Halford & Brough in the Morning - What Is The Mount Rushmore Of Bad Canucks Contracts?

Episode Date: July 16, 2024

In hour three, Mike & guest host Jamie Dodd chat with BC Lions offensive lineman Sukh Chungh as the Leos look to keep their win streak going this Sunday in Calgary (3:00), the boys debate the Mount Rushmore of bad Canucks contracts 10:00), plus the boys tell us what they learned (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.

It'll want on a big band Tuesday here on the Halford and Brough show on Sportsnet 650. Halford and Brough 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. Sales, financing, service, or parts. We are in Hour 3 of the program. BC Lions offensive lineman, good local guy, Suk Chung is going to join us in just a moment here to kick off Hour 3.

Hour 3 is brought to you by Campbell & Pound Real Estate Appraisers. Trust the expertise of Campbell & Pound. Visit them on the internet at campbell-pound.com today. We are coming to you live from the Kintec studio. Kintec, Canada's favorite orthotics provider, powered by thousands of five-star Google reviews. Sore feet? What are you waiting for?

Kintec, that's what you're waiting for. To the phone lines we go. Suk Chung joins us now on the Halford and Brough show on Sportsnet 650. Morning, Suk. How are you? Good morning, guys. How are you guys doing? We're good.

Thanks for taking the time to do this. We appreciate it. First, congrats on the big win on the weekend. Victory over the previously undefeated Saskatchewan Rough Riders. Just wanted to start by getting your thoughts on the game. A big win and handing Saskatchewan their first L of the season. Yeah. Proud of the guys for getting the win at home and always a good time to play at home.

And, yeah, I mean, a lot of season left. You know, it was nice to get the win against Saskatchewan, but we have a lot to clean up on tape, which is a good thing. And, you know, it was a really hard game and a tough game against a really good opponent. As you said, you know, lots to clean up, lots you can still improve on, but also five wins in a row for your team at this point,

five and one record on the season. How would you evaluate just overall how the team has performed so far this season? Like I said, I think there's, you know, we're winning games, but there is a lot to clean up which is a good thing uh um and we just take it one game at a time so far we understand you know the season a long season we have a lot of veterans on the team that you know remind each other and keep each other accountable that you know we're doing 18 sprints here and we're gonna

take it one game at a time. The league is a very tight league this year. As you can see, every game is coming down to the last couple minutes. Let's talk about the guy you're tasked with protecting, Vernon Adams Jr., the league leader right now for most outstanding player, best passer in the league in a lot of different metrics. What's been the key this year?

Feel free to say offensive line play. What has the key been this year for Vernon Adams Jr. and put up the kind of numbers that he's put up so far I think I think the key for Vernon and us as an offense is just being on the same page and you know really watching that film and seeing what the defense is going to give us and you know Vernon's got a lot of great options at receiver and we got Will Stanback now which you know adds a little bit of balance to our offense. And, you know, like we got to all do our job and help Vernon out. You know, Vernon makes us look good. We make Vernon look good.

And I think Vernon does a great job of, you know, bringing a great attitude every week and, you know, letting us know where we need to do better. And every week we have something to clean up. And he's been a great leader in that aspect. And he's definitely leading from the front. And he's attracting a lot of guys' eyes that way. And a lot of guys are doing the right thing. So it's really good to have in our locker room.

Yeah, I think a lot of times when we think about great offensive line play, sometimes our mind goes immediately to the running game, right, and you guys paving the way for the running backs. But Vernon Adams led the CFL in passing yards a year ago, as Mike said. He's in the lead for most outstanding player again this year.

How much pride do you guys take as a unit in being a big part in allowing, obviously he's doing a lot of the work too, but in allowing him to have that consistent success year after year here. I think, you know, of course we take a lot of pride in whatever the job is that we're asked to do, whether that's blocking for the running back or protecting for the quarterback. And, you know, in the CFL, you're going to pass the ball a little bit more. But, you know, we do know that our run game has got to get a little bit better

because, you know, when the weather gets colder, we need that run game to do well as well. But being, you know, taking a lot of pride in providing Vernon with time to throw the ball, the deep ball, you know, that comes with providing time. And that just comes with the guys up front, us five being on the same page, picking up the blitzes that are coming or the pressure or allowing Vernon to know that, hey, you're going to be hot on

this one and he has to make magic or throw his heart. I think we're doing a great job of being on the same page in that aspect. Of course teams are going to throw something new at us and we do a great job of adjusting on the sidelines and keeping it going. We're all pretty familiar with the work that

Vernon Adams Jr. did and can do. A guy that I didn't know a ton about and has really burst onto the scene this year is Justin McInnes. Anytime you catch 14 balls for 243 yards and a touchdown, you're going to get some eyeballs on you. So tell us, what is it that makes McInnes such a dynamic receiver so where he can go off on a game like that, where he pretty much dominated whenever he wanted to against the Saskatchewan secondary yeah I don't know if I'm gonna see 14 for 14 243 ever again so I just want to say that was a unbelievable performance and the guy the guy's a hard-working dude but his frame you know he's he's tall long, and he's always available for Vernon.

