Halford & Brough in the Morning - The Halford And Brough Olympics Spectacular

Episode Date: July 23, 2024

In hour one, Mike & Jason look back at the previous day in sports (3:00), plus they chat with CBC Olympics 3x3 basketball analyst Michael Linklater (27:27). 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.

Dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-d The field time again. Teoscar Hernandez halfway up the pavilion. Running shot is good. And Miami wins it. Hello, Larson. Gets it done for the Heat. I talked to Vancouver and I spoke to Coach Talk. And we had a really good talk. How much does training camp suck? It's a different suck.

Good morning, Vancouver. Six o'clock on a Tuesday. Happy Tuesday, everybody. This is Alfred. It is Bruff. Six o'clock on a Tuesday. Happy Tuesday, everybody. This is Alfred. It is Bruff. It is Sportsnet 650. And 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. Laddy, good morning to you as well. Hello, hello. Alfred and Bruff in the morning is brought to you by White Rock Honda, Siri's premier multilingual dealership destination. Visit them online at whiterockhonda.com.

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

Kintec, Canada's favorite orthotics provider, powered by thousands of five-star Google reviews. So, Rafi, what are you waiting for? Kintec, that is what you're waiting for. We got a big show today, big guest list ahead. It begins at 6.30. Michael Linklater is going to join the program. A former Canadian three-on-three basketball star

will now be calling three-on-three from Paris for the upcoming Summer Olympics. No men's team for Canada in the three-on-three. The women's team very much involved, very much a medal favorite as well. So we'll talk to Michael about that at 6.30. Seven o'clock, Elliott Friedman, former NHL insider, now just a rowing guy. Just really into rowing. He's going to be calling rowing canoe and kayak from the Olympics. Oh, he's got canoeing and kayak, too. So I did. He's got all the paddling sports.

I did more. I did. Talking to Elliot Friedman. You better believe that's a paddling. I did so much research last night. I know more about rowing and the plight of Canadian rowing more than I ever thought I would. There's a plight?

We may need to have legitimate discourse. We may need a summit. I thought we got some rowing gold at the last Olympics. Well, Jason, we did. For the longest time, rowing was one of, if not Canada's strengths, at the Summer Olympics. They've medaled at every single Summer Olympics, I think dating all the way back

to 1904. My favorite game is from St. Louis. Are we not sending rowers this year or something? No men's representatives. Wow. Just two teams going to represent the women, including the women's eights who medaled in Tokyo. Do you think a lot of people went just like,

rowing is too hard and you have to wake up early in the morning and I don't want to do it. Yeah, that was the rowing Canada released a statement. They're like, people find this too difficult. They're not going to go. It's too early. There's too much water. Anyway, sometimes it's pretty cold out there.

So I want to know how much Elliot blisters on your hands. Yeah. You know, it's no fun. Yeah. We're going to talk to Elliot Elliot... Get blisters on your hands. Yeah. It's no fun. We're going to talk to Elliot at 7 o'clock because he will be calling the rowing and the canoeing and the kayaking from Paris coming up just a handful of days away

or it starts on Friday. Are we allowed to ask Elliot anything else? Like Dean Evison is the new coach. So I wondered about that. I was like, could we just try and like slide some hockey stuff in? Please only discuss rowing questions. Well, I mean,

it's a big deal for Elliot. Like, I'm sure he's worked very hard at this. It would be funny if he's like, hold on, I'm getting a big text. Back to rowing. Yeah.

I'm not going to talk about that at Angel News. On the subject of Olympic sports, Hayley McGoldrick is going to join us at 7.30. Canadian women's soccer reporter will talk to her about the Canadian women looking to defend gold

at this year's Olympics. It will be difficult. Some are considering this the deepest and most talented Olympic field they've ever had in the history of women's soccer. There is the defending champs from Spain. There's the oddsmakers favorites in the U.S. There's about five or six teams ranked in the... Some of the best women's teams didn't even make it.

I mean, I know England doesn't go by itself to the Olympics. It's the United Kingdom. They carry on the rest of the U.K. with them. They won the Euros, the Lionesses, and they didn't make it. Yeah, so it's a very good field. We'll talk to Hayley McGoldrick about the Canadian team that's looking to defend gold. And then at 8 o'clock, Roger Bennett from Men in Blazers,

one of the most popular footballing podcasts in the world, is going to join us here. So in addition to hosting their own Men in Blazers thing, and for those that don't know, very popular North American-based soccer podcast from two guys across the pond who came over and really found a ton of success with the explosion in popularity that soccer's had in North America. They started up their own media

empire. And among the other things that they started was a Wrexham podcast. It's This Week in Wrexham. It goes weekly, and then they've got a monthly one where they bring in some big guests. We bring that up because, of course, Wrexham is going to be playing the Whitecaps at BC Place this weekend. So we'll talk to Roger Bennett about all that, the Americanization of the English game, right? Now that you've got all these. So I guess Wrexham is trying to do – You should ask him, is Ryan Reynolds actually like a tyrant behind the scenes?

Just a ruthless dictator for this club. They're going to set up a match against Birmingham, which is Tom Brady's team. So it's going to be Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhinney versus Tom Brady in the not-too-distant future. So we'll going to be Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhinney versus Tom Brady in the not too distant future. So we'll talk to Roger Bennett from Men in Blazers about all that. Haley McGoldrick at 730.

