Halford & Brough in the Morning - The USA Canada Game Tomorrow Could Be A Powder Keg

Episode Date: February 14, 2025

In hour one, Mike & Jason look back at the previous day in sports (3:00), they talk the US anthem being boo'd at yesterday's 4 Nations matchup between Finland and the USA (6:00), as well as the geopolitical implications between Canada and the USA's matchup tomorrow, plus they get a Seahawks update from ESPN's Brady Henderson (29:47).  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.

Monster Mash! And do my graveyard slide! Then you can mash! Doing the Monster Mash with you on this beautiful Valentine's Day! Da-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na in broth ladies and gentlemen Stop! He's already dead! You choo-choo-choose me? Happy Valentine's! Ladies and gentlemen, the weekend. Woo! Good morning, Vancouver! 6.01 on a Friday!

Happy Friday, everybody! Happy Valentine's Day, everybody! Sweet, sweet Friday. It is Alfred, it is Brough, it is Sportsnet 650, and we are coming to you live from the Kintec Studios, the beautiful Fairview slopes in Vancouver. Jason, good morning. Good morning. Adog, good morning to you. Good morning.

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

Vancouver's premier metal recycler pays the highest prices on scrap metal. North Star Metal Recycling, they recycle, you get paid. Visit them at 1170 Powell Street in Vancouver. We are coming to you live from the Kintec studio. Kintec footwear and orthotics, working together with you in step. It is a Friday, it is Valentine's Day,

we've got a big show ahead. The guest list today begins at 6.30. Brady Henderson, it is Valentine's Day, we got a big show ahead. The guest list today begins at 6 30. Brady Henderson, ESPN, NFL Nation Seahawks insider is going to join us. It was a busy week for the Seattle Seahawks. Their new offensive coordinator, Clint Kubiak got introduced to the media. The Seahawks also rounded out their coaching staff and head coach Mike McDonald offered yet another strong endorsement, maybe his strongest endorsement to date, about Geno Smith being the Seahawks QB next season. So we will talk to Brady about all that at 6.30. 7 o'clock, Tom Galidi from NHL.com is going to join the program.

He was working last night's game from the Bell Centre. Big statement, big statement for the Kachuk brothers, Brady and Matthew, in a 6-1 thumping of the Finns in the second game of the Four Nations faceoff. I also want to ask Tom, and I want to do this gently because he is American, what was the atmosphere like at the Bell Center given all the political tensions right now with the United States? Because I feel like of all the tables that were being set for Saturday, the booing of the anthem, the booing of the players, the very loud booing of American captain Austin Matthews, I feel

like it's going to be spicy on Saturday, Jason. Please share the text that I sent you and Martin Ago yesterday at around, you can just say the general idea, around noon, I think, yesterday. It was a classic, bruff prediction. Yeah. Where he likes to throw things out into the ether and hopes that they come true. So we can all tell.

Not hoping, not hoping. So we can tell him he was right at the end of the day. The prediction was that there's going to be booing of the American anthem tonight and it's going to take this whole tournament to another level and there's going to be booing on Saturday. And there's going to be booing on Saturday and there's going to be booing when, if Canada and the United States are in the final or if Canada

is in the, in the final back in Boston, they're going to boo the Canadian anthem. And I've got some thoughts on this. I would love to hear your thoughts on this. Uh, you can text into the Dunbar Lumber text line at 650-650. Please keep your thoughts calm and reasoned. Okay.

Go crazy. I, I, all of us here are well aware of the different opinions that we see on Twitter. Let's try and avoid like the Twitter comments. Oh. Okay. Like let's, let's try and avoid that sort of stuff and just have a conversation about this

because, um, what's going on, the relationship between Canada and the United States is for our two countries, the history, very, very, very unusual. It is not every president that sits in the Oval Office and says, Canada, you know, if we don't protect them, there's a lot of ships out there. There's a lot of ships, there's Russian ships,

there's Chinese ships, there's a lot of ships. You know, like this doesn't happen with every president and this is a very unusual and for me, it's a little disturbing situation that we're going through. The two countries will not be. I must be a soy boy because I'm disturbed going through. The two countries will not be- I must be a soy boy cause I'm disturbed by it. The two countries will not be exchanging

valentines today, let's put it that way. So that's going to be at seven o'clock with Tom Colini. Oh God, it's Valentine's Day. It's also Valentine's Day. Oh my God. Yeah, there's another- There's the flower store.

And there's another thing that I should read. I'll be rem- Ah. For that, for everybody out there that has forgotten their significant other, I will be reminding you several times this morning that it's Valentine's Day so you can furiously rush to the store and get some crappy flowers and some second rate chocolates. Okay, speaking of second rate chocolates, Moj is going to join us at 7.30.