But that just comes with trust, and Vernon and him are getting this trust thing down, and they're always on the same page, it looks like. And, you know, that just comes with Vernon and him taking reps together and watching the film. And I think Justin was a great receiver last year as well, but we had so many guys last year. And now with some of the injuries we've had,

Justin's role is a little different, and the targets are going to him a bit more. But that still means you've got to catch the ball. And he went 14 for 14, so I think he's gaining the trust of the quarterback real quick here. Suk, you mentioned, looking forward a little bit here, you mentioned that there's lots on tape that you guys can clean up and that you know you need to work on

as the season advances. What are some of those things that the coaching staff is working with you on and that you've targeted to improve as a team going forward? I think, you know, last week the weeks past before this, we've been doing a great job on first down production, which really helps

us having positive yards on first down. But the last game, we struggled in the first down category a bit and got behind the sticks. But then we had all those second down conversions, and those are great. But, you know, you limit your playbook after you're second and 10-plus or second and 9-plus. So we just got to do better in the first down production category, and that allows us to, you you know open up our playbook and personally i think um we can just

get the run game going a bit more and that would just help on the balance as an offensive lineman because we do want to be the uh be the hammer sometimes and and the run game allows us to do that uh you mentioned mckinn going 14 targets, 14 catches. What about your kicker, Sean White, going 7 for 7? Now 39 consecutive field goals made. It's quite the streak. Thoughts on your kicker who doesn't seem to ever miss? Oh, yeah, Sean White is the man.

Another guy we trust just to do his job, and I was aware about his streak going on. And, yeah, he's another guy who's just phenomenal at what he does, which is huge for us to know that, hey, once we cross a certain point on the field that we can get three points. And, you know, we love Sean. Sean's the man. But we also got to convert some of those threes into touchdowns,

and that will help too. But having a kicker that could, you know, is pretty automatic, that helps us a lot. Well, the next challenge ahead is in Calgary on the weekend. Sunday, 4 o'clock kickoff, the 5-1 Lions go to Calgary to take on the 2-3 Stampeders at McMahon Stadium. Suk, thanks a lot for doing this today, man. We really appreciate it.

I appreciate you guys. Yeah, thanks, buddy. Appreciate it. Have a good one. Good luck in Calgary. That's Suk Chung, BC Lions offensive lineman here on the Halford & Brough Show on Sportsnet. 6.50. 243 receiving yards. It's not bad.

14 targets and 14 catches. That's incredible. I overlooked that. Thank you to Suk Chung for pointing out that stat as well. So see, Suk was doing his research prior to the hit as well. That's good. Okay. Prior to break, we were running through an exercise we've given it a lot of time to breathe another mount rushmore here on the halford and rough show on sports net 650 this time

it's the worst contracts signed by the vancouver canucks in the cap era. So we're going 2005 to present day. The rules are as follows. The contract had to be signed by the Vancouver Canucks. Whatever general manager was in charge at the time. We can't do OEL or Erickson like that's too easy. No, we can do Erickson.

They signed a contract with Erickson. We can't do OEL. No, but I'm just saying skip it because it's the obvious one. Oh, no. Oh, you can have it. It's the obvious one. You can't leave a president off Mount Rushmore because he's too popular. Okay, well, we'll just say that one's obvious. Oh, that one would be too cliche.

We'll leave George Washington off. Yeah, everyone. Yeah, only the underrated ones. To follow up on what Andy said. Hipster Mount Rushmore. Yeah, exactly. Presidents you haven't heard of. Yeah, I'm there for that.

I knew that president before he was cool. William Henry Harrison. He's only there for 30 days. Died in 30 days. To follow up on what Andy just said, mostly... Why can't you say it like that? To follow up on what Andy just said...

I roll my eyes into the back of my head. Erickson's pretty much on everybody's. Erickson is a, pardon the pun, stone cold lock to be on everybody's bad contract, Mount Rushmore. So you got a point. It's there. Everyone has to put them in.

There are some interesting ones aside from that. So anyway, but you're right. OEL isn't eligible. If the Canucks traded for someone and then signed him to a deal, that totally counts and we opened it up to not just standard player contracts why not if the organization made a contractual move that might not have been well received it wasn't necessarily a player

it will be taken into consideration to be etched in stone so i say that because a couple people have texted in uh one of the contracts that deserves to be on there is the jim benning extension yeah now i thought about this august of 2019 benning gets a three-year extension despite the fact that the team had only made the playoffs once in his five years on the job, and it was in his first year. People were very critical of his work up to that point. There wasn't really a show-me moment throughout the first era of Benning that would lead you to believe that he needed a three-year extension.

I think that one deserves consideration. I'm not sure I'm ready to anoint it as one of the worst because, let's be honest, it's the players that make the difference here. It should be a player-based thing, but I have a lot of time for a very outside-the-box thought. I think it was Scott that sent it in, that the Jim Benning extension in 2019 should be on there.

It's a good one. It was baffling at the time. It remains baffling looking back. Say JR and Alvin took over in 2019, where would the Canucks be right now? Yeah, that's a great question. It wouldn't have taken as long, that's for sure. And the OEL thing wouldn't have happened. There's a lot that could have been very, very different.

