do that, et cetera. I don't think they're all that dangerous anymore because they're another team. Demoralized, looking to the future, wondering what's next,

kind of like rattled by all the drama around them. And I think the Seahawks should be able to get a win there, even though, yeah, it's a road game in a pretty tough environment. We're speaking to Mike Tanier, our NFL insider, here on the Halford & Brough Show on Sportsnet 650. Mike has a presentation of the Clayton Public House. Pre-game to post-game, the Clayton Public House is your home of football. Catch all the action on 15 screens and two giant projectors.

Visit them online at theclaytonpub.com. So Jason and I had the which New York team is more dysfunctional conversation earlier. And I was running through what happened to the Giants yesterday. I was like, that's embarrassing. Baker Mayfield's mocking Tommy DeVito on the field, which is like the dictionary definition of punching down. Anyway, I forgot on top of all of this,

I'm like, oh yeah, also the Giants lose this game at home in embarrassing fashion. And then on Sunday night football, Saquon Barkley runs for 255 yards. So I ask the question, is Barkley going to become the first running back since 2012 to win NFL MVP? He is not because the way the voters think nowadays, a lot of them think it has to be a quarterback.

The definition of value is that quarterbacks are more valuable even than the best running backs, the best receivers, the best defensive players. You also have Josh Allen having a phenomenal season. You also have Lamar Jackson having a very, very solid season. And finally, you have the Offensive Player of the Year Award that those same voters who think MVP is for quarterbacks say Offensive Player of the Year is for the best non-quarterback. That's like the Barry Sanders trophy or the Jerry Rice trophy in their mind.

And Barkley's sitting there, minus 310. Minus 310 as we speak to win Offensive Player of the Year. Obviously, Derrick Henry's in the running for that as well. So everything is lined up, too. It's fun for us. We can talk about MVP. We can talk about whether it's fair or unfair. It's a sucker's bet to pick a non-quarterback for MVP right now.

It's just a waste of money. What is Nick Sirianni's popularity level now in Philadelphia? Because earlier in the season, it seemed like all the Eagles fans wanted him fired, and the Eagles are playing some pretty good football right now. Eagles are playing great football. I think Nick Sirianni can get in line at a coffee shop and not get spit on by small children and grandmothers. That's nice.

That's nice for him to be able to go out for a coffee. That's really good in Philly. Andy Reid only hit that level for a couple of years in Philly, so that's pretty good for him. But, yeah, you know, the temperature has really throttled down on, like, the Eagles' doomerism around here. You know, some of the people I see on my personal chats and discourse, the guys I hang out with in the tavern, I have not gone out for coffee yet.

So maybe I'll hear something different at the local coffee shop here in southern New Jersey. But, yeah, you have to give credit for Sirianni. Again, I think his fourth down decisions are loopy. He looks like a miserable dude on the sidelines, even when he's up by two touchdowns. Whether he's delegated the authority, whether it's a little different behind the scenes, maybe it's true that him and Jalen Hurts have started having some heart-to-heart talks, and that has smoothed over, and that relationship is carrying over elsewhere.

Eagles are not making mistakes. They're not being self-destructive they're letting saquon and aj brown and hurts and their stars and their coaches do what they need to do and that's made the eagles yeah i think right now lions are the best team in the nfl those are the second best team in the nfl i think the eagles are number three better than the defending champion chiefs right now uh one of our listeners juan in comox, wants to know about the Houston Texans. I did want to ask you about them because it feels like everything was primed for them to take that next step in their evolution this year. They made the big acquisition of Stephon Diggs,

and it looked like everyone was going to take the step forward. But as we often know in sports, progress is not always linear. That was a bad loss on the weekend to a bad Titans team. It drops them to not a horrible record, 7-5 on the year, and they're still first in a pretty weak division. But they just don't look like a team that's among the elites in the AFC, probably because they're not just yet. They're not.

They are penalty prone. Their offensive line is weak, except for, except for like their left tackle. Everything else is pretty weak. Stroud has backslid a little bit. You know, I think we just assumed, okay, this guy's put him next to Josh Allen in the peer lift, and he's not there, and there's some things he doesn't do right. Running game is inefficient. And this is a game where, you know, the Texans get Nico Collins back,

and he has a good game. They get five sacks from Daniel Hunter and Will Anderson against a bad quarterback in Will Levis. They get a pick six, and they lose. And they lose, and they get outplayed. It wasn't like this weird fluky loss. They were getting outplayed by the Titans throughout

the first half. They needed to pick six for one of their scores. Another score came on like a long kickoff return at the beginning of the game. They're just fundamentally not strong enough. Now, again, like you said, they're going to win this division, but they're just another AFC South winning team. They always have a team. They won.