Good old Moj. We'll look back on his week at the Super Bowl. I'm sure that he's recovered from a week of partying and having a good time down in New Orleans. We can get into everything else that we normally get into with Moj, including Ask Us Anything Fridays and a Food Ask Us Anything Fridays. For him a reminder, it is Ask Us Anything Friday on the program. AJ is going to join us at 7.05 and the best Ask Us Anything or What We Learned today is going to get a $100 gift card to AJ's Pizza on his Broadway. Finally, rounding out the guest list today at

eight o'clock, Rick Dollywall is going to join the program. I, as per usual, have no idea what we're going to talk to Dollywall about. That's in, that's Jason. Well, Dollywall is really excited about this story in the WHL about Penticton leaving the BCHL and going to the WHL and the amount of money

that was paid to make that move. He's also got a little note in here and it says, season ticket prices going up. Was there a note sent to Canucks fans that season ticket prices are going up? Well, I mean, it's been such a successful year. If there's one thing you want to capitalize on from this year, it's raising ticket prices.

And a lot of Vancouverites have a lot of money, spare money that they just don't know what to do with. Luckily this is a really cheap place to live. This is just like, that has actually been, nobody has brought up the cost of living in Canada. So we'll see how that goes. We'll see how that goes. We will, oh man, okay.

It's Ask Us Anything Friday. We haven't asked us anything that's ripping the show apart right now. So we'll get into that as well. Dolly Wall's gonna join us at eight. Moj at 7.30. Tom Gullede at seven. AJ at seven as well. And Brady at 6.30.

It's a big show ahead. Oh, reminder too. We're not just doing the $100 gift card to AJ's Pizza on East Broadway today. We are also gonna be giving away the final pair this week of the Rugby Sevens tickets. Yeah, the HSBC Rugby Sevens, it's gonna be at BC Place later this month.

If you wanna win the tickets to the Sevens, be caller number seven this morning, 604-280-0650. That number again, 604-280-0650. Be caller number seven at 815 this morning, and you'll win our final pair of tickets to see the rugby 7s at BC place Later to this month. We got a big show ahead on a Friday. There's a lot to get into so without further ado laddie Let's tell everybody what happened because I'm losing. We know how busy your life can be.

What happened? Missed it? You missed that? What happened? What Happened is brought to you by the BC Construction Safety Alliance. Making safety simpler by giving construction companies the best in tools or resources and safety training. Visit them online at bccsa.ca.

The second game of the Four Nations Face Off went yesterday and it was the most lopsided game. Although there's only been two to date. Matthew and Brady Kachuk each scored twice as the U.S. blew the doors off of Finland in the third period, especially in both countries. Debuts at the foreign nations face off from Montreal. Matt Boldy scored, Jake Gensel scored. The Americans really lit it up and put forth a pretty profound statement going into Saturday's game against the Canadians.

But, I mean, who were the stars of this? Brady and Matthew Kachuk. Yeah. Yeah. And there's, so they, do they put together that line as the game went on with Kachuk? Yes. Or sorry, with Eichel as their center?

Yes, so in the second period, early in the second period of the game, with the game still very much up in the balance Mike Sullivan made maybe the move the move of the game And if it's a short tournament the tournament Where he took Kyle Connor off a line with Jack Eichel and Matthew Kachuk and replaced him with Brady Kachuk and from there the tone of the game shifted and the scoreline of the game shifted as well Let's go right to the head coach.

Here is Mike Sullivan after the 6-1 win over the Finns, talking about the move to put the Kachuk brothers on either side of Jack Eichel. I'm not gonna lie when I was thinking about the line combinations and having the discussions with our coach and staff, the conversation did come up about putting Brady and Matthew together.

I think those two players, not only are they great players, but they're great teammates. And I also think that it's pretty cool when you have an opportunity to play with your brother and there might be some added motivation or some added inspiration to want to play. And so that was something that we thought about and talked about as a staff before the tournament even started. So they're two real good players.

I thought when we made the switch, we put them with Jack Eichel. You know, I think they just have a funny way of just dragging us into the fight. So, hey, if you wanted your great narratives and great storylines and exactly what the matchup is gonna be going in to Saturday, look no further than the Nova Scotia boys, Crosby and McKinnon going up against the Kachuk boys,

Matthew and Brady. That's what this tournament early shaping has come down to. You know, obviously Crosby and McKinnon were great in the opener and Crosby was player of the game. I'll tell you this, watching that game and at times it was a slog yesterday in large part

because the Finns through the first two periods did finish things. They made it grindy. They made it checky. They had chances though. They just, they just, I mean, half the time they had a two on one, they didn't even get a shot on goal, right? And I bet they're looking at that game and going, man, that was a one goal game. And we just completely lost it. And it really started

at the end of the second period when they took a late penalty and whether it was a soft call or not, they got called and it was a couple seconds left. It was took a late penalty and whether it was a soft call or not, they got called and it was a couple of seconds left. It was a needless penalty and I think it was Olimata got called for it. And then Kichuk scores 15 seconds into the third period and then Jake Gensel scores 11 seconds later and the game is over. Now that Matthew Kichuk goal originally looked like a howler of a goal by

Yussi Saros to allow, but I think, uh, upon further review, it looked like a Finnish player did tip the puck a little bit. Nico Nicola. Nicola. Yeah. So that game could have been much different if, um, you know, the, the Finns had just capitalized on a few of their chances. Because through two periods, I wasn't sitting there going, wow, the Americans look incredible. Not at all.