Elliot Friedman, rowing expert at seven. And then Michael Linkletter to talk a little three on three hoops at 630. Very diverse show today. So without any further ado, Laddie, let's tell everybody what happened. Hey, did you guys see the game last night? No. What happened? I missed 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? You missed that? You missed that? What happened? What Happened is brought to you by the BC Construction Safety Alliance. Making safety simpler by giving construction companies the best in tools, resources, and safety training.

Visit them online at bccsa.ca. With all due respect to three-on-three hoops and women's soccer and rowing and canoeing and kayaking and all the Olympic sports we're going to preview today, I did want to start with Daniel Sprong. I heard we did not get enough Daniel Sprong talk on Sportsnet 650 yesterday across all the shows. He did meet with the media shortly after you and Jamie were on the air discussing the signing. I don't know exactly what roads you and Jamie went down.

Oh, we went down them all. It was amazing. Then we had Dolly Wall on. It was a very professional show. And A-Dog asked Dolly Wall what his favorite 80s band was. And he said Dick Clark. And he just filibustered, basically, in that Dolly Wallian way. Good for him.

I'm glad. I'm really upset that I missed that, but also glad that I did. So Sprague met with the media yesterday. I guess there's two big pivot points now after he did his media rounds. And he met with the assembled reporters on Zoom and then went on with Reach and Randy in the afternoon right here on Sportsnet 650. One is why it took so long for him and why he didn't land a deal earlier in free agency. And then two, what the runoff and the ramifications are going to be for the Canucks forwards,

not named Daniel Sprung, but are in that same sort of earning capacity. I will play some audio now. Sprung freely admitting that the lack of interest, the lack of bites on July 1 came as a bit of a shock, a bit of a surprise to him, and it actually added some fuel to the fire. Here now, one of the newest Vancouver Canucks, the newest Vancouver Canuck, Daniel Sprung, talking yesterday about the shock of not landing a deal early in free agency.

I would say a little bit. I think, you know, with the two years I had back-to-back, I felt pretty confident going into free agency, and we spoke with a lot of guys around the league about with other guys. And, you know, it's something that, you know, kind of caught me by surprise and kind of fueled me to make things easier.

Like, I'll be honest, it fueled me. And yeah, it says, you know, I know I can play offensive-wise. My numbers are, I think, for the minutes I played, really good. And I can show I can put up numbers, but there's other parts of the game that I've got to improve on. And maybe that's why teams shied off or didn't give me what I wanted.

And, you know, it's kind of a wake-up call. But I think also at the same time, it's a really good motivation and kind of adds some fuel to the fire. And I think after that, I kind of just took a seat back and wanted to put myself in a situation where I'm happy, where there's an opportunity to not just be there for one year and then hopefully be there long term. There are other teams, but I felt the most comfortable

and happiest with Vancouver when I talked on the phone, and that made my decision very easy at the end. So it's interesting. I asked around and did a bunch of reading on Daniel Sprong, and one of the things that readily became obvious is that Mike Sullivan, the head coach in Pittsburgh, had his frustrations with Daniel Sprong. Oh, yeah. Okay, so I think everyone knew that.

It's probably not a surprise. He was a younger player. He was a draft pick of the Pittsburgh Penguins, and he was trying to crack a draft pick of the Pittsburgh Penguins. And he was trying to crack a pretty good team in Pittsburgh. It just didn't happen for him there. And of course, Jim Rutherford would have overseen the drafting of Daniel Sprung in Pittsburgh. Patrick Alveen would have known him well. And Rick Tockett would have known about Daniel Sprung because he

was on the coaching staff there. So when I first saw this signing, I went, hmm, that's interesting. That's not all surprising. A lot of general managers who like a player once keep liking that player, even if they're with a different team. But I did wonder about how Rick Tockett would feel

about all of this because Rick Talkett has had to deal with some players that don't buy into what he preaches and there's a lot of defensive effort that you have to give when you're in any position, you know, winger, center, defenseman, but especially the wingers are asked to do a lot defensively by Rick Talkett. And of course, we all know that Rick Talkett wants F1, the first forward in, you got to forecheck, you got to skate.

And that's why Andre Kuzmenko is skating in Calgary and not Vancouver. It's one of the reasons. So I was interested to hear that it was actually a phone call from Rick Talkett that might have sealed the deal for Daniel Sprung on choosing Vancouver. Yeah, I mean, he gets thrown into this bottom six pile, right? And I think that was sort of the interesting thing for me was that there's going to. So it's basically him, Pod Colson, Sherwood, D. Giuseppe, Nils Hoaglander.