They get the automatic bid for the playoffs, and they're just not that good. And I don't know what they do next because you you're right, they spent a lot of money, they've got a lot of front-line talent. I think Diggs is gone after this year. I don't know what they do next, but they can't just tread water while C.J. Stroud is young. They have to turbocharge his development, and

really eliminate some of the mistakes that have left them at, what are they, 6-5 right now? 7-5. Yeah, 7-5. So, the Chargers tonight, LA's hosting a lot of big football games. They had Sunday Night Football, Rams and Eagles. That didn't go well for the home team. And tonight, the home team is the Chargers,

although the home team in LA, there's always a lot of other fans there. At any rate, the Chargers have a good opportunity to make a real statement tonight against the Baltimore Ravens. Are the Chargers able to do that? I don't think so. I think the Chargers, like the Rams, are a little inflated.

According to DVOA analysis, they've had the easiest schedule up until now. If you look at the Chargers' schedule, a lot of easy games, a lot of wins over some bad opponents, and that has inflated their record to a degree. I think the Ravens' record is deflated because they have so many mistakes that I don't think they're going to keep making. I really don't think they're giving up a dozen penalties a game for the rest of the year.

I think that something has to give there, things like the turnovers, et cetera. I think in this Harbaugh ball, I think the Ravens are clearly a better team and they're going to make that statement tonight. Okay, Thanksgiving on Thursday, down in America at least. We've already had ours. clearly better team and they're going to make that statement uh tonight okay uh thanksgiving on thursday down in america at least we've already had ours we get things done quicker we got bears and lions giants and cowboys and dolphins and packers if you could only watch one of these games which one would it be it wouldDolphins. I think I'll only be able to watch one of those games. I host my Thanksgiving.

Packers-Dolphins. The Dolphins are better than their record because, again, they had a lot of losses with Tua Tunga-Viola injured. He is back. They're playing better football. They are hanging around the playoff chase, and I think they can throw a fight into the Green Bay Packers, who are in this tough position. They're 8-3 in the third place.

They're battling for a wild card as well, and the Lions are not going to give up their claim to the NFC North. So that's the game to watch. Lions-Bears could be fun because Caleb Williams is interesting to watch. He makes a lot of big plays and a lot of big mistakes. And then I don't know what to tell you about Cowboys-Giants, except it's on TV, and that's a great time for those of us in the USA to have dinner, talk to Grandpa a little bit,

maybe have a cocktail and save our energy for the late game. And talk politics. No! Get into politics. No! I'm still laughing at the banner on the advertising. Cowboys Giants. It's on TV.

Mike, this was great, man. Thanks for taking the time to do it. As always, happy Thanksgiving. Enjoy the week. We'll do this again next Monday. Thank you. Take care and enjoy your week. Yeah, you too.

Thanks. That's Mike Tanney, our NFL insider from the Too Deep Zone here on the Halford & Brough Show on Sportsnet 650. So if you're planning your TV watching schedule, which I know you all do on a Monday, you're looking, well, what's going on TV-wise for me this week? Got to get ready for the rest of the week. Got my TV guy that right now.

So tonight, you've actually got a pretty good Monday night football matchup. The Ravens at the Chargers. Tomorrow night, the Canucks at Bruins, 4 o'clock start hour time. Wednesday night, Canucks at Bruins 4 o'clock start hour time Wednesday night Canucks play again in Pittsburgh against the dreadful Penguins 4.30 start time

Thursday is all the NFL games it's Thanksgiving I don't think there's any NHL games not a single NHL game on Thursday and Friday the Canucks are in action again but here's the thing. You're going to have to skip work if you work

9-5. That game, Black Friday, in Buffalo, is a 12 o'clock start hour time. This is where the schedule gets funky. And then Sunday's a 9.30 a.m. our time in Detroit. I ain't And then Sunday is a 9.30 a.m. our time in Detroit.

I ain't waking up for that. 9.30? That's my sleep-in time. My one day of sleep. 9.30? That's so early. I can't sleep in past that. You should be awake by 9.30.

No way. I sleep until 11 a.m. every Sunday. So do you stay up late? No. No? You just get like 12 hours? No, I don't get enough sleep throughout the week, so Sunday's my makeup day. Oh, okay.

No, fair enough. I'm up at 4.30 Monday to Friday. I'm up at 8 on Saturday, so Sunday's my normal sleep. You're recharging the batteries then. Exactly. I can't sleep past 9.30. I don't like the morning games. I'll be awake.

I don't think it's a question of waking up. I just don't love the morning game. I don't like the schedule moving forward. I don't like a noon game on Friday. A noon game on Friday? It's Black Friday. Yeah, I don't love the morning game. I don't like the schedule moving forward. I don't like a noon game on Friday. A noon game on Friday? It's Black Friday. I don't care. And that's partly because...