I didn't think, it wasn't a terrific hockey game. It was much more physical than Canada and Sweden. So I like that in hockey, but it wasn't as fast as Canada, Sweden, and the Finns were in it. They just, once they lost it though, it was, and I think the guys on the broadcast made a good point that this is sometimes what happens when you're an underdog. You fight, fight, fight to keep it close. You fight to keep yourself in it. And then as soon as that reality hits, it hits hard and the flood gates open.

And that's what happened last night. Yeah. But obviously the turning point in the game was when Sullivan made the move to put the Kachak brothers between, or sorry, on other side of Jack Eichel. And they really took off after that. And okay. So, uh, all the other, and I don't know, do you want to, whenever you want to start on your thoughts about the political side and the anthem side of things we can

Get into it because I've got look basically I've got the game stuff and you've and both are important Both are vitally important because even in the after you always seem to have the game stuff over the really hard stuff You want to deal with that hard stuff? I'll just deal with the score. Do you have any thoughts on it? I'd love to hear your thoughts on it on what? On what the On what? The booing of the anthems and the atmosphere. The booing of the anthems is going to be allowed and it's going to be, I justified probably isn't the right word, but it's inevitable. It's going to happen on Saturday.

It happened yesterday and I know that they tried to tamp it down as much as they could. It was very obvious that someone was at the controls of the broadcast in terms of the volume that was being played from in the arena. But if you followed every reporter that was, um, if you followed every reporter that was in the building, covering the game, I think almost all of them, uh, to an individual put out that they were very loud boos while the American anthem was going

on. And this was for a game. I'll remind you that did not involve Canada. The opponent was Finland. It was just an opportunity to boo the US Anthem yesterday. It wasn't related to the fact that they were cheering for Canada and booing the US on that given night. It was that the anthem was played even with an in arena announcement asking those in attendance to respect the anthems, the anthem was still booed. So the Kachuk brothers were asked about it afterwards and Brady and Matthew were up there

together and Brady's like, well, I play for the Ottawa Senators, I'm gonna kinda stay out of this right now. He's kind of like, he's like, Matthew, why don't you take this? Brady was the Halford. Yeah. Matthew was the Bruff. Yeah, God, that was so funny. And if you have any thoughts on the hard stuff,

that'd be great. But Matthew said like, I didn't like it and I'll leave it at that. And I'm sure he didn't like it. I'm sure he's a proud American, but the replies to that are as like, you know what we don't like? We don't like what your president is saying about us. We have had a very, for the most

part, friendly relationship for a long, long time. We have fought wars together. We have died on the battlefield together. We have had a trading relationship that has helped for the most part both our countries. We buy your products, you buy our products, and now the sitting US president is up there acting like a schoolyard bully and saying some things that we have never heard a US president say about Canada before and people are like, yeah, you still shouldn't boo the anthem though. Oh, I'm sorry. Are we being rude? Was that rude of us to boo a song? Was that rude of us? You know what else is kind of rude?

Now, I am fully aware of what's being said on the other side. And I am fully aware that some of that stuff is coming from within our own country. And I understand why that's happened. There are a lot of Canadians right now that are not as proud to be Canadian as we used to be collectively as a country. And that's an us problem. That's an us problem that we need to solve. Because the fall of Canada, if it ever happens, will not happen only because there's a power outside of us that wants to intimidate us or wants to take us over. The fall of Canada will partly come if we just capitulate to it. And here's the reality for all the leaders out there. This should be every single Canadian going,

this is wrong and we're going to come together as a country. The problem is we've got a lot of young people in this country and a lot of medium age, but the problem, I see the main problem is young people that do not feel good about their futures in this country. The housing market seems basically impossible to get into. Everything is very expensive so you can't even save up money and here's, here's a little thing that some, some people in the lame stream media won't throw out there, but it is very much true.

If you gave the offer to a lot of young Canadians, do you want to join the United States, you'd have access to cheaper housing, you'd have access to job markets, they'd go, yes. And all the older Canadians would be like, what are you talking about? Like we're a sovereign, we're one of the best countries in the world, we're amazing. There is a disconnect there that we need to bridge

as Canadians and previous leadership has let us down in that way, also situation, the pandemic caused all this stuff. But I am telling you right now that if we don't come together as a country, there is risk in this. Maybe not through Trump, but once the germ of an idea is planted, and that's very much how this happened, this started as a little barb that Trump gave to Trudeau when Trudeau

foolishly went down there to try and talk his way out of this. Like, oh, that's going to work. The barb has grown. Trump is essentially like, to get back to like a little bit of comedy, Trump is a schoolyard bully. Like, he's a schoolyard bully. He doesn't have friends. He's a schoolyard bully, he's had trouble at home, I think his parents are going through a divorce, so he's got some trouble, right? And anything that shows vulnerability, he's going to be like, ah. So as soon as his little joke went public about Canada becoming the 51st state or whatever, and he realized that, oh my God, we're