If you want to throw Nils Amon in there, Linus Carlsen. There's going to be this collection of guys that are all bottom six contenders. They're all making in and around a million bucks a year. I think it creates an interesting dynamic for Talk It. But don't they also, some of them want to be top six contenders? Like Daniel Sprong is probably hoping and looking at the lineup and going okay well i'm probably not going to beat out brock besser to be a top winger uh probably not going to beat out jake debrest to be a top winger those are their big money guys and brock besser is coming off

a good year and jake debrest was a good player in boston especially the last couple of seasons um but look at these other spots. I got a chance to be a top six guy if I buy into what Rick Tockett's selling and I keep shooting and scoring. I've got a chance. There might be a lot of numbers there in terms of bottom six guys, but it's not exactly a murderer's row of wingers in the top six. So it's really interesting because this is almost exactly what Sprong went through

in Pittsburgh when he first started his career. Is that they saw the offensive talent and Rutherford really pushed him to play as an 18-year-old on the team immediately when he got drafted. And then as they sort of recalibrated what they wanted to do and sent him back, then it was, well, he's got the offensive ability to play in our top nine. But there was three right wingers ahead of him. It was Kessel, Hornquist, and Brian Rust. Well, Rusty.

Rusty, Horny, and Phil. The three, like, you're not going to crack that threesome, right? I mean, come on. Three amigos. Horny, Rusty, Phil. That's tough. But now you look at it, and it you know so many years later and Sprongs an NHL veteran and he's kind of going through the exact same thing where he's like yeah the

opportunity might be there but you're gonna need to go earn it now the biggest question is at 27 or however old he is right now I forget his age off the top of my head is he more mature and that one's come up a lot is he more responsible that word's come up a lot he's actually you know what despite and i know part of the reason he's been talked about so much is that it's a dead time of the year and there's not a whole hell of a lot going on but i'm not gonna lie i think if this deal had actually happened even earlier when there was other stuff going on it would still be pretty compelling because he's a for a guy that's bounced around as much as he has he does have a pretty compelling story. It's an interesting story. Don't you feel like there's potential for sprung wars?

A little bit. A little bit. He would be a polarizing guy because of the amount that he scores and the little amount of ice time that he gets. And people are always going to be enamored by that. Yeah, rightly so. I mean, it's hard to score goals, but it's always the question of whether or not he can gain his coach's trust. And it's the same thing we saw with a guy like Kuzmenko and to maintain that buy-in that everyone has, that they play the same way, because that is the number one reason why they did have success last season.

Now, the number one reason probably why they didn't win the Stanley Cup last season was, well, there was a few things, including injuries, but they couldn't score. They couldn't create enough chances to score goals so rick talkett and the whole organization is in this position now where they're like okay we don't we want to maintain our defensive culture and we want to maintain the fact that we're a responsible defensive team but we also got to score some goals so patrick johnson of the province very good canucks scribe had a very lengthy piece up the other day talking about one of the ramifications and the runoffs of the sprung deal. And that was sort of what becomes with the silly pod calls.

And I don't think a lot of people were looking at it as sprung versus Hoaglander and that's fair, but pod calls. And now I think even more so is fighting tooth and nail for whatever spot he's going to have in this organization. Because if you want to look at it now, it's three NHL seasons on the job. It's over 100 games,

but a precipitous fall off in games played since year one. It's three different coaches in those three NHL seasons. And if we're going to be dead on it, you know, Peach did a good job of sort of crystallizing exactly what the problem is. He doesn't score.

He doesn't score. He doesn't score goals. And what does Daniel Sprong do? He scores. Yeah. So, I mean, there's your... Todd Colson's played 19 regular season games last season.

Yeah. For the Canucks. Didn't score a single goal. Had two assists. And then he was in the playoffs. I think he only played a couple of games in the playoffs and he didn't, you know, he didn't score. And he, and it was kind of like, yeah, he looks fine out there.

But the Canucks aren't looking for water treaders. They don't need fine. They need better than fine. Yeah. The bar has been raised. And, you know, if anyone out there is kind of like, well, that's unfair to Pod Colson that they bring in with Sprong. First of all, I don't, I don't think anyone really is like that. And if they, and if they are, they're like,

well, Pod Colson, you know, he is a, what is he's 23 now. Um, and this is about the team. This is about projecting, um, you know, what he's going to do next season. And if you're projecting honestly, if you're projecting honestly and you're not projecting just with hope, blind faith, you're kind of like probably a bit of a long shot that he comes in there and starts filling the net

because filling the net is something, and I hate to say this, he's never done. That was the big question about him when he was drafted 10th overall people were like yeah this guy's got all the tools hey you kind of look at his production though and you're like uh does he score enough well it was that first year where there was optimism right I mean the 14 goals as a rookie in 79 games I was like oh okay maybe the the the counter to a lot of the stuff that they said about his lack of offense was like, well, don't worry. Once he gets in the NHL and he has quality-level guys providing him scoring opportunities,

the goals will come. And then that kind of manifested itself in the first year, and then it just dropped off a cliff in the second and third years. And it's disappointing because of the draft capital spent on the guy, and it's disappointing now because you don't even really need to read the tea leaves on this. The Canucks are basically stockpiling a bunch of different options and a bunch of different looks for Tuckett in the bottom six. And they're creating competition.