Americans. America mostly. That's partly because the NHL does do a good job on Black Friday spacing out the game. So if you wanted to sort of feast on hockey all day, there's games that are... They shouldn't put a Canadian team on that though. If they're going to schedule, they shouldn't put a Canadian team on that, though. If they're going to schedule,

they shouldn't put a Canadian team playing in the States on Black Friday. I mean, almost every team is playing on Black Friday, though. I know, but there's 28 of the 32. Are they all playing at 12 o'clock? No. They haven't started at 4, like, normally. You know, for the Canadian fans.

I hear you. It's just like, well, okay, so that's one game I can't watch? I get what they're trying to do conceptually. So games start at 1 o'clock Eastern. I agree with Brock. It should be exclusively American teams that get that. Yeah, no, I'm with you guys.

The Flames and Blue Jackets also go at noon. You're talking about a Canadian team that's going to be playing in the middle of the day. Is Friday a holiday for Americans? They just, I mean, no one, I think it is, essentially. I don't know if it is officially. Except for Target and Walmart. I mean, I guess they got Thanksgiving the night before. That's all.

Yeah, I think it might not be officially, but most people just take a four-day weekend. So the trip for the Canucks. You're the American. Shouldn't you know? Yeah. I know the Thanksgiving. We never did Black Friday stuff. We did the American Thanksgiving, but never Black Friday.

So the schedule for the Vancouver Canucks, the road trip started off great with a 4-3 win in Ottawa on Saturday. We talked about it a bunch in Hour 1. Go and download the Hour 1 podcast, by the way. Apple, Google, Spotify, wherever you get your podcasts, Hour 1 is available. Adnan Virk is going to join us next. I think we're just going to do exclusively hockey talk with Adnan because he was in Edmonton last week. He got to do a sit-down interview one-on-one

with Connor McDavid. He just completed another sit-down interview this morning with Nazem Qadri. And the reason he did that is because Calgary, in one of the few games that's on tonight, they are playing the Ottawa Senators in Ottawa. And this is a big game for the Senators because they need to try and salvage this home stretch, which has been an abject disaster for them. They lost to Edmonton. They lost to Vegas. They got a Vancouver Canucks team on Saturday that was without JT Miller, without Brock Besser, without Thatcher Demko, and for a large chunk of it, without Quinn Hughes.

And they still lost. They haven't gotten a single point out of this homestand. It ends tonight in Calgary, and then they got to go on the road and play the three games in California. So Travis Green's feeling the heat right now, even though he's still relatively new on the job. Brady Kachuk is feeling the heat because there's a lot of people that are saying, we get that you're frustrated, but maybe you're a little too frustrated. And this Ottawa team that was expected to make the jump, it's just not happening right now.

Also, they're getting a good opportunity. All those teams that are trying to make the jump in that division should have looked at the start that Boston had and said, that was our chance. That was our chance to make up points on the Bruins. That was our chance to try and take advantage of that spot that they've opened up because as we get closer to Thursday with the American

Thanksgiving and being in a playoff position, Boston might just sneak its way back in there despite this horrible start to the season. So Adnan Virk's going to join us next. We've got a lot to get into with him. 8 o'clock, Satyar Shah's going to join us. We've got a lot more Canucks talk as well. Don't go anywhere. You're listening to the Halford & Brough

Show on Sportsnet 650. Hey, it's Jamie Dodd and Thomas Drance. Get your a lot more Canucks talk as well. Don't go anywhere. You're listening to the Halford & Brough Show on Sportsnet 650. Hey, it's Jamie Dodd and Thomas Drance. Get your daily dose of Canucks talk with us weekdays from 12 to 2 on Sportsnet 650 or catch up on demand through your favorite podcast app. It's time to chat with Adnan It's Adnan Berkey's on the show We're gonna talk some hockey

And take a trip to the silver screen That's right, it's time for Adnan Yes, Adnan Berkey joins us now We'll head out to the ice rink. And talk about all the films he's seen. 7.31 on a Monday. Happy Monday, everybody. Halford Brough, Sportsnet 650.

Halford Brough 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. We are in hour two of the program. Adnan Virk from Amazon's NHL coverage is going to join us in just a moment here. Hour two of this program is brought to you by Jason Hominick from jason.mortgage. If you love paying too much for your mortgage, then don't let Jason shop around to find the

perfect mortgage for you. I am joking. Let him do that. Visit him on the internet at jason.mortgage. To the phone lines we go. Adnan Virk joins us now on the Halford & Brough Show on Sportsnet 650. Martin Adnan, how are you? I'm doing great, Mike.

Jason just talked to Nazem Kadri ahead of our Flames Senators game tonight. I finished his book in like four days. It's fantastic. You should all check it out. It's called Dreaming My Life on the Edge. Naz was great. Told some great stories. So hopefully you all enjoyed the interview tonight.