People, I mean, maybe not often overlook, but we can't overstate how crippling the OEL thing will be for the Canucks for the next whatever it is, six years, I can't remember. Right. It's brutal. Like, it is a brutal hit. Regardless of the cap going up, it sucks. It's like, that's an entire player you're not going to be able to sign

because of that buyout. It's awful. So another one that comes up, Roberto Luongo. Who wants to tackle that one, Jamie? Yeah, that's a fascinating one because if you look back on it, through the life of his contract as a player, I mean, he performed up to the standards of that deal. 5.3 million, right? Even where the cap was for elite goaltending and he was a workhorse goalie

and you know you look at his career in florida he was a really good goaltender for the florida panthers as well so from that metric it's not what you would traditionally call a bad contract i guess where it really makes a case for it is the cap recapture but i don't want to ding the canucks for that that was a joke by the nhl like they signed it seeing what everyone else around the league was doing and said yeah why wouldn't we do that of course we're going to get in on this the same way other teams are doing with these long-term front-loaded contracts but for whatever reason the nhl was like no no you guys you're gonna You guys, you're going to get screwed for this. It was a joke. But. But. I do think that the now infamous sound drop.

Yeah. Does put him in very rarefied air. If you're talking about the worst contracts in franchise history. My contract sucks. I mean, that is. That's getting you on the mount. I think. I don't know.

I mean, come on. He said it. Yeah, he did. It's one of the most infamous soundbites in Canucks franchise history. In the sense that he couldn't be traded because of it, not because it was the worst contract of all time. I will say. I agree with what you're saying in a vacuum. Because he lived up to what the contract required,

which was play for this amount of years and play at a high level and largely outperform. What was his cap hit? 5.3? Yeah. Largely outperformed that. At the same time, there are some big warts on that contract, which put it in the conversation for sure. And I think, I guess, the argument for Luongo being

on the Mount Rushmore would be that a lot of these other contracts, they were bad. You didn't get value out of them, but then they just expired and, okay, in a way you can almost say no harm, no foul. Now, look, you should always be trying to get the most efficient contracts, but Luongo is an example of one where you can look at it and specifically say him being on this deal created problems for the team.

It prevented them from getting business done at a time when they still had real hopes of being competitive. So I do understand it, but it just doesn't feel quite right. He wouldn't be on mine. I don't think. Next one up for debate. Jay Beagle. I think Jay Beagle has got to be on there.

Jay Beagle was kind. In a weird way, Jay Beagle is more of the poster boy, even though him and Roussel were equally lousy contracts. The Beagle contract, maybe it's his name. Beagle. I just feel like it rolled. Signing a four-flying guy to four years, $3 million a season. You could also say his name with a lot of disdain.

Beagle. You just got to spit it out. Which is unfair because Jay Beagleagle was a very nice very hard working guy who was like hey i finally got a very nice just reward for all this hard work and grinding his way up through the echl yeah yeah just didn't have a ton of discernible skill growing up as a player worked his way into it won a cup got paid it just happened to be here in the most vicious market in north america where he's like, people say the name with disdain now, which and that happened to Erickson as well. I always felt awful that Lou Erickson became solely defined by his contract.

Yeah. Right. So I think I think Lou Erickson and Jay Beagle would be on there just because like what the term, the money for the role, all of it was completely bizarre. And then how often did we talk about Erickson, Beagle, Roussel as just this absolute cinder block weighing down what the Canucks were trying to do? Eventually, they all move in that Arizona trade. I'm a little bit willing to give the Antoine Roussel one a pass. He might be on there, might not,

just because I think it was a more plausible contract when they signed it than the Beagle one. In a very weird way, signing at the same time as Beagle helped Roussel because it was like, well, it's a bad contract, but it's definitely not the worst one. As bad as that one. Yeah, that one. Okay, Jamie brought one up during the break

that I haven't thought about in a long time. Sven Berchi. Yeah. Have not thought for Sven Berchi. I've thought about him in a long time. Sven Berchi. Yeah. Have not thought for Sven Berchi. I've thought about him in a minute. He was good when he played. Yeah, but he doesn't play that way. Send him to the AHL.

So he definitely falls into the injury category with Michael Furlan and Tucker Pullman and other guys that people have brought up. Brandon Sutter, maybe? Yeah, whose career does not necessarily get completely derailed. In some cases, it was completely derailed, but it definitely knocks you off kilter with the injuries that you've sustained. It's another one, though, where, okay, they acquire him. He plays two seasons or three seasons, I think, even before they sign him.

And all of the flaws are there to be seen, right? Like the injuries, is he really going to be a top six guy for you? He's coming off 29 points in 53 games after the 27-18 season. And then you sign him to a three-year deal. And it's like, what is the urgency here? And so many of these, looking back on the Jim Benning era specifically, it's just like, why was there a rush to lock this player up for three years at this term at this money and then of course it doesn't work out he's not a fit with Travis Green he goes down to the AHL you end up having to move him

in a salary cap dump and that's kind of this repeated thing like another one and I feel bad again because there's an injury thing here but remember when they extended Tanner Pearson going into the trade deadline I think it was it in the North Division season. And he's a pending UFA. The team's going nowhere. He would have value around the league. And it's like, okay, this is a perfect guy to trade. And instead, it's a three-year extension that, again, eventually becomes a salary cap dump.

Yep. And I liked Berchi, actually. I quite liked him as a player. I know he had his flaws, but I felt like there was two things that kind of undid him here. One was the contract, which he's not going to say no to. That's a lot of cash. And the other one was the injuries. Now, my question is, does it rise to the level of all time?

