Halford & Brough in the Morning - This NHL Offseason Could Be A Rough One

Episode Date: March 12, 2026

In hour two, Mike & Jason preview tonight's Predators matchup at the Canucks with The Tennessean's Alex Daugherty (3:36), plus they discuss the latest Seahawks news during NFL free agency with ESPN's Brady Henderson (29:42). 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.

It's a thrash Thursday here on the Halford & Brough Show on Sportsnet 650. Halford and Brub the morning is brought to you by Sands and Associates. Do you have CRA debt? If you do, Sands and Associates could cut your debt by 80% with no upfront fees. Visit them today at Sands-Trustee.com. We are now in our two of the program. Alex Dordy. Preds be writer for the Tennessean is going to join us in just a moment here to kick off hour two.

Our two of this program is brought to by Jason Homonock at Jason. Dot Mortgage, the most metal of all the mortgage brokers. If you love, give them the banks more of your money, then don't let Jason shop around to find the perfect mortgage for you. Visit them online at jason.mortgage. We are coming to you live from the Kintech studio, Step Strong with Orthotics and Footwear from Kintech. We are having a day here at the Halford & Brough Show on Sportsnet 650.

We had technical difficulties to start the show. Adam Crafton from the Athletic had to bail on his interview at 630. We are trying vigilantly here to get Alex Doherty from the Tennessean on the line, but he has not picked up yet. So it's still us, just Halford and Brough. We're now working on 62 uninterrupted minutes of Halford and Brough. A reminder, the Preds are in Vancouver tonight to take on the Canucks 7 o'clock from Rogers Arena. And it's a weird little Predators team that comes into Rogers Arena tonight, a trade deadline

where they kind of bought and sold, where a lot of people were left wondering what Barry Trots was doing in his final trade deadline as the judge. general manager. All the while, the Pred's still very much alive in the chase for the final wildcard spot in the West. We had Frank Sarvelli on the show earlier this week, and he said that

there's three sort of key guys in Nashville who thought they might be on the move at the deadline. There was Ryan O'Reilly, who was coveted by a number of teams. There was Steve Stamco's who said, somewhat defiantly, I ain't leaving. I'm staying in Nashville. I'm going to see this thing through. And then there's

Jonathan Marshall, who's like, please get me out of here. I've been trying to go for the better part of a year and a half. None of them left. They're all still members of the National Predators. Yeah, and the Preds are one of four teams that are battling for that final wild card spot. The Cracken and the Kings have 67 points, and the Sharks and the Preds have 66 points. None of these teams are particularly good teams, but one of them is going to make the playoffs. While we're waiting, do we have Al-Wilts? Alex? He's working on it.

Okay. What did you think of the Nick Schmalt signing? Okay. Because that had been rumored Elliot Freeman and heard. Okay, we'll get to that later. Yeah, we will park that. But by the way, it was an eight-year $64 million extension in Utah for Nick Schmaltz, who said he never wanted to leave Utah and is now going to be there for a good, large chunk of his career. We can get into that deal on what it means for the rest of the market,

maybe even a potential Elias Pedersen trade later. but we will go now to the ABLE Auctions hotline, as mentioned. Our next guest is a Preds beatwriter for the Tennessean. Alex Doretti joins us now on the Halford & Breff Show on SportsNet 650. Morning, Alex, how are you? I'm doing great. Good morning. How are you all doing?

We're great. Thanks for taking the time to do this. We appreciate it. We're going to start not with the current form of the team, but what this team did at the trade deadline. I read your piece in the Tennessean. Very good. A little bit of a scathing takedown of the work that Barry Trots did.

The headline is Trots' odd deadline moves make predators worse now and later, which is not an ideal situation for a general manager at his very last trade deadline. Tell the listeners about Trots' body of work at the deadline and why it was so poorly received. Yeah, and entering this deadline, it was pretty clear that the predators had two paths to take. They could they could sew off as much as they could to get better for the future. they could keep the team together to try to make a desperation push for the playoffs. I mean, neither one was like a perfect choice, but instead Trots didn't either. He sort of, or he sort of did both.

He sold off, you know, Michael McCarron, Cole Smith, Michael Bunting, three, you know, not top of the lineup guys, but kind of key role players that were a big part of this team's, you know, defensive work, and especially McCarron and Smith, big parts of the penalty kill. I mean, and the predators have had a top 10 penalty kill all season. So he sells them off for pieces. I mean, the best piece he got was a second round pick for Michael McCarron, and not even a second round pick in two years, a second round pick in 2028. So we're talking six, seven years before we even see what that even turns out to be.

So he made the team worse in the short run by, first of all, probably making the players angry because he just traded away two guys that they really like. I mean, McCarron and Smith were popular guys in that room. It made it harder for this team to actually make the playoffs if that's what they're going to do. But then the other bigger side is they had this opportunity to really trade off some pieces that could actually return something more substantial. I mean, the most obvious trade would have been Eric Hala, who was on an expiring contract.