What did he say about this Flames team that refuses to go away? Well, it's a specific stat I said to him, Jay. I said, you actually lead the league with three third-period game-time goals. And I said, so that very specifically proves to this, you know, clutch gene you have. It's a really great late. So he said, yeah, listen, you always want to beat your best late in games. But to be honest, and he laughed, he goes, I wish I had a few first-period goals so I wouldn't be in that situation in the first place.

But he has really embraced, Jay, the role of a mentor. And I said, in reading your book, it's fascinating. I remember in 2009 when you got drafted by Toronto and all the expectations around you and just how your career was going. I said, in Toronto, you're viewed as a good player, but difficult at times, whether it was right or wrong.

How old are you? You go to Colorado, you win a cup, and you get a seven-year deal with Calgary. And so he was just saying how it has been a really fascinating journey for himself. And with this play specifically, even though he himself still feels like a young man, he's enjoyed being a mentor. He's like, it's been great. And he goes, sometimes some of these young guys are a little stubborn. So I get it. I understand that role now because I was them years ago. But he's really enjoying being in Calgary. And I think some people were surprised

he signed with the Flames. After that run, he had with Colorado, could have signed with some other teams, perhaps the Rangers. I think the Lightning were interested. But he's really enjoying the Flames and what they're doing right now. Yeah, I thought he might be traded. I thought he might be a guy that either wanted out to go to a Stanley Cup contender or the Flames would look at that contract and go, let's try and clear some cap space because we're not a Stanley Cup contender. No, you're 100% right, Jay. I was talking to somebody they go when's the ufa i go what do you mean he was a couple years ago he's not a big deal it's seven years at seven mil like in

today's nhl 49 million dollars and as you point out it's not necessarily whether or not naz is worthy of it it's just where are you going as a team if you're not going to be an elite team then why are you paying seven million million and almost 50 mil to a guy who's going to be here until 2029? And he's 34 right now. So I'm with you. I was like, okay, well, let's see how the contract goes. If the Flames happen to press quick on a rebuild and works out better

than we think, fine. But if not, yeah, you flip. I mean, there's been rumors. Maybe it's just a Toronto thing, but rumors that the Leafs are trying to get him back. That's the kind of guy they need, right? Feisty, top scores, elite. Could he go back to the Leafs? Could he go to another team? But the kind of guy they need, right? Feisty, tough, scores, elite. Could he go back to the Leafs?

Could he go to another team? But you're right. As long as Calgary's winning, he's not going anywhere. The Flames are playing very well and exceeding expectations. Then there's the team they're playing tonight, the Ottawa Senators, who are the exact opposite of that. What sort of vibes are you getting from the Senators' side of things ahead of tonight's game on Amazon Prime?

It's amazing, Mike. I was looking at some of these information on them, and I go, how is this team not a better team? Because Levis Ulmark won a Vesna, and then you look close, and you go, oh my God, his numbers aren't anywhere close to what he was when he won the Vesna with Boston. So is that simply, he

was the result of a very good defensive system in Boston, and now on his own, he's being exposed. Perhaps, but this is a guy with a 938 defensive system in Boston, and now on his own he's being exposed. Like, perhaps, but I'm like, this is a guy with a 938K percentage in 2022-23, and now it's at 884. Like, that's a dramatic drop-off. Brady Kachuk's amazing, right? Looking for a fourth straight 30-goal season.

He's on pace for 41. But then after that, you know, it drops off. I think Giroux's still a top six forward, but Stutzla, this is a crazy setup. They only have two power play goals, Stutzla, this is a crazy stat I read. They only have two power play goals, Stutzla, in like the last three years. How is a guy who's on your number one power play who gets as much ice time as he gets only his two

power play goals? If that speaks to the fact he's going to be better with their special teams, their PK, their average the previous seven years ranks 24th. If you're always one of the worst six teams in Pelmicill in today's league, that just does not augur well for success. And Kachuk was very blunt.

I mean, November 19th, he said, one word you could say about our team is immature. We talk about it in here all the time. There's just been too many moments, too many opportunities that have been missed so far. And I'm talking to Brady today. We're scheduled to talk at 445, and I will be bringing up that quote to him, because it's one thing to say it privately, fellas, as we know,

but for him to put his team on blast and call them immature, I'm curious what Brady was thinking about and what they're hoping to get out of it. But I just think it's frustrating. You know, I grew up in Kingston, as you guys know, a couple hours from here. I've been to Ottawa in about 15 years. It's a lovely city.

