Halford & Brough in the Morning - Will We See A JT Miller Trade This Week?

Episode Date: January 20, 2025

In hour two, Mike & Jason discuss the weekend's epic NFL playoff action with Too Deep Zone's Mike Tanier (2:37), plus the boys dive into the text message inbox to get listener reaction to the JT Miller trade rumours, and Saturday's big win over the Oilers (27:00). This podcast is produced by Andy Cole and Greg Balloch. The views and opinions expressed in this podcast are those of the hosts and guests and do not necessarily reflect the position of Rogers Media Inc. or any affiliate.

Music The 8th floor! 7.04 on a Monday. Happy Monday everybody. How's everybody doing out there? Good? I hope so. You're listening to the Haliford & Brough Show on Sportsnet 650. Good vibes, good tunes coming back from break laddie. I'm feeling good on a Monday.

Haliford & Brough of the morning is brought to you by Vancouver Honda, Vancouver's premier destination for Honda customers. They have a friendly, knowledgeable staff that can help with anything you're looking for sales Financing service our parts we're now in our two of the program Mike Tandy or our NFL insider is going to join us in just a moment here to kick off our to our two is brought to You by Jason hominuk from Jason dot mortgage if you love giving the banks more your money Then don't let Jason shop around to find the perfect mortgage for you. Visit him on the internet at Jason.mortgage.

We are coming to you live from the Kintec studio, Kintec footwear and orthotics working together with you in step. So Halford. Yeah? Before we get to Mike Tan here. Okay. You were so fascinated to watch Lamar Jackson

in the playoffs this year. Yeah. Well, for one game. Yep. And then yesterday in Buffalo happened, could you believe, listen, I know. Yes. I know, I know Andrews is the guy getting a lot of the focus right now, but Lamar had two pretty

dreadful turnovers and it's like, dude, take care of the focus right now, but Lamar had two pretty dreadful turnovers. And it's like, dude, take care of the ball. Everyone's saying, take care of the ball, take care of the ball. Even Lamar Jackson after the game was like, take care of the ball. It was all. I didn't take care of the ball. Okay.

I know we got to talk. How do you not do that? I know we got to talk to Mike real quick. It was almost worse yesterday because if it wasn't for the turnovers, they played a great game. There's a stat going out there right now that between the yards that they put up on the ground and the passes complete and everything else,

like they did everything they needed to do offensively. They just were sloppy with the football. And in a game where the margins are so fine, you just can't do it. And he did. And it was a killer. And now it's the Bills going to the AFC title game, not the Baltimore Ravens.

Let's go now to the phone lines. We are joined by our Monday morning quarterback, a presentation of the Clayton Public House. Mike Tanier joins us here on the Halford and Brough show on Sportsnet 650. Good morning, Michael, how are you? It's a beautiful day here in snowy Philadelphia. I saw a snowplow clearing out my streets.

I had to look twice to make sure it wasn't Saquon Barkley. He's brought the running back position. He's brought it back. Running backs are still back. We're back in the day now where you get, every team builds their own running back. Yeah, Derek Henry tried to bring it back, but it didn't quite work out for him So say quite had to had to carry the load himself

There are I know all the games this weekend had their own very important storylines And we'll dive into all of them But the two that drew my interest the most were the Bills and the Ravens and of course What the commanders were able to do to go into Detroit to win that game? I do want to start there because there was a lot of talking points from this. The next step in the evolution of Jaden Daniels and what's been one of the best rookie quarterback playoff performances I've ever seen. But there's also Detroit stubbing its toe in a major way here.

And I know Goff turned the ball over like crazy and I know their defense couldn't catch a cold, but Dan Campbell afterwards in a very emotional presser took a lot of the heat, if not all of the heat for this one. I gotta ask you, legitimately speaking, how much of the blame should Dan Campbell take for what happened in Detroit on Saturday night? You know, it's interesting cause the lions had had an over aggressive game plan when they

should have just ran the ball. Lions were really too aggressive through the ball downfield. Um, Jared Goff throws a couple of interceptions. They also have some mistakes by some of their other playmakers and we're here and we're blaming Dan Campbell for that. And, um, you know, the Baltimore Ravens had an over aggressive game plan on a cold night and we're throwing the ball downfield too much and Lamar Jackson turned the ball over twice as other player makers made mistakes.

And here we are blaming Lamar Jackson. So it comes down to, I would say that there's blame to go around. I was thinking of Dan Campbell did have an over-aggressive game plan and got made a lot of mistakes. And there was also injuries on defense. And that's why the lines take the loss and you say the things things about the Ravens where you're right a little Jackson had an awful fumble and like a turnover that wasn't good but the game plan wasn't

good and it wasn't you know wasn't appropriate to the to the weather and that's why the Ravens lost you know the weather conversation I saw it pop up all over the place on the weekend and this sort of like existential crisis that football fans had where you play 17 or 18 weeks of the regular season where the weather doesn't play a factor. And then the most important moments of the season, it totally alters the outcome of the game.

I'm curious to get your thoughts on this because on a personal level, I'm like, well, one, it's the same for both teams when they go out there. And two, it does seem as though that being adaptable and being able to change is the hallmark of a good team and not that we play football one way and that's the only way we can play it. It's not basketball.

