Legendary Canadian skip Brad Gushue is certainly keeping busy since retiring from competition. He was named USA Curling’s high-performance director last spring, plans to go on a book tour next month, and on Monday was named a television analyst for the Grand Slam of Curling. Factor in his daughters’ busy curling schedules, and Gushue may be on the road more this fall than he was at times as a player. “In a year or two, it’s going to slow down quite a bit for me because I’m not writing a book every year,” Gushue said. “I can promise you that.” The six-time Brier champion, who won Olympic gold in 2006, remains based in Newfoundland and Labrador but makes occasional visits to the U.S. for his HPD role. Gushue oversees national team operations, athlete development pathways and high-performance strategy for the federation. A cross-Canada tour will precede the release of his memoir, “Gushue: The Making of a Champion” on Nov. 3. Gushue worked with veteran sportswriter Stephen Brunt on the 288-page book. His broadcasting duties will kick off Oct. 13 at the Co-op Invitational in Victoria, the first of five Grand Slam events before the December holiday season. Gushue has dabbled with broadcasting work before, but this will be his first full-time analyst role. “It’s going to be an opportunity for me to share some of my insights of the game,” he said in a recent interview from St. John’s. “I think the challenge for me is I’m so new from playing that a lot of the people I’m going to be commentating on are people that I’ve competed against and have rivalries against. “I’ve got to find that balance of being open and honest without being harsh or overly flattering.” It’s part of a broadcast booth overhaul by The Curling Group, which is entering its third season as owner of the Grand Slam series. Veteran analysts Kevin Martin and Mike Harris did not have their contracts renewed, and longtime Sportsnet host Rob Faulds retired in the off-season. Joanne Courtney, a regular broadcaster on TSN in recent seasons, joins an analyst crew that includes Gushue, Jennifer Jones and Brent Laing. Darren Dupont and John Cullen were tabbed for host and play-by-play duties. Gushue has done some in-studio work on occasion and called two games with Faulds at the Manitoba playdowns nearly a decade ago. He said he’s up for the challenge of being “thrown into the fire.” “People will have to bear with me, I guess, for the first couple of events as I learn the ropes and get more comfortable with it,” Gushue said. “But I have lots of confidence in my knowledge of the game and my knowledge of the teams and the strategy part that I can share. “It’s just a matter of now honing that and becoming a good analyst.” Gushue closed out his competitive playing career at the Montana’s Brier last March with a playoff loss to reigning Olympic champion Brad Jacobs. Gushue also won Olympic bronze in 2022, world gold in 2017, and earned 15 Grand Slam titles over his career. This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 14, 2026. Gregory Strong, The Canadian Press