They're basically creating desperation. They're saying to Pod Coles, listen, man, your career's on the line here. You better show up and do something. And the same with Sprung, right? So Sprung signed this contract and he said it was a bit of a wake-up call. I imagine this is not his first wake-up call

in the NHL. But the wake-up call is that, hey, I might score goals, but clearly I'm not trusted by my coaches. And that's one of the reasons why I've been bounced around the NHL a lot, despite the fact that I can do what's considered the hardest thing in the NHL to do, and that is that I can do what's considered the hardest thing

in the NHL to do, and that is score goals. So this is a wake-up call, the fact that he signed on July 22nd or whatever it was, and it's for a contract that could easily just be buried in the minors. If he doesn't work for the Canucks and he's not even worth a roster spot, I'll put him on waivers. Yeah, that's what I'm saying. I'll put him on waivers and he'll be gone. And it'll be like, oh, remember Daniel Sprung?

Oh, yeah, that guy. That's the type of position he's in right now. So in an annual rite of passage for the summer as we move along here with the rest of the news on Sportsnet 650, you are listening to the Halford & Brough Show. The Columbus Blue Jackets' annual Rite of Passage, which is a summer coaching search, finally came to a close yesterday as they hired former Minnesota Wild coach Dean Everson after a lengthy search from the new general manager, Don Waddell.

You may remember Dean Everson as the former head coach in Minnesota. Also looks a lot like Creed Bratton from The Office. Good regular season coach like so many Minnesota coaches, though. Zero success in the postseason. Not like that matters in Columbus, though. He comes in on the heels of Brad Larson and Pascal Vincent, who will not be remembered by really anybody for what they did at the NHL level. And, of course, there was the whole Mike Babcock thing.

So it was three of the last four summers the blue jackets went in with a coaching search and this time they're like you know what this might not be a super inspiring pick you might not get too excited about it but you know dean evison has coached in the nhl before he's had some success he knows where the bathroom key is maybe even though he's new like he knows what he's doing, and they decided to roll with him. Dean Everson kind of scares me. He's got a very, very intense stare. He doesn't blink a lot.

I was with you. I don't want to play for this guy. I'm scared of you, Dean. He was great in the office, though. He was great in the office. Yeah. If you Google Dean Everson temper, you get some pictures. Yeah, no, he is very intimidating looking.

I wouldn't want to get him angry. So to recap the offseason coaching carousel, Columbus finally locks it up, the 32nd team, to get a coach in the door. He's there. Ryan Warsofsky with San Jose. Dan Bilesman with Seattle. Scott O'Neill with Winnipeg.

Sheldon Keefe with New Jersey. Is the first guy fired going to be replaced by Q? What vibe did you get when we talked to Strickland about it? I meant to ask you that after the show. Oh, that Q's going to be in the league soon. It sounds like there was a lot of teams. Yeah, it wasn't going to be Columbus, though, because they weren't going to do the Babcock-Quinville double.

No. That just wasn't going to be something that they were ever going to consider. I mean, if you were to ask them, they might want Quinville as a coach, but they would not want everything that comes with Quinville. And people would be like, you went with Mike Babcock? And whether it's fair or not, Babcock and Quenville are just considered almost the same. They're just like these guys with baggage. My pick right now for first coach fired next season

will be John Tortorella in Philadelphia, right? And I could absolutely see Quenville being the right pick. Why do you say Torts? Well, largely because I don't have another – I'd say Torts – Isn't he going to the front office there? I thought he was going to the front office. That was the thing.

Right, but that's what I'm saying. He's still behind the bat. Well, whatever. Who cares? Replacing Tortorella, all right? Like if he's removed from his job, that's a firing, right? Like I know they want to try and – That would be really awkward mid-season to essentially say,

you're not going to coach for us anymore, but you're going up to... Well, I mean, put it this way. Let's say they get off to like a 3-13 and 1 start or whatever, and they're miserable, and they're like, okay, we've got to make the change now. That could be one. The only other one that I could really see... I think Sullivan's a candidate.

Yeah. Here's the thing with Sullivan, though, is that you very clearly love him a lot. I was thinking all... I mean last year would have been the year that you do it because they were in the Doldrums for so long. Lalonde in Detroit, I could see that if they

spotted four coaches that have been around for a while and that's John Cooper, Mike Sullivan, Jared Bednar and Rod Brindamore. All the other ones have been hired 2022 and February 9th and Rod Brindamore. All the other ones have been hired 2022. February 9th, 2022 was Marty St. Louis in Montreal. And that was like, he's like the fifth longest tenured coach.

Tockets in the top half of the league in terms of longest tenured coaches. So it's hard to pick out coaches. Torres, Salon. Those are the two that jumped out to me right away. I mean, at some point, John Cooper is going to move on from the Tampa Bay Lightning. He's been in there over a decade, but I don't know if he's a mid-season firing.

I don't think Jared Bednar is going to get fired in Colorado. Rod Brindamore just re-signed with the Carolina Hurricanes. Of those four, I kind of think Mike Sullivan is a candidate. Sullivan is on the list for sure. Because if the Penguins go into this season and things aren't going well,

you're looking at three straight playoff misses for Sidney Crosby, then maybe they try something desperate there. If Pittsburgh goes into the season and their power play is as egregiously bad as it was last season I could definitely see that happening but I we know it's funny going back to the Quenville part when we talked to Andy Strickland last week who's obviously got a connection to Quenville it definitely sounded like a lot of teams had inquired to the NHL about,

you know, are we allowed to hire Quimble? Like, what's going on here? I mean, I would not be surprised if every general manager has a short list of coaches in case something goes pear-shaped with the one they currently have, right? It's like it's in a drawer somewhere, and you just have that list, and you call them up, and you kind of get the ball rolling on it. I would not be surprised now that he's been reinstated.