getting traction on that. Like he's going to be like, yeah, we're going to, we're going to lean into this. We're going to lean into this. And that is exactly what he's doing. So it's, it's remarkable. The timing of this particular tournament and having a Canada versus U S like it's almost,

it's almost, it's beyond coincidence. It's like the cosmic, the moons and the stars have aligned that. And in this moment, in this flash point moment, whereas you said this has never happened before politically, you get this game. And what have we talked about incessantly over not even the last couple of weeks leading up to this term, but the last few months is like,

there's been a void in international best on best. And by extension, there's been a void in cheering for Canada for cheering for the team, for the national team, for the guys that are wearing the maple leaves on their chest and are so proud to do it. And it's interesting because when you talk about what's been lost from this generation to the past, I see a lot of people referencing, it's like there's an entire younger generation that things like Terry Fox and the 72 Summit series doesn't resonate with them, like it resonates with our generation. Remember the things that we used to be really proud of, like we've got great peacekeepers,

that's, you know, things like that, that we'd, and people are like, well, what do you think about Trudeau? Well, what do you think I just said? I just said our previous leadership let down a lot of people. Our previous leadership did not do enough to make us proud as Canadians. Said silly things like we're a post national country. Which he might've meant something high brow that none of us understand, but it's like what we heard was like this, he could not appeal to the everyday people and he lost a lot of people along the way.

And that is his fault, just like it's the Democrats fault down south that they lost the working class. So, because they, they, they, they looked their nose, they looked down their nose at them and they thought they were better than them. So the reason I bring it back to that. And now what's happening is the chickens are coming home to Roost, and we're all like, wait a minute, are there some people that didn't feel proud? Yeah, and that's why, I mean, and this is in part why we're having a large scale debate, born from in part, booing an anthem at a game.

Because part of me is there's gotta be a sense of, I'm glad that there's pushback and I'm glad that there's people voicing that they don't like what's going on. That's an important thing, right? When you talk about national pride, that's an important thing. And the other very interesting part

in the weird realm that we exist in is that this, like, again, the time really struck me last night is like, we talked about, well, we've been starved of this for so long. You remember, and I know everyone looks at the 2010 Olympic victory as a sporting thing, but let's be real, a big component of that was that it was a celebration of Canada and the country.

And what better way to close out Olympics on Canadian soil than with that moment and that celebration. And you, you know, jumping on the sky train to go downtown and everyone's wearing red and white. And there was that sense of national like pride, right? And that was born from- Sports brings people together like that. But it was born from a hockey game.

Yeah. And now fast forward at 15 years and I'm looking ahead to tomorrow and I'm like, it's not going to be the same. It's fundamentally different, but there are some components that are important and interesting and do harken back to a time where, like, and I, I, the two that, you know, I mentioned earlier, it's like when the intersection between sports and everything, like Terry Fox 72 Summit Series 87 Canada Cup Like those are ones that are built into the fabric of when we were growing up

I think tomorrow could be very iconic based on what's going on I think it might be larger than people think or are ready for Canada us playing a hockey game in Montreal during the most, one of the most unusual, maybe the most unusual time in the relationship between Canada and the United States and, and I just wish that on both sides of whatever side of the debate you're on, you just try and understand the other side more. Sure. Because what I tried to do in that segment was say, hey, I don't like what's being said by the U.S. president, but here's the thing.

There's usually a reason for everything. And it's not just like racism. Right? Right. You know, it's not just racism. You know, like it's like, it's like people aren't happy. They're not happy. They're not happy that they live in this, this, this supposedly great country, but can't afford to buy a condo, despite the fact that they're working hard at their job every day.

And for years, for years and years, that was the thing. That was the agreement. And I'm talking about Kennedy and the United States here. You work hard, you will have a place to live and a little extra money to have some fun. Right? Well, that doesn't compute right now. Buy those Connect Season tickets. How many people in this city, unless they've got their parents to give them some money, which most people don't, how many people come out of university or high school or trade

school or whatever and you're ready to work, how many people are like, realistically, like, well, I can't wait till I have the half a million dollars to put down on, you know, to buy a house, right? Like it's, people are angry. And I'm telling you that as Canadians, if we don't come together to make a better argument for Canada, we are at risk of losing Canada. So for those of you that are texting in, please stick to sports or get off the cell box.

Too bad! Turn the radio off. Just turn the radio off. Look, there was a very interesting moment on the national broadcast yesterday where they threw to David Amber and Elliot Friedman after the game and it's a 6-1 win for the US over Finland and you're looking at the hockey aspect of it and what it set after the game. And it's a 6-1 win for the US over Finland. And you're looking at the hockey aspect of it

and what it's set up for Saturday. And Friedge just looked at the camera and essentially said, he's like, this is now a powder keg. Yeah, nobody cares about why Finland lost yesterday. Well, I kind of do. I would like to talk about Finland. Will we see Lankton in the next game?