It's not played indoors on a court that is standardized. It's played outdoors and sometimes it's in grass and sometimes it's in mud. Sometimes it's in 95 degree heat and that might favor the Tampa Bay Buccaneers early in the season. And sometimes it's snowy and rainy and cold. And it might favor the Buffalo Bills or it might favor the Eagles and Kurt Warner can get mad about it.

Um, but it is simply the way the game is played. And you're right. Adaptability by the players, adaptability by the coaches, adaptability by the equipment, people saying, these are the cleats you wear. This all comes into the game. And you know, it's funny because yeah, Kurt Warner's chirping. I guess Rams fans are chirping. I don't know. You'll hear national people say, well, why don't the Bills get a dome? Why don't the Bills get a dome? Maybe the Bills need a dome. I don't know.

Those fans don't seem like they want a dome. Why don't the bills get a dome? Maybe the bills need a dome. I don't know. Those fans don't seem like they want a dome. Those fans want that home field advantage because you get wins like that and you got wins like that throughout the nineties. There's a reason Jim Kelly beat Dan Marino in the playoffs every year folks. And that's because Jim Kelly was playing at home in Buffalo against the team from Florida. Right. Cause you look at that as I go back to that Baltimore Buffalo game, and if you look at the final numbers on Josh Allen,

127 yards passing and eight different receivers, but they didn't turn the ball over. And this is a very astute line that you wrote here. Avoiding turnovers was more prudent than taking the risks. And I think that's, and that was the approach with Philadelphia too, in the snow is like, if we don't turn the ball over and we keep the ball on the

ground, we're going to win this game as opposed to trying to take the risks and being loosey goosey with the football. Those are the things that matter in a one game playoff. You just can't make the mistakes. You can't make those mistakes and you can't make them in particular if the conditions are against you. And that's going to apply in Philly next week. That's going to apply in Arrowhead next week. When you factor in crowd noise, the bills will be used to whatever cold weather they get, but it's hard to do some of the really high precision stuff when there's crowd noise.

You can't do as much with motion and things like that. I think three of the teams in the Eagles, the Chiefs and the Bills are adaptive to that stuff and the fourth team, the commanders are just an unknown. You know, you've got a rookie quarterback, you've got a lot of guys who've never played together. We've never seen them in these conditions. Not going to say that means they can't do it, but I would say that it's probably a disadvantage going into the game.

The conditions for the Houston Texans were not terrible, but the referees are the referees are the referees considered part of the conditions at the NFL wanted to avoid the whole narrative that they favor Patrick Mahomes. They didn't do very good job of it. What did you think of the officiating in Houston Kansas City game? Yeah, I think Mahomes got a star call or two and then I also think the the the announcers really dug into that and one thing I say you know know, as somebody who watches, you know, about 80% of the snaps every Sunday, you know, between the games themselves and Monday morning, before I talked to you guys watching all these replays, I'll see a roughing the passer call like that,

like the one on the homes that like that, that the announcer has talked about for 10 solid minutes afterwards. I'll see calls like that six or seven times per Sunday I'll see them against you know rookie quarterbacks I saw them against Justin Fields and I've seen them against all these different guys but this is the game everyone's watching everyone's always watching the Chiefs they're always on TV it's always the Nashville game it's always Sunday night football it's always a playoff so when you seeomes get it, it looks like to a casual fan who wasn't watching, you know, the

Jaguars Titans game earlier, that looks like a miscarriage of justice. And then when the announcers go on with it, there's more. So yeah, he gets the Jordan rules. He does. The NFL will deny it. Home teams get a few more calls, you know, generally across the season. Then road teams, it's human nature, it's the crowd cheering and jeering after a hit that make it look all the more dramatic. The Chiefs are no different than, the Patriots got these calls,

the Cowboys in the 90s got these calls, home teams, the Bills will get some of these calls when that crowd is rocking, it's part of the game, go out there, don't make a big conspiracy theory about it, but be ready for it. Do you think they might look at some of the sliding rules though? Because there's times when Patrick Mahomes is, or a lot of quarterbacks now are, you know, the, they've escaped pressure and they're pretty much a running player. Um, and, and it looks like, Oh, he might slide there.

No, he doesn't slide there. And then we might slide there. No. No, he doesn't slide there. And then we might slide there. No, no, he doesn't slide there. And then it's like he finally slides and he gets some contact and then he gets like a 15 yard penalty. And I think that's gotta be pretty frustrating for defenses. That's gotta be frustrating. Now I don't know how you solve that particular one

because the slides, the slides. But Holmes does the thing where he goes, it looks like he's about to go out of bounds and he like slows up, slows up, and then he accelerates up the sideline. And on that one, I think you just gotta keep coaching your defenders to say, you're allowed to push him. You are allowed to push him. If he goes flying and does the, you know, the, uh, William Shatner, Captain Kirk, after you push him, uh, you know, there's not, there's not much you can do about

it. And at some point, maybe the worm will turn. I thought the worm turned late in that game when he tried to flip the slide, you know, try to, uh, flop for an injury and officials were having none of it. But like you, you are, you reserved the right to do that. I think some of these guys are a little skittish about the penalties and it gets in their head a little bit, but I don't know what you do about some of those unless you relax it a little bit and say if the quarterback slides and you brush the top of your helmet just grazes his face mask, that's not the penalty.

