Halford & Brough in the Morning - Could Guentzel Be Coming To Town?

Episode Date: June 13, 2024

In hour one, Mike & Jason look back at the previous day in sports (3:00), they chat a rather lackluster NBA Finals thus far as the Celtics go up 3-0 over the Mavs (6:00), they look ahead to tonight's game three of the Stanley Cup Final (12:00), they hear from Elliotte Friedman on the possibility of the Canucks landing Jake Guentzel (20:00), plus they chat the US Open, which got underway today, with Sportsnet golf analyst Adam Stanley (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.

you're listening to halford and brough jaylen brown what the flush a savage slam for. I think they would love to get canceled. It's Rutherford, man. He's aggressive. If Elias Patterson next year shows up and this is what we're going to get, I mean, that changes the entire complexion of where this team is going the next four or five years. Oh, no.

We suck again. Good morning, Vancouver 601 on a Thursday. Happy Thursday, everybody. This is Alfred and his brother, Sportsnet 650. We are coming to you live from the Kintec Studios in beautiful Fairview Slopes in Vancouver. Jason, good morning. Good morning.

Adog, good morning to you. Good morning. Laddie, good morning to you as well. Hello, hello. Alfred and Brother of the Morning is brought to you by Vancouver Honda. Vancouver Honda is Vancouver's premier destination for Honda customers. They have a friendly, knowledgeable staff that can help with anything you're looking for, be it sales, financing service, or parts.

We are in Hour 1 of the program. Hour 1 is brought to you by Northstar Metal Recycling. Vancouver's premier metal recycler pays the highest prices on scrap metal. Northstar Metal Recycling. They recycle. You get paid. Visit them at 1170 Powell Street in Vancouver. We are coming to you live from the Kintec studio.

Kintec, Canada's favorite orthotics provider, powered by thousands of five-star Google reviews. So, Rafit, what are you waiting for? Kintec, that's what you're waiting for. Folks, it is Thursday. We have a big show ahead. There's a lot to get into. Our guest list today begins at 6.30.

Sportsnet golf analyst Adam Stanley is going to join us because the U.S. Open is underway from Pinehurst, numero dos. That's number two. How many Pinehursts are there again? There's like 10, I think. Pinehurst, number two, the host of this year's U.S. Open. Look at the leaderboard.

Tiger Woods just one off the lead, one under through four. We'll talk to Adam Stanley about all that and more coming up at 6.30. You want to ask him, I bet, about Rory McIlroy, and I want to ask him about Jon Rahm and his toe. Jon Rahm has a toe problem. He didn't play.

What more do you want to know about it? Which toe it is? Has Jon Rahm ruined Jon Rahm by going to live? Was that where he got the toe injury? That's where he got the toe infection from. Sand? Yeah, the sand. I thought it was gout. It might be gout. We don't know. A lot of deli

meats and stuff. Yeah, he's rolling around on a rascal. So 6.30, Adam Stanley's going to join us for a little US Open talk. 7 o'clock at Nanverk, our MLB Insider from MLB Network. 8 o'clock Thomas Drance from The Athletic Vancouver. On the latest on the Vancouver Canucks, we have a little bit of news and notes and some audio

from Elliott Friedman about, among other things, Jake Gensel. So we'll talk to Drance about that at 8 o'clock. At Nanverk at 7, Adam Stanley at 6.30. That's what's happening on the program today. Laddie, let's tell everybody what happened. Hey, did you guys see the game last night? No.

No. What happened? I missed all the action because I was... We know how busy your life can be. What happened? I missed all the action because I was... We know how busy your life can be. What happened? You missed that? What happened? What Happened is brought to you by the B.C. Construction Safety Alliance.

Making safety simpler by giving construction companies the best in tools, resources, and safety training. Visit them online at bccsa.ca. Last night in the NBA Finals, the Boston Celtics took a commanding 3-0 series lead over the Dallas Mavericks. In that final, a 106-99 win in Game 3. The Boston Celtics are now one win away from a record 18th NBA title. And that's the most exciting thing, me talking about it in that kind of fashion that has happened in these NBA finals. Yeah, I was desperate for some sports last night,

so I sat down and watched this game from the beginning to the end. And credit to the Mavs, I suppose, for making it interesting in the end. But this series is over. The Celtics are going to win this series. Yes, yes they are. And it's been a disappointing series. It's been pretty bad NBA playoffs,

to be perfectly honest with you. Not for the Boston Celtics. If you're a Boston Celtics fan, you're very happy. But it hasn't been very competitive for them along the way. A lot of people are going to make a big deal out of the easy path that they've had, considering some of the teams that they played or maybe some of the teams that they haven't played or the injuries that certain teams had, like the Milwaukee Bucks.

But I think you have to look at how good the Celtics were during the regular season and the fact they were locked and loaded to get to the NBA Finals and win the NBA Finals and that's exactly what they're doing a lot of talking points actually despite the fact that the series has been so lopsided and has really lacked a lot of the things that we thought it was going to have going into this yeah the Kyrie element of it has fallen short and that's just because Kyrie didn't play along, I suppose, right? Like, you know, like Boston. Well, he was also bad in Boston.

He had 16 points in game one, 12 in game two. So he didn't even put up a valiant effort. That's sort of in the second part of the equation. But he didn't act, he hasn't acted out. No, he's been sort of eh, which is kind of the same like shrug of the shoulders I'd give to the entire Dallas Mavericks performance. Through the first three games. They've tried.