Probably, yeah, probably. But who cares, honestly? I would. This talk about. Well, we see Lankan in the next game. Probably. Yeah, probably. But who cares? Honestly, I would. I just so much bigger this stuff. I do think the Kajaks is a cool story, but I get exactly what you're talking about. But to the point, it was something that in the aftermath of the game, because everyone was kind of with an eye on this Finland, US game. Like, let's be real. Everyone was looking at this game is just what it meant for Saturday's game. Right.

I think that's a fair assessment from the entire thing. Even in the aftermath where there was plenty of things to parse through, it was hard not to look at what's happening in that, you know, sort of geopolitical realm and look ahead to Saturday and what might be on the horizon. And you know, Freage acknowledged it straight out. He's like, you know, I don't usually like

to drag these things into it. And everyone, I understand the notion of stick to sports, but it Freach acknowledged it. We're straight out. He's like, you know, I don't usually like to drag these things into it. And everyone, I understand the notion of stick to sports, but it was almost. What do you think the 1972 summit series was about 100% hockey? The Canada Cubs were like, a hundred percent hockey? My God people. Just because it makes you feel uncomfortable, doesn't mean it's wrong to talk about. Some of us have the emotional regulation to talk about this sort of why do you think? The summit series was so big and so important, but it was literally it was it was we loved the rushes

That's why it stays in the minds of Canadians This is making me feel uncomfortable talk about sports so sometimes they're directly linked and you can't avoid one or the other they come Together some are saying no, please don't stop talking about this. Please continue. Most are saying that. However, we do one, have to go to break, and then two, we're going to talk to Brady Henderson next, but we will revisit this. Ask him what he thinks.

Right. I think we should throw Brady smack into the middle of this. We should just treat Brady with disdain. Like, why are these guys being so mean to us? Every American guest for the rest of the tournament. Why are you being so rude to us? Almost American guest for the rest of the tournament. Why are you being so rude to us? Almost as polarizing as Canada-U.S. relations right now as Geno Smith and his starting QB role in Seattle.

So we'll talk to Brady about that and a whole lot of things. We will get back into all of this conversation throughout the remainder of the show. You are listening to the Haliford and Brough Show on Sportsnet 650. It's Canucks Central with Dan Riccio and Satya Arshaw, your destination for everything Canucks.

Exclusive interviews, inside info, and even the post-game show. Listen 4 to 6 p.m. weekdays and on demand through your favorite podcast app. Music 634 on a Friday. So let's recap here. It's a Fiesta Friday. It's Valentine's Day. We had a geopolitical discussion for the first 20 some odd minutes of the show and now we're going to talk Seattle Seahawks. Oh, and before I do that, I need to remind you that one, you are listening to the Haliford and Bruff show on Sportsnet 650, and two, this show 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, four parts. Woo-wee! This is actually pretty fun. We got a lot to get into on the show today. Friendly reminder, we are doing two contests today. A $100 gift card to AJ's Pizza on East Broadway

for the best what we learned or ask us anything. Dunbar number text on a 650, 650, get those in now. Put a pizza emoji into the text, hashtag him. You guys know the drill. Also, at 8.15 this morning, we are giving away our final pair of tickets to see the rugby sevens, HSBC Sevens, later this month at BC Place. If you want to win those tickets to the Sevens, be called our number seven at 8.15 this morning.

We really should have done it at seven o'clock, now that I think about it. But it's Friday, and we've been doing this all week. 604-280-0650, that number again, 604-280-0650. Let's go to the phone lines now. We are joined by our Seahawks insider from ESPN Brady Henderson here on the Haliford and Brough show on Sportsnet 650. Morning Brady, how are you? Hey what's up fellas good to talk to you again. How's it going? It's good to hear from you as well. Thanks for taking the time to do this. We appreciate it. We wanted to check in real quick because it was kind of an eventful week for the Seattle

Seahawks. The new offensive coordinator Clint Kubiak was introduced. The coaching staff was rounded out but I kind of want to work in reverse here. I want to start with the last question. Gino Smith. Now Mike McDonald, the head coach, came out and offered what might have been his most ringing endorsement for Gino Smith as the team's starting quarterback next season. What did McDonald have to say Brady and why was it so emphatic about Gino being the starting QB? Yeah, it was it was another endorsement kind of like the one that he gave at the end of season and like you know He's given in other times I think the difference at least to me was some of the language was a little different and I think part of the reason The Gino Smith, you know, will he be back conversation existed with well before

The Geno Smith, you know, will he be back conversation existed well before, you know, the end of the season. But it did strike me that at the end of the season, McDonald said, I want him to be here. It was asked about, you know, the upcoming contract negotiations, how involved he McDonald planned to be. And he said, you know, I want him to be here, which struck me as interesting because the guy is under contract and the only reason he's not going to be here is if you do like something happens in the negotiation and you can't agree on an extension and you somehow trade him. And so I just, the fact that he was, it seemed to convey so uncertainty to me that he would be here.