Quimble's on a lot of those lists yeah of course right because now i mean again the optics of it aside i think we're focusing solely on what we think might be happening in front offices it would be a no-brainer for a lot of these guys once they've gotten the green light to do it right because i mean well no brainer is i wouldn't agree with exactly with that phrase um because there's going to be stuff you got to go through yeah but i'm not saying that i would if i was a general manager i'd probably have a pause and it wouldn't be a no-brainer for me but knowing what i know about the nhl's coaching coaching recycling program and it's very tight knit but i don't think you should but i I think that's unfair to put Joel Quenville in the coaching recycling

program. He is a very, very successful head coach. And the only reason he's not coaching right now, I mean, it's a big one. Yes. Because of what happened in,

in Chicago. Right. Well, I mean, I guess what I'm trying to say is like what they did in Columbus to a certain degree was we're not going to, he, they,

Don Waddell consciously said, we're not going to, he, they, Don Waddell conscious said, we're not going to give a first time head coach an opportunity here. We want someone with experience, right? I mean, Hey, look, I've been critical of the recycling program sometimes.

And sometimes it's absolutely worked. Peter LaViolette in New York. I thought that was a crazy uninspired hire when they only Peter LaViolette, like after Gerard Gallant, like, I don't even know what, what exactly are you trying to accomplish here? It was great for them, right? Yeah, he's an experienced coach.

Some of these guys, they know what they're doing. They know what they're doing, right? And that's the big thing. San Jose this year, I think, is going to be kind of interesting because they've got this crazy young team with all this high-end talent, and they've got a head coach who's like 38 years old. Everyone wants the young, talented head coaches, and I get it because you might get the next John Cooper.

Sure. But you might also get the long list of guys that we don't even remember their names because they didn't work out. Because they didn't have the presence in the room. They didn't gain the respect of the players. For whatever reason, their methods that worked in junior or in the college ranks didn't work in the NHL. Coming up on the Halford & Brough Show on Sportsnet 650,

Michael Linklater is going to join the program. Former Canadian three-on-three basketball great, he's going to be calling three-on-three at the Olympics for CBC as a color analyst. He will be joining us next. You're listening to the Halford & Brough Show on Sportsnet 650. 633 on a Tuesday. Happy Tuesday, everybody. Halford Brough, Sportsnet 650.

Halford Brough of the Morning is brought to you by White Rock Honda. Surrey's premier multilingual dealership destination. Visit them online at whiterockhonda.ca. We are in hour one of the program michael linklater is going to join us to talk a little three on three hoops he'll be calling it uh at the olympics in paris in just a few days time hour 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. Visit them at 1170 Powell Street in Vancouver.

To the phone lines we go. Michael Linklater joins us now on the Halford & Brough Show on Sportsnet 650. Morning, Michael. How are you? Good morning. I'm wonderful. Thanks for taking the time to do this. We appreciate it. So this is just the second time that 3-on-3 Hoops is at the Olympics

after making its debut at the Tokyo Games in 2020. We got a lot of questions. People texting into the show got a lot of questions. So I hope you're ready for this because we're going to go down the road. I wanted to start with your career. Maybe it'll be a reflection on how one gets into the three-on-three game. But you obviously played the full-court version for a while, played at a very high level,

then went and played some three-on-three with Team Saskatoon. You guys got very high in the FIBA rankings a few years ago. Can you explain that transition to three-on-three and what it takes to thrive at the three-on-three level? Yes. No, that's a great question. I guess first and foremost, let me make a small correction for you. So FIBA actually prefers that it's called 3x3 because they want

to differentiate from the old school NBA 3 on 3 because FIBA 3x3 has a very specific set of rules which we'll dive into a little bit later so the correct way to say it is 3x3. Got it. So I think it was in 2013 when the inception of 3x3 came into play and we ended up getting on the world tour, which is the professional circuit for FIBA 3x3. And we went as Team Saskatoon played for several years. And because Team Saskatoon was so successful, we were fortunate enough to accumulate enough ranking points to get Team Canada an invitation to the World Cup. So we were fortunate enough to play in the World Cup in 2018. And how you kind of get into the world tour is you have to play in qualifying tournaments.

And so the qualifying tournament that we would have to play in, I guess it's called a challenger. So a challenger gets you, if you win a challenger, you get into a world tour stop. And now on the women's side, it's called the women's series. And that's more done through the national federation. So it's like national teams. So over the years, it's started national teams so over the years it started to

change but it's very tough to get on um so one of the questions that we had in and i think that you just answered what it is is you can't just plug in nba players or wmb players the moment that you qualify for the olympics because you need to get the points uh from the international competitions and the qualifying runs during those respective seasons. So the three-on-three players that we're going to see in the men's and women's side of the Olympics, that's basically what they do full-time. They're on the tour, they're on the circuit,

and they're working not just to solidify their spot in the 3x3 rankings during the year, but also qualify for the Olympics. Yes, precisely. So what I like to make reference to is they're two completely different games. And the comparison I like to draw, because it's been around a bit longer, is beach volleyball compared to court volleyball. So you wouldn't see a court player from, you know, sixes just jumping on a beach volleyball team because they're two completely different games. And that's the same for 3x3 in comparison to 5x5. There is a full circuit that runs for six, seven months of the year