That's an interesting. I don't know that it does. I'm willing to table it for the time being, but there's other ones that we need to work through here. A new one, a very new entry. Ilya Mikheyev. Yeah.

Mikheyev. New challenger has appeared. The latest boss in the video game. Worst video game ever. He's the only boss that can't hit you with any of the shots that he takes. He's the first one yeah it's easy um i don't right away my first instinct is to say no because uh they managed to pivot off it so quickly and it never became onerous although i will say uh this year in the

playoffs it was a tough go yeah it was tough sledding it was a tough watch the i was pleasantly surprised at how little it took to get it off the books i anticipated that it would be a lot more punitive than that um i also think that it it kind of escapes infamy because alvin and rutherford have been very adept at moving off their mistakes that's kind of been one of the hallmarks is like well this isn't working uh kuzmenko obviously being the prime other one and you know there is something to be said for that because a lot of these contracts and a lot of them signed by Jim Benning

were doubling down on our mistake as opposed to we're going to get out from under this and start fresh. I think two more names that have to be talked about here are, again, guys they traded for and then extended. Eric Goodbranson, who eventually was a cap dump for tanner pearson which started the whole cycle again here although tanner pearson had some good years

for the canucks but eric branson and brandon sutter i would put in there as well they sounded like a five-year deal and again it was okay now you've got a third line center locked up not at a cheap price at for five years why is there such urgency to do these types of deals and i ended up playing like a quarter of the game people forget you were like erickson beagle rusell became kind of the the buzzword but like sutter was a part of that group as well of like why are we spending this much money on this quartet of bottom six players yeah see good brands is always interesting to me because when and this is with the benefit of hindsight, but it was like Jim Benning and the Cucks weren't the only one

to get enamored with him. Nope. Columbus went out. Columbus signed a wild deal for Eric Goodbranson. You know when it says he's good looking, he's charming, you just winks at them and gives a little smile like, oh, we'll give you whatever you want. And if you fall victim to his charms and good looks,

then maybe. It would be hilarious if that was the reason, though. He's like so charming that he just gives whatever he wants. As long as you're not... We got in a room with him and I couldn't say no! Eric, you talked yourself into another deal. He doesn't even have an agent. He just does it himself. If you're not the only one... I think I'd like to be paid this. Oh, of course.

If you're not the only one, then there is an argument to be made. It was like, well, you're not the only one that fell for this, like others as well. Alright, there's a couple of other hot-button names that I think we should bring up here. One, I mean, just in honor of your regular co-host, Jason Proff, we have to mention this, and I think it's ridiculous, but some people have texted in on Elias Pettersson.

Now, first of all, the contract hasn't even kicked in, so we cannot put him on the Mount Rushmore of bad contracts. Second of all, I think it's going to be a perfectly fine, potentially even a good contract for the Vancouver Canucks going forward. I have total faith in Patterson. But people are, I'm just reading what the text inbox is sending out, and people are saying one day Elias Patterson with his new deal is going to be on this list.

I think it's too premature. Way too premature. I understand the trepidation people have because it's the biggest contract in AAV-wise franchise history. So there's always going to be that fear and that risk, but it's way, way, way too early. Do you want to start getting the framework and the bust ready? Maybe, but I don't.

Taking his measurements? Yeah, right? Get the same guy that sculpted Ronaldo's face and you're like, you want to start working on something? Yeah, he has to do all of these, by the way. This is the ugliest Mount Rushmore I've ever seen in my life. I can't go there. No.

I can't. I'm not going to push the boundaries even more than the jokes that I've made because it's just too early. Give it one more year. This is a serious exercise we're doing. This is deadly serious. We don't have time for this. Another one, and I don't usually like even bringing up his name on the air for obvious reasons, but some people pointed out,

and I think it was Marcus and Gibson's who said, Jake Furtan in contract. So many people have texted. Not just because of the deal, but the optics of signing him to a two-year $2.5 million deal while Tyler Toffoli went out the door the same offseason. And I agree with that. That was so baffling.

Yeah, picking him over Toffoli was insane. And it was like, well, he's an RFA and he's homegrown. It's like, let him walk. Who cares? Keep the actual good player who can score goals in the league. So I agree with that one. The Vertanen deal, when it happened, might have been the embodiment of the we are not giving up and we're going to double and dare I say triple

down. And it was so frustrating because with all of these instances where they made a move and then they're like we can't accept that it went wrong. Right now you're seeing a management group that is more than willing to accept the L's and be like but we just got to move

on. The sunk cost, all of it, all of it makes what this current regime doing, what the current regime is doing makes the previous regime look even more inept than they were. Because there's nothing wrong, absolutely nothing wrong with admitting that you're wrong. There's not. If you know it in your heart and you know that you've got to move on, then admit that you were wrong and try and do your best to fix the problem that you're wrong there's not if you know it in your heart and you know that you've got to move on then admit that you were wrong and try and do your best to fix the problem that you made

it's a real sort of basic principle not just for hockey management but it can extend other facets of life as well the constant justification of what you've done can like affect you negatively in so many different walks of life and we saw it and you just yeah it's great that you spent a bunch of draft capital on the guy and yeah you put in a lot of time in player development and yeah you want it to work out we get all that and yeah you want to show loyalty to your players but it's a bottom line business and it's very difficult to win in this league and in this industry and the more times that you take flyers on things that aren't working the more likely you have those things blow up in your face and for tannin was a pretty good example

yeah and i mean anytime you're buying out a contract one year after you signed it uh that's not a great deal uh one name i want to defend here if it's coming just a couple of times uh but that's matt sundin i get it like big number but it didn't prevent the team from doing anything i would argue it actually helped. Like the Sedins and I think Kessler were both on record of saying it was huge for their development as players having a guy like that in the locker room. But even if that wasn't true,

even in a brief time that it was a one year deal and he came in and he was fine. No, Sandin was very impactful off the ice for the growth of that team. So I would disagree with that wholeheartedly. Yeah. And again, it's just like it's a one year deal. How bad can it it be it didn't prevent them from doing anything I will say this on the Sadeen front is