It seemed to convey that, you know, it wasn't a certainty that the two sides would be able to agree on an extension. And so, you know, McDonald was saying, I want him to be here, as opposed to saying, yeah, he's going to be here. And so I think the most recent comment just lacked any of that non-definitive wording. And he said, you know, he doesn't understand the conversation about it and why it's been a topic of conversation. I would say it's pretty easy to understand that because the organization, you know, has been kind of wishy-washy on him and he is coming

off a couple of, you know, you call it whatever you want to call it, not great seasons, good, but not great seasons, and the cap number is pretty high and he's getting up there in age. So I certainly understand the conversation, especially knowing that, you know, McDonald himself has sort of played into it. But I still think and have thought that the most logical and the most likely outcome is, you know, they give him another short term deal and I probably have thrown this number around before and if so, this will be a repeat. But the number that I've had in mind and I continue to stick with is just that my guess is it's going to be somewhere, it's going to come in somewhere around $35 million in terms of an average.

I think it's going to be another short-term deal, whether it's a two or three year extension. And I think whatever the number is, whatever the length of the deal is, I think it's going to give them the same flexibility that they've had to go year to year. Meaning I don't think that, you know, even if it's a two or three year deal, I think it's always going to be structured in a way that gives them the ability to move on after one season if they feel like, you know, Gino's play really tails off and or if they feel like, you know, another better option comes along. When is the deadline for them to make this final decision?

Well there's not necessarily a hard deadline. I think that the hardest deadline would probably be the draft just because you know if you're going to end up trading him you know you would want to get something in return, whether it be another quarterback or, you know, a draft pick that help put you in position to find your next quarterback. So I would say the draft is probably the hardest deadline. Something of a another hard deadline, but not like a totally firm deadline would be March 16, because that's when he has the 16 million dollar roster bonus that's due. And so just how that work roster bonuses work,

or if the guy's still on the roster, he gets that money. So you typically don't see teams, you know, let a guy collect a roster bonus and then move on from him. So certainly they would not. And I don't think they were ever going to cut him, but certainly they wouldn't let that date pass, owe him the $16 million and then cut him. So if they're gonna cut him, which I don't think they are,

March 16th would be the hard deadline to do that. If they were going to trade him, I think they would also, for the obvious reason, have a lot of incentive to do it before then, but I guess there could be an interesting scenario where if they do decide to trade him or if they are entertaining that idea, one option would be letting that date pass, the March 16th, basically eating that $16 million and now all of a sudden,

you know, if you're going to trade him, well, in theory, his trade value goes up because whatever team that's taking him on has to pay him, you know, 16 million dollars less than what they would have. So sort of like the Leonard Williams trade a couple years ago, you know, part of the reason why he was, why the Seahawks had to give up the second round pick was because New York agreed to eat the remaining salary. So this would sort of be something similar where, you know, the Seahawks owing him that 16 million and paying that 16 million would theoretically increase what they could ask for in a trade. I still think that if he is traded, it's going to be before then. I think that again, the most likely outcome is that he's back on another short

term deal. Okay, Brady, let's talk about running the football because running the football is so back, not just for the Seahawks, but in the NFL as well. Do you think Pete Carroll will be proud of the way that the Seahawks have survived the let Russ cook era and the Ryan Grubb era and they finally got back to, we got to be able to run the football? Well, yeah, I think Pete said would have exploded if he had Ryan Grubb as his offensive coordinator at any point. But yeah, I mean, it's interesting that certainly Clint Kubiak is coming in to run the ball

more than Ryan Grubb did. And I think that was going to be probably the number one prerequisite. You know, when Mike McDonald was looking at candidates is, you know, he needed a guy who was going to, A, run the ball more and better than Grub did, and also, you know, take orders and understand the chain of command better than Grub did. And I think that's, you know, maybe he was, I think that was sort of what he was maybe hinting at during his press conference when he was talking about, you know, um, Kubiak being the son of a former head coach, talking about his humility, talking about Kubiak, the person in addition to the coach.

I think part of that was him saying, you know, yeah, he's a, he's the son of a coach who understands the chain of command. Cause I don't think that Ryan Grubb had a great respect for that in addition to just, you know, philosophically not being aligned with him. So Kubiak is going to run the ball more. I think what's interesting is that just when you look at his history it hasn't been he hasn't been a a super heavy you know just pound the rock guy you know if you're expecting this to be kind of like what Brian Schottenheimer did in 2018, remember Pete Carroll fired Darryl Bevel, and he hired Brian Schottenheimer in 2018 to revive

that run game. And that season the Seahawks ran the ball more than anybody in the NFL by a wide margin. You know, nothing about Kubiak's history suggests that that's going to be the case and nothing about what he said either on Tuesday suggests that's going to be the case. I mean, he's going to be the case and nothing about what he said either on Tuesday suggests that's going to be the case. I mean he's going to run the ball more but he talked more about balance. He didn't talk so much about you know being a run first team where that's going to be their identity and that's all they're going to do. He talked about being balanced and the thing he talked about kind of the line he repeated several times on Tuesday was, you gotta be able to win in more than one way.