where people have dedicated their entire lives. It's a profession now. So it's a professional league where you can actually make a living off of, where teams are traveling across the world, such as we did, where one day you're in Asia for three weeks, you're back home for a week, and then you're over in Europe for another two weeks and bouncing around from there. So there's a lot of tournaments in Europe because of the population and how

popular it is out there. But this is a full-time thing. And for national federations, they have to make sure that they have, I believe it's two or three players ranked in their top 10 in their country for 3x3. What makes a good 3x3 player? That's a great question. Versatility. The thing with 3x3 is you cannot hide anywhere. In 5-on-5, you could be a big guy that could block shots, but can't do anything else well. Or you could be a great shooter in 5-on-5. In 3x3, you have to be able to do everything well. You have to be able to defend,

shoot, rebound, hustle plays, pass, everything. So I think it's a wonderful game to be able to defend, shoot, rebound, hustle plays, pass, everything. So I think it's a wonderful game to be able to watch because it's very exciting. How long are the games? Because I know in rugby sevens, for example, compared to the full sides, the rugby games are a lot shorter because it would be exhausting for them to be long. I imagine in 3x3, it's pretty tiring out there. So how long are the games? Yeah, so I'll just dive into a little bit of the rules because that follows within it. So the games consist of 10-minute games or the first to

21, whichever comes first. There's a 12-second shot clock. And once the ball goes through the hoop, it's considered a live ball. So the other team now has possession and they are considered, it's considered non-live inside the charge circle. So the defending team can't guard them inside that circle, but the second the opposing team touches the ball, as it comes through the hoop, they're not taking it out of bounds or checking it at the top. The shot clock

starts and they have 12 seconds to clear it past the three-point line and score. So it's a very fast-paced game. The game starts with a coin toss. So you get an opportunity to accept first possession or defer. Now, if you defer and it goes into overtime, you get first possession. And in overtime, it's kind of like a do or die. So you're playing ones and twos the whole game. In overtime, it's the first to two wins. Okay, so on the men's side, Canada was not there in 2020, and Canada will not be there in 2024. Can we assume that the Americans are the favorites in this, or are there other countries that have a pretty good shot at the medal?

You know, assuming the Americans is usually a favorite. And right now, I do believe that USA is, if not the number one ranked, they are definitely one of the top three ranked. But the European teams are extremely, extremely good. Serbia specifically, they are one of the tougher teams. On the women's side, our national team, the women qualified, and they're one of the top teams on the women's side our national team the women qualified and they're one of the top teams on the tour they've won the the women's series championship i believe the last two years in a row if i'm not mistaken so they're one of the top teams they should medal that's me being a bit

biased but they've proven that they're one of the top teams. And tell us about the players on the women's team. You have the twins. So the Ploof sisters, they've been playing for quite some time. And again, they are a tough matchup to guard. Michelle and Catherine, I believe they're both over 6'5", 6'4". So it poses a problem. So if you have a team that consists of you know taller players that are versatile because both of them can shoot the ball they can post up they cause a lot of problems for players you have a Saskatchewan homegrown talent uh page page crows on and she's been a phenomenal standout player for them, phenomenal shooter. And then you have Kelsey Bosch, phenomenal defender, hustle player, just really gets after it.

And they've been playing together for quite some time. And that's one of the biggest things that you'll see in 3x3 for the teams that are having success is the chemistry. Because you have to know what your player's doing before they even know what they're doing. And that's where you'll find success. Michael, are you over in Paris yet? Or are you still to make the journey?

No. And this is the interesting thing that I don't know if us regular people that watch the Olympics ever think about this, but if every single country sent a broadcast team for every single sport, there wouldn't be enough room for everybody. So I'll actually be broadcasting out of the headquarters in Toronto. Oh, okay. Well, enjoy the tournament and thank you so much for taking the time to join us this morning and explaining a little bit about 3x3 basketball in the Olympics. Thanks for having me.

Thanks, Michael. Thanks, Michael. Michael Linklater from CBC. The playbook begins for the Canadian women on July 30th. One of eight teams participating, looking for a gold medal in 3x3. I didn't even know that was a thing. You were certainly putting your place there. I did not know.

Yeah, come on, Halford, get it together. Halford got a little rattled there. He started to knock over his cup there. He's like, oh, yeah, yeah, okay, got it, got it, come on, Halford, get it together. Halford got a little rattled there. He started to knock over his cup there. He's like, oh yeah, got it, got it, got it, got it, got it. It's 3x3. I was hoping you were going to keep referring to it as 3 on 3 throughout the interview. Just playing the threes,

you know? Playing some threes. Obviously, obviously a sticking point with FIBA. I have to admit, I did not remember it in the Tokyo Olympics. No, the Tokyo Olympics were weird because, I mean, weird is an understatement. They weren't even played in the year they were supposed to be played, and there were no fans there, spectators.