They've fought at times. But the reality of it is, there's an early reality of it is, they needed Luka and Kyrie to be on point, all guns blazing every game, and they haven't got it yet. Do you think the Milwaukee Bucks might be thinking, maybe we shouldn't have been so haphazard with the way we traded Drew Holiday to Portland and then Portland just trades him to Boston? I think so.

I think there's a lot of teams right now that are looking at this postseason with, well, regret because anytime you don't win the title, you've got regret. But there was a road there for a lot of different teams. I mean, I look at the Denver Nuggets. Like, what if the Denver Nuggets didn't banana peel it now against the Minnesota Timberwolves in their playoff series and then had a better, I mean, look. But they did, right?

Right. But they did. Denver would have been a much more interesting opponent now with the benefit of hindsight than the Dallas Mavericks in this NBA final. So there's a couple things that I want to get to here, though. The Luka Doncic conversation. If you want to talk about a star player that's going to go through a very rough offseason,

look no further than the very talented, but at times mercurial Slovenian star, who last night fouled out with about four and a half minutes remaining for the first time in his NBA playoff career. Luka's never fouled out of a playoff game before, and he decided to do it in game three of the NBA finals. Kind of started early. I remember you took like a bad, his first foul was just careless. The knock on Luka has always been brilliant offensive player, amazing passer, tremendous shooter, can score in a variety of fashions. Not all that interested in playing proper defense and maybe doesn't have the discipline and the physical makeup to do it.

He's the guy that likes to get his points and likes to play offense. Yeah. He's an artist. He's a magician with the basketball. The defensive part of it is more like a chore. Yeah. That's more for guys like, I don't know, Drew Holiday. There you go.

That's a guy that plays defense. Anyway, I bring this up, Drew Holiday. There you go. That's a guy that plays defense. Anyway, I bring this up because yesterday Luka fouls out. Now, if they were going to win this game, and if they were going to make this a series, Luka and Kyrie were going to have to have the kind of

game where both went off in the same game. It didn't happen in Boston. It was kind of shaping up last night because Kyrie had a very good game, but Luka fouled out with four and a half left, so he wasn't able to be that foil down the stretch to play off whatever Kyrie was doing, which is what makes the Mavericks a very tough opponent. After the game, Luka did not shoulder a lot of responsibility about fouling out. As a matter of fact, he kind of put it on the referees. Here's what Luka Doncic had to say after fouling out a game three as the

Mavericks went down 0-3 in the NBA Finals. Just take us through your emotions when you foul out of the game and you see your team trying to fight back into it. I mean, yeah. We had a good chance. We know we were close. Just didn't get it. I wish I was down there.

Any other questions for Luca? We've got Tim right here, first row. Tim McMahon, ESPN. Luca, what did you think of the whistles that went against you in the fourth quarter? I mean, I don't know. We couldn't play physical, so I don't know. We couldn't play physical, so I don't know. I don't want to say nothing, but, you know, sixth foul in the NBA Finals where I basically am like this.

Come on, man. Better than that. Six fouls in the NBA Final. Come on, man. Be better than that. That'ss in the NBA final. Come on, man. Be better than that. That's a shot at the officials. Now, this clip was making the round. You know who else probably bears some responsibility there?

Luka Doncic? The guy who took six fouls? Yeah, yeah, yeah. It was a choice. He made a choice to go up there and speak the way that he did. Now, the biggest murder of the night happened shortly thereafter when ESPN basketball analyst and reporter Brian Windhorst went on SportsCenter with Scott Van Pelt

and absolutely destroyed Luka Doncic and his approach to Game 3. Here's what it sounded like. I thought it was perfect that Luka fell onto the ground there in an unacceptable position to put himself in with four minutes left with five fouls and then immediately looks at the bench and says you better bleeping challenge it as if it's the bench's fault that he just made a terrible play. I'm standing here in the Mavericks tunnel. Over there is the Celtics tunnel. That's where the winners are. If Luka's ever going to be a winner coming out of this tunnel here,

he is going to have to use this, have what's happened in this finals as a learning experience. His defensive performance is unacceptable. He is a hole on the court. The Celtics are attacking him. They are ahead in this series because they have attacked him defensively. And you've got a situation here where Luka is complaining about the officiating. They have begged him. They have talked with him.

They have pleaded with him. He is costing his team because of how he treats the officials. He's a brilliant player. He does so many things well. They are here because of how he did. His performance in this game is unacceptable and the reason why the Mavericks are not going to win. He's got to get over this. The fact that he came out after the game and blamed the

officials showed me he's nowhere close yet. So maybe over the summer, somebody will get to him because nobody with the Mavericks or anybody else in his life has. And that's where the Mavericks are at this point. They're, somebody will get to him because nobody with the Mavericks or anybody else in his life has. And that's where the Mavericks are at this point. They're never going to get to this tunnel with the trophy if he doesn't improve those aspects of his game. Why would you say something so controversial yet so brave? It was a big bomb to drop on a guy that, let's be honest,

is probably the major reason why the Mavericks are here. It's him and Kyrie, but he's the guy in Dallas, and he's been for a long time. But that is a real slap in the face, a cold slap of reality for Luka Doncic last night. So the Panthers finally got to Edmonton ahead of Game 3 tonight against the Oilers. And a lot of people are wondering,

could this be a break for the Oilers that the Panthers had these travel issues getting to Edmonton? They chose to fly out on Wednesday instead of Tuesday. And Paul Murray said, we didn't like the idea of getting them up early enough on Tuesday to get in at a reasonable time in Edmonton. And he said, we did not see a value in it. He's like, we don't want to be in Edmonton, let alone get up early to be in Edmonton. But then Wednesday rolled around. There were all sorts of weather issues around Fort Lauderdale.