He's a center. I feel like Eric Hala gets traded every year. It feels like it anyways. I mean, that guy's traded everywhere at this point. And so it was like, okay, well, where's he going to go this time? And what are they going to get? Could they get a first round pick for Eric Hala, which would be incredible? Probably not, but they'll at least get something.

He didn't do that. And then we find out that he had offers for Ryan O'Reilly, for Stephen Stamcoast. And rumor has it, there was even something in the works for Jonathan Marches-soe. All of which, well, the O'Reilly one will get to it a second, because that's a different situation and kind of an odd thing on its own. But Stamcoaston-Marge-so, I mean, since those two have signed here, you know, it hasn't really worked. I mean, there's been moments. This year, Stamcoast is having a great season, he'll probably get to 40 goals,

which is amazing. But this was the chance to get out from under those contracts. I mean, you have two more years after this one on Stancoast, $8 million a year. Marsa Show has three more years at five and a half. Yeah, five and a half, that's right. And here was a chance where you had some teams that were like willing to do that. And you didn't do it.

And you didn't make the team better in the long run. And now you have to hope that Stephen Samcoast, this version of him, last, for three more years. Because if it doesn't, then you just missed out on the best chance to move those pieces and get better for the future.

And it just, among all of the moves that Barry Trots has made as general manager that have been confusing or just bad moves, I mean, he waved Dante Fabro

and Columbus picked him up. I mean, they traded, they threw in Luke Shin as a piece for the trade to send Tommy Novak to Pittsburgh, and then immediately Pittsburgh flipped Luke Shin

for a second, and round pick. So obviously he undersold Luke Shin's value at that deadline. So just all kinds of bizarre moves. This one takes the cake. This one is by far the lowest moment for Trots, I think, as general manager. It was really tough to see. And his explanations were just not adequate. I mean, just not adequate. I mean, none of it made sense. And so now the Predators have 18 games left, and they are one point out of the playoffs. It's not inconceivable they could make it. That's It's reasonable. They could definitely make the playoffs with the team they have right now. But does anyone think they're going to be Colorado, Vegas, even Minnesota, Dallas, any of those teams?

No. It's just, this is a march towards an early exit. And once again, we're in that range where the predators won't get a top pick and they'll get a decent player, but not a great one. So that's where we're at. So when the new general manager takes over, whoever that is, What is that person going to be left with? There's a lot of older players on this team. I'm just looking at the roster, and Roman Yossi is 35 years old. My God, we all get so old so quickly.

Like, are there any good young prospects that can be the future of this team because the mushy middle of the league is a tough place to be? Yeah, there are. There's definitely some pieces. I mean, there's not a, there's not a top line, there's not a Macklin Sellebrini or a Connor Breda or anything like that, but there's, there's decent pieces. And you're going to have, excuse me, the next general manager is going to have, the main three core that he's going to have to work with, Roman Yossi, UC Soros, Philip Forsberg. Not terrible, but all those guys are older, right? Philip Forsberg is the one that's signed the longest. He's here until 2030, I think. So he will be kind of the next, you know, main. face of the franchise. He already is the best offensive player they have. But I mean, there's some young guys that are

decent. I mean, they're getting a good look at Matthew Wood, who was, actually, Barry Trott's first ever draft pick. He picked him in 2023 when the draft was in Nashville. And he looks good, and they're actually playing him at center, which is unusual, because one thing Nashville loves to do is

they love to draft centers and then move them to wing and just completely change the course of their of their NHL career I mean, they're actually, maybe they actually

are convinced me, hey, this guy can play a center which would be nice. So maybe they got a center out of Matthew Wood. Luke Evangeliste is another young player.

I think he's a really solid, solid player. And then, of course, they got Brady Martin who they drafted last year,

some other guys, E.Or Surrin in Russia, but like, there's nothing that you don't look at the prospects and think,

okay, in five years, you're going to have these, this is going to be your top line, this is going to be your top D pairing.

You really don't, that's not clear at this point. So the next general manager has a mess. I mean, there's no doubt. And perhaps this deadline, you know, maybe ownership went to Barry and said, you know what, let the next GM handle these big, big ticket items. If you get a deal for Ryan O'Reilly, you get a deal for Stamco's, come to us and we'll take a look at it, but maybe we let the next guy to handle it.

I asked him that actually directly. I said, was ownership involved in any of these decisions? And he kind of said, you know, well, no, I'm in charge. but, you know, obviously I talked to them and everything. So I don't think that's what happened, but you can't rule it out. We're speaking to Alex Doherty, National Predators, Bewriter for the Tennessean here on the Halford and Brough Show on SportsNet 650. You mentioned O'Reilly earlier in the call that it's a bit of an odd situation.

You mentioned them again here. So tell us a little bit more about the Ryan O'Reilly situation. Yeah, I've never seen it. I mean, have you ever seen a general manager do this? So basically, there is a handshake agreement between Trots and Ryan O'Reilly. when he signed in 2023 that they weren't going to include a no trade or no move clause in his contract, but there was going to be a handshake that we wouldn't deal you. And if we did want to deal you, we would come to you first and you can tell us yes or no.

