Halford & Brough in the Morning - Unfortunately, Quinn Hughes Can't Play Sixty Minutes A Night

Episode Date: January 10, 2025

In hour one, Brough and guest host Jamie Dodd look back at the previous day in sports (3:00), they set up tonight's Canucks road matchup at Carolina (6:00), plus they wrap up the Seahawks' season and look ahead to what's next for them with ESPN's Brady Henderson (26:08). 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.

Aaaaaahhh, dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun Score! Rossby scores! Nice play by Carrick. Rangers break out Riley Smith. Two on one. Carrick. Scores! Damn, Carrick wins it in overtime! Core meltdown in 10 seconds. Nine, eight. Meltdown averted. Good boy. Ladies and gentlemen,

the weekend. What? Good morning, it is Halford and Brough here, Sportsnet 650. But no Halford today, I'm Jamie Dodd filling in for Mike Halford for today. Happy Friday everybody, yes it is the weekend. Brough, how's it going man? Good morning, how are you doing, buddy?

I'm doing pretty well. I'm excited to be here as always, I guess. Looking forward to hearing your thoughts about this team right now, because yesterday I was talking about how I actually don't think they're playing all that badly. Yeah. All things considered. Would love to get your thoughts on that later on the show. Good morning, dogs.

Hey, dog. Good morning. Good morning. And we got Arash in show. Good morning, dogs. Hey dog, good morning. Good morning. And we got Arash in here. Good morning, Arash. How are you buddy? Morning. Okay. What's coming up on the show?

Got a big show coming up on a Friday as always. Guest list begins 6.30. Brady Henderson from ESPN will join the show, talk a little bit about the, the Seahawks off season. Of course they make the decision to fire their offensive coordinator. So we'll look ahead to some of the choices they have to make coming up. AJ from AJ's Pizza joins us at seven. Find out what's going on at the restaurant over the weekend from AJ.

Seven oh five. Corey Lavallette covers the Carolina Hurricanes. That's tonight's opponent for the Vancouver Canucks. So we'll check in on the Carolina hurricanes with Corey, 7 30, the Moj, of course, always love chatting with the Moj and then eight o'clock it is my usual cohost Thomas Drance. I love you guys. Switched it around. You must be so happy that he's on the show. Yeah. Well, you're usually it's Dolly on Friday. Yeah. But because of Drantz's schedule, you guys switched it. Perfect for me. I don't miss Drantz.

Did he do the show with you yesterday? Just for half an hour. Oh, okay. Yeah. And then what? He just left? No, it was the last half hour. Oh, okay.

All right. He's traveling, so he couldn't make it, and it was whatever. But honestly, sometimes it's easier to do the show without him, so it's not that bad. Don't mind it sometimes. Halvorn and Brough brought- You get a word in. Yeah, exactly. I get a lot of words in, it's easier to do the show without them. So it's not that bad. Don't mind it sometimes. Halvin and Brough brought- You get a word in. Yeah, exactly.

Get a lot of words in, it's great. Halvin and Brough, first hour 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. 1170 Powell Street.

Also brought to you by the DeLari family of Honda dealers. Experience the De Lari difference today Visit your nearest Delari Honda dealer today and we are coming to you live from the Kintec studio Kintec footwear and orthotics Working together with you in step Kintec 650 650 is the dumb bar lumber text line. Did I do it? Right? Yeah, that was perfect It's good. Thank you. That's that's good. That's the validation a dog Looking very refreshing a dog looks so tired this morning. Do I I'm just looking over at you and you're just like you're out of it Man, yeah, well, it's the end of the week It's been a long week. You're gonna check out No, I'm with you guys. Okay. Oh, that's good. I'm glad to hear it barely in my mind is to do

You got what we learned for later? Yeah Well, you got two and a half hours. So yeah, I believe in you a dog In my mind it's do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do any of that let's do what happened oh rash how's it going buddy are you having a good one this morning I'm not I'm so sorry this is it the board you just blame it blame it on the gear blame it on the gear I got it here we go hey did you guys see the game last night? Oh? What happened brought to you by the BC construction safety Alliance making safety simpler by giving construction companies the best in tools resources and safety training visit BCC sa

Dot ca and what happened involving the Vancouver Canucks? Well, not much. They had the day off, but they are playing the Carolina Hurricanes tonight and the Hurricanes, they were in action actually against the Canucks next opponent, the Toronto Maple Leaf. So if you were looking for some hockey to watch, it was a pretty good opportunity to scout the,

the next two Canucks opponents coming up today and tomorrow here. So the Hurricanes beat the Leafs six to three. I want to talk to you about, we can talk to Corey about, about the, the Hurricanes later in the show. The Leafs, we're going to see them on Saturday. And I asked you before the show, do you think this could be the year for the Leafs, we're going to see them on Saturday. And I asked you before the show, do you think this

could be the year for the Leafs considering you're looking at the Eastern Conference? And I don't know if there's any one team that particularly stands out right now. Obviously Florida is the defending Stanley Cup champs. So they kind of get a leg up and yeah, I think they can do it. But could this be the year that the Leafs get to the Stanley Cup final?

No, I don't think so. And I guess the conference is that was a very quick, no, very quick. I don't believe in them that much to be perfectly honest. I think all of this, there was a lot of hype early in the season from the Toronto Maple Leafs and the media and the fans.