And then they didn't get into Edmonton until, I guess, later yesterday. And I think in Edmonton right now, the Oilers are looking for anything that might help them because game one went fine. The Oilers lost it, but the Oilers played well in it. Game two did not go well for them. And it looked like they were running out of gas. Guys like Darnell Nurse, Evander Kane. I mean, Nurse got banged up early in the game and could barely play.

Evander Kane has been injured for a while now and could barely play. Warren Fogle got tossed. And that didn't help the fact that they were already injured and the ice times were all over the place. Evan Bouchard had to play a ton and he had a rough game, had a bad giveaway. It just looks like

it looked like in that game too that the Panthers were kind of on their way to winning this series. So you go home now and you're the Oilers and you're hoping number one, that the Panthers are maybe a little out of sorts because of the travel issues.

Granted, there were two days between games because, so I'm not sure it's a, it's a huge, huge deal. You're hoping that some of the guys get a little rest with the two days off. You hope you get a boost from the crowd. And I think maybe the one that might actually Some of the guys get a little rest with the two days off. You hope you get a boost from the crowd. And I think maybe the one that might actually have something to it is that you go home now, and if you're Chris Knobloch, the head coach,

you might be able to get some of your top players away from guys like Barkov and Forsling, these defensive aces, these defensive gems that have been so controlling of the other team's best players in these playoffs. And lest we forget that McDavid has but one assist in this series and Dreisaitl has no points over the first two games. Yeah, and Corey Perry sounds like he's going to draw back into the lineup tonight in Edmonton for game three.

So Knobloch making yet another move. I think it sounds like Darnell Nurse is going to play. He's going to play. Yeah, I don't know how effective he's going to be or how much he's going to play. And I guess there's the decision with, do you dress an extra defenseman and put Cody Ceci back in the lineup,

which probably makes sense, but... I don't know, man. It doesn't matter because the point is the Edmonton Oilers are going nowhere in this series if Dreisaitl and McDavid don't get going points-wise. Yeah. That's pretty much it. This is a real... They've had one goal over the first two games

and it came from Matthias Ekholm. It's real simple. It's real straightforward. Actually, if you go back and you do the benefit of hindsight being 20-20, Edmonton's looking back and you do the benefit of hindsight being 2020, Edmonton's looking back, and it was a blown opportunity in Game 1. That was their opportunity to steal a game. They really weren't that good in Game 2.

They were much better in Game 1. And the crazy thing about it is, despite being, I'd say, the better team by a good margin, they failed to beat Sergei Bobrovsky a single time. And that's going to be an issue. If they can't get their offense going, they will have energy tonight, no doubt. I don't know if this whole flight pattern thing is going to be a big deal. Mostly, it's comical because the subtext to all of it is that Florida wanted to spend as little time in Edmonton as humanly possible. If they could have flown in the day of the game today, they might have.

Well, think of what the atmosphere is like in edmonton you know even if the panthers are staying at one of the hotels around the arena which i believe they will be um do they really want to go into a city for an extra two days that is pretty pumped for these finals so all told the panthers are going to be it's they they arrive 22 hours puck drop, which is probably less than ideal with your biorhythm coaches and your sleep doctors and everything else. But I think it's more about the day yesterday that they had. That was probably just a lot of wasted time. So they were delayed over three hours by monsoons, monsoons in the Florida area. And actually, there was a bunch of sort of plebs like the beat writers and stuff that had a real tough time getting out of their period.

Because they had to fly commercial and they didn't have the benefit of having a PJ to take them all the way to Edmonton. So it's been a bit chaotic. I got a feeling that Edmonton, I mean, if I had to throw money down on tonight's game, I'd probably throw down on Edmonton. This is besides the fact that their backs are completely up against the wall. We all know that I don't want the Oilers to win the Stanley Cup, but I also don't want this series to be a dud because when I watched game one, I was like, I think this is going to be a good series.

This is entertaining hockey. There seems to be quite a bit of passion here, and I don't want it to end up like the nba finals where the celtics won the first two games at home and then they went to dallas and it was you know again dallas kind of made it interesting in the end but for most of the game the celtics were in charge and when the celtics hung on it was kind of like all right the series is over i don't want that to happen for this series I want an entertaining series I want Florida winning in the end but I want an entertaining

series well there's this could be a referendum of sorts on McDavid because this you know you spoke at length over this entire season about how Connor McDavid's never played in any big games before well this has been the playoff run that has, in part, reshaped that narrative. But if McDavid goes into a Stanley Cup final and does not have any sort of tangible impact offensively on this series. Well, people will bring up all the great players of the past that had a tough time the first time they got to the Stanley Cup finals. For sure.