I just don't see the NFL going in that direction at all. So we're kind of jumping around here a lot, but the Detroit Lions loss, I mean, that to me was just so painful to watch. I'm not a Lions fan or anything, but I did feel sorry for their fans because they were just so excited and you saw some of the faces in the crowd and there were some old timers there that were like, it's going to be different this year.

And they, you know, they were like, they had that look of both like surprise and completely not surprised at the same time on their faces. My question is actually about the coaching staff in Detroit with some of the assistant coaches interviewing for head coaching jobs. How much could that potentially impact this Lions team going forward? A lot.

If Ben Johnson is like a creative guru behind that offense that we think he is, they could have a brain drain problem. And keep in mind that Campbell is not like an offensive or a defensive coach really. He's like the leader of men and he lets Glenn and Johnson do the scheming. So that can be a problem. In Philly here, we saw it when Nick Sirianni had to let Shane Stikeham go and he had to let his other coordinator go, Gannon, and then they promote from within and it makes sense to promote from within because you know, it's continuity and all and the guys underneath them are not as inspired, not as creative, might not necessarily have the respect of the

players they need. That's a risk in Detroit, although I think Campbell will take care of the respect problem along the way. But you know, we were talking a little bit about the aggressiveness and like maybe bringing somebody in who's just as creative, but can calm Campbell down a little bit with the overaggressive calls. I didn't, no one loved the Jameson Williams option pass. None of us loved that play. I go back to Goff's fumble. It was like third and two

it was in the red zone and I'm watching this play and it's like third and two in the red zone and Jamar Gibbs is averaging eight yards per carry and I'm watching that thing all right they're going to hand off here and and they're going to get the first down and continue matriculating. Goff is looking to the end zone Goff is looking to make a big aggressive you know score the touchdown now play. Key fumbles. There's Wagner, I think it is, recovers. And all of a sudden it looks like it was gonna be 14 to 3, and it turns out being 10 to seven the other way.

That's the kind of thing that the Lions have to look at themselves and say, we have an identity. Look at the Eagles. They have an identity now, they stick to it. We have an identity and we need to stick to it as well. Well, the commanders have an identity and it's the guy behind center.

That's just been, like I mentioned earlier, what an unbelievable run it's been. I know it's an overreaction league and this is kind of trite and cliched, but I'm gonna ask it anyway, I don't care. Is Jaden Daniels the best rookie quarterback ever in the National Football League? Well, he has got to be up there.

I wish I had Aaron Schatz's statistics because he keeps track of things like Ben Roethlisberger's rookie year, Matt Ryan's rookie year, Dan Marino's rookie year, obviously. There was three other ones. There are RG3s in the conversation, his rookie year, Justin Herbert's and Dak Prescott's were in the mix as well. Those are all phenomenal years.

Rafflesberger tends to be the one that comes on top because I think he gets to the AFC championship game in his rookie season. He gets the Steelers there and they lose, maybe the Patriots, I don't remember who they lose to in the end. And that's the combination of what Daniels can do in terms of physically and his poise and his readiness and all those other things. It's probably better than Raffles burgers

He's probably better than Raffles burger in that respect. So maybe it is I don't think they're beating the Eagles next week I don't think the commanders are a good match up against the Eagles with their starting quarterback healthy But man, what a run has been and what a future Jaden Daniels has for the commanders. Well, let's talk about those Eagles. First and 10 for the Rams on the Eagles 21 yard line. Matt Stafford had just made some incredible throws and there were some incredible catches by the Rams receivers. Um, Halford and I were texting back and forth

on saying, if the Eagles lose this, the city of Philadelphia is going to implode. Did you think at the time, did you think the Rams were going to put the ball in the end zone and win that game? Yes, yes. And the feeling came about when they converted

a third and 10, and then they got like a 25-yard pass to get down there. And it just felt like the Eagles defense was asked to do too much in the snowy conditions, they're not getting the pass rush they got earlier in the game. And this sort of destiny thing is creeping in there. And it's a testament to first of all, Jalen Carter,

and second of all, Vic Fangioio the coordinator who coordinated a great game It was really like two good drives by the Rams that was really all they had and that was one of them Darius Slay who was blanketing everybody along the way and the secondary and that kind of forced Stanford to throw the ball away. But yeah, it really felt like that and It's funny. The Eagles have been really successful, but the last people who will ever talk about how successful the Eagles have been have been silly fans here in greater Philadelphia where it was nothing but gloom and doom before the game and then complaining about the kicker and the play calling after the game.

But it's a testament to how good that defense is that they were able to clamp down in that drive when they had to. So what happened to the Rams there? Obviously some sort of missed assignment. That was the quickest nine yard sack I've ever seen when Jalen Carter sacked Matt Stafford. It just happens just like blink of an eye and it just goes to show you the athleticism of Carter, but also what kind of break breakdown happened for the Rams on the protection there? So what kind of break breakdown happened for the Rams on the protection there? Yeah, I think he beat a guy, right? He was not unblocked. Uh, I don't have in front of me right now, but I think he beat a guy.