So it's like, okay, you didn't include a no move clause, but you kind of did. And so, you know, what's the point of not, just give him one or, or, or, you know, just say, you know what? we have to do something for the betterment of the franchise. And I think here's the other side is, I don't think Ryan O'Reilly wants to move. I think he really likes it here. I think he's thriving. I mean, he's had two great seasons with Nashville here.

And I don't think he wants to move, but there's a lot of guys that, you know, like look at what, look at what the Washington Capitals did, trading John Carlson, just completely out of nowhere. Stunning move, right, to make the franchise better. I'm sure it was a tough decision. A lot of people got hurt by that, but it was a move for the future of the franchise,

trading a staple of the team, right? You have to be willing to do that, and you have to be a good steward of the franchise and be willing to move important, valuable, liked players in order to make things better if you need to. So it's just, it's odd, you know, I think what will happen now is we'll get, when we get the new general manager in, there'll be more talk now of do they move O'Reilly in the summer

or if he has another good season next year, do they move him at the deadline then? So there's still opportunity for you to capitalize on his value. But I've just never seen that. I don't know if you guys have heard of that before where a GM just is like, we're not going to trade you even though we could just because we agreed to – we made a promise and we're sticking to it. That's pretty unusual in the NHL world, I would think. Yeah, I mean, I think I've heard of it before,

but maybe never is like out in the open as this one was because everyone kind of understood that like, hey, he doesn't have one written down on paper, but it's ironclad with Barry Trots. I guess you got one more for you here, and it's about Trots. I know you covered this team for a long time, even prior for getting the gig with the Tennessean.

And Barry Trots is such an integral figure to the entire history of the National Predators, from his time behind the bench to his time as a general manager. As far as his legacy goes now that he's done, Has he tarnished that legacy that he built as a head coach because of how bad a job he's done as a GM? And was part of this move, I know he said it was to spend more time with his family, but was part of this kind of an acknowledgement that it wasn't going great. And this was his chance to duck away somewhat gracefully and not further tarnish his image.

Yeah, it's really interesting you ask that because that's exactly what I'm working on now is sort of a, how do we understand Barry Trots' legacy now and kind of working on it for something by the end of the season so that we can send them off in the best way possible because let's be honest, like everyone in Nashville loves Barry Trots. He has a, excuse me, he has as much fan capital as anyone,

and there's not a lot of people that are going to talk bad about him, even when he leaves, despite this strange finish with the GM job. but you can't discount it I mean there's a lot of he did so many good things for Nashville in the early days and then taking into the playoffs for the first time winning a playoff series for the first time

there's too much there to ignore I think it's really more like do you recognize that a coach when a coach becomes a general manager they cannot become they cannot be a coach anymore

they have to completely turn that part of their brain off because he was unable to do that. He has been a coach in the general manager chair since he got here in 2023. He cannot turn that part of his brain off. And that's the real lesson is that general managers, former coach general managers, there's several out there that have worked, but it really seems like it's not an easy task. So Barry Trott's legacy, I think, is intact. I think, you know, the part you brought up about is this some sort of,

was this a way for him to kind of leave on somewhat still good terms? Maybe. I think that's possible that they kind of were like, how do we, how do we soften this landing a little bit? But ultimately, Barry Tross is still going to be beloved in this town and will be forever. I don't think that's in danger.

Alex, this was great, man. Thanks for taking the time to do it today. We really appreciate it. Of course, any time. Thanks a lot, guys. Thank you. That's Alex Dorety. beatwriter for the Tennessee in here on the Halford and Brough Show on SportsNet 650.

Reminder, preds are taking the Canucks tonight. 7 o'clock from Rogers Arena. It is the second of an eight-game homestand that started with a less than enthralling 2-0-0-shut-loss to Ottawa in game one. Ottawa had a tough loss yesterday against Montreal. You wouldn't call it a bad loss because Montreal is a good team. It was a gut punch.

It was a big blow to Ottawa's playoff chances. So while you were doing that, that interview, I was on Puckpedia looking at the list of remaining unrestricted free agents. And yikes. I don't think there's ever been a list this lacking in just franchise changing ability. Who is the most impact player right now that's available for a contract, probably. Alex Tuck. If Jenny Malkin.

Yeah, like Ovi. Maybe the Canucks can sign Ovi. Ovi and Malkin. You know. Zoom them up. One year. If you sort this list by the points that they've put up this season,

you got a couple of, I'll say, youngish relative to this list at the top where Darren Raddish, who's having that incredible season in Tampa Bay, right shot defenseman 30 years old. I need to find out. more about how Darren Radish has done this.

But, you know, that's, we'll see. He'll probably stay in Tampa Bay, right? Alex Tuck is second. He's 29 years old. And the way the Sabres are going right now, maybe they keep him, and he's a winger. If you want to talk about centers, Charlie Coil is the top center in terms of points.