So I think this is gonna be a much more balanced offense than it was. I don't know if it's gonna look like that 2018 team when they just ran the ball all over the place and ran it more than anybody else in the league by a whole lot. I know that the coordinator positions in football change with pretty good frequency,

but three offensive coordinators in three years is a lot by anybody's standard. Is some of the hope with Kubiak that this isn't just a hire to kind of get back to running the ball, but also keep some consistency and stay for a little bit longer term so the Gino can actually work with an offensive coordinator for more than one year? Yeah that's always a plot. I mean you know the the weird reality about offensive schemes and offensive coordinators in the NFL is at that position, you either get promoted to a head coach or you get fired. And I believe that up until when Ben Johnson got hired by the Bears as their head coach,

I believe he was the NFL's longest tenured offensive coordinator, having only been in that job for three seasons. So when you're you're an offensive coordinator either get hired or you get fired and so what's interesting to me about Kubiak is obviously he's got the track record he's got the proven system he's got he's been an NFL guy on Mike Grubb who you know as we know I think struggled with a lifelong college coach who struggled with that transition what strikes me what's what strikes me about Kubiak is when you hear him talk he certainly seems like he knows what he's talking about. But he doesn't seem to have that head coach enthusiasm

like that just that spark whatever you want to call it he's a very low-key soft-spoken like kind of guy that I just it's hard for me to picture another team hiring that guy as their head coach and saying yeah this is the type of guy that's gonna you know command a room full of 53 or 90 players and so I don't know if you know I think maybe in in this case that sort of works for the Seahawks because you know the danger in hiring an offensive coordinator or just kind of the the inevitable downside of it is typically you know when you hire that guy and especially if he's a young guy

like Kubiak you know the moment you have offensive success that guy's probably his name is gonna get thrown around for head coaching opportunities, and you're going to be back in the same position of having to hire a new guy potentially with Kubiak. I just don't I don't think that I could be wrong, but I just did I have been wrong about, you know, this kind of stuff before where coaches who I never thought would be, you know, head coach material ended up getting the job, but Kubiak just, you know,

listen to that when you hear it, like he, he's just a very low key, soft spoken guy that I just, I don't, I don't think the Seahawks are going to be in danger of losing him to a head coaching interviews anytime soon. Brady a great insight as always. Thank you very much for doing this today. We really appreciate it. Enjoy the rest of the weekend, whatever's left of it and this weekend, we'll do this again as we get closer to the draft and free agency and all that good stuff.

Yep, I would love to. Sounds good, fellas. Great catching up with you. Yeah, you too. Thanks. It's Brady Henderson, ESPN Seahawks insider here on the Haliford and Bruff Show on Sportsnet 650. So, we had a really kind of passionate start to the beginning of the show.

In case you missed it, you can download the podcast after hour one. Adog will have it up as soon as possible. I just wanted to say something to everyone listening to our show and our regular listeners. Mike and I and the dogs are in a very unique position compared to a lot of media in this world. Yes, we are sports guys, right? And most of the time, 99% of the time, we're talking about sports. I love sticking to sports. And that is why once in a while we can talk politics because we know that we've got people of every

political leaning listening to us. We've got very different backgrounds that listen to our show. There are people that work office jobs, people that work non-office jobs, you know, there are students listening, there are retired people that are listening and you don't get that with the people that talk politics for a living because I don't think that there's a lot of people that are on the right that are be like,

I wonder what CBC has on the show today. Let's go check it out. And I don't think that there are many people on the left that are like, I wonder what CBC has on the show today. Let's go check it out. And I don't think that there are many people on the left that are like, I'm just going to flip by Fox News and see what these guys have to say, right? Just curious. So those programs just tend to be preaching to the choir. Okay, okay. Right? And I feel, and hold on a sec, I just wanna say something.

I feel fortunate, sometimes annoyed, but mostly fortunate, that I get and how for gets to communicate with regular Canadians, everyday Canadians who represent all different walks of life and who bring different perspectives to the table. I think it's a privilege that we get that. And one of the reasons that we're in this political environment is that we stopped listening to the other side. We stopped talking to the other side. And we just went into our silos and we just fire shots at everyone. And we make it seem, we boil this issue down to you're either a good person or you're a bad person without taking their

circumstances into account. And unfortunately, the business model of the political shows is to do exactly that. There is a business model to preach to the right and there's a business model to preach to the left and that's what they do. So as a sports show that talks about sports, we are actually uniquely positioned to have a conversation. We're not going to do it all the time. Don't worry.