I think Gillis gave too much allowance too many allowances and too much allowances to the player aside from the egregiously huge contract also letting him come in halfway through the year was a mistake.

Gills was a rookie GM. I think he wanted to make such an impact and make such a big statement that he was allowing the player to have too much power in how much I was going to play for and where I was going to play. Because at the end of the day, it was, I don't mean this as a front, but it was,

it was Matt Sundin. It wasn't Gretzky. It wasn't Lemieux. He was a very good player and a Hall of Famer, but I was never in awe of having Matt Sundin play for the Vancouver Canucks. I don't know if I'm alone on this. No, he was whatever. He wasn't this generational individual that was going to have this

incredibly profound effect to the point where you could allow him to come in midway through the season he did score the shootout winner against the leafs though did he not yeah if i remember correctly which was hilarious you did i really enjoyed that the fact that people have such a hard time identifying singular moments from his stint here lead me to believe that they probably should have been like we'll give you your money you need to come in at the beginning of the year and play a full year yeah you know because he was basically rounding into form by the time they got to the playoffs. Then he was good in the playoffs, but then it was over. Yeah. It was too short of a time.

That was my one complaint with it. But the contract, no, it's not going to be anywhere near the Mount Rushmore. People keep bringing up Messier, which is pre-cap, so it doesn't fit our exercise. And yeah, it was awful, but there was no caps. Who cares? Well, it didn't make a difference financially to the team. It hurt the team terribly in different ways,

but we're talking specifically financial exercise. If it was the worst contracts in Canucks history all time, Messi would be number one. Of course. He'd be there. Just because of the damage it did outside of that. Right, but we're doing the pre-cap era. Okay, we've got to go to break.

We'll answer some more of these questions on the other side. You're listening to the Halford & Brough Show on Sportsnet 650. Hey, it's Vic Nazar. Have your say and join me on the People's Show with big takes and even bigger bets weekdays 3 to 4 on Sportsnet 650 or wherever you get your podcasts. Now for my favorite part of the show.

What'd I say? Talk to the audience. Oh, God. This is always dead. It's what we learn time. It's what we learn time. It's what we learn time. On the show.

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I was going to mention, I said, did Ben do that? Basketball Ben fades it out, so I can't hit the post. And he needs to talk to him about that. I just talk into the abyss. Very sad. Okay. You talk into the abyss. Yeah.

The dark. Dark abyss. The echo chamber. I will note that you complimented Ben on his fade out of it yesterday. So you're sending mixed messages to him. Wow. Okay. This is intriguing.

He did a good fade out, actually, now that I do remember this now. He did a very nice fade out because it was really slow. You can almost see his hand on the, like, just slowly fading away. I do that most of the time. No, I like how you do it because you bring it up. You let me hit the post on it, so it's good. Okay. Very proud of my fades.

You're a good fader. Halford doesn't like conversations. He'll just blow smoke up whoever's producing that day. You're good. Basketball fans. That's why he's always like, I love hosting with you, Jamie. I'm like, thanks, Mike. As soon as I leave, he's like, ugh.

Mike is not very authentic. Not him again. Okay, we've got to do what we learned here. I think we're pretty much done with the Mount Rushmore of worst Canucks contracts conversation. If you want to continue to text in, we might be able to revisit it, but I think we've run through pretty much everything. We've hit a lot of them.

Yeah. Here's something else you could chew on, though, as we try it. You know, because, again, I like to blow smoke up everybody. Someone texted in last week, what was the best move of the Jim Benning era? What was the one gift that Jim Benning gave that just kept on giving? So if you want to chew on that one for a bit. Does draft picks count?

Anything, Greg. You don't have to answer it in the moment. We'll let it sit. We'll let it marinate with the general public. We'll do our What We Learns, and then we can revisit it on the other side. But what's the best move Jim Benning made over his multiple years in charge as the general manager of the Vancouver Canucks? Okay.

What We Learns. We're going to lead off with Jamie Dodd. You have an audio component as well. I do. Yeah. I'm really prepared for this one. He's so good. Oh, man. It's unreal, actually.

I mean that authentically. What we learned is that Tiger Woods is not ready to retire from competitive golf just yet. And in fact, he doesn't really appreciate the suggestion that maybe it's time for him to think about it. So British Open coming up this week and earlier this week, Colin Montgomery, of course, a Scottish golfer, suggested that it's time for Tiger Woods to retire. He said, there's a time for all sportsmen to say goodbye, but it's very difficult to tell Tiger it's time to go. Obviously, he still feels he can win. We are more realistic. I don't really know who the royal we is referring to there, but that's the quote from Montgomery.