Wayne Gretzky with the Edmonton Oilers against the New York Islanders. The Oilers lost that series and then had a rematch the next year and they won it and they went on to win four of the next five Stanley Cups. So I don't think it's a, it's a, I think that's the wrong word, but I think it would add to the narrative of Connor McDavid and frankly, this

Oilers team as a whole that even though they got to the Stanley Cup final they're not quite there yet now all this could change if they win tonight and they have to win tonight and and and then the and it's not going to be easy but they easily could right you could easily see that the others win that game what's going on in St. Louis? Well, the St. Louis Blues at 8 a.m. our time this morning are scheduled for a major announcement regarding their front office personnel. The only reason

this really became intriguing last night, well, I mean, it's the St. Louis Blues. They're marginally intriguing on their own, but nobody had any follow-ups for hours as to what the move was going to be. All of your regular St. Louis Blues beat reporters, including Jeremy Rutherford from The Athletic,

silent on social media after the announcement came out, and then there was nothing from the likes of Elliot Friedman or anybody as to exactly what this is. Now, all the Blues said is that the owner, Stillman, and the general manager, Doug Armstrong, would be speaking to the media. So the fact that Armstrong was up there kind of played down the notion that he was going to be fired. I don't think a lot of guys get to go up there and announce their own firing.

They're like, I am dismissed. I've had a good run. Didn't do a great job. Yeah. What were you suggesting, Laddie, that this might be an assistant general manager coming aboard in the form of Alex Steen? I? That's the word. I've seen that making the rounds as well. New mascot.

Jeremy Rutherford is suggesting a new title for Steen. Yeah. And you know what? If that's the case, then we should all suggest to the St. Louis Blues that you're not allowed to do this. Yeah. Should we carry this live and just bring it to answer?

You can't say, like, press conference, major hockey ops announcement. Yeah. Major's doing a lot of heavy lifting there, St. Louis Blues. Unless they're kicking Rutherford

to be president of hockey ops and they're announcing a new general manager. Armstrong. Oh, sorry. Jeremy Rutherford's the reporter. Right, right. And then there's

Jim Rutherford. Jim's not going anywhere. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Jeremy Rutherford's the GM now. Speaking of Jim Rutherford, let's finish the opening segment in which we subjected you all to about 13 minutes

of uninterrupted NBA talk with some Vancouver Canucks stuff, okay? This is Elliott Freeman yesterday on the Jeff Merrick Show talking about the latest in the Jake Gensel rumor mill and where the Vancouver Canucks sit, should Gensel, and when Gensel and everybody goes to market.

We got about a minute and a half of audio here. Freed on the Jeff Merrick Show about Jake Gensel and the Vancouver Canucks. I still think it's too soon to proclaim a winner on this, but I do think the Canucks do look at it in a very real way. Like, I'm not, I don't think it's easy for them to do. I think what this says to me, and we talked about this the other day, is I think the Canucks are conceding they won't be able to do Lindholm. I never want to say never, but as it stands right now,

I think they're moving on and saying, okay, who's our next target? I think they would love to get Gensel. I don't think it's easy. I don't think it's impossible. But, like, do I think they're looking into it? Absolutely. Absolutely, I think that. And, like, look, it's Rutherford, man.

He's aggressive. Yeah. And, of course, he's going to look into it. Well, they better get someone. They better get someone that gets the fan base excited and more importantly, the team excited. Because right now we're hearing that it's unlikely that they're going to re-sign Lindholm.

And I think that's fair enough. I would have a lot of hesitation about giving Lindholm a big contract at his age. I thought, just to jump in, I thought the Lindholm thing was always like more a figment of people's imagination than reality. Well, I think the Canucks tried. I'm sure they tried. Yeah. But, you know, I think, I think if they went to seven by seven, that's trying pretty hard

on Lindholm. And then Zdorov, another, well, Zdorov is a fan favorite in his own right. I think people were impressed with Lindholm, with what they saw, especially in the playoffs, or maybe only in the playoffs. But Zdorov, a lot of people wanted him back just because he's that big, tough, physical defenseman who played very well in the playoffs. He's got a great personality, sticks up for his teammates.

Who wouldn't want a guy like that on their team? But let's say that the Canucks strike out on those two in terms of bringing them back. Dakota Joshua, if I'm Dakota Joshua, I'm going to market and I'm trying to get as much

as I possibly can. So let's say they don't get him either. He's too rich for the Canucks blood. Yeah. And, you know, I wouldn't be surprised if Toronto went after both Joshua and Zdorov. Right. Craig Berube gets a couple big dudes in the door.

Yeah, yeah. Start his tenure as a side coach. They better get – all I'm saying is they better get someone. You know, I think Jake Gensel is realistic, but also there's going to be all these other teams trying to get Jake Gensel. It's kind of like when Martin H.S. became available through trade. Still is. Through reports.

You know, like everyone in the league was calling Carolina on that guy. So, you know, there's 30 other teams besides Vancouver and Carolina. So the odds of getting the HS, not high. And I think it's probably a similar story with Jake Gensel. Like there's going to be a lot of, there's a lot of cap space now. Yeah. This flat cap era is over. And while the Canucks do have quite a lot of cap space some of that's going

to be earmarked still for Filip Peronic and we'll see if the Canucks can get that one done all I'm saying is I hope they're doing a lot of tampering because they need some plan A's plan B's plan C's because it's going to be real disappointing if the Canucks follow up that really great season with like, we ran out of time. We're back to the old era. Well, when it comes to Gensel, there's a real opportunity. Bubble team part two, right? Yeah. When it comes to Gensel, there's a real opportunity to do some good old-fashioned tampering.

