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Canucks Central

The Open: Where Is This All Going?

13 May 2026

Transcription

Chapter 1: What management decisions are being made by the Canucks?

3.085 - 35.415 Satyar Shah

Canuck Central on a Wednesday. It's Satyar Shah and Bik Nizar coming to you live from the Kintec studio. Step strong with orthotics and footwear from Kintec. Fun show coming up for you today. We're going to chat with Ian McIntyre and we have overrated, underrated on a Wednesday. We're still awaiting the announcement. Cadux, general manager and president, vice president. Presidents. Presidents.

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36.076 - 41.324 Satyar Shah

Presidentes. El Presidente. Potentially. And we'll see. How do you say president in Swedish?

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42.445 - 42.946 Bik Nizar

President.

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43.507 - 44.088 Satyar Shah

Oh.

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44.108 - 50.898 Bik Nizar

Yeah. He just put an accent on it, folks. That's all he did. That's all he did.

Chapter 2: How does a three-year contract impact a general manager's evaluation?

51.939 - 54.523 Bik Nizar

We are starting off with a flyer right there.

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55.786 - 64.435 Satyar Shah

President? Apparently it's Ord Farande. No, that's, I mean... That's like a chair or chairman. Yeah, a little bit different.

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65.376 - 87.03 Bik Nizar

And I think like at a university... Try to put an accent on it, Josh, if you really want to make it official. I can't even do a Swedish accent. Your keyboard. No, don't. Let's not do that. Swedish chef? Yeah. Oh, we're doing accents? I heard accents, no? It just comes out of nowhere. We summon the Arash spotlight.

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87.05 - 87.35 Satyar Shah

Yes.

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87.37 - 89.413 Bik Nizar

All right. All right. Potentially presidents.

Chapter 3: What are the potential risks of hiring a first-time GM?

89.834 - 107.42 Satyar Shah

Potentially presidents. 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 playoff hockey. It's an overrated, underrated Wednesday, so we always want to hear from you on all days, but especially today.

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107.44 - 125.162 Satyar Shah

So get your topics 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. So yeah, we're still waiting. Awaiting announcement.

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126.104 - 130.476 Bik Nizar

So we thought we'd just sit here silently until we see the press release come out.

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130.497 - 152.02 Satyar Shah

Yeah. It's not yet. So we'll see if it happens here before the day is out. Now, you know, ultimately, we'll get to the open here in a moment. But I... I don't need to do an announcement, but I'm kind of anticipating it happens during the show because that's usually how things go here on Connect Central. But if not, I would imagine it would happen by tomorrow from a timeline standpoint.

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152.04 - 153.842 Satyar Shah

I mean, it's all essentially done.

Chapter 4: How does the Canucks' rebuild strategy influence contract decisions?

153.882 - 174.024 Satyar Shah

It's about presentation and making the announcements and gathering the media. That's where it's at. So we're just awaiting the announcement. Let's get to the open. Brought to you by FiberTech, your exclusive dealer of house of roll luxury plumbing fixtures. Visit their state-of-the-art showrooms and experience centers in Surrey, Vancouver, and Kukulam, or check out FiberTechBC.ca.

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174.566 - 195.58 Satyar Shah

And it's funny because... our conversations have gone beyond who's going to be the GM to now it's like it's happened. And now we're already talking about, you know, how is this going to work out? Do we like the hire or not? And, you know, we've already put the cart ahead of the horse because the announcement has not yet happened officially. Right. nation ahead of the horse. Yeah, 100%.

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195.66 - 209.898 Satyar Shah

So we're so much farther ahead. But that's where we're going to be going. We're on the highway. And the decision has been made. Now, ultimately, it comes down to the announcement. There's still been reporting about the nature of the contract that Ryan Johnson now has.

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Chapter 5: What measures of success are expected from the new general manager?

209.938 - 223.888 Satyar Shah

Rick Dolywall reporting that it's a three-year deal. Just off the bat, in terms of your reaction, if you're undergoing a rebuild... and you're empowering a new general manager, what does a three-year contract signify?

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227.432 - 256.861 Bik Nizar

Yeah. It signifies, like, are there certain measures of success that you need to hit along the way to get extensions? As we've talked about, in every sport, a lot of decisions are made out of job security. Yes. Which is understandable. As much as it might frustrate fans, these people get rare opportunities to run teams, coach teams.

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257.362 - 275.991 Bik Nizar

So decisions like benching rookies for veterans gets made out of job security. Who do you trust more? When you hear three-year deal, you think, okay, what are the measures of success that an executive is going to be evaluated upon? Is it...

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277.962 - 305.185 Satyar Shah

infuse the organization with asset capital because that's doable in three years is it achieve a certain mark in the standings that feels a little bit more riskier i mean i i can't imagine if you're going through a rebuild that where you end up in the standings outside of ensuring you're getting high draft picks really matters right now i will say this because i think if you're hiring somebody for a rebuild i think the best idea would be to give a five-year contract mm-hmm

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305.317 - 315.728 Satyar Shah

Now, obviously, we don't even know what's going to happen here. Maybe the contract ends up being longer. Who knows? I'm not disputing anything Rick said, but we're assuming that it's a three-year deal.

317.009 - 330.463 Satyar Shah

At the same time, given that they did have discussions with Evan Gold and that, for whatever reason, did not move past or move into the deal-making stage quite as aggressively as where things were at with Rian Johnson...

330.663 - 342.073 Satyar Shah

How much of we're hiring a first-time GM again, and we're going down a new path, and there's some risk involved in hiring somebody who's never done this before, but there's always risk with anybody you hire.

