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Chapter 1: What are the implications of Manny Malhotra becoming the Canucks head coach?
Back in on Canuck Central. It's Sat and Vic on Sports in the 650. And this hour of the program is brought to you by your lower mainland Boston pizza. The playoffs are here and BP is ready. So skip the couch, catch every hit, every goal, every save, every playoff beard. This is how you watch playoff hockey. Game one of the Stanley Cup Finals coming up tonight.
Carolina Hurricanes against the Vegas Golden Knights from Carolina. A game you can listen to right here on Sportsnet 650. Puck drop just after five. We're on a bit earlier today to make sure that the Cup Final games are played in their entirety here on the home of NHL Hockey Sportsnet 650. Keep your thoughts coming in to our Dunbar Lumber text inbox, 650-650. And...
as we broadcast live from the Kintec studio. It's Satyar Shah and Bik Nizar. Let's go to the Able Auctions hotline and welcome in our next guest. It is Brandon Astle, Abbotsford Canucks play-by-play voice. What's going on, Brandon? How are you doing today, man?
Fellas, I'm doing great. And I just want to start this off by turning the tables and ask you guys a question, if you don't mind.
Yeah, sure.
I got to know what has the vibe change been like in the Dunbar Lumber Texan box, six 50, six 50 from now going back to the end of the season.
It has changed dramatically. It's almost as big a change as what we saw from two years ago to last year.
It's unreal. Everybody across the board, for the most part, there's always some negative Nancy's saying, oh, it's not the right fit. There's always going to be people like that. But, man, Canucks Nation has rejoiced, not just with Manny's announcement, but with RJ and the Sedins. Social media is buzzing. I got a bounce in my step these last few weeks.
Just excited about the direction of this franchise because, boys, think about it. The four guys they've announced, Manny, the Sedins, and RJ, they've been around the NHL for a combined over 100 years. Like they all played the game for a while and they've been in different eras, early two thousands to now they've been in development roles, assistant coaches, head coaches, assistant GM, GM.
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Chapter 2: How has the culture around the Canucks changed recently?
It doesn't matter if you're a first-round pick and think you're very good and going to be in the NHL in a few years. You will have a pretty big reality check early on, and Manny will let you know where you stand. What I really admire about Manny is that he holds the players accountable. I'll just tell you a story about what happened with Manny and a veteran player.
Early on in Manny's tenure, it was his first year. I'm not going to mention this player's name because he's still playing, but he had issues getting into the lineup in like October. And that was very new to this player because he was very good and proven. But he couldn't get in and fans thought he was hurt, but he was really a healthy scratch. And obviously that player didn't take it well.
And rightfully so, I wouldn't either. But Manny let him know where he stood and had open lines of communication and let him know, like, this is what I need to see for you to be a staple in the lineup. And eventually that player got there and was a huge part of the Calder Cup win. And a great story on top of that is when they won the Calder Cup in Charlotte, it was about an hour after the game.
Everybody was up in the banquet room. The team was celebrating. And I happened to stand by Manny and this player. I can't confirm or deny if it was by the open bar or not. We'll leave that to the imagination. But I was just standing there and I saw those two have a conversation. And Manny blurted out, hey, remember when I scratched you for the first two weeks of the season?
And they bursted out laughing. And I could tell, like, the player really appreciated going through those struggles. And obviously, like I mentioned, it's something he never went through. And he got a lot out of it. And Manny just let him know, like, this is what I need to see. I don't care what you've done in this league or in the NHL.
it starts in practice and the habits need to get better and they did and it's the same deal if it's a college free agent like they're going to get a rude awakening jumping into a manual ultra practice coming out of college or junior things are just different practices matter like you can't lollygag there's no like i'm going to work on my saucer path before practice and after that like when you step on that ace of practice and everyone's going to see like it's going to look a lot different
And it comes down to accountability. And you've heard RJ say his past couple of practice conferences, like these players will know what the expectation is. And that's exciting for Canucks fans. And the players will either get on board or they're not.
Yeah, and I think the most important thing is the consistency that you mentioned. And you are going to butt heads with players when you bench them or you ask more of them. It just comes down to the overall respect.
And I do think the challenge in this stage will be you're now going to be trying to do those sort of things with NHL players that are making a lot of money, some veteran players, some players that have high pedigree that are making a lot of money. Would you be concerned at all with him changing that tactic? Or do you think that Manny's the type of guy that's going to be consistent no matter what?