Going to go walk the Rideau Canal, go check out the Parliament Buildings. Like, this is a really nice town, and yet their hockey team has not had any modicum of success since 2017. They haven't made the playoffs in that long, and it doesn't feel like it's going to change anytime soon. Well, I know there's a lot of criticism of Brady Kachuk out of Ottawa after, in fact, their last game against the Vancouver Canucks because the Canucks

are up 4-1, and Brady Kachuk, who'd been running around and running his mouth pretty much all game, which he does, and that's fine. But then he gets in a fight with Dakota Joshua in the third period and gets tossed out of the game. So he isn't there for the comeback, and the Senators actually came close. They scored a couple goals, and Travis Green said afterwards that maybe the Brady Kach know, pumped up the guys and helped them score those two goals to make it interesting. But on the other hand, he wasn't around when they needed him the most at the end of the game. So I know there's a big discussion in Ottawa right now around whether Brady needs to channel his emotions a little bit better.

Yeah, and I think that's totally a fair argument, Jay. I remember years ago you used to have this feeling of pride or support a guy, he's a superstar player and he fights. How great is that? I'm like, listen, I'm not denying. Every day I see Sidney Crosby having a fight. It's good to see a superstar player who, when frustrated, I guess, will take matters into his own hands.

I get that. I understand physicality is a big part of hockey, but I'm with you. At the end of the day, and even, by the way, Mike Sullivan said that about Crosby, that specific instance, he goes, we don't want Sid in the penalty box for five minutes. I like the fact that the leader, I like the fact that he's fired up, but no.

Given a choice, do I want my superstar fighting? No. We've got other guys that can do that. So I think that's a totally fair point, that, yeah, okay, the fight sparked them, but then when they needed him, he wasn't on the ice. He was in the penalty box. Or, we've got other guys that can do that. So I think that's a totally fair point that yeah, okay, the fight sparked them, but then when they needed him, he wasn't on the ice. He was in the penalty box. Or God forbid he gets hurt in a fight. I mean, whatever it is, right? So I'm with you, man. I think

you play with an edge. You play physical. Of course, we all love guys who are hard-nosed, but I'd rather not have my best players fighting. Speaking of Sid, is Sid going to go out like this on a terrible Pittsburgh team? I know he's got a few more years left under contract,

but I don't know if I see this Penguins team turning it around. I don't see it at all, Jay. And listen, he gets 600 goals, it's a wonderful moment, nice goal. You know, 21st player ever to do it. It just adds to his morals and his accolades. And I like the fact, by the way, he seemed to embrace it. You know, sometimesst player ever to do it. It just adds to his morals and his accolades. And I like the fact, by the way, he seemed to embrace it.

You know, sometimes guys have these milestones. They go, well, you know, all that matters is the two points. Come on, 600 goals. I know you guys lost 5-1, but guess what? You've been doing a lot of losing this year. Can we just at least celebrate the achievement? So I'm glad that Sid recognized that and the importance of it and just what a special talent he's been.

But to your point, their goaltending stinks. We can all agree on this. Jari and Nizalkovic are not the guys. Their supporting cast is not very good. They have a ton of money tied up in four dudes. In Crosby, Malkin, who's a shadow of himself. I would have said to you guys a few weeks ago he's lost a step. I looked at his numbers.

He's like a minus nine in his last five games. He's won assists. He's fallen off a cliff. And not to mention all the money he had tied up in Letang as well. So I can't ever imagine Sidney Crosby not playing for the Pittsburgh Penguins. But, as you said, if he wants to win, they ain't winning this year. If they're not making the playoffs, there's going to be changes afoot. And, again, they're hamstrung by that cap.

But Dubas has to go to one of those four guys, not just one of the other three guys. All right, who is willing to move? Because all of them have no movement clauses. And we're not going to get better unless they trade you guys and we get younger and try to rebuild them to fly, et cetera. So I'm with you. It could be a little bleak. I never like seeing a superstar player fade towards the end

because Crossby's still a great player, still a pointy game player, still an all-star all the rest of it. But it looks bleak right now for Pittsburgh. We're speaking to Adnan Virk from Amazon Prime Monday Night Hockey here on the Halford & Brough Show on Sportsnet 650. Speaking of superstar players, Adnan, last week you got to do a sit-down one-on-one with

Connor McDavid ahead of the Edmonton game. What were some of your big takeaways from speaking with McDavid last week? You guys will love this. My brother grew up in a little Hispanic. He's not really as passionate now, but he got excited when I texted him. And tell me everything. And I said, okay.

On all hockey-related matters, Nick David was a B, B+. Meaning when I asked him about reaching 1,000 points, he was great. He said, well, it's not really about the achievement, more about seeing my teammates' reaction, et cetera. I asked him about never playing for Canada on best on best. And I said, I know you're focused on the season. He said, no, no, I'm thinking about that, too. Of course I am.