He's having a good, Charlie Coil is a good player. He's an underrated player. He's 34 years old. And he's got 51 points in 64 games. for Columbus. Then you've got all these old guys, Malkin, Klojuru, Marcus Johansson, those are the centers that are available. There's no one really that you would sit there and target, maybe Charlie C

if you're looking for a 2C and you're kind of like, oh, we'll maybe make it work, right? But Charlie Coal might stay in Columbus. It might be happy in Columbus. Columbus is doing well these days. So it does bring the topic of conversation to what's the trade market going to look like this offseason, not just for Pedersen out of Vancouver, although that's the one that we're going to be focused on. But, you know, what about Robert Thomas? I mean, Robert Thomas could get the blues. If they handled this

right, and it's going to be tough because Thomas does have a no move clause so you can control the situation. But the blues can also just say, well, okay, well, fine, we'll keep them, right? And we're going to make it very difficult for you here, Robert. Very, very difficult. Yeah, I don't know. It's going to be a hot one. That is, who else?

Who else? Who else could you, who else is on the market potentially? That could have franchise altering potential. There's Robert Thomas. Pedersen definitely has franchise altering potential. You could alter your franchise all right. For good or bad. And let's not rule out the potential that he finds his game with another franchise

because that is going to be the story that if the Canucks are trying to trade him are going to sell. And I think they're going to be very, very, very, very hesitant to retain salary. So that's another element there. But who else comes to mind? It's Robert Thomas, Elias Pedersen, and who. And there's all these teams. You're talking about a league guys. You're talking about a league that's been so low.

to move talent. Oh, yes, this is also in the same year where Quinn Hughes got traded. I understand that. But teams now more than ever feel like they're scared and they lean more conservative when it comes to making the big splashes. And free agency, it's actually a shame what's happened to free agency. It really is. Free agency used to be one of the marquee offseason days.

July 1, Free Agent Frenzy used to be so much fun because it was an opportunity for your team to go out and go shopping. and it's just dried up to the point where there's no longer impact guys that go available and actually go to physically go to market like they used to. And it's a shame. It really is because it used to be a point in a player's career where they did their years of servitude and now you can go and you can choose wherever you want to play. And more often than not, guys are fully prepared to take the eight by eight that we just saw, Nick Schmaltz take to stay where they already are

as wish. It's a good situation for him. Why would he go somewhere else? It's just a shame that it's materialized this way. Even if he was available, Nick Schmaltz is not a franchise altering center. He's a nice player. I don't think that there should be an extra machination

in there for teams to keep their players. I think we're past that as a league. I don't think there should be that bonus year that only the current team can offer. It's not like it's a problem. It's not like it's a problem. Why? It's not like it's a problem. You're right. Nobody going to market right now.

Why do you need this extra mechanism to keep guys around? You know what I mean? There's already a mechanism in that they are hockey players. You know, like they like to stay where their stuff is. This is the classic Wyshinsky line. Like, where's my stuff? I just stay there. I don't really want to move.

It's a big hassle. So it is a shame because there were, it wasn't that long ago. I mean, it feels long ago. And it kind of was a decade like the glory days of where you'd get these big name, big ticket guys going. And you'd follow their flight. patterns to what cities they were visiting and how many teams were lined up

to make their bids. Do you remember us covering Parizia and Souter to Minnesota? It was a huge deal. That was franchise altering free agency. And it feels like a million years ago. Yeah. That was a tough one. Steve Stamco's free agency. And that was one of the ones where he actually

got to market and then he's like, I'm going to stay in Tampa Bay. But at least he tried. At least he got there and actually was technically without a contract for a couple days before he decided to go back to Tampa Bay. At this point, I think we'd all just take one interesting player. Like one guy.

Whether it's John Tavares when he was unrestricted free agent, that was really fun. Or even going back to, although it didn't really pan out, do you remember when Brad Richards was a free agent? Like that was a big deal. I guess the issue now is that these teams just don't let anyone of value walk. It's kind of an understood agreement

that the player tells the team I'm not resigning here and then they're like, okay, we're going to move you. Yeah. So they never actually get a chance to hit free agency. For example, McGa. And when those players are moved so often, it's like, okay, well, we're going to let an agent talk to the other team about an extension. So most of the time, if they go to another team, it's, you know, with the understanding

that there be an extension sign. Now, Quinn Hughes could be a very interesting, unrestricted for agents. Connor McGavin, right? Yeah, that could happen. but will it really get to July 1st for either of those players? You know, whether the Wild have a successful playoffs or not, the offseason is still going to be really interesting for them with Quinn Hughes. Because what if he says, you know, I don't, and it's been great here,

but this is not my plan. You got to move them. Do you think you got to move them? You got to move them. You have to. You can't. What about the Oilers in two years? You got to move them.

Let's say there's a year left on McDavid's deal. Yeah. And he is not signed an extension. I think you've got to keep him. It is so irresponsible, though, by the general manager to, like in this modern NHL to let an asset walk for nothing. It really is. What if he's kind of said, well, it depends.