And I was like, Oh, Tanav and Oh, oh, yeah. Oh man, this is incredible. They made all these great moves. Look at this defense they got and Craig Barube and all this. But look, I love Tanav. Oh yeah. He's a player too. Also, I don't have any particular feelings for, but I just don't think this team is still

that good. I think they were getting propped up by some incredible goal tending, uh, from stole ours for a while there. And you know, stole ours, he's a decent goalie, but I don't think he's going to be Vezna caliber consistently, even when he's healthy and in the lineup. So if you look at some of the underlying numbers for them, they're not, they're not that impressive. They're a team that was getting really,

really good goal tending. Obviously they have some very capable forwards and you know, the big question for them is going to be the health and the availability and the effectiveness of Austin Matthews. Yeah, that's a big wild card too. Like could Stolar's get hot in the playoffs and steal them some series and hey, the Eastern conference isn't that strong.

Yeah, sure. But there's no, I don't think there's any reason to look at them and say oh there There is they're a true Stanley Cup contender. So they've had better chances in the past. I think so I think they've had better teams in the past than this one What the core is the same though? You know what I mean? Yeah are some of those guys past their The best before dates like did like do you think I mean Matthews is so

injured right now that he's probably not at the top of his game yeah that's a huge concern for them right like that's like having Quinn Hughes not at the top of the of his game for the Canucks right whereas he's so important to what they do if there's even if he's just playing at hey a really nice level yeah and not you know top five guy in the league level that That's a big, big issue for them. And that if again, if you're trying to build the optimistic case for the Leafs, you might say like, well, hey, maybe he gets healthy towards the end of the season, starts being more effective.

That could totally change how things look for them. But until that happens, I don't know. I'm not buying it. I think there's some real questions about their depth scoring. I think there's still questions on the blue line. We'll see how the goaltending holds up. I look playoff team. Yes, obviously went around. Sure. But when the Stanley cup, I don't see it this year. Okay. And what was the, what was the game last night that, that,

that stood out for you? If there was one, well Pittsburgh taking care of Edmonton in a big way. That was impressive. And Pittsburgh has kind of flown under the radar a little bit here after that disastrous start where they were like the worst team in the league and was just absolutely miserable. And all the news stories coming out of Pittsburgh were horrible. Now all of a sudden they're in the race. They're right there.

They're above 500 points percentage. And in the Eastern conference, there's a ton of teams battling for those wild card spots but none of them are all that impressive. You know. Crosby, ninth most points in ancient history. He passed Josachik last night. There you go. 1642 points for Crosby. It's pretty good. It's not bad. It's pretty good. You know what? I think he's gonna get into the Hall of Fame. I think so. Maybe not like right away. Not first battle. You might have to wait. That's not going crazy. You might have to wait a little bit. This wild card race in the East is wild because Tampa beat Boston last night and Boston is not in a good way.

No. That team cannot score. And so Boston is now in a wild card spot. Tampa is into third in the Atlantic. And I have a feeling those are going to be the top three teams now going forward. Yes. I could be wrong.

Tampa kind of, they didn't have that very good trip to California, but I just think they're a very good team. So you got Toronto, Florida, and Tampa is the top three teams in the Atlantic. Boston drops to the wild card spot with Columbus. And then Pittsburgh is also tied in points with Columbus, but they played one more game.

Ottawa, they lost last night. They got smoked at home by the Sabres four to nothing. Is Ottawa gonna choke? Or is this even a choke? Are they just not very good? Because the opportunity that was presented in the Eastern Conference With the Rangers falling apart. Yeah has to like there's got there's a bunch of teams now All these teams are fighting for a wild-card spot Boston if we're putting them in there

Columbus Pittsburgh Ottawa Montreal Detroit the Rangers even the Islanders who got a good win last night in Vegas. If you want to keep Philly in there, they got 39 points. They're not all that far back. And even the last place team in the conference, Buffalo, with 37 points isn't completely out of it. The opportunity, because most people assume, oh yeah, the Rangers are going to be in there. They're going to take a spot. But now that they're just in the race and I don't even know if they're in the race right now, cause they're not playing well, I guess they've won.

I think everyone's in the race. They're all in the race. Yeah. Really everyone is in the race and that that's why I wouldn't call it a choke. If Ottawa doesn't make the playoffs, not to be nice to the Ottawa senators, but because like they, what are they? They peaked as like the second wild card team. You know what I mean? It's not like they ever had a big cushion or it's like, Oh,

they've got an eight point lead on the, on the next closest team. And they've printed it away. Like they peaked as in the mix. It's not a choke, but it's just yet another opportunity. Opportunity if they don't get in all of those teams for Ottawa, Detroit, Buffalo. I mean, Buffalo maybe has already blown it and spent their opportunity but for Detroit as well I know they game losing Street might end up costing like Detroit's won five in a row But they had to do that just to get back to 500 10 HL 500 and so who knows how long the new coach bump

Will last there but for all of these teams with the Rangers falling apart the Bruins finally coming back to earth It looks like if it's, you know, ancient decrepit Pittsburgh and Columbus that take the wild card spots ahead of those teams, that's disastrous. Like choke or not, whatever it is, that's just a disastrous result for those teams. So Columbus beat the Kraken six to two last night. And I continue to be annoyed by the Seattle Kraken. I, there's nothing about them that's interesting to me. I hate their uniforms. I, I actually, I, they've got that, uh, that color that, you know, it's almost like the dental hygienist color.