Because you know who his agent is? Ben Hankinson, the same agent that represents Brock Besser. So I say, you know, Rutherford, Alvin, do the tampering. Just don't get caught. And if you get caught, make sure it's a monetary fine and not a draft pick. Okay, we got to go to break. When we come back, Adam Stanley, Sportsnet Golf Analyst,

is going to join us. The U.S. Open is underway from Pinehurst. We'll catch up with Adam for everything that's happened in the early stages of the first round. You're listening to the Halford & Brough Show on Sportsnet 650. It's Canucks Central with Dan Riccio and Satyar Shah, your destination for everything Canucks. Exclusive interviews, inside info, and even the postgame show.

Listen 4 to 6 p.m. weekdays and on demand through your favorite podcast app. 631 on a Thursday. Happy Thursday, everybody. This has some Danger Bay to it. A lot going on here. This has some Danger Bay and beachcombers to it. Yeah, I get that vibe. Yeah. I like the jazz flute. It's called Mystery Agent. A lot going on here. This has some Danger Bay and Beachcombers to it. Yeah, I get that vibe. Yeah.

I like the jazz flute. It's called Mystery Agent. Yeah. This is amazing. What kind of stuff happened on the Beachcombers? I can't even remember. It was a lot of logging, was it not? Well, yeah, I know.

But it wasn't just like... If I recall. And in the latest logging episode... What happens? It grabs a log. Car a log carries a bunch of booms out there yeah trawls it around it drops it and that's an episode yeah yeah then they go to Molly's reach and get wasted I don't know it's a pretty good show I'm not

gonna lie you are listening to the Albert and Ruff show on Sportsnet 650 Albert and Ruff in the morning is brought to you by Pacific Honda. Pacific Honda is North Vancouver's premier destination for Honda vehicle sales and service. They have a friendly, knowledgeable staff. They can help with anything you're looking for, sales, financing service, or parts. We are in our one of the program.

Adam Stanley, Sportsnet golf analyst, is going to join us live from Pinehurst, North Carolina, the site of this year's U.S. Open. Our one of this program is brought to you by North Star Metal Recycling, Vancouver's premier metal recycler. Pays the highest prices on scrap metal. North Star Metal Recycling. They recycle, you get paid. Visit them at 1170 Powell Street in Vancouver.

To the phone lines we go. It's hot down in North Carolina. Adam Stanley joins us now on the Halford & Brough Show on Sportsnet 650. Good morning, Adam. How are you? Good morning. I'm doing are you? Good morning. I'm doing great.

You're right. It's pretty stinking hot down here, and it's going to get hotter as the week goes on. But that's okay. That's not a complaint. That is merely an observation. I was going to say, because I was watching your stand-up yesterday, and you were wearing a vest, and then you astutely pointed out, that's it for the vest for the rest of the weekend. Just how warm is it down to reach

yeah you kind of reach a point where like the the lower layer is basically just stuck to you and at that point you're just i'm committed to the vest but the vest is gone for the rest of the week uh it's supposed to be like 34 here uh pretty much every day for the for the next three uh feels like kind of 36 so it's very gonna be very soupy here in North Carolina for the next couple rounds, which is probably going to be beneficial for Tiger Woods, who, if I'm looking at the leaderboard correctly, is still on top of the leaderboard, which is great. Wow.

So tell us, first of all, we'll get to Tiger in a bit, but tell us about the course and how it's been set up, how it's playing, how the weather might affect it. What is the toughest thing about Pinehurst No. 2? Yeah, so it's playing, how the weather might affect it. What is the toughest thing about Pine Hurst number two? Yeah, so it's got to be, the greens are absolutely the toughest part about this golf course. I think, you know, the way that the players describe them, you know, they call them kind of upside down cereal bowls or like turtle backs where, you know, there's just not really a flat area on pretty much any of these greens. Nick Taylor told me a couple of days ago that essentially the plan is to just

think that the flagstick is not there and aim at the center of every single green and go from there. Because even if you land on the green, it may actually be more beneficial for you to be off the green and kind of chipping or putting from there if you're on kind of the wrong side of the hole. So a second shot golf course for sure. There's no rough out here, but if you miss the fairway, you could end up in some of these native grasses, some of these little bushes that have matured significantly since the last time

Pinehurst No. 2 hosted the U.S. Open 10 years ago. So it's find the fairways first and foremost, and then kind of around the greens is going to be the biggest challenge for the guys this week. So what have you seen from Tiger this week in terms of his practicing and obviously his first few holes? Yeah, it's a great question because the Tiger Woods question has probably been the biggest one at every single major championship

so far this year and probably will be moving forward because it's how does his body look? How does his swing look? How does his walk look? All these things. And to be honest, this week, it actually looks really good. I think the heat is actually going to be extremely beneficial for him. It's not going to take him as long to warm up.