I don't know. I haven't made my decision yet. Then you got to keep him out. It's a disservice to the team if he says that. I think if you say I'm not sure you're saying no. In the GM side. to take it that way if you're the GM. Because it's too big a risk for these guys to take.

They're so risk-averse. I think it's crazy. I think someone just be like, you know what? We're going to let it ride. Go, you know, win a Stanley Cup and then you can go wherever you want to go afterwards, but the ultimate goal was achieved. But they just don't think like that. I don't know if they trade him with a year left.

I honestly don't. The pressure would be immense. Yeah. I'd love to see it. I'd love to see some GM's head gets screwed to him. He's like, I'm gone anyway. Your head's in a vice at that point, right? The pressure would be immense.

Okay, we're up against them. Hopefully, hopefully those are stories that do come down to the wire, though. Yeah. You know, like, hopefully we see this. But I bet they won't. For the drama. Okay, we got 14 games in the National Hockey League tonight

as we try and do the one to watch, brought to you by Limitless A.V. Here, help me out here, bro. I think I'm going to make the one to watch Edmonton in Dallas in a rematch of Western Conference finals passed. And then, of course, Connor McDavid and the Oilers riding kind of a pretty impressive heater

having just racked up wins against the Vegas Golden Knights and the Colorado Avalanche. There are a ton of great games on the slate tonight. There's 14 of them. You got the Avalanche in Seattle and the Crackenter fighting for their playoffs lives.

You get Pittsburgh in Vegas, but Pittsburgh's not the same team to watch without Crosby in the lineup. I think I'm going to go with Edmonton and Dallas tonight. I think that's the game to watch. I was going to go with Nils Hoaglander in the press box tonight.

That might happen, by the way. We can get into that with Drance in the 8 o'clock hour. And Van der Kaine playing. They got to get this guy to a thousand games and then be like, all right, you can do whatever you want. Hohglander's another guy. It's like, we need to just cut this relationship off and move on in the offseason. Like it's past its expiry date.

Everyone's going to be like, but podcoles and. You made your choices. It's done, right? You just, you got to start. They're going to need players, you know. Well, it's fine. But one of them ain't going to be a Niels Houglander. Like, he just can't go through this anymore.

Anyway, tonight's one to watch is Edmontonian. For his sake, not ours, just for him? You know what, for everybody's sake? The organization, Hoaglander, the show, all of it. Tonight's one to watch. Edmonton in Dallas, it's a 5 o'clock puck drop bar time. It is brought to by Limitless AV. Vancouver's most trusted audiovisual integration experts,

specializing in seamless video conferencing solutions and hybrid workspaces. Book your personalized tour of their experience center today. Visit them online at limitlessav.c.ca. You're listening to the Halford & Brough Show on Sports 6.50. It's Canucks Central on SportsNet 650. From exclusive interviews to insider scoops and post-game breakdowns, we've got it all. Tune in weekdays 4 to 6 p.m. on radio and on demand through your favorite podcast app.

34 on a Thursday. Happy Thursday, everybody. Halford Brough, Sportsnet, 650. Halford Brubb the morning is brought to you by Sands and Associates. Do you have credit card debt? If you do, Sands and Associates could cut your debt by up to 80%. with no upfront fees. This is them today at sands dash trustee.com.

We're an hour two of the program with the midway point of the show. Brady Henderson, our Seahawks insider from ESPN, is going to join us in just the moment here. Hour two of this program is brought to by Jason hominock at Jason.orgage, the most medal of all the mortgage brokers. If you love paying too much for your mortgage, then don't let Jason shop around to find the perfect mortgage for you.

Visit them online at jason.morgage. I'm just on the NFL draft Wikipedia page, just seeing how many picks the Seahawks have. I think they have four, but they've got their pick in the first, second, and third round. Of course, they draft 32nd in the first round because all the other losers have to go before them. Yeah, they didn't win the Super Bowl. All those are their loser teams. Only one team did that.

It's the Seattle Seahawks. Before we get to Brady Henderson, our Seahawks insider from ESPN, call in now. Caller number five is going to win a pair of tickets to see the Victoria Royals take on your Vancouver Giants in two days time, March 14th of Langley Events Center. Caller number 5, 604-280-0-650. That number again, 604-280-650. Caller number five, a pair of tickets to see the Royals and the Giants, March 14th at the Langley Events Center.