Chapter 6: How does the coaching vacancy impact the Canucks' future?

342.093 - 359.168 Satyar Shah

But nonetheless, it leaves your options open that for whatever reason you think this person is not competent enough to run this team and be in that position, that you're only committed to three years. So again, I totally get the cynicism because I'm like, yeah, if you're rebuilding, give somebody a five-year deal, the measure should be...

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359.148 - 372.752 Satyar Shah

what the players look like in three to four years, not like your contracts up in three years. And by the end of four years, I can understand that now you're really thinking about, is this the right person we have to keep going on this path? And then you can move on from that individual.

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372.992 - 392.229 Satyar Shah

But I think you have to give somebody at least four years out of a five-year deal in a rebuild to have any general idea outside of that person being incompetent. So is it just the Canucks being careful with hiring a first-time GM? Is it another sign of maybe not ready to spend the money that's necessary to build out a front office and do what's necessary?

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392.49 - 405.301 Satyar Shah

I think that comes down to how you view things, ultimately, more than anything. But that's my outlook on a three-year contract. Obviously, a five-year deal would be better. It gives you an out, I guess, if you're just not sold on that individual really being up to the challenge.

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405.541 - 423.462 Bik Nizar

Patrick Alveen also got a shorter deal and got extended... in the middle of that as well. But yeah, it is to those points of like, if there's certain things that you have to do within the two years, that if you achieve these things, and again, I'm talking about

423.998 - 444.581 Bik Nizar

liquidating assets and you start pushing this in the right direction and say that's what you're being judged upon and if you can hit these marks then in comes the extension like again I don't think we're talking about like make the second round of the playoffs but do you have to show it trending in the right direction enough that to get an extension and they're beyond.

444.601 - 451.29 Bik Nizar

We haven't even gotten to the announcement. We're talking about extensions, but such are the realities when you present it as a three-year deal.

451.571 - 459.021 Satyar Shah

Yeah, I mean, Doug in Delta says, the guy could draft the next three years and not see one player in the NHL.

Chapter 7: What role could Manny Malhotra play in the Leafs' coaching staff?

459.081 - 473.021 Satyar Shah

Three years is ridiculous because it takes time for young players. And when we talk about you have to give it a long time, especially when you're drafting high, you're looking at a lot of... The high draft picks generally do reach the NHL faster, but you're looking at putting a lot of prospects into your group and how they progress.

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473.041 - 488.785 Satyar Shah

Well, it's going to take time before you have a great idea of it. Chris from Burke Mountain says, progress towards the overall goal can be gleaned at least a year or two in, certainly by three years. Nobody's getting a five-year deal. That's Chris from Burke Mountain. So you have different perspectives coming in on the text inbox here.

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488.765 - 500.743 Satyar Shah

Ultimately, I think what that discussion shows, it's either you have confidence that they're going to get this hire right or not. And what reason do we have to have confidence in ownership getting this right?

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503.768 - 532.272 Bik Nizar

That's the bit these last 48 hours that I've been thinking a lot about. They have really... If you just isolate the last seven, eight years... They've played a lot of cards that are coming up on, like, franchise legends. And, again, not everything is directly attributed to them, as we'll detail here. But...

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533.686 - 543.746 Bik Nizar

You're going through a span of Canucks players in the history here where Trevor Linden gets removed. That's a franchise legend. Jersey's retired. Another player who was thought to be a franchise legend. Jersey wasn't retired.

Chapter 8: What are the implications of the Canucks' recent management changes?

544.167 - 556.268 Bik Nizar

Roberto Luongo. You traded... Again, not you specifically, but... You traded, I would say, one of the most talented players in franchise history. I would say the most talented player in franchise history.

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556.409 - 557.15 Satyar Shah

That's him and Murray.

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557.47 - 581.661 Bik Nizar

Yeah. And then you're now hiring two execs who are the greatest franchise players in history. And we're talking about, okay, what is the level of faith in them if you're giving them shorter term deals? And entrusting them in the rebuild. And, you know, when you get to the stage, it's a common phrase for coaches. It's like you're hired to be fired eventually.

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581.981 - 603.194 Bik Nizar

Executives, unless you ride off into the sunset on your own, like, yeah, there's an expiration date on it. Just in the past eight years, like five of the biggest players in franchise history have kind of put themselves under this ownership group. And like a lot has happened. I look at this as like, this is kind of a big risk for like the image as well.

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603.354 - 620.675 Bik Nizar

And the perception, which is already like in a very interesting spot in general, as we get a lot of texts daily about, you guys don't talk about ownership enough. There's not enough complaints about how ownership does. And we've chatted about that a lot about like practice facility and all that. But I do look at this and we were kind of talking about it yesterday with Woodley.

621.096 - 627.784 Bik Nizar

It's like, you're, you're continually like betting on yourself. You're now doing the internal promotion thing of Franchise Legends and

628.152 - 652.058 Bik Nizar

You kind of are at a stage where you're like, you're out of cards to keep playing to curry public favor because if this one doesn't work now, if we get to a stage in two years where the rebuild isn't trending in a good direction and Rian Johnson's removed or something like that, you just don't see the signs of life. You're now tampering with a lot of franchise legends in short order.

652.439 - 660.079 Bik Nizar

And even if you're going from a spot of... not in public favor right now, it can turn nastier than it already has.

660.7 - 672.739 Satyar Shah

Well, things can always get worse, right? Your phrase, yes. At the same time, I think I agree with everything you're saying. In terms of playing that last card, well, it's a last card as long as...

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