And I think it was a matter of Carter's an incredible athlete. You got slippery conditions. You got a hurry up situation on offense where, you know, your offensive lineman are running down the field. I think he got a win on that one. He also got a pressure on the next pass and that was one that was kind of surprising because you know, Stafford takes the sack changes, the complexion of everything suddenly is fourth and 12.

Suddenly you can't really take a shot for the end zone. And his last bro goes like five yards out. So that was way off. I don't, it was way off. And it's like the great veteran Matthew Stafford should be like, well, at this point I must throw it at Puka even if Puka's triple covered because it's you know throwing it out of bounds is the end of the game anyway. But yeah I don't know exactly what happened. Eagles pass rush for the entire game was getting wins. They were having a hard time in that last drive

because trust me I was shoveling my walkway five miles away. The ground was slippery by the end of that game. What do you think the future holds for Matt Stafford? Because this is obviously of, uh, concern and interest to Seahawks fans in the division. I'm looking at this contract situation right now. He looks like somebody who's going to play three or four more years. And, uh, and he's under contract through 2026. You're not getting rid of Matthew Stafford.

You're not getting rid of Pukunokua. You're not getting rid of Cooper Cup, although he's starting to decline a little bit. And then you look at the defense that the Rams have, and all of those guys are 22 years old and under contract for like three or four years. The Rams are gonna be a problem for us, the Seahawks, for the foreseeable future. Okay, since we won't talk to you until after the AFC and NFC Championship games next Sunday,

Mike, let's get your early predictions now. Who do you see advancing to meet in Super Bowl 59? I feel pretty confident about the Eagles advancing again. Jaden Daniels is bucking history at this point, he's doing it against a divisional flow has seen them twice. I've seen all their no huddle tactics, all their up tempo tactics. I've already made a few of the mistakes in the against those. I think the Eagles pull it together. I think pounds for pounds, the bills are better than the chiefs, but not by

enough, not by enough to overcome. And I'm not going to go into the officiating. I'm going to talk about home field advantage, and talk about crowd noise. I'm talking about the yips that the bills are trying to overcome as they go in there. Again, they're going to claim that it's not an issue. It's an issue.

I'm sure it's an issue. And they don't have like that number one receiver to carry them or that Seek one to carry them. Cook's a good back, but he's not great. Or edge rusher you can go out there and say you know I'm TJ why you better cover me Von Miller's not that guy anymore Russo when you put all those things together and then you see the number of Hall of Famer stacked against them on the other side I feel like the Chiefs are gonna win that game sorry you're saying we're gonna get a rematch of what

was it Super Bowl 57 Chiefs 38 It was amazing Super Bowl. I could definitely take that. Yeah, that'd be great. It was it was only two years ago I hate rematches, but like it looks like that's what we're heading towards Mike. This was great, man Thanks for taking the time to do this as always. We really appreciate it. It was an awesome weekend football I can't wait for next weekend, and I can't wait until next Monday when we get to do this again. Thanks bud. Absolutely. Take care now.

Mike Tan here, our NFL insider from the Two Deep Zone here on the Haliford and Bref show on Sportsnet 650. So the reason I asked about Matt Stafford is that, well, he's 36 years old and he was asked about his future after the game and he said, as far as my future goes, it's 30 minutes after the last game so I'll take some time to think about it. But then he said, but I feel like I was playing some pretty good balls. So, you know, noncommittal is how some people put it, but I think he's going to keep playing.

I'd be a little bit surprised if he retired, but who knows? He's got a family and, you know, he is 36 years old. Stafford should absolutely come back and play. They had a really good year. It's just a question of whether or not he wants to at his age, but I think he does. I mean, he's going to make lots of money, so. Yeah, well, I think-

That's always nice. I mean, look, when you're that old and you win a Super Bowl and then you kind of have to go into that dip, which the Rams did, you do wonder how long it's going to take before you get competitive again. I think they've done a remarkable job.

They got some good, good young players. All the guys that they have on defense that are young and still kind of learning how to be pros. They still managed to win 10 games in the regular season, win a playoff game and come, they were within 20 yards of being in the NFC championship. So I think that he'll be back, which isn't great for the Seahawks because, you know, with the 49ers on the decline, I did think that maybe the division was going to get a

little more wide open. Like I wasn't sure exactly what direction it was going to take, but right now going into next season, you would have to say that the Rams are the team to beat in the NFC West. Yeah. Until the season starts, I guess. And then it all, I mean, the division is a

little complicated. Um, so we got an open segment on the other side. So text in any questions or comments you have into the Dunbar Lumber text line, 650, 650 Metro Vancouver's trust of choice for contractors and rental warriors for over 50 years, visit them at one of their three locations to serve you or online at dunbarlumber.com. Thomas Drantz is going to join us at eight o'clock. We'll discuss everything that happened with the Vancouver Canucks over the weekend. The JT Miller trade that nearly was, but wasn't,

the big win over the Edmonton Oilers on Saturday and whether or not, if you've heard it before, the Canucks can build on that this week. They play Tuesday against the Buffalo Sabres. And then there was the cross-Cheka Palooza between, well, there was a Connor McDavid, Tyler Myers, and we'll talk about the potential suspensions from that.

