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Canucks Central

The Open: How Valuable are Centres?

25 May 2026

Transcription

Chapter 1: What are the Golden Knights' key strengths in the WCF against Colorado?

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Thank you.

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15.674 - 36.602 Satyar Shah

Canuck Central on a Monday coming to you live from the Kintec studio. Step strong with orthotics and footwear from Kintec. It's Satyar Shah with Vic Nazar. 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. This is how you watch playoffs.

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36.582 - 63.214 Satyar Shah

playoff hockey big show coming up for you today as always on mondays don taylor is going to drop by at 3 30 and we'll talk to frank cerevalli that's coming up after four and we always want to hear from you so get your thoughts in to our dunbar lumber text inbox 650 650 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 beck here we go how's your weekend

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64.643 - 65.003 Satyar Shah

Yeah?

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Yeah, it was alright.

65.864 - 67.126 Satyar Shah

You don't handle losing very well, do you?

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No. No. Fine. I'm over it. You're over it? You're good? Alright. Vic's gonna hate me. Every time he starts to show... This guy's the worst, man. I'm not getting into it. Can I poke and prod you any way I can?

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He got one piece of information and he was just holding onto it for an hour. That's the way it goes.

Chapter 2: Who is Caleb Malhotra and why is he important for the Canucks?

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We...

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joked about this. Like, when Torch got hired, I was like, oh, this is a good idea. And the point I was kind of making there, it's like, you only have to get it right for eight games, and then you just have to win a round, and who knows what's going to happen thereafter. Yeah. Boy, is that coming up right now. Like, they just had to kind of reset, and...

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127.184 - 156.685 Satyar Shah

well they're getting saves and all of a sudden they look good down the middle Eichel's been outstanding the William Carlson effect and Tomas Hurdle the goal he scored last on the backhander I mean he's been dynamite in the playoffs too and he had a bit of an up and down regular season like he wasn't impacting the game the way we've seen him do in the past we wondered is he kind of passed his prime is he still the center that you can rely on and all of a sudden they looked really they look really stout down the middle and that makes a big big difference and it also helps when Kael McCarr obviously is not right but

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156.665 - 163.938 Satyar Shah

And Nathan McKinnon... Takes one off the knee. He did not look... He could barely move afterwards. There was no push in his skating after that.

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But it looks finished. Yeah. And even as we got ready for the series, it was like, okay, like... Yeah, it did feel that strength down the middle of the ice, was that going to be... something that Vegas could neutralize and actually be strong at. And yeah, it's really coming out to play right now that Eichel, Carlson, Hurdle are playing huge roles.

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And Shea Theodore has been dynamite as well. I mean, there have been moments where he's looked like the best defenseman in the series. Of course, Makar only played the first game back last night. And he looked okay, but you can tell he's not 100%. But yeah.

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And honestly, I would even say, let's just give the man his flowers. I think Mitch Marner looks fantastic.

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Marner?

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Okay.

Chapter 3: What is the current state of center scarcity in the NHL?

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And they both have the same last name, the draft and the head coach. And the draft, all the conversation has been around Caleb Malhotra. And as far as the head coach goes, it's been all the conversations has been around Manny Malhotra. Now, of course, we are anticipating that Manny is still in line to be the Canucks head coach.

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318.939 - 339.139 Satyar Shah

Obviously, they have not yet, at least officially, as far as we know, put pen to paper. It seems like that should happen at some point this week, unless things fall apart. I know Elliott Freeman mentioned the negotiations are ongoing, and he wouldn't be surprised if something does happen this week. I think the anticipation is that it will be done at some point this week. When? We'll all find out.

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But I think that conversation for us... It's kind of like a holding pattern until we find out what's going to happen and we'll delve all into it. But of course, the draft is now just over a month away. So by the time we get to Friday, it'll be a month away exactly. Not by the day, but just by the weeks leading up to the June 26th draft, which is on the Friday.

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363.097 - 382.463 Satyar Shah

The Kayla Malhotra hype has been really interesting, right? Because we talked about this a few months ago that, hey, there is a buzz around the league, not even just Vancouver, like talking to people outside of Vancouver, that Kayla Malhotra is really rising up the ranks. Some people view him as a top three pick. Some are even wondering if he's going to go in the top two.

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And a lot of people are wondering if the Canucks end up taking him. Not only wondering, I think a lot of people are projecting the Canucks will take him at three if he is available at third overall.

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We talked a lot about should the Canucks take him, should they take somebody else, but if you kind of zoom out and look at a big picture in terms of where the National Hockey League is going, what does the Caleb Maholtra hype tell us about the value of centers across the National Hockey League right now?