Like it's just, I, I, there is nothing interesting about this team to me. Yeah, I scrub there is nothing interesting about this team to me to you know, and it just drives me It drives me crazy. Like I don't get me wrong. I don't want them to be super good But I want them to be interesting. Yeah, you know like they've come into the league and I've been waiting, you know, I Go back years of my life. I was like, I wonder if Seattle ever get a team Like that would be crazy what a rivalry that would be with the Canucks and they're just Nothing nothing. What's the most interesting thing about the Kraken? The fact that they're mid the fact like the most interesting thing is how much they have failed To live up to the standard set by Vegas. Well, they have one of our best favorite players Shane, right?

Yeah, how much they have squandered the opportunity like that is the most interesting thing about them, which is obviously incredibly damning to say about a sports team. I will say you're ripping on the jerseys, even the name. I was in the minority when they chose the name. I was like, this is a stupid gimmick and it's going to look stupid in a few years. And I don't know. I don't think people have caught up to me, but I still think that I think it's a gimmicky about it. I just think it's like, it it was it was it is like people have compared it to the Raptors Yeah, like the Raptors took that name after Jurassic Park before Jurassic Park. No one even knew what a Raptor was

Yeah, right like I didn't I didn't I Dinosaurs I knew were the bronchosaurus the t-rex The triceratops. Like, that was definitely one. And then what was the bird one? The Pterodactyl. Pterodactyl, right? And the Stegosaurus.

Yeah, those are the big five. Those are the big five. The big dinosaur big five. And then they bring in the raptor. I'm like, I don't know. But the raptor was the star of the Jurassic Park, right? And all the kids would be like, yeah, I knew about raptors. I was like, no, you didn't.

There was the big five. But a kraken is a cool mythical sea creature. Yeah But was it ever? Yeah. Well, that's that's what I'm asking What was it the Liam Neeson movie or you know release the cracker crackin and then there's like the kraken rum like it became a thing Relatively recently and then everyone was like, oh they have to name it the crack and there's like why? Why cuz it's like a funny joke on the internet? Because it has to do with the ocean?

It has to do with the ocean, I guess. I don't know. I just think it was a dumb gimmick. I think Utah is going to match that dumb gimmick when they choose the Yeti. I think that's stupid, too. Really? Jamie, you're such a hater.

I like Yeti the brand, though. They make good cups. You don't name your thing after a brand, after a cup brand. Yeah, but they're good cups. They really keep your drinks cold. Maybe that's I have like three of them on the golf course. Maybe that's what the logo will be. The logo will be a Yeti cup.

And maybe they should make the Stant the Utah Stanley like the Stanley cups. There you go. Very popular, very popular with people. OK, let's get to some Canucks talk here. I got a few questions for you because I want to catch up with you. And I heard you. I heard you a bit yesterday.

Are you more concerned with the Canucks defensive play and that might include blowing leads? I don't know if you've noticed that's a bit of a theme for the Canucks. Against the Kraken was their worst one. Or are you worried about their ability to score goals? It's their ability to score goals and it's not especially close for me. Like they struggle so much to have the puck for long stretches, get it in the offensive zone, get shots, get dangerous shots, like all of it, every step of the way looks like a major struggle for them. And I know the, the blown leads thing has cropped up here recently.

Part of that I think is, and obviously the one against Seattle where they're up three goals, that's just a disaster, obviously. But a lot of these have been, they're low scoring, close games. And I was going through it yesterday, even the games they're winning right now, you go back a month or so and you factor in empty netters. Like there's been like one or two games that haven't been one goal games.

Everything else win or lose is one goal, whether it goes to overtime or not. And I think a big part of the reason is they're a good, they're still a solid defensive team, so they can keep teams in check, but they really struggle to pull away from teams and make it you know Go take it from a one or two goal lead to a three or four goal lead Like that's why the Florida Panthers win stands out so much because they didn't just get up and then hold on right they actually

Added to the lead they padded it and they kind of removed the opportunity to float for Florida to come back I think you need to have that in the league today where scoring is up so much. And especially if you're going to try to do something in the playoffs, isn't like, isn't that exactly what we saw in last year's playoffs? Yeah. A good defensive team that couldn't score. Mm hmm. They're kind of that again this year.

So yeah, they need to figure out a way to score more. It was funny when I was watching the world juniors and Canada struggled so much to score, I'm like, am I watching the Canucks here? Like it's just, uh, when you, when they get into the offensive zone, I feel like I've been going on about this a little too much, but there's some people that talk about the rush chances and they can't get the puck going.

And absolutely that's a factor for sure. Like if you want to create rush chances, you know, your defense are such a huge part of it, either getting the puck going or jumping up in the rush and joining the play and helping out with the rush chances. But my biggest issue is how they play in zone when they get the puck and it's constantly filtered back

to the point. And that seems to be the only thing. It's like, do they ever, are they ever able to just work it down low and go low high, but not super high into the slot where goals are scored, man, like get the puck to the net. Yeah, low high, but it's, when they're doing it, it's on the perimeter, right? It's not a dangerous pass through the center of the ice to the high slot even, or to a forward who's you know coming downhill of

Speed through the high slot and then can attack the net It's just to a stationary guy who has a little bit of space and then sometimes on that It feels like they never even try it, you know, because they're so used to let's say a winger gets the puck on the half wall They're so used to going back to the point And they don't just sometimes like, Hey, I'm going to reverse it, throw it behind the net. Is someone going to be there? Yeah. Or I'm just, I'm going to take the puck to the city.

