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Canucks Central

The Open: Can the Canucks Copy Montreal's Rebuild Model?

22 May 2026

Transcription

Transcript generated automatically by AI and may contain errors.

Chapter 1: What is the main topic discussed in this episode?

2.613 - 29.36 Satyar Shah

Canuck Central on a Friday coming to you live from the Kintec studio. Step strong with orthotics and footwear from Kintec. It's Satyar Shah and Bik Nizar. And this hour of Canuck Central 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.

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29.38 - 37.495 Satyar Shah

This is how you watch playoff hockey. Big show coming up for you today. Yannick Hansen joins us at the bottom of the hour. Plus, it's Mailbag Friday.

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Chapter 2: How did the Montreal Canadiens achieve their recent success?

37.515 - 58.287 Satyar Shah

So we always want to hear from you, especially on Mailbag Friday. Get those questions into our Dunbar Lumber text inbox, 650-650-7000. Trusted by contractors and DIY champions across Metro Vancouver, four generations. Find them at three convenient locations or visit Dunbar Lumber online today. What's happening, Bic? You're good with your microphone? Let's go. Yeah. Yeah, no, I'm good.

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58.975 - 74.526 Satyar Shah

Someone's like wrapped it around the whole thing. We'll blame Josh. Sure. He likes spinning things around. Sure. I'll blame Jamie. All right. Well, yeah, we'll blame. I mean, Jamie wasn't even here today, but we can blame him. Was he not? No. Remember, Canucks talk was off. That's why. All the more reason to blame him.

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75.428 - 97.807 Satyar Shah

Yeah, we got producers. Slacker. We got producers Eddie and Elon today because Josh and Lena did a two-hour show in place of Canucks Talk today. A bit earlier for us because we're going to the Avs versus Golden Knights puck drop coming up just after five for game two of that best-of-seven Western Conference final with the Golden Knights holding a 1-0 lead after defeating the Avs 4-2 in game one.

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97.827 - 115.29 Satyar Shah

So that's all coming up a bit later on in the show. Let's just get to the open. Brought to you by FiberTech, your exclusive dealer of house or roll luxury plumbing fixtures. Visit their state-of-the-art showrooms and experience centers in Surrey, Vancouver, and Coquitlam, or check out FiberTechBC.ca. The Montreal Canadiens.

116.283 - 135.146 Satyar Shah

Drew First Blood defeated the Carolina Hurricanes yesterday, and I'd say in a very convincing fashion. And what they did to the Carolina Hurricanes was make them look not like the Carolina Hurricanes. They went, what, over 18 minutes in one stretch without getting a shot on goal, which is something you very seldom see from this Carolina Hurricanes team.

135.186 - 155.649 Satyar Shah

And I know the Hurricanes... And in chasing time, which is when you would think the Hurricanes are going for it. Exactly. And now, of course, it's the first game of the series. The... The Canes had some time-offs. Maybe some rust was involved here. But I was thoroughly impressed by how the Habs really snuffed out any offense from the Carolina Hurricanes.

155.669 - 168.729 Satyar Shah

It just makes me kind of think, this team not only... obviously has a chance to win this series, but if they can play defense like that, you're giving yourself a real chance no matter what happens here if you end up getting past Carolina and going to the Cup Final. We'll see what happens, obviously.

168.989 - 185.59 Satyar Shah

No matter who wins, they'll be an underdog, especially if Colorado does end up winning if McCarr comes back. But they were so thoroughly impressive, the Montreal Canadiens, yesterday. And it just makes us think. They went from being a team that was in a bit of a rebuild to all of a sudden being a Final Four team with a chance to legitimately get to the Cup Final.

Chapter 3: What lessons can the Canucks learn from the Montreal rebuild model?

764.873 - 790.898 Satyar Shah

going into the trade you'd be like first round it'd be like the tanners are no deal so what are you guys doing what are you guys doing but if again if but if that player so the thing is i don't think that was a good trade when you look at it but it's worked out for them because they're a team that's competing right they're thankful they made it but i don't know if it was a good trade right but either way you don't feel bad about getting up that first round pick because you can view it as if you gave up a rental you got a rental that scored a bunch of big goals for us that helped us get to the conference final and beyond you're willing to pay that price but i

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790.878 - 802.998 Satyar Shah

I think part of the reason where Montreal was able to do those trades and at least have it both ways to some extent is because they did have a bit more of a mass than the Canucks currently have. So I love the idea of trying to replicate what Montreal did.

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803.038 - 812.093 Satyar Shah

I'm just not sure that's realistic in terms of you being able to nail the same types of picks, then same type of trades, and be able to be on the ascension as quickly as Montreal did.

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812.113 - 822.108 Bik Nizar

The one thing I think you can... replicate and we're having that conversation with the coach right now obviously and Canucks don't have a coach is they brought in Martin St.

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822.128 - 843.9 Bik Nizar

Louis who didn't have head coaching experience at the NHL level but gave him time right I know we're just coming off Adam Foote and it's like oh you didn't give him time the job the expectations of the job were different yeah it was win and keep Quinn Hughes and They didn't do any of those things, and we saw the manner in which it went.