We are more realistic about Tiger's chances of winning. Tiger was asked about that, I think it was today, at the Scottish Open, and he had a pretty sharp reply for Colin Montgomery. Well, as a past champion, I'm exempt until I'm 60. Colin's not. He's not a past champion, I'm exempt until I'm 60. Colin's not. He's not a past champion, so he's not exempt. So he doesn't get the opportunity to make that decision.

I do. That's what I mean. You've earned that. You've deserved that. So when I get to be at his age, I still make that decision. Well, he doesn't. Yeah, so I get to make that decision. He doesn't.

And that's extra twisting the knife because Colin Montgomery never won a major. He was runner up five times. So that is really like, oh, yeah. You remember when you came close but failed five times? I've won a lot. So actually, I'm different than you, Colin. I get to make these decisions and you don't. I like that from Tiger.

I'm glad that he stepped into this role because everyone has an opinion on when Tiger Woods should stop playing and when they shouldn't. Talking heads have done it for years. And I guess Colin Montgomery was just a bridge too far. And Tiger was like, come on, Colin Montgomery is getting points on me now. Now Monty's scoring on me. The funny thing is, though, it's kind of a tradition in golf for the old champions to not play full schedules but to certainly come back for the majors right like how long did jack nicholas play augusta right like it's kind of weird to focus on tiger this is a tradition in golf that the the greats of the past kind of get

this no we know they're not going to win that's not where they're there they're they're there to participate you know i as much as i don't love legacy programs i do admire that golf is like you win once you're in yeah you can just keep showing up and shoot 103 nobody cares I don't love legacy programs, I do admire that golf is like you win once, you're in. Yeah, you can just keep showing up and shoot 103. Nobody cares. Just don't get in anybody's way and don't break any of the code of conduct rules. So, mook out of that. Okay, Laddy, you have one as well.

Sure, yeah. The MLB draft is going on. What we learned, I wanted to go over some of the Canadians that were selected in the first two days of the draft. The first Canadian off the board is actually, he's the son of a former Raptors coach, which is why he has Canadian citizenship. Dante Nori, his dad, Micah Nori, used to coach with the Raptors, now with the Minnesota Timberwolves. He got the first Canadian off the board at pick number 27.

And then at pick 58, Emilien Pitre, a Quebec second baseman, got picked by the Tampa Bay Rays. And then the Tampa Bay Rays actually did something a little nasty, you guys. They picked the Blue Jays pocket on the 94th pick. The Blue Jays had the 95th pick. There was a guy out of Alberta, out of Red Deer, named Nathan Floehling. And he was heavily scouted by the Jays. Widely reported, he was being heavily scouted.

Brought to Toronto, they did a sort of event at the Rogers Centre where they had him there to play in front of all these scouts. There was heavy rumours that he was going to Toronto. The Rays took him the pick before the Jays had him and he's going to Tampa Bay. So two Canadians going to Tampa Bay early in the draft.

So some good talent there coming through the pipes for Canada. There's also Victoria native, former big leader, big leaguer, Steve Wilson from Victoria. His kid, Tyler got drafted, but he's an American citizen because he spent most of his career playing down in the States.

Very well done, Lach. Yeah, lots of Canadians going in the draft. There's even more in the draft. Keep going if you want, but those are the major names that you guys need to hear. No,

we're good. We're good. I just thought the thing with the catcher that the race took was interesting, that they picked the Jays' pocket right at the last second. One of the most polite yet equally dismissive answers I've ever heard. No. That's fine. You didn't, the guy that the Mariners drafted,

Gerangelo, I'm going to try and pronounce his last name, Sainja. Sainja. The switch pitcher? Okay, so just so to try and pronounce this last name. Signja. Signja. The switch pitcher? Okay, so just so everyone knows how difficult this is, it is spelled C-I-J-N-T-J-E. There's not a lot of first names or surnames, quite frankly, that have two Js in them. C-I-J-N-T-J-E.

And it's pronounced Sainja. Gerangelo Sainja. And yes, you're right. He's the ambidextrous pitcher. So he... Now, what are the rules on that? Are you allowed to... Who is it?

Pat Venditti? Pat Venditti, former JV. You're allowed to flip... You need to announce which hand you're pitching with at the start of the event. You need to identify pre-bat or pre-inning. Each the event. You need to identify bat or pre-inning. Each at bat. You need to tell the umpire. Wait, his name is... He holds up his hand at which hand he's

going to throw it. His name is Pat Venditti? Venditti. What? What did you say? Venditti. And his first name is Pat? Yes. So P. Diddy? No. Pat Venditti. Diddy, right? No. Venditti. There a Vend in there

Yeah but if you get That out of there Yeah you're right If you change his name Then it's this other thing Yeah If he only did the Bottom part

There's P. Diddy And P. Venditti Yeah But anyway This guy throws Signja I don't know why That is so

Illuminating for you Or else I'm not even Supposed to talk about P. Diddy I don't know why You're doing that Signja Throws 95 miles an hour With both hands With both hands for you. We're also not even supposed to talk about P. Diddy. I don't know why you're doing that. Sinja throws 95 miles an hour with both hands.