To the ABLE Auctions Hotline, we go. Our next guest is our Seahawks insider from ESPN. Brady-Handerson joins us now on the Halford & Brough Show on SportsNet 650. Morning, Brady. How are you? What's up, guys? Did you miss me? I did. You know, when all this stuff came down on Monday, I was like, we got to get Brady on the show because it was a flurry of activity across the NFL and the Seahawks were prominently evolved in that flurry. Although it was a little unique because they haven't actually brought in anyone from outside the organization yet, and they lost a bunch of guys to other organizations. I want to start with Kenneth Walker, the third. You should tell Brady what Adog's analysis was. We told Addoch, our producer, um,

Oh, it looks like the Seahawks are going to lose Kenneth Walker, and he went, oh, he was so good in the Super Bowl. Yeah. He's a lovely person, you know, he doesn't really understand the nuances of the NFL. What is the Seahawks running back plan now that Kenneth Walker the third, the reigning Super Bowl MVP, is a member of the Kansas City Chiefs? Yeah, I think they've got to sign a veteran and draft somebody. I think my guess is it's a double-up plan.

because you only have four picks, as you mentioned, and you probably don't want to rely on two rookies. I know they do have George Halani there, who finished the season strong as the number two guy behind Ken Walker, but I still think you want to add two people, two pieces to that backfield, knowing that Charbonnet, because of the timing of that injury,

it's probably not going to be ready until, I don't know, November at the very earliest, maybe even into December. So I think they're going to sign somebody, and I think they're going to draft somebody. I think that they liked a guy who ended up signing with Jacksonville yesterday, Chris Rodriguez Jr. And, you know, he got a pretty sizable deal for, you know,

a guy who has not ever been a starter. So I think if he was available for a more reasonable deal, I think Chris Rodriguez Jr. would have been the first piece of that plan. But they got a pivot because he got, I think, two years and $10 million or something like that from Jacksonville. they're going to have to do something else. Rashad White, the Bucks running back, is the guy who's kind of been linked to them. You know, obviously at this point of free agency, you know, anybody who's signing, you know,

the big name guys are gone. You know, Travis E.T.N., Kenneth Gainwell, Tyler Algey, or all those guys that got, you know, five plus million dollars are gone. So now you're probably looking at a, you know, four or five million a year guy, if that. And that makes sense because, again, you know, I think they're going to draft somebody and, you know, whoever they signed is going to be one half of that backfield because they're going to draft somebody as well, I think. So why, maybe you could explain to the listeners the financial situation that the Seahawks are in that that convinced them to move on from Kenneth Walker to not use a franchise tag or not give them the contract that Kansas City gave them. Yeah, I don't think it necessarily. is about their financial situation.

I think it's like, I think it's probably more a reflection of, hey, that, you know, they have kind of values of what they think each of these guys are worth. And, you know,

the way that they got to where they got, being Super Bowl champions, is to make disciplined decisions. And it wasn't to, you know, overpay, grossly overpay for a guy just because, well,

okay, you don't have Zach Charbonnet. You need Ken Walker. You know, they wanted to re-signate. re-signed Ken Walker to a point. I think they would have gone to about $10 million. Obviously, he got way more than that, 14.35, I think it was. So, yeah, it's a pretty big gap. You can, you can stretch a little bit, but that would

have been stretching a lot. And I just continue to think that, look at why Ken Walker had the season he had last year. It's because he split carries with Zach Charminate. And he would say they were able to keep them fresh. So now you're in a position to make this guy, the Kansas City made him, I think, the fourth highest paid running back in the NFL at $14.35 million. Well, that's a crazy amount of money for a guy that the Seahawks would have preferred to keep in a timeshare.

You know what I mean? Like, the guys who make more than that are Derek Henry, Sequin Barclay, Christian McCaffrey, guys who are like playing clear-cut number one guys. who play the vast majority of the snaps, get the vast majority of the carries, just didn't make sense to do that with Ken Walker the third, knowing that in order to keep him healthy,

given the durability concerns you said, you're going to have to split carries somewhat evenly with somebody else. So, you know, $10 million, I think, was their number. It obviously went well beyond that, and here they are trying to, you know, look for somebody else. And so I say all of that to say that, you know,

they've got, like they had plenty of cap space to sign Ken Walker. I mean, they're still sitting there with whatever it is, $50-something million, haven't seen some of the deals so to know exactly how those affect the cap this year, but the bottom line is they got plenty of cap space. It's just, it's more, it's also about, you know, is that guy available at a price that you think he's worth? So how easy,

on a scale of 1 to 10, how challenging is it going to be for the Seahawks to replace the guys that left Walker, Kobe Bryant, Boy, Moffey, and Rieck Wollin as well? Not, I mean, that's all part of the calculus. So I would say, you know, somewhat but not overly challenging. Now, the interesting thing is I don't think this is a very good draft. I don't think they think this is a very good draft.

And obviously they only have the four picks. You know, but if you just go through the guys that they've lost, Kobe Bryant, you know, I'm sure that part of the reason they were as disciplined as they were. And again, another guy that they wanted to resign, but weren't going to go up to, you know, $13.3 million that he got from Chicago. So, you know, he got Tyo Kada, who gave them starter-level player there. Now, I don't think they're necessarily certain that Tai Okada is going to be their starter. I think he's shown that he can be that guy.