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Chapter 3: What impact do Manny Malhotra and Ryan Johnson have on player development?
He was just the same guy, same message, consistency, compete. Those are non-negotiable. The players have to come together in the locker room. Guys were upbeat. Manny is someone that is compassionate and easy to talk to. You can tell him any sorts of issues that you're having. And I think he really knows today's athlete. Look at his son. He's going to be a high draft pick in the NHL.
He lives with them. He knows the type of athlete this day and age, what they're like. They're on their phones. They've got to be coddled maybe a little bit more. And so there's going to be a lot of players going up to Vancouver that are young, just like Caleb Malhotra. And so who better to kind of deal with those types of personalities and ego than Manny because he deals with one at home.
But I will say Caleb seems a bit different. He's wired like his dad. Doesn't seem like one of those kids that expects to be given everything. Just like Manny, Caleb has earned everything he's gotten so far. But Manny, he's a modern day coach and just perfect for this type of situation.
I think, you know, to Bic's point and also what you kind of talked about last year being a tough year, but there was so much to take into consideration, especially in the AHL, because the roster was so different from the Calder Cup winning team to last year's team, plus all the injuries and how they happened.
But in terms of how players individually progress in a really tough environment, how do you think some individual players did perform last year despite all that adversity?
Yeah, these players definitely went through some highs and lows, which is pretty common in the American Hockey League. You almost want them to experience some difficult situations, whether that's not getting a lineup for a couple games or not getting on any sort of special teams. It's okay to sit back and if it happens in the press box, see how things develop differently.
And you're better off for it. There's been some cases, like I mentioned, Manny scratching some veterans that thought they were going to be handed playing time. Wasn't the case. There's been some other scenarios where some young players like Lecker, Mackey, and Klimovic over the last few years weren't up to standard. And so they sat and watched.
And that definitely lights a fire under a prospect's rear end, especially a first or second round pick. It can bring them back to earth. And this season, like you mentioned, Sat was a tough one. Over 50 players played for the Abbotsford Canucks, which is a very high number. They've had all sorts of e-bugs that had to dress.
A mortgage broker from Abbotsford, a goalie coach in Colorado had to play. They had to dress nine forwards on a consistent basis near the end of the year. So Manny and RJ got dealt a very tough hand and themselves will never use that as an excuse. I have no problems with that. There's no coach or GM that could have weathered that type of storm.
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Chapter 4: How can the Canucks measure success during their rebuild?
Obviously, all the eyeballs are on what happens in the game. But if a player is struggling, it probably goes back to practice and it just hasn't been good enough.
Yeah, and I think that's going to be really fascinating to kind of keep an eye on. And one of the things that I'm kind of wondering about here, and you have the unique opportunity to watch these guys, get to know them, know all the principles, the new Canucks GM, the head coach, and also some of the players.
And out of the players that spent a lot of time in Abbey last year, which one do you think might be poised to maybe surprise and grow and become something of consequence with this group this season?
A big one for me, which Canucks fans have seen a little bit at the tail end of each year is Kirill Kudryatsev. He's still such a young guy, but he carries himself like a seasoned pro. Ever since day one, he came to Abbotsford training camp. I've said it time and time again, he thought he could be sent to the ECHL, but he made Abbotsford out of camp.
with pretty much no expectations and really just put his nose to the grindstone and was a sponge. And when you can learn from the likes of Manny Malhotra, Jordan Smith, who runs the D, the Sedin twins, like that stuff's going to rub off on you.
And when you have the type of attitude and workmanlike mentality that Carrillo has, he's going to force management's hand to call him up, which has been the case the last few years. And I'm really excited to see what he's going to do in training camp. And there's two guys that know what he brings to the table, Ryan Johnson, Manny Malhotra. So that is a guy I am watching at training camp.
Sat, I've come on these airwaves. You and I gush about Ty Mueller all the time. He was the team's MVP. I know two guys that are very, very high on him, Ryan Johnson and Manny Malhotra. I don't think there's a forward over the last two years that have played more minutes on a consistent basis than Then time Mueller really interested to see if he can crack a spot at a training camp.