He's got his routine kind of in the mornings but you know you take augusta national uh in april it wasn't getting up to kind of warmer temperatures until you know tiger may have played 9 10 11 12 holes you know already this morning tigers through five holes whatever it is and it's about 28 degrees here in celsius already so um you know for for him who who is not really really having trouble with his golf swing, he's not having trouble with his hands. He's still got all these shots, but, you know, for him to be able to be fully warmed up, and I say both warmed up from a golf perspective and kind of a body perspective in only one or two holes versus 10 or 11 holes, you know,

that's extremely beneficial for him. He had Charlie Woods, his son, out earlier this week to kind of watch him hit golf balls and roll some putts, which we all thought was kind of unique because it was like, oh, it's father-son bonding. But Tiger actually comes out and says, you know, Charlie's seen me hit more golf balls than pretty much anyone else. So he can actually advise on what I was doing, you know, X versus Y and kind of going from there. So the golf swing looks good. Uh, the putter, putter looks extremely good. He's made a couple

of 10, 11 footers to say par already, um, this week and he actually, you know, he missed a real good birdie chance as well. So, um, yeah, the, the heat, the flat walk, uh, and just kind of feeling like this is the kind of place where, uh, the hands, the short game magic that hasn't really eluded Tiger Woods over the last couple of years is definitely going to be a benefit for him. And yeah, I mean, it's Thursday morning. It's pretty cool. Tiger Woods is leading this golf tournament. We're talking U.S. Open golf with Adam Stanley on the Halford & Ruff Show on Sportsnet 650.

Adam, who's been getting more focus or who did get more focused in the run-up to today's action was it Scotty Scheffler who came in on this ridiculous streak of winning or at the very least being in a top 10 but also getting arrested or is it Rory McIlroy who's gone now nearly a decade without winning a major and also there's more personal news with Rory McElroy, who's gone now nearly a decade without winning a major. And also there's more personal news with Rory McIlroy, who apparently is back with his wife now. Yeah, it's, um, it's, I'm just laughing. It's two crazy ends of like the newsy spectrum, I guess you could say.

Because again, like I will very quickly, uh, Scotty did manage to kind of laugh at everything. I don't know if you guys saw the video, the viral video going around, but someone who was playing in a member guest at a golf club in Louisville had, like, a fake kind of stuffed police officer holding on to his car as he arrived at the golf course. Yeah, he was wearing $80 pants. Yeah, I'm sure he was. And like a fake security vest and whatever. And Scotty was asked if he had seen that and he said, yeah, you know,

we can laugh about it now, which is good. And he's like, even I'm laughing about it. So, you know, it's a, it's a fascinating situation for Scotty because I, you know, to answer your question specifically, I think Scotty had certainly more more of the more of the coverage um just because of like the historical comparisons to this run that he's on is really only tiger woods at his peak and anytime that you have kind of that happening it's like wow where have we found ourselves like if you look at the odds for this week for for scotty to win they're the shortest of any man at any major since Tiger in 2009,

you know, at the PGA Championship. So it's been a long time since we've seen kind of an effort like this unfolding on the golf course. And Scotty, you know, is just kind of taking it all in. He's being very humble about it. You know, he's kind of just doing Scotty Scheffler stuff. And the golf course certainly is kind of built for the kind of golf that Scotty's been playing.

So certainly he's been kind of more of the newsmaker up to this point if only because the only thing we have to compare to uh Scotty's performance over the last little while is basically peak Tiger Woods um if you want in on my conspiracy theory about Scotty Scheffler by the way this is my conspiracy theory is that the uh PGA Tour had him arrested to make him more interesting. Feel free to pass that around down there. I'll take a temperature of that. We'll see how it goes. I think the Netflix cameras have been following him around this season.

So, yeah, I would stay tuned for that episode next year for sure. Yeah, I don't know if it has legs. I was just desperate for anything. I just wanted something yeah why hasn't rory been able to win a major over the last decade i realize it's hard to win a major and that's probably the number one reason but he won three uh between or he won four between 2011 and 2014. And people just assumed he'd keep winning majors, maybe not at that pace. But, I mean, he was a young man at that point. And it's not like he's ever really bottomed out.

Like, his game never completely fell apart to the point where he was, you know, out of the top 50 in the world or anything like that. He's always, you know, at least been number 10 or something like that, you know, oftentimes climbing up to number one and having really good seasons on the PGA Tour. Why hasn't he been able to get it done in majors? Yeah, it's, you know, that is probably the billion-dollar question

because I love that you brought it up because the unique point about Rory McIlroy's kind of body of work is that he was in the top 10 in the world 10 years ago, and he is still the only guy that is still in the top 10 in the world 10 years later out of all the guys that were there in 2014. And he's never left the top 10 in the world. He's basically done absolutely everything else except for win another major. And it's an extremely kind of curious case of why has he not done it? Because you would kind of think that the law of averages for a guy that plays as good as he does, he would kind of fall into one or back into one or something would happen where he'd be in the mix so often that inevitably someone else would fall around behind him. And, you know, 40 majors has gone by and he would have won one and he just hasn't and i i wonder if it's just like too much has been happening um where where he gets asked that question every single

time he comes to a major championship and for all of the oh i'm not thinking about it i'm just going to go do one shot at a time blah blah blah blah like it's kind of the lone thing that people are asking him about so i do think kind of now it's probably weighing on him a little bit more than it ever has because he's not getting any younger. A whole new generation has come up in these 10 years that have clearly beaten him at major championships. And, you know, they are, it's going to get harder and harder and harder to do it. And I do think that just like the weight of that question is probably the thing now more than ever that is maybe holding them back from doing it um let's talk about canadians who have an even

longer uh majorless streak than uh rory mcelroy only one ever really uh 2003 for mike weir at the masters um i want to ask you about what's that he said for the men brooks got two right right right for for the men for the men um i want to ask you about cory connors because we always hear this guy is such a great ball striker and he's probably if there's going to be a canadian that wins at the u.s open it's you know it's more than likely it's going to be him. Why can't he figure out his putting? I thought you were going to ask me why can't he figure out the U.S. Open because dude has not made the cut at the U.S. Open in his career. So it's been a unique run for him because, yeah, he is such a good ball striker.