Four Nations Cup, I can't wait. It's going to be in Montreal. By the way, we were in Montreal as he was saying it. I said, give me two players, non-Oilers, that you'll have to play with the most in the NHL right now. It's going to be the Canadian, Krasny McKinnon. I asked about the fact, does Dad group a Bruins fan? Playing the Habs, always

special, yes. So on all hockey related matters, David was excellent. On anything non-hockey related, he was like a D-biter. And I don't know about Mike Halpert and Jason Brough, but I feel like whenever you're interviewing somebody, you don't start with the meat and potatoes right away. Maybe a little softball, loosen up, something light. I

tried that with David and it was a disaster. Because I had seen an article when he was on Turner. I think it was Subban had asked him. Apparently he hates ketchup. And he says, I'll is on Turner. I didn't, it was Subban had asked him, apparently he hates ketchup. Yep. And he says,

I'll never have it. I want to have like a phobia of it. So I was with my dear friend, Jeff Lovelock, one of my high school friends who was with me last year to Montreal. I used to ask him,

French's or Heinz? And of course I know Heinz because no, French's is a very popular ketchup but you've been gone too long. It's a very popular ketchup here. I go, okay.

So I started fellas by saying, French's or Heinz? And the look that McDavid did, it was like, huh? And I'm like, ketchup? Are you not a ketchup guy? He's like, no, no, I don't like ketchup, no. Kind of like a phobia. I'm like, okay.

And then I went to fantasy football, and I said, you know, I heard you in the Oilers and a bunch of fans. Who are you? He's like, yeah, it's fine. Eugene Hopkins is the commissioner. It's all okay. So how about you? And listen, have you ever met anybody who, and I don't even do fantasy, but have you

ever met anybody who doesn't want to talk about the fantasy football game? That's Connor McDavid. He's like, yeah, it's fine. We But how about you, and listen, have you ever met anybody, and I don't even do fantasy, but have you ever met anybody who doesn't want to talk about the fantasy football game? That's Connor McDavid. He's like, yep, it's fine, for 500, we'll figure it out. So I quickly learned, like, listen, man, this guy's all business. He wants to talk hockey, and on the hockey list, he was great.

Lesson to everybody else out there, don't try to get the funny out of Zimmer 97. It ain't happening. I'm glad you've tried. I've seen other journalists try it as well i kind of remember wischinski at the year that he got drafted asking him what kind of music he was into and his answer was i don't listen to music i was like wow that's he didn't he i think part of it was gonna program this guy with a sense of humor yeah they forgot the humor part when they were

programming i think part of it is he's been in the spotlight for so long, and he's been a superstar for so long, even when he was a teenager, that he's kind of built in that hockey thing from a very young age where if you don't say anything interesting, you can't get in trouble sort of deal. Yeah, the Sidney Crosby school. Right. It's 100% the Sidney Crosby school.

We always marvel at it. Sid has never had a misstep. I'm convinced he has a secret life. Yeah, and we also don't know anything about... Like, Crosby's so private, and he's like... It's like, I am a hockey player. I play hockey. What do you like to do? Play hockey.

I have a dungeon in my house. Oh, sorry, I shouldn't have said that. When we learn about that... I finally slipped up. When we learn about the dungeon, one day, we'll be like, oh, okay. Like, that makes more sense. But until then then it is

interesting because you brought up the parallel between Crosby and McDavid I do think that's one of them I think that McDavid is so deferential to Crosby right now like when they were asking about who's going to be the captain of the Canadian team Crosby McDavid said it's Sid 100% I think everything that Sid sort of laid groundwork wise is what McDavid's trying to copy. They've obviously got different styles of games and everything, but in terms of their persona and how they want to be perceived and how they address all the media attention,

I do think there's some real commonalities between what Crosby has done and what McDavid is currently doing. A thousand percent. And I said to him, and my buddy had said to me, when you ask him, who would you want to play with, he's going to say Crosby.

He adores Crosby. He is reverential of Sidney Crosby. And I said, all right. And so that makes sense that not only on the ice, but also off the ice, he just wants to follow Sid to a T. And I'm with you guys. I don't know a ton about Crosby's personality, but I feel like, I don't know, I feel like if I had five minutes with Sidney,

he'd be a little bit more. Maybe he wouldn't also tell me if he's into EDM or what kind of music he likes, but like, McDavid was like, whew. Like, you guys know what it's like. You walk out of there going like, eh, at least I'll edit it. Right? At least it wasn't live. We'll edit this thing up and it'll look great.

By the way, it did. The interview that ran was fantastic. Oh, my God. Connor McDavid and Bertha Betty. Didn't feel that way in a moment. You know, since we're talking about Crosby and McDavid, there's another guy in the NHL that came into the league with a lot of hype. And perhaps too much hype.

Do you feel a bit bad for what Conor Bedard is going through right now? He has not scored a goal since October 26. And that was the thing that he did. Like he had a great shot. He scored goals. We saw that in junior. We saw that at the world juniors and you know, I I'm nobody's writing this guy off right now. Nobody's saying he's a boss. Nobody. No, he was the rookie of the year last year, But I do wonder if this has been a lot harder for Conor Bedard than he thought it would be.