844.32 - 862.313 Bik Nizar

But for this next coach, and if it is Manny Malhotra, do you just say, hey, you have time here. Go through the process of trying to extract more out of all of these players, and is that a way you can shoot the moon on projections and over-projecting players to say, hey, because we're going through this development path,

862.293 - 885.45 Bik Nizar

Can you get someone that is a second liner that we turn into a first liner, a second pair that we turn into a first pair and go through that process because you have the luxury of patience in this spot. And if you are highlighting someone who's got sharp coaching acumen. To say, hey, you got four years here. To really play this out slowly.

886.051 - 906.694 Bik Nizar

And what does Tom Villander look like today compared to 18 months from now? What does Zeev William look like today versus 18 months from now? Brayden Kutz, third overall pick, prospect that you bring in. Jonathan, what do all these guys look like 18 months from now? Because we're going to be patient, not just in our build, but also with the coaching staff.

906.674 - 925.401 Satyar Shah

Yeah, and I think that's the part too with the coaching staff aspect. And just to clarify, Lane Hudson was a 62nd overall pick, not a mid-round pick. So technically, you know, late second round draft pick, Lane Hudson. Did you say that? Yeah, I said that. But the point being, when you're drafting a player outside the first round, you're not expecting them to be a franchise caliber player.

Chapter 4: Can the Canucks replicate Montreal's rebuild strategies?

1206.632 - 1219.769 Satyar Shah

And, you know, to your point about the coaching side and somebody texted in and said, why would Manny want to be part of a rebuild for three to five years? Why would he not want to pursue a better opportunity? And that's where Manny has a say in all this as well. We've been saying this for quite some time.

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1220.189 - 1226.357 Satyar Shah

But if you feel like he is the guy, then I don't think you should get caught up too much in the contract side of things.

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1227.08 - 1246.044 Satyar Shah

whether it's a little bit of money, whether it's the extra year or whatever, because you want to have somebody that you feel so strongly about that you can take two years of losing pretty badly and feel like you can still be there on the upswing, at least for a little bit of a while afterwards. Because Marty came in to replace Ducharme after like halfway through the season, whatever it was.

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1246.084 - 1263.652 Satyar Shah

And then he was part of, he was the head coach for two full seasons. They missed the playoffs both those years. But there was no shine coming off of Marty St. Louis and how he was dealing with the players and dealing with that team. So it comes down to the overall... I think alignment, which we've talked about a lot organizationally, and the guy being up for the job, really.

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1263.852 - 1277.246 Bik Nizar

There's also unique job security here, too. If you're going to be a forward at the time, it's okay. You don't want to go be part of a rebuild if you go somewhere else because you want to go win. And if you don't, suddenly the shine comes off real fast. You can say, okay, that was my one coaching opportunity. Yeah.

1277.526 - 1304.264 Bik Nizar

Maybe you don't get another chance because you went for the wins and they didn't arrive. Again, there's risk to it all. Either you take the long route here in Vancouver with people you know very well who you know are going to be loyal to you. We talked yesterday or the other day about job security, how it drives decisions. You take this job like you're probably in it for at least three years.

1304.645 - 1324.151 Bik Nizar

And genuinely, what would it take to get an extension? like, one 77-point season to say, hey, this is really trending in the right direction. That's it. So if you wanted to be behind a bench for five to seven years, the way to do it is, like, you just got to get this team to 500 once. That's really about it.

1324.291 - 1345.628 Satyar Shah

But it is challenging, though, because you seldom see coaches stick through three to four losing seasons and still be there. Like, if Montreal missed the playoffs this year, is Marty back next year? Yeah, probably not. So, I mean, there's still the need to have some sort of success and some sort of forward momentum at some point, right?

1345.648 - 1351.396 Bik Nizar

But again, it's a 106-point season after four years, right? So, like, that's the program that they have to build.

Chapter 5: What are the key challenges in emulating the Montreal model?

1467.898 - 1470.54 Satyar Shah

Him, Stenberg, and Reid all share the same amount of the pie.

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1470.701 - 1483.269 Bik Nizar

Yeah. And Caleb has the highest at, what, 30%? Yeah. Yeah. No Caleb yet. Carl's is a little bit less. McKenna's got a very small piece. Albert Smith's got a small piece. But Caleb Onholtra is the largest piece yet to happen.

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1483.549 - 1503.863 Satyar Shah

Yeah, you know he's going to go on a heater. An absolute heater. He'll gain momentum. And what will happen is everyone's going to be so sure the Canucks are picking him third overall that he'll get drafted first overall by the Toronto Maple Leafs. There's a great saxophone in this bed. It is. It's awesome. It's well done. It's well done. All right.

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1504.424 - 1518.902 Satyar Shah

We're going to talk to Yannick Hansen on the other side. This segment was brought to you by JamPro. If your workplace cleaning is inconsistent, it's time for a better standard. Trust JamPro for reliable cleaning. Start clean, stay clean. JamPro.ca. Yannick Hansen is next on Canuck Central.

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