The sedans don't recognize this game at all. Imagine if the sedans fired it back to the point all the time. Yeah. Right. Like they worked it down low in the corner and then eventually they would come out and you know, like, do they not have any of that in their game? Is it an ability thing or is it just the game plan that they go back to the point all the time? I think it's a combination. I do think the, the fact that other than Quinn Hughes and Philip Pronek, I guess, but obviously especially Quinn Hughes, the guys on the blue line

can't really jump in and contribute. I don't mean off the rush or anything like that. We always talk about the puck moving, but even in the offensive zone, like you watch Jacob Chickren, Chickren for Washington, right? He's activating. He's getting down low. He's either below the goal line or close to the goal line making plays, supporting the offense in the offensive zone. They don't have guys that can do that. Well, Myers tries sometimes that everyone just yells at him.

Back to the point. What are you doing? So I think that's part of it, but then I'll also see instances where, you know, the winger has the puck on the boards and it looks at least, you know, from, from TV, from my perspective, like maybe there's a lane just to take it to the center of the ice and try to create. And they don't do that.

So I do think last year, certainly it was a point of emphasis, right? Tips and screens, get it to the point, crash the net. And they had a lot of success, especially early in the year doing that. I think once you have that success, it can be hard to switch it up, especially when you've spent a long time playing that system, but I do think there's a personnel issue, especially on the blue line as well. I just wonder if other teams know that that's what they're going to do too.

If they're doing their pre-scout properly, I mean, what happened to the Canucks in the playoffs against Nashville and I think Edmonton took part of that game plan was, I don't think I can recall ever watching a Canucks team in the playoffs have that much trouble just getting a puck on net. And the other day, you know, it's a storyline that the Canucks reached 30 shots for the first time in what, 15 games or something. And I think there's something to that. Like, I was talking about

this the other day and, you know, people that are, that are super down on the Canucks and they're saying like, this is like what it was four or five years ago. I was like, no, it's not. No, it's not. There were games, multiple games during the Travis Green era, or you go back to the end of the Willie Desjardins era where the Canucks would not even get into the offensive zone.

We couldn't even have this conversation about like, they're always playing it back to the point because they would never be, you know, some of the teams they would come up against, they were so overmatched. Yeah. I don't feel that way about this team. Like I don't feel that they go into these games and then they're, now maybe that's partly to do with their schedule,

their strikes, the schedule, but they went into Washington. Apparently a good team. Yeah. Maybe not as good as the records suggest, but still a good team. And territorially, territorially, it wasn't a problem. Like they, they weren't trapped in their own end. And do you remember that a few years ago? I mean,

when they were one of the worst teams in the league, they couldn't get out of their own zone. And the other team would just spend so much time in there cycling the puck around and, you know, doing whatever they wanted. And half the time the, the shot clock would be, you know, two to one in favor of the other team. It's not the same with this team right now.

No, but it is interesting because sometimes you see teams where, you know, like St. Louis has had this for awhile where their shot totals aren't necessarily always super high, but part of it is they're waiting for the really good shot. Right. And there's a lot of, we saw it even when St. Louis came through, there are a lot of like East West passing in the offensive zone, they're looking for those high danger shots rather than just you know Like the Carolina Hurricanes throwing it on net the funny thing with the Canucks is they're patient and selective but not for the high danger shot

Right, you know what I mean? It's like no, no, no, we only want to get the point shot off It's like well, but yeah, I have no problem if you want to their power play That's their power plays like throw it around the perimeter and then use gets frustrated Yeah, Hughes dances at the point and just throws one on If you want to, that's their power play. That's their power plays. Like throw it around the perimeter. And then when Hughes gets frustrated, yeah. Hughes dances at the point and just throws one on. Yeah. And I can understand being a little bit more selective. Like the shot clock isn't the only thing that matters.

The shot counter is not the only thing that matters. I get that shot quality is a thing, but then why aren't you playing for those really high quality shots more? Why aren't you trying to set those up? Look, I get it. Rick Taukett has a system. It worked and had a ton of success for them last year. There's personnel limitations he's working with.

I understand all of that. I'm not saying throw it all out and try to become, you know, an all star team out there or like the, uh, the red army team or anything, the way you're passing it around. But can you turn the dial just a little bit? That's always the question for me. Is there just a little bit of an adjustment you can make? Good text into the Dunbar Lumber text line, 650, 650.

It's from Luke and he says, I think Taukett is against the East West pass in the offensive zone. Cause if you don't make them, it's going the other way. Yep. Back to the point is a safer play. I can't stand, stand watching it incessantly, but it's a safe play that maintains possession. That could very well be part of it.

And I know that Drance has talked about it with us. Maintaining possession is a way of defending. And then it's another thing that was a huge part of their success last year, right? And when you think, go back to when Tocket came in, they had so much to work on defensively. And I think for Tocket, that was part of it. It's like, okay, they had so much to work on defensively. And I think for Tauke, that was part of it. It's like, OK, yes, we have to work on how we're defending in zone.

But we also got to put ourselves in better situations. And part of that is not turning the puck over with cross-ice passes in the offensive zone. You know, it's not like he's doing this just because it's like ineffective. Right. He's like, oh, yeah, this will this will be stupid. Let's try it. There's reasons they're trying to do it. I just wonder if they have to make some adjustments. Okay.

We're going to talk to Brady Henderson, do a little Seahawks talk on the other side of the Seahawks fired their offensive coordinator, Ryan Grubb after just one year. So we'll talk to Brady about that. The future of Gino Smith, all coming up on the Halford and Bruff show on Sportsnet 650. HGTV has a new address. All the latest HGTV shows are now available on Channel 409

on Rogers Xfinity TV. JamPro, from warehouses to washrooms and everywhere in between, JamPro keeps workplaces tidy, clean, and disinfected. For a free quote, visit jampro.ca. It's Canucks Central with Dan Rachel and Satya Arshah, your destination for everything Canucks. Exclusive interviews, inside info,

and even the post game show. Listen four to six PM weekdays and on demand through your favorite podcast app. ["Sports Net Central"] Welcome back to Alfred and Brough, here's Sportsnet 650. Jamie Dodd filling in for Mike Halford. Hour one of the show 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.