I don't remember this being in the game. So, you know, it's funny. So Michael played with the team Saskatoon. Saskatoon's a real, like, hotbed for 3x3. They have a big tournament there on the World Stop. It's like, I don't know why that particular area is that keen on 3x3 but i've watched it a bunch they don't have enough people to play the full time yeah we can't do

five on five it's just too many people um i don't know um if it it's okay here's the short answer is it doesn't translate great to television because it's fast, but it's choppy. Yeah. Right? I mean, it flows in the sense that after you make a hoop, but it's just running back out and going. It looks kind of strange. But the finishes are usually pretty exciting.

It seems exhausting. It is exhausting. And there's very different styles that you can play based on the size of guy that you have. You know in basketball when you get beat defensively and you got to yell out, help, help, help, help? Right. I'd be yelling help a lot. You would be.

And there'd be no one to help you because there's only two other guys. Exactly. Yeah. Like, can you cover my guy? Please? I'm so tired. How long are these games anyway? Why are we going so long?

Can we get to 21 already? I do. So I have watched it a bit in the past. The only guy that I really recognize out of any of them is former BYU star and journeyman NBA player, Jimmer Ferdet. Yeah. Yeah. He just kind of reinvented himself as a full-time three-on-three guy. But that answers the question. We mentioned it earlier in the interview.

Someone texted in, why don't they just load the team up with, like, LeBron and Steph Curry and Kevin Durant and just go destroy everyone? Well, you need to actually qualify through a series of international events. You need the points to get to the Olympics. So Liam in Calgary texted in about our Daniel Sprong conversation in the first segment, and he said, so I'm curious what texted in about our Daniel Sprong conversation in the first segment and he said, so I'm curious what you guys think of my Sprong take.

Sounds like strong take, but it's a, it's a Sprong take. My understanding is that yes, he's a defensive liability. However, in all caps from Liam in Calgary, I think Petey may just need a trigger man with DeBrus likely on that line to the defensive end could be covered by those in all caps from Liam and Calgary. I think Petey may just need a trigger man. With DeBrus likely on that line too,

the defensive end could be covered by those two mostly. Could he be the puzzle piece that finally works for Petey? Well, first of all, most of what's going to happen with Petey is dependent on one person, and that is Elias Pettersson. But if we're talking about what could work for Petey, I would wager that in that conversation with Rick Tockett or the conversation with management, they probably said, listen, there's a chance that you might be playing with Elias Pettersson

and Jake DeBrasque because look at what we got here. You know, Brock Besser usually plays with JT Miller, and you might even end up on that line. Who knows? I mean, there's no obvious answer to who's going to be playing with Besser and Miller. I mean, most people are kind of like, man, I guess Pew Suter, right?

Isn't that what most people are thinking? But I don't think Pew Suter is just like the lock that's going to be on that line. I think, I think, I think if you're, um, if you're any, if you're a player like Daniel Sprung, who actually has scored in the NHL and scored at a pretty good rate, considering the ice time he usually gets, um, you're probably thinking like maybe that that could be me up in the top six with a player like Elias Pettersson banging in goals well I mean the Canucks went down this when the Canucks brought in Phil Kessel last year and brought him to Abbotsford it was very much a nod

to if we need uh an injection of offense or somescoring punch or a guy that can put the puck in the back of the net in a pinch where either injuries or ineffectiveness have hampered our top six, maybe Kessel could be the guy. And it ended up being way too long of a shot. It was a flyer that never – I forgot about that. Right? And it was another tie to Pittsburgh like Sprong was as well.

But I think that the one that if there was one lasting thing that Tuckett and this management group is going to have hanging over them from the postseason, it was countless chances in pivotal moments falling onto the sticks of, and I hate burying these guys because they tried their best and they were probably miscast, but Ilya Mikheyev and Philil di giuseppe and sam lafferty yeah and guys who just couldn't put the puck in the back of the net at the level that you need

now remember this isn't like regular season scoring this is at the level that you need when you're down to the final eight and you're in the playoffs and it's you know the best of the best the best teams in the nhl you don't have the margins where mckay gets sent in on six clear-cut chances and converts zero right that can be the difference and what this allows talk it to do is you brought it up earlier there's a lot of internal competition now which i think is a good thing and it but no but no obvious answers no and there's not going to be i don't think they're going to be able to build the perfect team and it's hard in the nhl i don't really think there is a perfect team. There are a lot of teams that are close.

They might be able to, especially if they're able to keep – I'm forgetting his name, the guy who was on LTIR, the defenseman. Tucker Pooleman? Tucker Pooleman off LTIR. And they're able to build up a little bit of cap space, tolling cap space, and then eventually trading away that contract or just putting it on LTIR. They might be able to add something at the trade deadline of significance that helps them. So don't forget about that. They might be in this position where they're like, okay, well, we're going to go into the season with this

and hope Nils Hoeglander takes another step or Pod Coles and Pops or Daniel Sprong is this great fit with Pedersen and DeBrusque and, you know, that goal scoring isn't an issue and maybe we can address other needs if we have to do it. But we're also going to maintain some semblance of flexibility that we can make changes midseason if we have to. By the way, can we also just address that this is the second consecutive post offseason in which, and I think you feel the same, but I'll ask you anyway.