But I think this is a flash point in the relationship between Canada and the United States and Canada and the United States is going to have a rather big hockey game on Saturday. And guess what? Whether you are comfortable with it getting political or not, it's going to get political. Oh yeah. I'm glad that's kind of where I wanted

to go with this is that neither of us came in here this morning wanting to push a particular agenda on either side of things. I think our, and you put it well, we're uniquely positioned is that you can be observational, like I was last night. And I was like, I want to look at how many different either, you know, people that I trust or maybe people

that I don't even know, but the people that are paying attention to this tournament, what are they saying about the stuff outside of the rink and away from the ice? What are they saying about the fever pitch from the crowd? What are they saying about the geopolitical implications? Are they saying anything at all? And what I saw last night in doing the research was that

there was a nod to that from almost everyone that was covering this tournament. People that were there in a sporting lens were forced to acknowledge that there was a loud and vociferous booing of the American anthem. For the second consecutive night, the captain of the US team, Austin Matthews, was booed every time he touched a puck. And let's be clear that wasn't just because there was a rivalry between the Habs and the Leafs. When you start to look at it as there's something going on

and we are in the position to be able to observe it and relay it as like, hey, this is happening. It's important. At the onset of this tournament, Bref and I were saying, this is something that the players are gonna take very seriously and also it is happening at a time where we are kind of at unprecedented relations

between Canada and the US. We don't know how it's gonna turn out, but we know it's important to pay attention to. And of course we got a bunch of texts in calling it a glorified all-star game and nothing to pay attention to here and it's not a big deal. And then slowly as the week has gone along, it's turned into something that you almost had to pay attention to and you couldn't look away from. And we now are also in the position to do this. And I

use real time way too much. And everything's in real time, but it's true because we're on the radio talking about it. Like what this is built up to. Nobody could have really predicted. Nobody could have really anticipated. You kind of had the idea that it could be a powder keg, but like I want to very quickly come at this from the American side of things going into Saturday. There are some very raw feelings and raw emotions

from that side, particularly with Matthew Kachek. And I know he was buttoned up in his post-game media availability yesterday, but he clearly stated, clearly stated that he's not happy with how things have gone with the booing of the anthem and the booing of American players. And if you'll recall, this is a guy who, not too long ago, in a matter of weeks ago, was at the White House with President Trump getting their ceremonial White House visit for winning the Stanley Cup.

And he had a speech in which he said he was very proud to be American. And he's like the only American on the team, isn't he? Yep. So there is a sentiment there. Now with those two in particular, like we talk about this from these Canadian players getting

their moment, right? And it's specifically like McDavid and McKinnon, they haven't had the chance to represent their country. from these Canadian players getting their moment, right? And it's specifically like McDavid and McKinnon. They haven't had the chance to represent their country. They haven't had the chance to be national icons. Well, if you wanna do the, we're looking at this in the entirety and in the whole, there are two American guys right now,

Brady and Matthew Kachek, who are going through that exact same thing. They have, like, there's audio from yesterday, Brady Kachek saying, and I know you love this because you always talk about who was the biggest game a guy's ever played in. The guy that had doesn't have it yet. Brady Kachek had said yesterday that this

game on Saturday is the biggest game of his life. Is the biggest game of his career. Just to add onto that, at the beginning of this series, we went down this long road of, well, I did cause I'm old and I like to lecture, history of international hockey. And my main takeaway was international hockey matters as a Canadian when you are terrified

of losing the game. Yep. This is just a made-up tournament they said How badly? How badly now do you first of all want to win this game and how scared are you of? Losing this game. I feel horrible that we're leveraging a very serious political situation. They leveraged it in 1972 and they leveraged it all throughout the 80s. It just feels kind of craven to do it. However, I love it.

My lizard brain is like this made Saturday so much. I mean, am I wrong? Is anyone else? The tournament is at a whole new level now. I mean, could you imagine if you're someone perhaps invested from a business perspective, from the league or the PA? If you're if you're allowed perhaps invested from a business perspective from the league or the PA? If you're allowed to say your quiet thoughts out loud, you're probably saying like, this is made for a tremendous sporting event on Saturday from a tournament that again, I will

remind you, so many people texted in the beginning and they're like, it's a replacement for the All-Star game. It just got so much more fascinating to me. I told you, man, Trump is the greatest promoter of all time. He is. He's better than Don King. He's better than all those dirt bags. A red tie and a funny haircut.

He's got it all. Okay, we gotta go to break. We are gonna continue the conversation coming up on the other side. We're gonna be joined by AJ first, and then Tom Gelliedi's to join us from NHL.com. He was covering last night's game between the US and Finland from the Bell Centre so we'll get his thoughts on everything that went on.

And it was a very eventful evening in Montreal. Mojit 730, Dolly Wallet 8, final hour of the program. We'll give away all the goodies that we've got including the rugby sevens tickets and what else do we have? Oh, the $100 gift card to AJ's Pizza on East Broadway. Finally, before we go to break, I need to tell you about Denny's. Denny's you say? Denny's, but Denny's! Wow! True North taste awaits with Denny's 100% Canadian Beef Burgers made with new shredded iceberg lettuce on a brioche bun

and all the classic ingredients you love. Visit them today. It's Denny's. It's good times. You're listening to the Alfred and Bruv Show on Sportsnet 650.