Yeah, it's funny. The game we had on NHL Network on Saturday, Jay, was Flyers-Blackhawks, and we were billing it as, you know, the two great young players in the game, Conor Bedard against Matt Bay-Mietzkoff. And Mietzkoff was up to the high for the Flyers. They were down 2-0, scored 2-3. Mieczkow scored the winner in overtime.

He's been fabulous. I mean, he was the rookie of the month in October. Torts has been down for a couple of games, which I don't necessarily agree with, but maybe that was talked about before. Hey, healthy scratch. Let's just, you know, show how the game's played. But he's been great.

He hasn't taken a push. He's been awesome. And then he contrasted that with Bedard. And you're right, he hasn't been paying attention as I had not been particularly closely prior to last week's game. I'm like, oh, yeah, Bedard's great. Called him, like, is that three goals? Like, wait, what? Like, yeah, he hasn't been paying attention, as I had not been particularly closely probably last week's game. I'm like, oh, yeah, Bedard, great. Called him, like, is that three goals?

Like, wait, what? Like, yeah, he's really been slumping. And as you said, at the very least, score. Like, it depends on the player's game. If you said, well, he's a playmaker, he's still getting lots of assists, he's still doing bad. Well, no, you at the very least expect Conor Bedard to score goals, right? He'll be like a Cy Young, nine goals, one assist kind of thing.

And he hasn't done that. And watching that game Saturday, I'm like, the biggest knock, I guess I could say, against Bedard was that I didn't really notice that he was down on the ice. Think about that. Normally with star players, you're just always aware of them. You're always cognizant. Whatever move they make, dipsy-doodle, nice pass, deep, whatever it is,

you're like, okay, there he is. I'm aware. There's connect me, etc. But Bedard, he just disappeared. And I don't know how much of that is playing on a bad Chicago team. I don't know what that frustration can lie in, but it seems really quick for a sophomore to be this accelerated, right? If he was good but not great, okay, fine, I get that. But it seems like teams have adjusted him a lot quicker than he's adjusted them.

After a light night in the NHL last night, you got 11 games tonight, including the Flames and the Sens in an all-Canadian matchup on Prime. Adnan, thank you very much for doing this today. We really appreciate it. Enjoy the game tonight. It should be a good one. We'll do this again next Monday.

Mike, Jason, thanks so much, boys. A new Monday slot here at Halford & Brough. I love it. We'll talk to you soon. It's great. Thanks, Adnan. Appreciate it. Adnan Virk, Amazon Prime NHL host here on the Halford & Brough Show on Sportsnet.

6.50. Another trivia question for you. Let's do it. In his past five games, how many combined shots on goal does Conor Bedard have? Five games. Five games. Combined shots on goal. Combined shots on goal.

That is a good question, Jay. I'm going to say five. Three. Yikes. I thought five was low. Three. No shots against Philly in his last game, and no shots in the game before that against the Florida Panthers.

So we know that Conor Bedard doesn't have great players to play with. No. Well, Jason Dickinson. I think at last glance, he was playing with Taylor Hall, who's back in the lineup now. Good for him. And Tevo Teravainen, who's a pretty good player. So we know that.

And they're not getting a lot of power plays either. That's another thing that the Blackhawks are not getting because they're not very good. So they're probably not forcing teams to take a lot of power plays either. That's another thing that the Blackhawks are not getting because they're not very good, so they're probably not forcing teams to take a lot of penalties on them. But, you know, you do have concern, and it kind of reminds me of Pedersen earlier in the season, and still to a certain extent. You're kind of like, he's not really piling up the shots on goal.

He's making a few good plays here and there, and he's playing well defensively, and Petey has definitely been coming on lately for Right. He's making a few good plays here and there, and he's playing well defensively, and Petey has definitely been coming on lately, for sure. Okay? But Bedard, when you're not even getting shots on goal, and Adnan said, you know, in that Flyers game, I didn't really notice him.

Yeah. How many people that went to the Vancouver game said the exact same thing? I kind of forgot he was on the ice until he made that blunder right at the end. Then you knew he was on the ice until he made that blunder right at the end. Then you knew he was on the ice. And he looked so upset. It's a hard league.

It's really difficult. And I think one of the issues, and I brought this up before, was like the hype was crazy. And you always said, well, it was the first year of ESPN, and they looked for a young player that they could kind of glom onto. And you had Bedard doing the media rounds, not just in Canada, but in the United States. He was on the Pat McAfee show. Him and Aaron Rodgers.

Yeah. Right. The big two on the Pat McAfee show, Aaron Rodgers and Connor Bedard. And the bar that had been set by Sidney Crosby and Connor McDavid in terms of making an immediate impact individual stats-wise and also team-wise in the case of Sidney Crosby was enormous. And, you know, we're not holding Celebrini to the same standards. Not even close, right? He's the first overall pick, but he isn't being held to the same standard because he wasn't considered in the same class as Bedard.