What is that all about? He's natural. I forget which way, but he actually throws harder with what is not his natural throwing arm, which I don't know how that works. It's like, well, shouldn't that just be your natural one then? It's pressure. Is this the next level that we'll go to with baseball players?

The fact that you have to say which hand you're going to throw with kind of takes a bit of that advantage out of it if you run into a switch hitter. But yeah, it's... Yeah, but switch hitters... They're not very common. It's pretty impressive when you think about it. And if you just think, okay, it's one thing to switch hitting.

Like, if you go out and try that with a bat, it's going to feel awkward, but it's, like, plausible that you can do it. Trying to throw as well with your offhand as you do with your strong hand is almost impossible.

Well, think of all the mechanics involved, right? All your body mechanics need to go with the arm. Like, he needs to do that mirrored on each side. He throws 95 lefty and 99 with his right. Here's the thing.

Oh, my goodness. Should Major League Baseball do away with the rule that you have to identify as a right-hander or left-hander at the start of the day? But why? Because it happened before. Before they had that rule,

the switch hitters would just jump across the plate and the pitcher would keep switching his hand and it would never end. Why not? It was mass confusion. They needed to make a rule. No, I don't. We need more of these games within the game they've already implemented like replay rules and challenges and what you can

win and throw the pitch while he's changing sides quickly I honestly they should seriously if there is going to be more ambidextrous pitchers and I would imagine being taken 15th overall would spur on other youngsters be like I'm going to try and throw with both arms they should seriously consider that it's also I just thought of this now, but it's the next step for injury prevention.

Yeah. You get Tommy John on your left arm, you can still pitch with your right arm for another year while you recover. Could you imagine undergoing Tommy John and missing no time? That's amazing. I'll just pitch with my other arm.

That's pretty incredible stuff. Get the velocity boost from Tommy John while you're still pitching. We're redefining how baseball, we're thinking about baseball here. This is really impressive. Okay, how that uh a dog did you find one besides the fact that there was a pitcher like 10 years ago named whose name if you really squinted kind of sounded like a rapper yeah okay well i have what we learned so there was this baseball player is about pat van diddy you guys

ever heard of pat van diddy Let me tell you a tale. Should I cut you off now or should I let you go? You should cut me off now. Okay. Moocow. I have one more. Okay. Hold on.

Moocow, whatever it was Adog just did. And then you go ahead. Is it also about Pat Venditti? It's really more of an update to one we talked about yesterday, which is what I learned is that Mike Alford jinxed his beloved Hastings Little League by proclaiming them heavy favorites at all the sports books. They're almost off the board. They're such heavy favorites.

And then they lost to Wally at the BC Provincial Championships yesterday, which means my little mountain, the only remaining undefeated team at the tournament. They play Hastings today. Yeah, they do play today. Yeah, I probably shouldn't have cast any unnecessary pressure on a team of 12 and 13 by just casually mentioning it. There's no way they're going to lose.

Yeah, I got 2K running on these guys. Like, I shouldn't have done that. But anyway, the tournament is a lengthy one. I believe it's a 10-day affair, and they basically play baseball almost every day. I think there's maybe one off day or something like that. So there's a lot of baseball at the BC Little League Provincials. Good luck.

You know what? Good luck to all the teams involved. I hope you all have a lot of fun. It's on the island. It's Lake Hill's the host, so I hope everyone has a really good time. Just go out and have fun. Don't worry about the odds.

Don't worry about how much money is riding on the game. Yeah, or the life-altering trip of getting to go to Williamsport, which is hanging in the balance. Don't worry about any of it, children. Just go. Yeah, or the life-altering trip of getting to go to Williamsport, which is hanging in the balance. Don't worry about any of it, children. Just go and have a good time. And Mukau. I've got to do one real quick, because there's an update on the Patrick Laine trade front,

and there's no update, and there's not going to be one, because Blue Jackets president and new GM Don Waddell told The Athletic that there are interested parties that want to speak with line a in advance of making a deal, but no team, including his own team, the Columbus blue jackets is allowed to contact Patrick line a while he remains in the NHL, NHL PAs player assistance program.

So for those of you thinking that there might be something closer, there might be something on the horizon. There's no movement at all right now because no one is allowed by the rules of the program to speak with Patrick Laine. So there's your Columbus Blue Jackets update, trade update there. Yes, Andy? I actually do have a What We Learned breaking news of sorts.

Do you want me to finish mine first? Oh, sorry, yeah. Yeah, you should probably do that. Moocow that. A-Dog with some breaking news. I'm already cringing. Oh, this is going to be good. Joe Pavelski officially announcing his retirement A-Dog with some breaking news. I'm already cringing. This is going to be good. Joe Van Dam.

I'm not going to do it. Joe Pavelski officially announcing his retirement from the NHL after 1,332 career regular season games and 201 playoff games. Happy trails to little Joe. What a career. What a career for a guy that was he drafted. That's Luke Howard, Joe Pavelski. Why so quickly?

Get out of town, Joe. We won't talk about him. Jesus. Poor guy. No respect for Joe Pavelski's career. You get the retirement announcement out the door, and you got barnyard animals coming in. Seventh round pick out of the USHL back in the day.