1170 Powell Street, also brought to you by the DeLari family of Honda dealers. Experience the DeLari difference today, visit your nearest DeLari Honda dealer today, and it is now time for our NFL preview, brought to you by the Clayton Public House. Pre-game to post-game, the Clayton Public House is your home of football. Catch all the action on 15 screens and two giant projectors the ClaytonPub.com and joining us now for our NFL preview from ESPN covering the Seahawks he is Brady Henderson. Brady thanks for doing this how are you? Yeah you bet thanks for having me for one last time for now how you guys doing? We're doing pretty well so you kind of called this Ryan Grubb

thing the last time you were on the show you're? We're doing pretty well. So you kind of called this Ryan Grubb thing. The last time you were on the show, you're like, I don't know, I've heard some stuff. So what ultimately happened with the Seahawks firing their offensive coordinator after just one year? I think it was the same thing that they feared would happen all along, frankly. And if you know, Mike McDonald was sort of vague as he was explaining the reasons, but I think he was also specific enough to where you really get an idea, especially if you were hearing behind the scenes about just the challenges in wanting to run the ball more and Grubb not running it all that often.

We talked about some of the situations and some of the circumstances certainly played into that, but a defensive minded head coach is going to want to run the ball. And that was Mike McDonald's fear when they were interviewing Ryan Grubb that he was a very, he had a very past happy past heavy resume, at least in his last two stops at Washington and Fresno State. And, you know, Mike McDonald was very concerned about that. And Grubb was able to convince him that he could be balanced just based on, you know, he touted the fact that he'd been an offensive line coach prior to that, a run game coordinator prior to that. And you know, he really had to sell Mcdonald on that idea that he could be balanced.

And it just, as Mcdonald said, it just didn't come to fruition. And I think that more than anything was the reason, you know, I think there was also, I know there was also some personality stuff behind the scenes and Grubb is, you know, as friendly as he comes off in press conference settings. I've heard he's kind of gruff behind the scenes and very set in his ways. And I think there was just some challenge to really get him to see eye to eye with McDonald on running the Balmore. And you know, the transition from college to the NFL is a very real thing

for a guy who's never been in the NFL. And the hash marks are, you know, narrower. The, you know, you get fewer series and fewer plays because of the running clock. The talent level is a lot more even. So, you know, in the in college, you can pick on, you know, certain players, you can pick on weak links of a defense. In the NFL, you can't do that as much just because the talent is a lot more even. So there were some growing pains.

I think if it was just about the growing pains and just about the bottom line results in year one, McDonald could have lived with those, trusting that they would improve. But I think the philosophical bridge was just too big to gap and Mike McDonald decided that he wanted somebody who was going to be a lot more willing and able to run the ball. Remind me of the process of hiring Ryan Grubb last off season, because it was such a tumultuous off season.

Part of me wonders, and this could be totally wrong, let me know. Part of me wonders if the whole thing was just a little bit rushed and they were like, okay, Ryan Grubb, I guess you're the offensive coordinator. We'll see how it goes. Yeah, the timing definitely, that's a great point. The timing definitely played a role there.

Remember, it wasn't until late January that the Seahawks hired Mike McDonald because they had to wait out the Baltimore Raven season ending. And it wasn't, it wasn't just that they couldn't hire him until then. They couldn't even talk to him for the first time until then, because they didn't get the initial interview done during that first week. So what happens when you're hiring a head coach, you know, when you do that initial interview or maybe at some point along the way, maybe it maybe it's a second interview, you talk about, you know, okay,

the team says, if we were to hire you, what would you be thinking in terms of your coordinators? So, but they didn't get to have that initial conversation with McDonald's until late January when the Ravens lost in the AFC title game. So by the time they hired McDonald's at the end of January and then, you know, hired Ryan Grubb in early February, I think they were just so late in the process

that there weren't a whole lot of viable alternatives left by that point because I think just about every team, if not every team, had already filled its OC vacancy by that point. So that is, as Mike McDonald called it, a silver lining to having their second coaching search in 11 months is that at the very least they get a head start at least compared to what they had

last year. Okay. So we're into the off season now. What is job number one? Is it hiring a new offensive coordinator? Is there something else that's out there? No, I, yeah, I think it's hiring a new offensive coordinator and then that's going to

dictate, you know, obviously a lot of your offensive staff and there's almost certainly going to be more changes to the offensive staff. Not necessarily firings from McDonald and Josh Snyder, but they're going to want to give the offensive coordinator a good amount of say in certain spots on his staff. I think one of their offensive assistants left to take a job at Boise State I think Scott Huff the offensive line coach his job status is very much tied to whoever they bring in As an ex-offensive coordinator I think that that guy is gonna have a lot of say if not the entire say on whether Scott Huff is back

So I think right now the priority is the coaching staff and then you start to get into you know, your upcoming free agents now I would Typically for guys who are already under contracts like Gino Smith DK Metcalf all those guys from the 2022 draft class typically with those Guys who are eligible for extensions but aren't going to be free agents this year who are eligible for extensions but aren't going to be free agents this year, typically they wait until later in the year. Like it's spring at the earliest that they do those extensions. Sometimes it drags into, you know, they get those done like the first or second day of

training camp. I think they've really got to move up the clock on Geno Smith here for a couple of reasons. One, he's got a March 16th roster bonus due, and that's the 16 million, which includes the $6 million that he added to in escalator money with certain statistical benchmarks. So you obviously want to avoid a situation where you let that March 16th day pass, you owe him the 16 million, and then try to negotiate a deal, can't come to an agreement, then have to be in a position to trade him after you've already paid him $60 million. That wouldn't-