He was considered very good and very promising and the Sharks certainly were marketing around him, but not to the same extent that Chicago and the league did with Bedard. And it's funny, even though he won rookie of the year last year, the hype around Bedard league wide from ESPN, when you talked about the broadcast, it was what?

A month? And then it was gone. I think the. It was gone. I think the market and franchise and and franchise play into this big time. I think it was, if you want to do hindsight being 2020, and this is obviously some Vancouver nepotism, for lack of a better phrase,

I think that going to Chicago was probably problematic. One of the big differences that Celebrini doesn't have the same hype as Bedard is because of the fact that he's playing doesn't have the same hype as Bedard is because of the fact that he's playing for the San Jose Sharks and not the Chicago Blackhawks. The Chicago Blackhawks were a fence post signature marquee franchise for the NHL. Then it became a black stain nightmare franchise for the NHL. And it reflected in the season ticket sales like they

were way down and then they got bedard so bedard was unfairly i would say tasked with pulling this storied organization out of a very dark place and it doesn't just happen by drafting a phenom because he is skating with Dickinson, Maroon, Bertuzzi, Hall. Yeah, and Taylor Hall might – That was a pretty serious injury that he suffered. He's getting older. He's not the player he used to be. And it's just – we got a lot of pushback actually last week that, you know, you guys are way off base or you're just jumping on someone

who's still in the infancy of his career. For sure, it's too early to write any sort of story or book. He's only 19. He's 19 years old. But I was struck going back to last year at the comments at their locker clean out where they talked about how disappointed they were and how they needed to win more games.

And I remember thinking, your team is bad. You have one bright light in the NHL right now, and it's Conor Bedard. The rest of your draft picks aren't even there yet. McDavid had 100 points in his second season. Now, granted, he also had Leon Dreisaitl with him and other veterans like Jordan Eberle and Ryan Nugent Hopkins. And Lucic was still a half-decent player at that point.

And Lucic was only 28 years old at that time. So definitely Connor McDavid had more surrounding talent for him. But, I mean, 100 points in his second season? Connor Bedard, it's hard to see him match that or even come close. So someone just texted this in. We got a lot of variations of this text last week, and I just want to – maybe you're being sarcastic, but I'm going to read this as being a straightforward text

from an unsigned listener. It says, Bedard will be just fine. He just needs his versions of Taze and Keith and Seabrook. Buddy. Oh, is that all? Yeah, Buddy. It doesn't work like that. Okay, well, that's no problem.

You're two of those guys who are going to the Hall of Fame. Like, Taze and Keith are going to the Hall of Fame. All you got to do is find a couple more Hall of Famers for Conor Bedard to play with. It'll be fine. You don't just say, oh, everything will be fine once you get the other Hall of Fame players to go along with your Hall of Fame players.

There's countless examples of first overall picks with a ton of talent that don't get surrounded by the requisite talent. Look what's happening in Buffalo. They haven't found it yet. They thought they might, but they haven't. It is so difficult, so difficult to win in this league and to pull yourself out of the basement.

Because, as you said earlier, when we were talking to Fried about this last week, it's hard to find talent. It's really hard to find talent. And when you find it, no one wants to let it go. And sometimes people talk themselves into over-inflating or sort of overestimating the talent that they have. When you're bereft of talent for a long time,

you really start to look for it, and sometimes you start to talk yourself into it. And that's when you see contracts go on to guys either too early, right, where they get the big payday before they're proving themselves, or you start anointing guys that just aren't ready to carry the load, right? There are a handful of elite players,

and I do think that another thing that really hurt Bedard in the big scheme was McDavid, is that he was anointed as the best prospect since McDavid, which is fine. He was put up there on the level of Sid and McDavid, like those guys. You can say he's the best prospect. It should have been a two-parter. It should have been, he's the best prospect since McDavid, but he's not McDavid.

Does that make sense? That's how the conversation probably should have been. Like, yes, he's the best prospect since mcdavid but he's not mcdavid does that make sense like that's how the conversation probably should have been like yes he's the best singular prospect to come along since mcdavid entered the league but it's not fair to put him on the same plane as i'm not cheering for the blackhawks but i really am cheering for conor bedard because i don't want him to get too discouraged and i almost want to give him the, it's not your fault. Yeah. It's Philip Kershev's fault. Kevin Korchinski's fault.

I mean, one text is suggesting, you know, if they trade Bedard for Petey, one for one, he'd be around a lot of really good players. That one texter is you. We got to go to Frank. When we come back, Satyar Shah is going to join us. More Canucks talk here on your home of the Canucks, Sportsnet 650.