Lots of other stories in sports and the NHL in particular, maybe we can go over some of those in the next segment. You're listening to the Alfred and Bruff show on Sportsnet 650. Before we go to break, I need to tell you more about Rogers Xfinity TV. If you're looking for your favorite culinary content, don't worry. Food Network has all new seasons of your favorite

food shows on Channel 410, only on Rogers Xfinity TV. Hey, it's Jamie Dodd. And Thomas Drance. Get your daily dose of Canucks talk with us weekdays from 12 to 2 on Sportsnet 650, or catch up on demand through your favorite podcast app. 7.33 on a Monday. Dogs are vibing behind the glass. Halford and Brough in their chairs. What a time to be alive. Normally I dread coming in here on Mondays and Tuesdays and Wednesdays. Fridays are fun though. Fridays are great. Yeah. Today though I'm excited to be here. You are listening to the Haliford and Bruv show on Sportsnet 650.

Haliford and Bruv in the morning is brought to you by Vancouver Honda, Vancouver's premier destination for Honda customers. They have a friendly, knowledgeable staff that can help with anything you're looking for, sales, financing, service, or parts. We are in hour two of the program. The hour one podcast is available for download, Apple, Google, Spotify. You keep saying Google, but it hasn't been a thing for at least eight months now? Our one podcast is available for download Apple Google Spotify Download it saying Google but hasn't been a thing for like at least eight months now You can't download a podcast off to Google now Google podcast that stopped a while ago. Did they sell it to someone?

No, it's just not a thing anymore. It's like tick-tock. It doesn't exist. I know more Google podcasts So tap on the side in the read. Oh That's on you then he I didn't even know he was reading something. I just thought he was mentioning it to people. Oh, okay, all right. PetSmart. Yeah. You can get them there.

Yeah, PetSmart app. Anyway, I suggest you download our one of the podcasts so you can watch my valiant struggle with the letter R. It was tough. It was, but entertaining. I think I used the word requested. Requested. Requested. Requested.

Yeah. Yeah. Which is not great, but kind of endearing. Anyway, download the podcast. Freage appeared in our one of the program as well. Talked a lot about the Vancouver Canucks. So we had a bunch of questions I wanted to get into because it was such an odd day

to be covering the Vancouver Canucks because there was so much focus on the JT Miller saga. You almost forgot that, oh yeah, there was a hockey game and oh yeah, the Canucks really needed a good performance after being outscored 11 to two in consecutive losses to the Winnipeg Jets and the Los Angeles Kings. The question is, how surprised were you that the Canucks played so well on Saturday? And this is the stupidest answer I could ever come up with, but I was surprised, but also not surprised.

Like I was surprised. Surprised, like in theory you were surprised. It seemed like- I watched them play the previous two games, they were awful. And the Oilers had been playing well, but also not surprised because the Canucks, this is what they do.

When you think they're going to zig, they zag, and when you think they're going to zag, they zog. Zog? Yeah. Part of being consistently inconsistent, and that is their mantra this season, just throw another one on the pile, Canucks, consistently inconsistent, is you're gonna get good performances followed up with bad performances, and you're gonna get bad performances followed up by good performances.

Maybe you'll get two bad ones in a row, and then you'll get a good one. Maybe you'll get two good ones in a row, and then you'll get a bad one. Just never know when they're gonna happen. But it's funny because you made a joke earlier that we had done the Mount Rushmore of bad losses this season. You could make had done the Mount Rushmore of bad losses this season.

You could make a very compelling Mount Rushmore of big victories, potentially profound victories, victories that you thought were going to be the jumping off point where the Canucks were going to break out of this inconsistent funk and go on a run. I look back to- They've beaten the defending Stanley Cup champs twice this year. Yes. They beat them in Florida and then they beat them more convincingly at home with a four nothing win.

What else do you look at? Well, when they. Beat Colorado three to one. Right, when they beat Florida four nothing, they follow that up appropriately with one of their worst games of the year, a five one loss in Boston. But then they followed that. That was at home actually, two Boston. Yeah, two Boston. But then they followed that. That was at home actually, to Boston.

Yeah, to Boston. Yeah. Then they followed that terrible game against Boston up with a three one win over the Colorado Avalanche. That was a great win. Their, their win in Toronto, just eight days ago or nine days ago, three nothing, shut out

the Leafs, first time they'd shut out the Leafs in Toronto in franchise history for the Canucks. You know, the other game that kind of sticks out was that game in Ottawa when they started that road trip and it was just a spirited game. Yes. You know, they, they beat the Ottawa Centres. It was a fun, it was a fun game.