Not ideal. Yeah, it could conceivably increase his trade value, but I think you just want a clean break there. And you also, even if it's only a shorter term deal, that's probably going to be the biggest expenditure of the off season. So I think there's incentive to get that deal done and really figure out, really have a great idea of, okay, here's what you've got left for these other guys. And there's also merit to the idea of, you know, getting ahead of the market and, you know, Brock Purdy and

some of these other guys who are going to get paid a lot of money. I don't think Geno Smith is making anywhere near what Brock Purdy is going to make, but whatever Purdy signs for, I think is only going to increase what Geno Smith is going to make. But whatever Purdy signs for, I think is only going to increase what Geno Smith is going to ask for, assuming Purdy's deal gets done first. So I think typically you would wait to do a deal like Geno Smith's. But in this case, I think there's

incentive to get that one done before free agency. And you think they'll give DK a big extension? Yeah, I mean, that would be my guess. That one is a tougher to call just because I think they'd feel a lot better about giving him a big raise if he had had a big season, you know, and it wasn't, it was an okay season. He was under a thousand yards. He obviously missed the two games. I think, you know, an interesting point that McDonald made the other day was, you know, he was, he was evaluating DK season and he talked about how,

you know, just being a guy who commands a lot of attention from defenses isn't enough. And I don't think he was putting that on DK. I think he was passively saying, yeah, whatever coordinator they hire next, he's got to do a better job of, of scheming this guy some opportunities because You know He does create opportunities for other teammates with as much double teams as he commands

But McDonald's point was that that's not enough. You've also got to get that guy involved there after he came back from that knee injury There wasn't a game where he topped 70 yards in the final eight games So I think he's just too talented to to not have you know that kind of production and so Yeah in terms of what they do with him My best guess is that they give him an extension But I'd have to take a lot more about that one because that one is a tougher call than some of the others What are some of the other big roster decisions that they have to make now you could either Talk about whether they bring someone back or just an area in general, like say

the offensive line, and that was an ongoing problem. Although there were games where the offensive line played well, but just not enough games where the offensive line played well. Yeah, I would say not nearly enough. And certainly the fact that they fired Ryan Grubb would probably tell you that play calling didn't do, didn't do enough to help them out. And, you know, with the, as much shotgun as they were in at least early on in the season, you

know, that, that puts a strain on the offensive line. I think the plan going forward should be something like this. Okay. So let's say, let's say you're, you're okay at tackle spots, although I would say you've got to at least find another swing tackle who's younger, cheaper, better than George Fant because you can't count on Abe Lucas holding up. But let's say you pencil Abe Lucas and Charles Cross in as your starters. You've got to, ideally in an ideal world, you would upgrade the three interior spots. I just don't know how realistic it is to upgrade all three of those in one off season.

So let's say realistically, you pick two of those spots. I would say that you could probably, if you were to pick two of those three spots to upgrade, I would stick with center. I would stick with Olu at center just because that's a position where you can tend to get by with a lesser athlete as long because that's a position where you can tend to get by with a lesser athlete as long as he's smart and reliable and Olu is. So that leaves you with the two guard spots. I think you could spend an early pick on one of those guards and find another one in free agency. But you just can't go the bargain basement veteran route of Lake and

Tomlinson. You can't, they're certainly not going to run it back with Lake and Tomlinson, but I don't think you can go that type of route where it's a guy who's clearly on his last legs. I think if you're going to plug one of those spots with a veteran and maybe you just spend two picks on guards, they call it good that way. But if you find a veteran in free agency, I think they've got to spend a little bit more money.

I know they've obviously been very reticent to do that, but the results just kind of speak for themselves at this point. So Brady, since this is our last hit of the year, at least our last regular hit, we've got a couple of minutes left. Can you sum up where the Seahawks are in their quest to return as Superbowl contenders? Like where are Seahawks are in their quest to return as Super Bowl contenders?

Where are they? How close are they? How far away are they? Where are they? Yeah, I think that they've got the right coach. I was thinking about this the other day that of all of the topics that I'm going to write about and get to in the off season and talk about on the radio is we pretty easily forget that they just hired a new head coach last off season.

And the fact that McDonald is not really a focal point of the conversations, I think that just shows that, yeah, there's no question that we're not asking, God, did they hire the right guy? Like, we're not second guessing know, second guessing, you know, major decisions that Mike McDonald made. You know, we watched everybody watch for he Morris just totally screw up the end of that game and week 18. And there wasn't a single, you know, serious decision that Mike McDonald screwed up. Although he did get away with

trying to call a second time out in the San Francisco game, but you know, he, he, for the most part, he, he was great at game management. He obviously, um, you know, did a very good job in, in attacking the bye week. And I mean, that was a totally different team coming out of the buy. Um, and the defense obviously really hit its stride in the second half. And then that's what they hired Michael Donald for was to, you know, bring in a top-tier defense which they they're very much on their way to that so it's just so hard to say because it's such a you know fortunes can change so quickly in the NFL I mean look at Washington commanders were what a four-win team last year and now they're you know they won what 10-11 games they won 12 this year 12, 12 games. So I just think you've got to, for this team,

for anybody to be talking about the Seahawks as a serious contender, you've got to start thinking about, okay, well, who do they have to compete with in their conference? Well, they got to compete with the Lions. And I think if you just compare the rosters, the biggest difference isn't in skill players.