I think they're still going to try to find somebody to maybe compete for that job. But, yeah, you've seen, look, you found Kobe Bryant in the fourth round. and if Tyo Kata was an undrafted guy, you know, safety is proven to be one of those positions where you can find a replacement. So I think they're going to be okay there. Outside linebacker, I mean, boy, Amafay got a crazy amount of money for a rotational guy, $20 million.

You know, this is not a good draft, but I think maybe this is one of those, you know, edge rusher is maybe one of those spots where you could find somebody. and, you know, we'll see what happens with DeMarcus Lawrence, who I don't think it's certain that he's playing next season, you know, given that he's 34 and, you know, flirted with retirement last offseason. His wife just had, you know, their sixth kid, blended family that now has six kids, and he just won a Super Bowl. So that is something to monitor for sure. and I think that they have to probably double up, maybe sign an edge guy and drop an edge guy.

And then at running back, and we talked about some of the guys that, or Chris Rodriguez Jr., I think would have been the guy or would have been part of that plan. And then who else did they lose? Rieck Wollin. Yeah, I think they're going to have to draft a cornerback.

You know, they have not had a whole lot of success in free agency with cornerbacks. And so that's a position where I think they're going to look to find that number three guys. in the draft would be my guess. What other areas could the Seahawks look to address this offseason? I mean, Anthony Bradford got, you know, there was some tape on him. Let's just put it that way.

Is he going to be a starter next season, or are they going to try and upgrade there? I think they're going to try to upgrade there, but I don't think they're going to, you know, spend money on an offensive lineman. I don't think they like any of the veteran guys enough to say, you know, to give him the kind a deal that would automatically make him the starter. I think it's a good way to put it. So, yeah, I think that my guess is they try to find, you know, somebody in the draft, but, you know, okay, we're talking about drafting a cornerback, drafting a running back,

an edge guy. Well, they only got the four picks. So, you know, at some point, they're going to run out of spots. You know, maybe they trade back from 32 and try to add one or two more picks. But, you know, look, yeah, I think. that they're going to try to find somebody to compete with Bradford. It's not going to be an expensive free agent. And the bottom line is, you know, they did win a Super Bowl with Anthony Bradford.

So I think there is maybe a little bit of perception versus reality with him. I mean, the bad was very bad. I think that kind of skews some of the overall, you know, his overall ability. He's probably a little bit better than people give him credit for if you just view the awful plays and how awful they were. So that's my long-witted way of saying that, yeah, I think they're going to look to upgrade from him, but it would not shock me if he's back in the starting lineup next season.

Is the receiving core going to stay pretty much the same? Yeah, I mean, I think so. Maybe you lose one of the depth guys like Cody White. But, yeah, I mean, your top five guys, or four guys at least are now set. Now, Bobo is an interesting one. You know, I kind of don't think he's, going to be back at $3.5 million

that's a lot of money for a guy who had what, two catches last season and is, you know, projects to be no higher than their number five guy behind JASN Cup, Rashid, and Tori Horton. So,

you know, what we see teams do, when we see the Seahawks and other teams do with those RFA tenders sometimes is, you know, they will tender a guy, I think, sort of knowing that he's probably not going to play on that number. because it's a little high. And, you know, the tenders are non-guaranteed,

so they're not locked into paying him $3.5 million. What they can do is basically use that as a way to, you know, sort of keep him from hitting unrestricted free agency, and then maybe you try to negotiate a deal at a more team-friendly APY. And if they can't do that, you know, you've seen them move on from tendered, restricted free agents. John Radigan, a couple of years ago, he was set to make $3 million, which,

a lot of money for a backup inside linebacker, and they ended up cutting him, you know, on the cut down day and moved on from him. So the key thing to keep in mind with that RFA tender at $3.5 million for Jake Bobo is that that is not guaranteed, and I would not anticipate him playing for that amount of money next season. Brady, before we let you go, I want to ask you about a couple of former Seahawks, one, their head coach, Pete Carroll, and two, their former quarterback, Gino Smith. I know this was on your timeline, and I read the article this morning. first comments in the wake of being fired by the Raiders. And then, of course, the Raiders cutting ties with Gino and Gino ending up back in New York

of all places, which haven't really talked about much yet. In the article on ESPN, which was sort of Pete's first public comments since getting fired, he said, quote, we got killed. We got killed. And he was talking about the offensive line, not the team in general. Although the team in general did get kind of killed last year. I'm curious to get your thoughts now that the dust is settled about that disastrous one year. that they all had together, the X Seahawks guys, getting the band back together in Vegas,

which saw, of course, Pete Carroll get fired. Now, Gino, no longer the quarterback of the Raiders. Yeah, really just a strange deal there. I mean, that team was, I mean, if you just look at the roster, it was not, I mean, they had some big name guys, but that was not a roster that was really built to win right now. And, you know, I think Pete Carroll being, is, you know, ever the optimist that he is, I think he thought he could win. So I wonder if there was a little bit of misalignment between front office and coaching staff of, you know,

I don't think Pete takes that job at his age to go into a rebuild. You know, I think, you know, they traded for Gino Smith, his guy, knowing, you know, thinking that, okay, Gino, you know, Pete Carroll's never a guy who won fewer than seven games in Seattle. Yeah. There was a comment about, you know, all I do is win or something like that. And it just struck me as, you know, a team front office that maybe wanted to play the long game and a coach that, you know, at his age, wanted to win now. And, you know, maybe that's part of the reason why season was as much of a disaster as it was.