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I do think the way you framed it there, too, it's not singular to Vancouver driving the hype, right? This is external of Vancouver, and it's a credit to Caleb himself for having the type of second half of the season that

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to garner the hype yeah it also comes with a shallower center class as well this draft pool but also to your point how do you find centers right now yeah we were just talking about William Carlson and Tomas Hurdle look at the impact they're having right now on a series for Vegas as they try to propel themselves into the cup final and

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And we kind of had this conversation when Charlie Coyle signed his contract. That's an age 34 player signing a six-year deal. And you think, well, Charlie Coyle's not making it to market now. And he had an awesome season, don't get me wrong. But you go through pending UFAs here over the next, and not this upcoming summer, right? Because the Canucks shouldn't be shopping in this season.

Chapter 4: How might the Canucks' draft strategy be influenced by center availability?

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And here's the other part. What's to say that Matthews and McDavid even get to free agency? They probably get traded before that happens. They signed their extension. So if you're banking on finding somebody in free agency, it's a hope and a prayer. And that's the best way you can look at it. And if you're looking at trading for one of those players, look at the price it's going to take.

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575.396 - 592.376 Satyar Shah

So that leaves you with really two options. The first one being the draft. And the second one being the reclamation projects that you trade for. We saw the Flyers have a lot of success trading for Zegras last year, for instance. Now we know players like Mason McTavish might be available. They kind of fit that mold of a bit of a reclamation project.

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592.396 - 608.715 Satyar Shah

There's obviously money committed to Mason McTavish. There's obviously some questions around whether it's worth making that investment or not. But if you look at it from where Vancouver's at, is this even the time for you to make that type of trade? Would you be comfortable to trade for a reclamation project center and trade away draft picks for it?

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For Philly, they traded away a second-round pick and something else to go out and get Zegras. Is Vancouver at that point yet, or is that something that you wait for, to your point, one or two years from now, and then you go and maybe trade for one of those reclamation project-type centers?

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Yeah, was Philly in a different space than where Vancouver is?

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Slightly ahead of where Vancouver is, right?

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Yeah, it feels like Vancouver is just starting the onset of their rebuild. They had already drafted Mitch Kov. And I do think maybe some of the players that they have are in different phases. Like Tippett is a little bit younger than Jake DeBrusque. Yeah. Marginally, but he is younger. Konechny, right? Like you had certain guys and you already had some players coming through as well.

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Yeah.

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It wasn't immediate, but Marton was going to be coming. The Canucks don't even have that right now.

Chapter 5: What reclamation project players could the Canucks consider?

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You're probably, like, a Liam Ogren type. Yeah, that's what I was kind of thinking. Yeah, I mean, the Ogren ones would be fantastic. The thing, though, is, too... McTavish might be viewed as a negative asset for Anaheim because of his contract.

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Okay, so the contract plays a role.

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1170.684 - 1177.597 Satyar Shah

That's the thing there, right? If they feel like they're out on the player, then it's a different equation that they're evaluating it under.

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1177.857 - 1184.769 Unknown

I just kind of wonder if there are enough teams out there, though, that look at McTavish at 23 years old and they go, well, we can fix him.

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1184.789 - 1189.738 Satyar Shah

Okay, yeah, but are you getting more than a second-round pick? You're not getting more than what Zegras got you.

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I guess. So you're saying like DeBrusque might be more value than what another team would be willing to give?

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If we're talking about like second round pick valuation around him, right? Like that's kind of what you're looking at. And again, I'm not big on trading away draft picks, but you can talk me into, to your point, trading DeBrusque for a Liam Ogren type prospect or trading DeBrusque in a deal for a Mason McTavish. That I can find palatable.

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as opposed to trading away the draft picks you've already been able to acquire.

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Because it's, as we get this text here from Mike, the urologist, please stop trying to trade for Sven Berchies and Emerson Edom. Like, we're not talking about depleting draft picks.

Chapter 6: How does the center position compare to other assets in the NHL?

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Okay, like a 22-year-old wing. You're just like replacing DeBrusque with Brad Lambert, who was very well thought of in his draft year, then slid really obviously late in that process. But like that is a 21, 22-year-old player. A couple of years moved. Where's Winnipeg in their rebuild or in their build? Are they looking at someone that's a bit more competitive now? And say, hey, you know what?

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If we get someone at that profile. Like that's the kind of reins that I was talking about when it comes to like... Yeah. Liam Ogren types.

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1364.945 - 1368.931 Satyar Shah

Yeah, and somebody texted him, how about make a deal for Noah Ostlund? Yeah, again, fits the mold.

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Those type of players, yeah.

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1369.733 - 1384.856 Satyar Shah

It fits the mold there in terms of what they're looking to, or what they could be looking at here potentially moving forward. All right, before we hit the break, let's get to the third wheel. It is our draft simulator to find out who the Canucks are getting with the third overall pick. We spin the wheel once.

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Vic has created a weighted wheel, and it's going to tell us who the Canucks get with the third overall selection. Spin that wheel.

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Oh, that's a wheel right there. Oh, yeah. There you go. That's tremendous. Today's winner of the third wheel. It is a Canucks Central favorite.

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Carson Carls. Carson Carls again.

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Yeah.

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