It was an entertaining game to watch. And we thought, well, maybe they can build off of that because we were talking about like how there's just things, something seems a little bit off and maybe that, that spirited victory will bring the boys together. Back in early November, the end of that three game road swing in California, when they went into San Jose

and one went into Anaheim and one, and then went into Los Angeles on the final game of the road trip and beat the Kings for two. I thought that was a very good win. They followed that up with a seven three loss to the Oilers. One of the worst losses of the season. It's amazing. I do wonder and God, I'm gonna regret saying this

probably tomorrow, but I do wonder if this time it's different. I do wonder if this time it's different. But it might work for us. Maybe this time it's different. I do wonder if it might work for us. Maybe this time it's gonna be different because there was a certain spirit to that game on Saturday night. But here's the important thing. I think in a very, very small sample size in vacuum,

it revalidated that if they play this style and if they are a hundred percent dedicated and committed to all the defensive tenets of Rick Taukett style, you can be a really really good and really really effective shutdown team. They had, they had 16 shots in the first period right? Evan had 15 the entire game. Evan had 8 shots over the second and third periods. Was Edmonton tired at the end of a road trip? Probably.

Did Edmonton play well? No. But I think you have to give the Canucks some credit there. Of course you do. Right? Rich in Cloverdale texts in, based on the way that Miller played the other night, I'm wondering if he played so well

to help facilitate a trade or to show that he did not want to leave. Scratching my head a little bit. Everyone's scratching their head about this team. I don't know what to make of it. I mean, I don't. Yeah. What I, you know, I did hear that he requested a trade,

but so did Freage and Freage looked into that and it was rejected or it was denied. And Rick Dollywall, who I don't know if you heard, talks to agents once in a while. It's kind of his thing. The guy we get on the show on Friday, Rick Dollywall. That Rick Dollywall. Yeah, that guy.

Agent to the agents, to the stars. Brian Bartlett is JT Miller's agent and he's been adamant that Miller never went to the team and requested or demanded a trade, but at the same time, they're not shutting down the trades, right? Like he could, Miller could easily say like, nope, I'm not going. Yep. That's well within his contractual rights.

Yeah. Shut it down. Um, you know, the Connex are clearly trying to move Miller and I, I gotta think that the game against the Kings was just kind of a last straw. They're like, all right, we've been waffling on this a little bit. I think we got to do it.

Now, does that change after Saturday's performance? I don't know. I do think there's something to the fact that Miller was not at the charity event last night. Like that's a big deal. Sure. Who was talking about food poisoning?

Patrick Johnston. Who, who had food poisoning? Riccio, Sat, and Patrick Johnston. And apparently. Those guys had food poisoning? Yeah. They're the, they suspected Roger's Arena meal was the source.

So that's why it's not out of the realm that JT Miller would also be affected. How would JT Miller have food poisoning because Riccio got food poisoning? Because they all ate from the rink the food that was prepared at the arena that day. They're not eating the Canucks meals. Well that's what they said. They wouldn't feed the... Oh my god.

I don't know I kind of like this theory. I'm just telling you what the post says. This feels a little shaky. That is very shaky. I think that- Can you contract food poisoning from another human? I don't know. Contagious.

Who's to say? Medicine hasn't figured it out yet. Okay. But I thought- Maybe Miller texted Reach mid game and was like, yo, bring me down some of that chicken. Are you gonna finish those fries? Yeah, did anyone else on the Canucks, the actual Canuck

staff have food poisoning? Was everyone there at the Dyson Ice besides JT Miller? Yes. I texted a buddy who was out there and he was like, JT Miller was notably absent. Yep. And it was the talk of the event. He was the only one that had food poisoning.

Strange, really strange, yell out works. All the other canucks were fine, but JT Miller was not. People are having a good laugh in the Dunbar lumber text message in basket about my flip flopping. Where I'm like, but maybe this is the game where everything turns around. I don't know. I know, but here's what I,

I'm fully expecting the bottom of to fall out against Buffalo on Tuesday. And then it to be back up on Thursday when they play. That's just what this team is. Not to belabor this point, but until they actually show that they can string a bunch of wins together, or at the very least, a bunch of solid performances together, I am going to mimic the team. I'm going to be like, all right, we're back. We're on the high here. We're

ready to go. And then the next thing I'm going to be like, damn, this is tough. We're really not that good. Trade everyone. Trade everyone. It's over. We're so back. Yeah. Repeatedly. Right. Do you think Miller will be traded this week? Yes or no? I think it would have to happen.

Just say yes or no. Yes or no. I think it would have to happen. Just say yes or no, yes or no. I think it would have to happen. I think it has to happen. Yeah, I think he's going to be traded. Yeah. I'm willing to be wrong. I mean, I'm wrong a lot, but I think he will be traded. I think he'd have to be traded because I don't see a scenario where you can get as far down

the road as they did with the deal. Yeah. Pull it back and then just be like, OK, just go about your business normally. Someone texted in with a good point that they did, the Boudreaux thing did drag out a lot. Right? Do you remember where we were like, just fire the guy. Agreed.

Just fire him. Just do it. Yep. And they would constantly put him out there. No, we need to let him cry on the bench first. And the fans were like, they're tearing this man's life apart. Don't worry, he's playing into it as well. Are the Canucks waiting for Miller to cry in game and then they'll move him?

Is that the MO? They have a staunch crying policy. It's like that's the breaking point. That's where we say no. We need to see some tears first. So I asked Freage this and he didn't really have a good answer and sometimes the best answer is like, if you don't know, you don't know. Why is this ultimately happening?