I mean, obviously they made some bad hires on the coaching style. You had to fire the special teams coordinator. Chip Kelly sounds like he was a complete disaster. Yep. And, you know, you never saw Carol fire coaches in season, and he fired two coordinators. that just shows you how bad it was. Brady, this was great, man. Thanks for taking the time to do it.

We enjoyed it. Enjoy what's left to free agency. And then if we get closer to the draft, we'll probably circle back as we get closer to the draft. And we see what the Seahawks do with the last overall pick in the first round of the draft. Yeah, let's do it, guys. Thanks for having me.

Good to talk to you again. Yeah, you too. Thanks, Brady. We appreciate it. That's Brady Henderson, our Seahawks insider from ESPN here on the Halford & Brough show on Sportsnet, 650. Okay, we got a lot more to get to in the final hour of the program. Thomas Drance from the Athletic is going to join us in the 8 o'clock hour,

but we got some business to attend to before we get to 8 o'clock. The smart decision brought to you by Crow, it's going to play off the Raiders. I think it was a smart decision to completely gut the organization and get rid of P. Carroll and Geno Smith. We didn't talk about Geno Smith going back to the Jets too, which is kind of hilarious going back to where it all started. I don't know.

I'm rooting for him. I am too. So in that same article. I'm not hopeful, but I'm rooting for him. When Pete Carroll said and kept repeating, we got killed, we got killed. He was talking about his offensive line. And he said, we didn't even give Gino a chance to be what he could be because he was getting sacked all the time. And it was funny.

Martinago is in the, our former show producer, Mike Martinago is in the same betting group that I'm in. Okay. So everyone submits a nice club you got. Everyone submits. Like a book club for gambling. For gambling. But everyone submits a pick every week that they, you know, and then we put them together and do a parlay. Okay.

every week he picked the Gino Smith interception prop. And he hit. He was so reliable. Almost every week. To the point where we stopped asking Mike what he wanted for his bet, we just knew is Gino Smith interception prop. He's like lock it in. Anyway, I don't know if that'll be the case this year.

He'll probably still throw a lot of interceptions, but hopefully it's better for him. A follow-up to yesterday's story too. We did get a little bit more clarity on this Max Crosby saga. I won't go down the road because we're up against it for time and this is the smart decision brought to you by Crow. There are only four games where he didn't throw a pick. Yeah, I know. It was a great prop.

You could bet with regularity last year that Gino was going to throw a pick. He was under siege all year. It was wild. So the Max Crosby situation has now come to its conclusion. The Ravens and their general manager, Eric Costum, met with the media yesterday. He addressed a couple things. He denied the, claim that he got buyers remorse and backed out of the deal. Did he, did he, did he pull like a how

dare you? No, he's, he didn't actually. How dare you? He, he didn't go that route. He said, I appreciate and understand why people are asking it, but it's not true. Right. He said it's because of the failed physical. Now, you can poke some holes in that, some major holes, because everybody knew that Crosby had this surgery for his meniscus. Yeah. Everyone knew it. Like, you didn't need a doctor to do an MRI of the knee. Everyone knew that he had a knee injury, he got surgery, there were going to be some issues with it. He was also asked if the club's reputation had taken a hit

and if agents no longer wanted to deal with him because he kind of did wrong by Crosby. And he said, nope, my phone's still ringing. So that puts it to bed for the Ravens. I like the conspiracy that it was the Cowboys doctor. Yeah, I saw that one. that, and then the cowboys were going to go get them then? But the cowboys haven't because last night, Max Crosby finally addressed the situation

and classic modern society. He did it via social media and he posted a gif of the undertaker rising from the dead. Oh, yes. Like he does. And he said, I'm back and I'm with the Raiders. So Max Crosby, like nothing had happened. Those five days he was a raven, they were going to go down in the history books. but Max Crosby's back with the Raiders for now.

Anyway, that's all of your smart decision banter, brought to you by Crow, your trusted accounting and tax advisors for over 55 years. Crow, smart decisions lasting value. Learn more at chromakai.ca.ca. Thomas Drance is going to join us in the 8 o'clock hour at 8 o'clock, a reminder to call in because we got another giveaway. This time, it's a $250 gift card to Gulf Town.

This is part of their trade-in days event. Caller number 5 at 8.8. am we'll get the gift card we're doing this today and tomorrow we've done it every day this week we'll keep doing it again tomorrow call at 8 a.m 604 280 that number again 604 280 0650 caller number 5 at 8 am gets a 250 dollar gift card to golf town you're listening to the halford and bruff show on sports net 650