I know they just signed that, that Russian, a big center. So there's going to be more depth up the middle for a spot come October, but those are just a couple of guys. I mentioned Sawyer Minio. He lost some massive minutes at the early stage of the season with all the injuries, such a young kid, 20 years old thrown to the fire playing over 25 minutes and
penalty kill, power play, and didn't blink. I'm so excited to see what he can do in another year with the Abbey Canucks and maybe take a step. So just so many great stories. And I think the guys like Carlson, Ratu, Sasson, Mancini, guys that are in the NHL, those are a few guys that have been in the battle with Manny Mahotra and were relied upon to play a lot during the Calder Cup run.
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Chapter 5: What challenges might the new coaching staff face with veteran players?
Okay, you know what? I'll give you that one. I should have phrased it as skaters.
Yeah, skaters. And even the Demko one.
But I do know that the people behind those decisions were very much more on... The total money of the Demko one made sense though, right? If you were going to structure it as a three-year deal, it probably was going to be looking at $24 to $27 million.
Whether you should have done it or not is a separate... When you negotiate a contract, you're negotiating the contract. You're being told, negotiate this deal because we want this player signed. That person's not deciding whether to sign the player or not. They're simply negotiating that contract.
And again, I'm sure there's people yelling at the computers or the radios right now saying like, what are you talking about? They gave $93 million to Elias Pettersson. It not working is different than was this the right amount of money at the time? And at the time, you could build an argument that it should have been 12.4.
Or just over even 12 or above 11.6 at the very least, right? And again, I know it's easy to look at it now and say, oh, they should have never given him the contract. But at the moment... it wasn't considered an overpayment. Now, you could be skeptical of the player, but in terms of his production and numbers, and I do believe, like I said, that there is this sense internally that
there's acumen there that needs to be explored. It goes back to something we talked about, that there is a feeling that internally they have some individuals that could do more, that could be empowered to do more. Now, does that mean that that will for sure happen?
It's something to keep an eye on in mind because of what RJ mentioned when saying they are considering internal candidates when it comes for the Abbotsford GM position in and of itself. All right, keep your thoughts coming in to our Dunbar Lumber text inbox, 650-650. It's Satin Pick. iMac is next on Sportsnet 650.
Hour two of Canuck Central is sat and big coming to you live from the Kintec studio. Step strong with orthotics and footwear from Kintec. Keep your thoughts coming in to our Dunbar Lumbertex inbox, 650-650. Game one of the Stanley Cup final goes tonight. Puck drop just after five here on Sportsnet 650. Hurricanes and Vegas Golden Knights.
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Chapter 6: How does the current roster's performance reflect the new coaching philosophy?
I think these four people that they've hired the last month are as good as any that you could possibly come up with to, to accomplish that. And talking about Daniel and Henrik, of course, and, and Ryan, and now Manny, I can't think of four better people. If the, the first objective,
is to reestablish some higher standards, reestablish, as I say, what it means to be a Canuck, try to reconnect a little bit with the community and get more engaged again. These guys are going to accomplish that. And then obviously their hope is that once you take care of that and you choose, obviously you have to choose the right players and they have to learn and develop and get better.
But if they can get this culture and these standards established that the other stuff will fall into place. We'll have to wait a while to see if that's the case, but I think it's been a pretty good month for the franchise.
I think the two questions really are acumen and their ability to execute in their roles and whether they're actually going to be good at their roles. Because everything else you mentioned, I think we all feel very good about from the character side of things and just the individuals being respectable and being able to put that work in that's necessary.
And how do we go about measuring success for this young group? I mean, next season, I'm not sure we're going to have too many great answers in one year in a rebuild, but how do we go about measuring success in the short term for this new regime?
Well, I mean, Ryan was asked that today, as you know, and he's, I believe he talked about measuring success if the players understand these new standards and they understand, Ryan likes to use the analogy, 8 a.m. on a Monday or or a 7 p.m. game on a Friday and 8 a.m. coming into work and getting ready to play, that's more important than the games because the games will take care of itself.
I think in a more tangible sense, something that we can measure because we'd like to be able to measure something. I think that the points will be a little bit better. I don't think there'll be a 58. It'd be hard to be a 58-point team again, but But I think they're going to be ā they have to be a little more competitive than they were.
There's just too many lopsided games, and especially at home. They can't have another season where they win only nine games at home. You can't do that to your season ticket holders and ask them to remain convinced ā and maintain their trust that things are going in the right direction. So I think they're going to be more competitive.