He's completely and utterly world-class. He's third on tour in greens regulation. I think he's like fourth or fifth in strokes game, tee to green, probably about the same in strokes game to approach the green. So there's absolutely no question that the asset of ball striking is going to be something that's going to be beneficial for him, certainly at a golf course like this. The putting thing has

certainly gotten better you know he's whatever it is 60th or something like that in strokes game putting so far this season um you know which is which is pretty good as compared to other years but it's so so streaky like a couple weeks ago at hamilton for example at the rbc canadian open i think he ended the week in sixth in strokes game putting. You know, the next week he's up to 56 or 66 or whatever it is. So, you know, that's a big fluctuation of, you know, a skill set that, frankly, you just kind of need to be able to take advantage of if you want to win. And it's kind of been eluding him, but it's something that he knows that he has to work on.

And some weeks it's really, really, really good. In other weeks, it's not so good, and it kind of holds him back because he can only kind of lean on your ball striking for so long. So, yeah, seven Canadians in the field this week, tied for the most ever. There's an amateur, Ashton McCullough, who qualified, which was really cool. But, yeah, Corey should be the guy that kind of does it this week kind of get in the mix uh you know again Nick Taylor he's missed the cut at I think the last four or five majors all in a row so you know it's kind of that question

about when are these guys going to take the next step because we're so excited about this generation and how much they've accomplished in the Olympics and the President's Cup and the wins and the etc and the etc but these weeks at the and the et cetera and the et cetera. But these weeks at the bigger events, we just haven't seen one of the guys kind of make any noise. So that question is a big one for these guys. It's when is somebody going to be so firmly in the mix at a major championship? Are there any young, hotshot Canadian male golfers that you've heard of that are kind of up-and-comers?

Because, you know, a lot of these guys, Adam Hadwin, Corey Connors and Nick Taylor, I think they're all in their thirties now. So, I mean, winning a major is a high bar. I certainly love seeing all the Canadians out there on the tour, but, you know, it's possible that it's just not going to happen for this group, that they'll be a very good, but not any of them are great in terms of winning majors. Are there any young male golfers coming up that might be able to take it a step further than this current group? Yeah, I mean, it's a great question. I mean, you look at Nick Taylor's Canadian Open win, and that one's going to go down in history. But, you know, again, as you kind of zoom out

and you think about major championship wins and kind of where that puts somebody, you're right. Nick and Adam are 35 and 36, and they're not, like I said about Rory, not getting any younger. And, you know, you look at the rest of the guys who are in that top 100, they're 34, 35 as well. So, you know, coming up behind them, you look at the Corn Fairy Tour, you've got, you know, Jared Dutois, who's kind of finally maybe found his footing,

Stu McDonald as well on the PGA Tour Americas. You know, you look at this, you look at Ashton, the amateur, you know, he's only 21 and he's kind of done it all, right? Like he won the Canadian Amateur. He got into this U.S. Open. He was, I think, third in the Big Ten Championship at Michigan State. He's only a sophomore. So that's a guy who is kind of unlike any of the other guys who are on PGA Tour Americas

or the Corn Fairy Tour right now who are kind of in their 20s. Ashton's actually doing it at the college level, and the other guys just haven't done it. So, you know, I'm excited to see what happens with him. I think the big question is, when are they going to get to the PGA Tour? And then once they finally get to the PGA Tour, we can start comparing them to this current group.

But, you know, as far as kind of youth, and as far as, you know, already their accomplishments, Ashton, who's in the field this week, he's kind of already doing it, and I you know already their accomplishments that ashton who's in the field this week he's kind of already doing it and i'm excited to see what his future holds adam this was great man thanks for taking the time to do it we really appreciate it uh stay cool dan and pinehurst enjoy the rest of the tournament all right fellas appreciate it talk to you guys thank you that's adam stanley sportsnet golf analyst live from the u.s open in pinehurst north carolina here on the Halford & Brough Show on

Sportsnet 650. So we had a couple texts come in to the Dunbar Lumber text line, 650 650 Dunbar Lumber with three stores to serve you in Ladner on Bridge Street, Dunbar Lumber Express at Ladner Center or Budas in Vancouver online at DunbarLumber.com about the Vancouver Canucks

believe it or not. It wasn't about Ashton McCullough, the amateur Canadian that will be playing at, uh, Pinehurst number two this weekend, uh, unsigned text. Hey guys,

just curious. You mentioned that you would be reluctant to give Lindholm the contract he's looking for at his age. My question then is why isn't anybody else? I understand that there are teams that probably need to get to a cap floor, but those aren't the ones that would be in the conversation for signing him.

Well, when you ask my question then isn't why isn't anybody else? There are probably lots of teams that are hesitant to give Elias Lindholm that contract. Teams that don't have anywhere near the depth that Vancouver has down the middle that are desperate for a center.

Yeah. The Boston Bruins. The Boston Bruins are the one team that keeps coming up. And they are in a position where they have to find better centers, one way or the other, because they've got guys like Pasternak signed and Marchand is, you know, he doesn't probably have that many years left as an elite player in the NHL.

They've got a good blue line and they've got good goaltending. They've still got a good culture. They need centers. They're desperate. The Canucks have JT Miller and Elias Pettersson. They're going to get Lindholm this summer, and they're going to get Leon Dreisaitl the following summer. Boston's set.