I'm more than impressed with the work that management has done. The way that they've gone about it, the guys that they brought in, the players that they've targeted, the money. It was a tricky offseason, too. This was a very difficult offseason. And you could just kind of see the pieces falling into place as it went along. And there was...

I think replacing the big dudes that they lost with Forbert and Desjardins, that's not bad work for a bottom pair. When you consider the money spent, comparatively speaking. When you compare the... Now, look, are there still questions about the puck moving ability of the back end? Absolutely.

We haven't seen Forbert and Desjardins play yet. Yeah, and we haven't seen if DeBrusque's going to be a fit. Yeah. You know, so there's always a risk when you have new players on the team, but I like the fact that he's still young. I like the addition of Danton Heinen as a value play considering what he costs the Canucks. I like the fact that they even went out and got, you know,

a third goalie in Yuri Patera so they can go up and down with Seelov if they want and get him starts down in the NHL if he's not starting enough in the NHL. Overall, yeah, I'm pretty impressed with it, but I think at the same time it's fair to say there's still a lot of questions facing this team as there are with any team in the NHL. You go in there and go, I wonder if this is going to work.

I wonder if this is going to work. Hopefully it all does work out. I, I think this, put it this way. I think this management group is so much better at building out a roster. Yep. And having players fit their roles. You know, I was worried about what would happen to the penalty kill. Yeah. With some of the guys that they lost.

But bringing in guys like Forbert and Dayer and A, those guys are really good penalty killers. So I'm pretty happy with that. If they can find value in Sprung, that'll be the second consecutive summer in which they waited for that, that initial wave of free agency to pass and then swooped in late in the summer and signed a guy in the Chiefs. If they can get, like, because Suter last year, that was a very savvy deal, how it ended up working out for them. Yeah, he was a useful player for them.

A very useful player for them. If they can replicate that, it's another huge tick in the win column for them. Now, part of the reason I brought this up, I was listening to a podcast yesterday, and they were doing a deep dive on Boston's offseason, sort of grading out what Don Sweeney did. And obviously the Canucks and Bruins are going to be linked this past offseason because two fairly prominent Canucks

signed in Boston in Nikita Zdorov and Elias Lindholm. And they were saying, like, conceptually, they did, Boston and Vancouver are similar in that they had a lot of holes they had to fill, and they had a like conceptually they did boston and vancouver similar in that they had a lot of holes they had to fill they had a very direct straightforward plan on how they wanted to solve it and boston's was we desperately needed a center and we wanted to get bigger on defense so you take the box at center with lindholm and you take the box with zadoroff where there's criticisms i haven't heard of half their bottom six yeah because it's a bunch of i mean they've done a nice job actually of um finding guys late late in drafts undrafted guys you know because they don't they've barely made any yeah that could be that could be mostly on me that i've never heard

of these guys i mean they might be perfectly capable players but what they did was a more traditional we have holes to fill and we're just going to go out and spend the money right we're going to get um lindholm now the the lindholm contract and that's and that's why lindholm wanted to go to boston by the way it wasn't just the money it was like it was like it was like i want to be a 1c i want to be a 2c i don't want to be in vancouver as a 3c you know if this vancouver coaching staff feels that i'm a center and that i'm not a fit on the wing and they feel that JT Miller and Elias Pettersson are their two best centers then I don't really I don't want that role it's about it's about you know it's about role more than money he was getting he was getting the money in Boston so he goes there and now he's gonna get to play with guys like Pasternak and Brad

Marchand. That's what he wanted. Right. And the contract's a bit scary, no question. There were times— Oh, I don't think it's going to work for Boston. I don't look at this team and think that this is going to be a particularly good team. I could see short-term success. I'd be terrified of the long-term.

I don't see this team winning a Stanley Cup, though. Yeah, I mean, that's the thing, right boston going to the playoffs is pretty much again i think it's like 13 of the last 15 seasons they've been in the postseason like they make it with regularity my hobby did you you weren't here for my hot take obviously yesterday that uh he's not here yesterday it's well i don't know if it's a hot take because i didn't definitely didn't predict it but i was just like i wouldn't be confident that the Leafs are going to make the playoffs. I like it. See, it's not the same as when I was like, the Leafs aren't

going to make the playoffs. I was just saying I'm not super bullish on them. I just think they're dialing it back a bit. I didn't even dial it up. I just said I'm not bullish on the Leafs. Everyone's like, oh, they got Tanev and OEL in there now. That'll solidify things. And then you're like, I'm kind not bullish on the Leafs. Everyone's like, oh, they got Tanev and OEL in there now. That'll solidify things.

And then you're like, I'm kind of bullish on the Leafs. Okay, maybe they'll sneak in the playoffs. And oh, maybe they'll win the division. We'll chew on this one. They could win the cup, though. Because they're going to fly under the radar. They could also win it all. For once. We'll chew on this one during the break. When we come back from break,

noted former NHL insider Elliot Friedman is going to join the program. He has now reinvented himself as a paddling guy. He's going to be calling rowing canoe and kayak at the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris. So we'll talk to Freedj about that. Before we go to break, I need to tell you about Janpro, the leaders in commercial cleaning and janitorial. If your workplace demands a clean environment,

contact Janpro for a free, no obligation quote, visit them online at Jan pro.ca. You're listening to the Halford and Brough show on sports net six 50.