Because I'm not convinced it's just a rift with a teammate. I'm not convinced that it's just, he doesn't get along with Ilias Pedersen. That, that I think there's gotta be more to it. Um, does it, does it have anything to do with the leave of absence? Who knows? Um, does it have anything to do with the relationship

between coach and player? That seems to be a little bit shaky. I will say. Yeah. There's been a couple of run-ins, um, you know, I will say. Yeah. There's been a couple of run ins, um, you know, I, but ultimately like that'll be, if it does happen and Alvin and Rutherford or one or both of them hold a press conference, like I don't

think they'll get into specifics. Here's what I think Rutherford will say, or Alvin, we needed to do something about the chemistry on the team. The chemistry just seemed a little off. I don't think they'll get into specifics. Here's what I think Rutherford will say, or Alveen. We needed to do something about the chemistry on the team. The chemistry just seemed a little off. Yeah, I don't think we need to. But that doesn't explain, that doesn't explain like, like what exactly happened here.

Because there are, if Miller gets, if Miller gets traded, there are going to be some people that are happy. There's going to be a lot of people that are pretty upset. Yeah. But look, I don't think we need to dance around and it's partly why I was joking

about the- You're great at dancing around. What are you talking about? I don't think we need to dance around the blindingly obvious is that the team's performances this season have largely mirrored the up and down nature of JT Miller's play this season. I don't think it's a coincidence that the consistent inconsistency of the group

mirrors a guy that has had unbelievable games this year. Four point effort in Montreal where you could say he was the single solitary reason they got a point out of that game. Unbelievable game on the weekend against Edmonton. Two assists, 10 for 10 on face-offs, did a remarkable job of blanketing the McDavid line. And then there's other games, like for example, Thursdays against Los Angeles, in which you have called one of the worst performances of the year. And like a shocking performance for Miller. So I don't think that you have to dance around the fact that whatever is going on either

individually or within the room, interpersonal dynamics, teammate relationships, that's one thing. I think as a management group, you could say like the, it fluctuated too much and it was having too much of an effect on our team that we couldn't just let it ride itself out for the remainder of the season. We had to make a move now. I think you could make it a hundred percent about hockey reasons because hockey reasons are why they

have to make this trade. They're not winning enough games. They don't get enough solid performances on a night to night basis. But I don't think that would be the answer. It's not hockey reasons. It's not a trade. They're not winning enough games. They don't get enough solid performances on a night to night basis. But I don't think that would be the answer. It's not hockey reasons.

But that's how you say it. But that's what's going to happen. Yeah, yeah. No one's going to get into the finite details, especially after a trade gets consummated. So what kind of return can they expect? Would you be happy with Lafreniere coming back the other way as the main piece?

Under the circumstances, absolutely. Where would that leave them down the middle? Thin. Lafreniere is. Yeah, he's a winger. He's a winger. It would leave them thin. Because the other guys that have been kicked

around are Phil Petal, he's a center. I think he plays the wing sometimes, but I think he can be. He's also rarely healthy. Yeah. That's a problem. And then Braden Schneider is the right shot defenseman that apparently has held up other deals.

Yep. The Rangers want to keep him and the Canucks really covet him. Um, Lafrenier though, I was, um, I mean, I watched the Rangers Habs game last night. It was a fun game. Patrick Laine scored an overtime, give the Habs a win, but Laf in the air scored a goal.

Uh, early on, I think he opened the scoring for the Rangers. It's funny, like he's kind of got a JT Miller storyline to him, you know, like early on in his career, he comes in, he's pretty highly touted, I mean, more highly touted than Miller was the first overall pick, but didn't really take off like the Rangers have hoped he would

for a first overall pick. And there were some questions about maturity for Lafreniere, whether or not he was truly committed. And we remember Miller's relationship with AV in New York when AV was pretty blunt and saying like, if you don't get serious with your game, you're not going to be in the NHL. Right.

And JT was eventually traded to Tampa, then he traded to Vancouver. And that's really where JT Miller turned into a legit star. Sure. You know, it wasn't in New York, it wasn't in Tampa. And that's really where JT Miller turned into a legit star. Sure. You know, it wasn't in New York, it wasn't in Tampa, it was in Vancouver where he turned into a legit star.

So. Can I throw another? With a guy like Lafreniere, what you hope is that eventually he figures it out for real. Now the Rangers have already bet that he's gonna cause they gave him a big contract. Sure. Here's another comp I'd throw your way.

The situation with Capo Caco, because like Lafrenia was an extremely high draft pick, was second overall the year prior, Lafrenia went first overall in 2020. Both guys were highly touted, highly ballyhooed, and started playing right away. Like, let's not forget, they were thrown into the fire right away,

and I think expected to be the next wave of good young talent for the New York Rangers. Like how you've seen other teams, like the Dallas Stars, for example, the next wave, the next iteration of who's gonna take over. And it didn't work that way. Since, I don't know if anyone's paid attention to this, since Kakko's gone, he's. And it didn't work that way since. I don't know if anyone's paid attention to this since Kakos got.