And then on an individual basis, we're going to see a whole bunch of young players. We saw a bunch of them this year. A couple got noticeably better. A couple didn't. I think for the next several years, we're going to be looking at those kinds of players and where are they, where are they in December versus where they were in October? Where are they at the end of the season?
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Chapter 7: What are the expectations for young players in the upcoming season?
And the other thing that... Well, let's just hope it doesn't take seven years. Yeah, I really hope so, too.
Yeah, and I'm not trying to be a doomsayer or a smartass about that, but a lot of people... have wanted this for a long time. I hope they have their eyes open as to how long this process takes. In the seven years I referenced, it's because of San Jose and Anaheim.
It can take the better part of a decade, absolutely.
Yeah, yeah. I mean, you hope it doesn't take that long. And I think, personally, I think in hindsight, we'll view the Quinn Hughes trade as maybe carving a year or two off the rebuild.
timeline because they got so many 20s something players back but I mean this is this could it could be seven years ago I hope it isn't I won't still be covering the team if it's seven years when they go back to the playoffs but Let's just be realistic about what's being undertaken here.
Yeah, no, absolutely. Trust me. I don't want that either. But, you know, ever since Sportsnet 650 launched in 2017, the team has made the playoffs twice. So, I mean, that's just the reality of where the team has been and found itself. But the other thing that stood out was a few things. But I wanted to ask you also about what Ryan Johnson had to say when it came to EP40.
I wouldn't say it was necessarily, you know... extending an olive branch, but it was a different type of answer than we've heard, even what the Sedins had to say about what he expects out of EP40 and the conversation he had with him, saying that he wants him to just be Petey and get the best out of him being who he is. What did you make of Ryan's answer about EP40?
Well, I thought it was interesting, and I agree with you. It's different than what we've heard. I think trying to... to dig through it a little bit. I mean, I think that the organization, the people who are in charge feel that, yeah, Pedersen has been a disappointment. He's been an enigma.
I know that, you know, his testing scores and the kind of condition that he's put himself in to play hockey has been as alarming to some as his actual production has that he's not really given himself the best chance to be a first-line, a legitimate first-line NHL center. But I also think there's been, he's put a lot of pressure on himself, Pedersen has. You know, who knows?
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Chapter 8: How will the Canucks build their management team moving forward?
And if Caleb Malhotra is the best coach,
prospect available when they pick and is at the top of their list then he's going to be the prospect that they hire and they'll deal with whatever whatever the family dynamics are they feel like they'll just be able to deal with it as as they move along i think one thing to bear in mind though and and this is going to sound awfully you know cruel or me to say it but if the canucks
take Caleb Malhotra and, and he is a good player. There's a very good chance he's going to be in this organization a lot longer than his dad. Yes. That's just, that's just the reality. That's just the reality of the NHL business of, of playing 10 years versus coaching 10 years no matter where you go. And I also think it's important to remember as well in the context of this discussion that,
There's no guarantee, even if the Canucks take Caleb Melhotra, that he's going to be on the team next year.
I mean, yes, typically in this day and age, if you're drafted third, there's a very good chance you might get a chance to play when you're 18, and certainly the Canucks are going to have opportunity if they want to load their team with young guys who maybe aren't necessarily ready to play in the NHL, but it's a luxury they have. They can They can carry them and try to develop them at this level.
But, you know, Caleb was a guy that this time last year, he wasn't even guaranteed to be a first-round pick. That's how much he has improved and risen in stock over the last 12 months. So it's not out of the question that they draft Caleb, and he ends up, you know, doing what Braden Coutts did. He gets a handful of games and then goes back.
And right now I can't remember whether he's committed to university yet. It's a BU, yeah. BU. And so, you know, whether he goes back to school next year after five games or three games or nine games, it's hard to know. But it's also I think people just need to remain open to the possibility that even if they draft Caleb Malhotra,
he's not going to be an everyday player in the NHL for them next season. So, and again, that means there's going to be less overlap between his career and Manny's career. But I think the bottom line is Ryan Johnson just feels that the Malhotras are of high enough character and conscientious and professional enough that they're not worried about that becoming a conflict that one's,
You know, the father and one's the son. If you have good enough people that it's not going to matter. They're just going to do their things and be good Canucks.
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