205th overall, and then, yeah, 1,300. Career, games, 1,000 points. Hall of Famer? that's a tough one i want to say yes because i admire everything about joe pavelski i i think if you get like at a certain point the counting stats feels like a very good guy he does but like over 1300 games and over a thousand points plus 201 playoff games i know he never won. I think he probably gets there eventually, but you're right. He doesn't have the trophies or anything to stamp his case.

Like one of the most elite puck tippers in NHL history, probably. He'd be in that conversation. Yes, 100%. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Okay. Fire at the Dow Matrix. Give me some of that sweet, sweet get fire plan. Oh, my God.

We're having a fire plan. Oh, my God. We're having a fire plan. Oh, here's one from Scott. Hashtag WWO. What we learned. Abstract anniversary alert. Eight years ago today, Alfonso Davies made his Whitecaps debut. I remember I didn't go to as many games back then as I do now because I didn't have the tickets. But I remember when he burst onto the scene and he was tearing apart yes MLS and I remember thinking I'm like well this is this is pretty cool but it was

always like but it's MLS like what is it I was trying to figure out what it meant I was like he's running through people with reckless abandon they can't deal with him it was around the same time that Brock Besser shot onto the scene as well and I remember having that we were back at TSN I'm like um with all due respect to Brockck besser but uh alfonso davies is clearly the brighter of the two young stars currently playing their trade in vancouver he was what 15 i think when he made his debut for the whitecaps and then like played a lot when he was 16 and that's where he was so young and i mean it's not unlike what we saw with lamin yamal Spain at the World Cup where or sorry, the Euro Championships, where he just kept destroying opponents. And I'm like, well, we always kept coming up with reasons why it was like, well, hold on, tap the brakes or whatever.

But at a certain point, we're like, well, he's just running roughshod. Because I had season tickets at the time, so I watched him a lot. And what always stood out to me was just, first of all, he was so physically developed. He was fast and strong fastest kid they couldn't push him off the ball which was incredible when you think about a 16 year old going up against guys in their you know mid late 20s early 30s with that kind of strength and i always just thought like how much would you hate your job if you were the guy the 28 year old you know mls guy tasked with shutting down alfonso Davies that night. And he is just making your life miserable. You're like, I'm trying to chase this teenager.

It doesn't even know how to drive. I'm a grown man. And he's absolutely driving me insane. It would have been like the cop scene from Super Bowl. Yeah. I hate this. It's just beer. It's just beer.

Okay. I have a what we learned here. This one came in fittingly from Basketball Phil, who says, I watched five hours of NBA Summer League yesterday. Shout out to you, Basketball Phil. And he says, Bronny James was easily the worst player I saw playing. I genuinely feel bad for the kid right now. And I think that last part is where I'm at, too.

For all of the excitement about, wow, father-son duo in the NBA that's going to be so cool this kid's in a really really tough spot with all of the spotlight on him and as much as you could justify like look it's the 55th pick it's not that's not really uh where you expect to get immediate impact players in the NBA draft he has looked out of place even in summer league I know there was a kind of a clip of Jalen Brown going around. It was just like there was no audio, but he was sitting courtside at the game and reading his lips. It's him going, I don't think Bronny's a pro. Yeah.

And it's just it's true. It's a tough position. I feel bad for him. I hope he finds a way to craft a career. But right now it's a pretty tough watch. One for five from the field. Missed all of his threes. He had more fouls than points.

But you know what? Who cares? People get really bent out of shape about the nepotism angle of it. I'm like, oh, I'm sorry. Did nepotism just happen today? We exist, especially in sports, where it's like the amount of juniors that have been ascended to heights they would have never reached on their own, especially in sports and especially in the NBA, where there's countless executives and second generation players that have largely made it where they've gone in part because, yes, they've worked hard and they can play, but they've also because of their surname. Like, I don't understand why this one was any effort.

Was it a bridge too far? Maybe, but you know, when you're one of the top three, five, one basketball players of all time, you are granted and afforded certain luxuries. They countless other others before you have gotten right.

Like, yeah, nepotism exists in our society. I don't think that Bronnie James is summer league. Stats are going to be the decider whether it's okay or not. Colin and Tawasin texted in. What we learned, if the Americans hadn't built Mount Rushmore, Halford wouldn't

have anything to talk about in the summer. What would we do? We tried to come up with a Mount Rushmore of Mount Rushmores. What is the Mount Rushmore of Mount Rushmores? It was like Statue of Liberty. It's Mount Rushmore. Besides that, it's obvious. Does Mount Rush Rushmore. Mount Rushmore has got to be number one. Yeah, well, besides that, it's obvious. Does Mount Rushmore make the Mount Rushmore?

Yellowstone, Statue of Liberty. What were the other ones we came up with? Grand Canyon. Grand Canyon. Yeah. The Alamo? What was the one? The Alamo.

I wanted to put the Alamo on there. Oh, you remembered the Alamo. The Ghostbusters headquarters in New York. Oh, yeah, well, that's obviously number one. That was Andy's. So we know what we're talking about on the show tomorrow. Jamie, this is it for us as a dynamic duo. Wow.

Thank you yet again for all your hard work and for hosting the last couple days. It's been a lot of fun. Jason Brough is back tomorrow from his European vacation. Be sure to tune in. For now, though, we've got to say goodbye. Signing off, I have been Mike Alford. He's been Jamie Dodd.

He's been A-Dog. He's been Laddie. This has been the Alfred Brough Show on Sportsnet 650.