It isn't in, you know, quarterback. I think Jared Goff is a good quarterback, but I don't see a huge gap between Geno Smith and Jared Goff, frankly. I think the biggest difference is the offensive line. If you're going to start talking about how the Seahawks get to the next level, you just, you can't have that conversation if they continue to have, you know know struggle on the offensive line the way they have for quite a while now So you've got to get that fix before you start talking about them being contenders But if that happens, I mean just think of think of where this team would be as a 10 and 17

Just think of where the Seahawks would be if they had Even an average offensive line. Yep. I know. It's kind of annoying actually. Brady, thanks for another great year of Seahawks coverage. I'm sure we'll check in with you if there's any big news or we'll check in with you before and probably after the NFL draft. But in the meantime, enjoy the off season and

don't worry, you'll be golfing in a couple of months. Yeah. What are we going to do without each other? 630 a.m. every Sunday morning. Yeah, I think you can. I guess I'll sleep in. You might get some sleep. How about you sleep? All right, Brady. I'll get up and play golf, I guess. Yeah, sounds good. All right. Thanks, Brady. See you guys. Brady Henderson of ESPN, our Seahawks insider. Should we do some Ask Us Anything? First I wanna say that of course it is an Ask Us Anything Friday,

and of course we are also giving away a $100 gift card to AJ's Pizza on East Broadway for the best Ask Us Anything submission. Of course you can always send in your What We Learns to hashtag WWL, what you learned in the last 24 hours in sports. 650 is the Dumbar lumber text line but Ask Us Anything is always a pleasure and a hundred dollar gift card going to the best one so yeah let's dive into them. Justin and Ysvan with an Ask Us, what is a skill that you learned but never use anymore?

I don't have a lot of skills, so this is a tough question. Fencing, fencing. What? Were you a fencer? Yeah, my parents put me into fencing for a little while. And I actually got pretty. Do we have pictures of this? No.

Well, probably they do, but you'll never see them. I was honestly not very good at it. But I mean. You don't say. But it was still a skill that I acquired that theoretically if I was defense, I would kind of remember it. I mean, you'd probably better than me.

But I would never, unless someone challenged me to an old fact and duel. To a duel. Well, you're ready. You're ready if somebody does. That's the only thing. What, like how long, how old were you? 12, I think.

Wow. I don't know why they did it. It started late. Yeah, I have no idea why. So you were out there like on guard. Yeah, oh yeah I think. Wow. I don't know why they did it. It started late. Yeah. I have no idea why. So you were out there like on guard. Yeah. Oh yeah, man. Okay.

I had the whole get up and the mask. And then. Here's one that I think a lot of us learned, but don't use anymore. Cursive handwriting. Ooh. Yeah. When was the last time you wrote anything in cursive? Maybe a check?

Very long time. Yeah. Your signature is basically a scribble. It's not like, it's not even like writing cursive I had the word I have the worst handwriting in the world. I don't like handwriting I'll challenge you. I honestly like hurts my hand. Yeah. Yeah, I'm doing way So I think I'm just like squeezing way too tight when you do the so under pressure When you do the LSAT

Which I did like I did years and years and years ago now, they make you, before you sit to do the test, you're in a big room with 100 people or whatever, you have to write this long handwriting sample, in cursive, and it's like an authentication thing, right? So you can't have somebody else sneaking in to do the test for you or something, so they can match.

So you do this, so they all authenticated that there was a four-year-old writing this exam? So they're like, okay At the start of the test they're like the proctor or whatever is like, okay everyone, you know, right pick it up Right copy down the segment in your cursive and then when you're done So I know everyone's done put your pencil down and look at look up at me so I can make eye contact everyone and know Everyone's done and I'm like struggling through I'm like, oh, this is awful Struggling through it starting through it finally finish and I put it down and I look up at the proctor

And she's just staring dead at me clearly. I'm the last person in the room. Yeah. Yeah, she's like when is this idiot going to finish? Start here it wasn't a judge. Well, it's not like a judge This is the LSAT like before like to get into law school. Yeah,. I was thinking like it's a judge asking you like true or false questions Like bang the gavel if he hit it wrong Quite how it works every day is what we learn for you Every day here. I've got one for you for you. Yeah Are the Canucks really gonna do it? Are they really gonna trade one of these guys? I still say no.

Okay. Every, and I'm on the wrong side apparently of Pierre Lebrun and Chris Johnston and maybe Elliot Friedman. A lot of people are saying, oh they're gonna do it. They're gonna do it. I saw that other network posted something. Yes, and then deleted it.

I think it was Lebrun saying like, it looks like one of these guys is gonna be traded. Yep. And then it got some run in Vancouver. And then all of a sudden, post deleted. Yes, interesting. What's going on there? What happened there?

What's going on there? Maybe somebody is trying to make a deal and they didn't want it to be happened. The insider stuff has been hilarious. In the last two days, it's like Dolly Wall throws out. A lot of teams around the NHL don't think the Canucks are serious. So the serious being the key word

about trading Elias Pedersen. And then we see the insiders, I think it was yesterday or the day before going, the Canucks are serious about trading Elias Pedersen. Yeah, they'll do it. Don't doubt that they'll do it. It's like, but will you? And I was saying this on my show yesterday.