He's a point of game guy in Seattle. Sometimes it changes. Scenery can do wonders for you because I mean, I know that the Rangers aren't the team in New York, but it's still New York. There's a lot of pressure and there was a lot of pressure on those two guys. I think if that was the return for Miller, sometimes it's all about opportunity. Kakos felt like he wasn't getting an opportunity in New York. And he's kind of proven it right to a certain degree.

Now he's putting up points on a bad team. So take it from him, you will. That is different. Yeah. But the Rangers have kind of turned it around lately. They're five, 0-3 in their last eight. They've got an eight game point streak. They're grinding out results.

Everything's a one goal game right now. They're playing Jonathan Quick a little bit more too, which is bizarre. But anyway, back to the original point. I think given the circumstances, if that's what you could get in a trade for Millie, I think you'd be pretty happy because obviously this is not where the Canucks expected to be 42, 43 games into the season,

trying to trade a guy that they had as being a cornerstone of the team. So it's under less than ideal circumstances and oftentimes when you're trading from less than ideal circumstances, you get a less than ideal return. Like I maintain that this is about as worst case scenarios it could be for the Canucks.

They're built to have Pedersen and Miller as their top two centers. That's the way that they wanted it to be. Let's talk about Petey for a bit. Sure. Pederson has played 39 games this season. He has 29 points. And since you love plus minus, he's a minus five.

It's tough. 29 points in 39 games. Game against Edmonton, you know, I noticed we're back to like, Hey, he made a key play and got a puck out. Pete, he made two hits in one shift. Yeah. I saw that.

He's engaged out there. Yeah, no points. Third straight game without any points. It's now what, 11 in his last 11 games? He's only had two games where he's had points. He had two goals against San Jose and a secondary assist against Toronto, the game where he's had points. He had two goals against San Jose and a secondary assist against Toronto, the game where he won the Selkie.

Needs to be better. If. Needs to do more. If Miller is traded and Pedersen stays and according to Friedman, his camp has reached out to the Canucks and said, we want to stay. And according to Friedman, his camp has reached out to the Canucks and said, we want to stay. I was, I nearly, I nearly asked Freage, is that

dependent on JT Miller being traded? But I didn't want to push it. Freage, do you have a follow up question? It would have been kind of like half joking, but also kind of serious. If JT Miller is traded and we've already said, we think that will probably happen this week, the pressure on this guy to perform is going

to double, triple, quadruple. Yeah. Because you have got a large contingent of the fan base that is don't trade Miller, trade Pedersen. Yeah. But, and that's fine that there's pressure there. It's fine. Well, here's the thing.

You say it's fine. He has not faced up to the pressure very well. Right. But this is all part of it. You're going to get. Fascinating. It's going to be fascinating. But man.

I know, I wouldn't, I wouldn't look at it with trepidation. I would look at it as the, go back to those comments that Alve had with IMAG prior to the new year, where he's like, this is part of it. This is all part of it. The pressure, the expectations. But what if he's not gonna live up to the pressure,

then the Gnuks are in trouble. Then at least you'll find out. Because right now, you can't keep going because that elephant in the room that everyone doesn't want to say out loud is, is he struggling now because of whatever is going on with Miller? So.

And if you're not going to figure it out and you're going to let them try and figure it. One thing's for certain, the Canucks aren't interested in letting this play itself out any further. If they were, they wouldn't have gotten as close as they did to a trade over the weekend. Some people have a theory that when Miller

went on his leave of absence, Pedersen played a lot better and I think he did play better. I don't think he reached the levels that we expect him to do, but he did play better. Is it possible that the Canucks could be timing it this way? Trade Miller now, see how Petey responds in the final few months of the season and hopefully into the playoffs.

And then if he doesn't respond, you can still trade him in the off season before July 1st and there's no move clause kicks in. Yeah, I think it's one of those, you make the best of a bad situation. So the Canucks look at it and they're like, we're not going to torpedo this season by letting it play itself out. If we make this trade, maybe we do get a three month look at what life is like where Pedersen is the

guy and Miller's not around. I think it's one of those things where you have to adjust on the fly and maybe you make some good out of a bad situation. I don't think it's implausible what you're suggesting. I think it would be something that they never envisioned what they'd have to do, right? No one thinks that the, put it this way. When they originally signed Pedersen to the extension, I doubt that they had a manila folder somewhere. It was like, just in case this scenario plays itself out, here's the solution for it. This is a make it up as you go along kind of thing. Cause no one saw this coming. For sure.

Nobody saw this coming, right? There was a lot of things and that's why sometimes I'll give the management group the benefit of the doubt and a little bit of grace period on this. No one saw this coming, right? There was a lot of other issues that the Canucks brass had to deal with aside from this. I love Joe Ventexy and can we trade Besser now?

I was like, we don't have time to talk about Besser. Too busy. Look, we got too much stuff on the go. But if they get Lafraniera in, maybe that's the replacement for Besser and then they go out and try and find a sender with cap space. I don't know. You're just on the fly.

I don't know, man. I don't know about this team. We'll talk about it with Thomas Drantz on the other side of the Halferd and Bruff show on Sportsnet 650. Before we go to break, I need to tell you about Jan Pro from the boardroom to the break room and everywhere in between Jan Pro keeps workplaces tidy, clean, and disinfected.

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