That's what they're going to do. When we talked about this with Sat yesterday, I wonder if the Canucks are going to open next year with their four centers being Miller, Pedersen, Suter, Bluger. I really do. Yeah. Well, I'm hoping that there's going to be some young players like Max Sasson that makes a push.

I was thinking a lot, actually, about the fact that the Canucks are going to need some young players. If they lose, especially from a physicality standpoint, this is one thing that I'd like to throw out there for discussion. If the Canucks lose Dakota Joshua in free agency, and they haven't lost him yet, there's still a chance they could keep this guy. Sure, nobody's lost yet. But if they lose Dakota Joshua and if they lose Elias Lindholm, who's another big physical body, are we concerned at all about their physical makeup up front? Because if you look at their, I know this is not always the best way to look at things, but if you look simply at hit totals, Dakota Joshua had a ton of them. He was among the league leaders. Elias Lindholm played a very physical game.

Sam Lafferty, it wasn't very effective as the season wore on, but he had a lot of hits. And there aren't many other forwards that were getting in on the forecheck and really making it tough on the opponent's defense and really you know causing havoc and I understand that you know if you add a guy like Jake Gensel like he finds a way to the scoring areas and that's at the end of the day what you need to do Brock Besser found his way to the scoring areas this season and it wasn't just his shot that got him goals.

In fact, most of the time it was just being around the net and banging in pucks and that's really what you need in terms of goal scoring. But in terms of screwing up the other team's breakout or just causing havoc in the other team's end, Dakota Joshua was pretty good at it. And that's where I really think that they might need to lean on some of their younger players, like a Nils Hoaglander, to take his season and keep building on that.

Because we can't forget they had a really good season. The playoffs didn't go so well. He's a young player. So keep building on that. And the other guy, Vasily Podkolzin. Yeah. He is a big body

that has the potential to be that disruptor on the forecheck, but he needs to go out and do it. I would say there's a group of four that were, you could classify them

either as minor league farmhands or part-timers last year. So it would be Nils Oman because Oman only played in 43 games. He was a, he was a part timer. Okay. I think we've,

we might've seen the best of Nils Oman already, but I wonder if he could be an 82 game guy as opposed to a 43 game guy next year, just next year. Right. You paper over like, okay, can he be our four?

Can he be a fourth liner for us for an entire season? So I would say it's Oman. It would be, um, over like okay can he be our four can he be a fourth liner for us for an entire season so i would say it's oman it would be um pod colson as you mentioned i am very interested in light of the fact what happened in the playoffs if lenis carlson's gonna get a longer look or like he could be another guy that a one year you're gonna be our guy as a fourth liner possibly i thought him going in in the playoffs was a nod to this is a guy that can fill a gap and do it totally you know yeah and then the fourth one is uh rst baines obviously because they gave him a look last year it felt like you know it was he just wasn't ready you

know the old political ads he's just not ready but there's the potential for him to be ready and i don't know he had such a tough start to the season remember pod colson that's what you know like he his training camp was awful yeah i was just talking about i was talking about baines but yeah pod colson i mean pod colson is the one with you just in light of the draft position the highest upside or is there more is there a surface still to scratch as opposed i think you know what Carlson is. I think you know what Oman is. I don't think Baines is going to be that physical guy necessarily, but he might be able to use his work rate to turn some pucks over. I think it's just more about guys that can play, period.

You need contributors at the NHL level making the little dollars, the entry-level deals, or the million dollars a year in the case of Podcoals. And those are the four for me. We got a good text in here. I feel like people aren't talking off about the coaching slash structure impact on players as it relates to UFAs. It can't be coincidental that all our UFAs elevated their levels on their own.

As a result, I have to have faith that management can go get lesser, quote-unquote, lesser players at lower rates and elevate them to higher levels. So maybe we don't need the big fish, although that would be nice, but just need lesser tier players that are ready to level up. I think you need both.

You find the next Dakota Josh. But I think it's a good point. You know, when you have a structure and a system that is working that your core players have bought into, yeah, it's easier to go get players because you know the exact type of player that you need. And you can go to the coaching staff and you can say, all right, what do you need? And they tell you what they need and you go, I agree. And you go get the pro scouts to get going on it. I'm sure

they've already had those discussions. You know, they've had their scouting meetings and they've got their targets. What's going to be interesting is bringing it all together as July 1st approaches. Um, I'm finally, I've seen a lot of people keep throwing out the name of Atu Ratu. I'm going to say this.

Um, he's 21. He's still only, only 21 years old. Uh, and last year was sort of the first year of his professional career in north america where he actually had sustained success he stayed in one spot for an entire season he played with regularity and you know contributed points at a good level i'm i would not be surprised if the canucks brass is like okay now go do it again i don't know if there's going to be a fast tracking for that guy to the nhl level

he could be one of those guys like you used to see in detroit who play in the ahl for like feels like five years and then they come up when they're 23 or 24 years old they can contribute well he's gonna hope he's not 23 or 24 by the time he comes up. He's not. He's going to be hoping it's sometime next season. We've got to go to break. Adnan Virk is going to join us next. How about those Mariners? As someone texted into the Dunbar Lumber text line earlier, Mariners, 10 games over.500.

Any love here? Yeah, we'll show them some love on the other side of the Halford & Brock show on Sportsnet 650.