Seems like a motivational ploy to me. If you are actually serious about trading JT Miller or Leas Pedersen, that is a massive change of direction for your team. You're not doing it. You're not making a hockey trade for one of these guys. You're doing it because you are changing your core and you're completely changing the outlook of your franchise. Like you're, you're shaking things up. It was this management group that gave each of those guys those long-term contracts. So this whole idea that, well, we'll do it, but only if we get a like player in return.

Teams don't trade, let's say it's Pedersen. Teams don't trade 26 year old all-star, you know, hundred point centers. They don't swap them with each other for fun. That's not a thing. Like a like for like trade is not a thing. So But what about what about a young center like like if there's a deal with Minnesota for example? I'm just throwing this out here a guy like Rossi. I like Marco Rossi, but I don't think And this is where I don't think they're serious about it, right?

Because I think the front office here would look at it would look at that and say like well We're not plugging Marco Rossi in as our number one center, our number two behind Miller, and being Stanley Cup contenders. But that's the type of deal you have to make. You've got additional cap space. I'm not saying it's a one for one anyway. Yeah, I just think-

I'm having trouble, I don't even try and go down the road of what a deal could look like, because it's like, it just kind of blows my mind. I just think until we start to hear that maybe they've brought their price down a little bit or they're you know, they don't need the absolute perfect return right and the whole thing like with Braden Schneider cracks me up that both sides the Rangers and the connocts are like dead set on either keeping or requiring Braden Schneider and it's like well you clearly don't want to make a trade that bad if Braden Schneider is the stumbling

block that you're both that you're both having issues with. So I don't know, I'm still skeptical. Like when's the last time we saw a deal like this for a guy who had relatively recently signed a long-term contract in a place and then got traded? I'm still a little skeptical, but. What an indictment it would be. Especially Pedersen. Oh, the Pedersen thing.

If you've got such an indictment of, I don't know, the team's decision making to give him that deal, but also of the player himself. But I mean, I guess it would depend how it all panned out. Yeah. Who would ultimately be the most guilty in this situation, if you want to put it that way. But JT Miller, okay, yes, they signed him to a long-term deal, but at least you can, you know, cause you're going to ownership to talk about this, right?

At least it can be like, well, we think he's about to decline. We've got this really good offer on the table. You know, it opens our window for a few more years. You can imagine a hockey case being made for that trade. That one still seems like the more likely scenario. I far more. I feel far stronger that a Miller trade would happen than a PD trade. If you're a person who seems crazy to me, Miller seems unlikely, but not crazy. If you're the owner and they come to you and like, we're trading Alias Pedren's,

like I just gave you permission to sign this guy to a $90 million contract less than a year ago. And now it's what, Oh, we don't think he competes or something. Like, well, why, why did you give him the contract? So I just, that's what I always come back to because I would hear things like certain people in the organization aren't huge fans of Pedersen and I would come back and be like, yo, okay. Yeah. Okay. But why did they, so why did they give them that massive contract then? Yeah. Did they not listen to those people or what, what's going on here?

I just don't know unless there's been some major new information between when they signed the deal and now I don't know how you go to ownership and say, oh yeah, we're trading with this Patterson. It just looks, it would look so bad for you. There's so many questions that would come up from that. You know, regardless of whether or not they, they

make a trade, let's say they keep these guys. There's still some damage control to do here. Oh yeah. Like I wonder what Patterersen's agents are thinking right now. Like he's, I go to sportsnet.ca and article front and center, four teams that Pedersen could be traded to and the four teams in case you're

wondering, or Carolina, Buffalo, Anaheim and Minnesota, Rick Dollywall has come on and said, you know, Columbus makes sense. Like this is all swirling around. Flo Anaheim in Minnesota, Rick Dollywall has come on and said, you know, Columbus makes sense. Like this is all swirling around. At some point they're going to either have to trade one of these guys or trade both of them and say it's over, or at some point just be like, no

more. Yeah. Right. But what, what, what, what is it going to be? But at the same time, it just feels like every time that this, with them on the team, every time the team is not having success, it feels like we get to this stage, right? Like this isn't JT Miller's first time in the rumor mill. Yeah. Right.

You go back to a couple of years, right. And in the end of the Boudreaux era, it was, Oh, are they, are they trying to trade them to Pittsburgh? Yeah. They signed them to the extension, but you know, maybe Pittsburgh wants them the year before that it was the Rangers again. He's been in the rumor mill. It's constantly cropping up. So I don't know if they can stop it by just coming out and saying, we're not trading them though, as much as I don't think they're going to do it.

I think that would go a long way if they just came out and said, we need to stop this right now. We're committing to these guys and that's it. I think it would go a long way this year. I don't know who would transfer to next year if the team struggled again. I feel like we'd just be back talking about it. There'd be reports. There'd be things out there.

It just, it keeps coming up three of the last four years. This time of year, JT Miller's name has been out there in trade rumors. Yeah. And that's why they're not saying it. Cause maybe they do actually want to try and do something. It's going to be hard to do if not impossible, but maybe they do actually want to shake up the makeup of the room based on whatever is happening behind the scenes. Looking for your favorite culinary content, Food Network has all new seasons of your favorite food shows on channel 410 on Rogers Xfinity

TV. We'll take a break. We'll chat with AJ from AJ's Pizza next year, as well as Corey Lavallette from The Athletic. Talk to him about the Carolina Hurricanes who the Canucks are playing tonight. Don't forget to send in your What We Learned and Ask Us Anything submissions to 650 650 for Dunbar Lumber. Text line more, Hal for Dumb Ruff next on Sportsnet 650.