Chapter 1: What factors contribute to Ryan Johnson's candidacy for GM of the Vancouver Canucks?
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Now joining us on the Able Auctions hotline, former Canuck, regular here on Sportsnet 650. He's brought to you by the Metro Ford. He is Yannick Hanson.
Chapter 2: How might the Sedins influence the future of the Canucks' player personnel decisions?
Yannick, thanks as always for doing this. How are you? Yeah, my pleasure. I'm good. How are you? We're doing well and we're reacting. It's not official yet, but there's a lot of reporting out there that it looks like Ryan Johnson is going to be the next person in charge. Let's put it that way of hockey operations for the Vancouver Canucks. Of course, you're a former teammate of Ryan Johnson's.
What's what's your reaction to the news that he could be taking over?
Yeah, if it was between him or Gold, they both seemed like the same. They were both assistant GMs at their respective clubs, both general managers of the minor league team, so why not go with the hometown guys, so to speak, the ones that have been in the organization for a while now and worked his way up through, and and give him a chance versus a complete unknown, if you will.
So I have no problems with that. And obviously, the fact that I know him, you're rooting for him as well.
Chapter 3: What coaching changes could happen before the NHL Draft?
What can you tell us about Ryan Johnson's personality and his ability as a leader, as a communicator from your time playing with him?
Obviously, I played with him one year, year and a half maybe, a long, long time ago. But he was one that took care of the young guys. He put himself or the team in front of himself, if you will. worked extremely hard, diligent, smart, dedicated to his craft and all of those things.
So the things that you could see that made him successful as a hockey player, because he might not have had a ton of skill and ability in that sense, but then what he had, he honed and he perfected to the point where he became a very valuable player in the league.
Yannick, excuse me, can you give me a sense of, I mean, you didn't have the close relationship, you weren't teammates with him for a long time, but you've both been in hockey circles locally. In thinking through, you know, my reaction to this news, one of the things that sticks in my mind is like, RJ's just kind of got it.
you know, quote unquote it, that sort of special quality in terms of just the way he carries himself. Have you had a chance to witness that either around rinks after your playing career or while you shared a locker room with him?
There are always certain players that you can see that will probably gravitate towards some sort of other hockey role. And you're not quite sure whether that'll be coaching or upper management. RJ could have very well stepped into coaching as well. He obviously chose the other path now.
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Chapter 4: What are the philosophical differences between Ryan Johnson and Evan Gold?
But you could see that he possessed something more than just, hey, I'm a pretty good hockey player and I like playing in the National League. So for sure, it's no different than when you guys ask about Manny or Burr for that instance. There's just certain players...
that you can see that this is in them and whether or not they choose to do it, you don't know, but they definitely have it, so to speak.
What do you think about the value of, as you kind of said, the familiarity that Ryan Johnson would have, not just with the organization as a whole, but especially with some of the younger players from Abbotsford, especially as this team is at the start of a rebuild, how important do you think that familiarity is going to be for Ryan Johnson if he is the guy?
Well, I don't think there would be anybody who has a better idea of the depth in the club right now or in the team in terms of the players that are potentially ready and the ones that aren't really ready. He would know that to a T. So coming into the draft, it's pretty evident to him, at least it should be, that this is the needs that we want. Obviously, best player available in these things.
But once you get past the second and third round, uh where are the holes where do we need to find somebody who can step up in this area whether it's a d whether it's a center whether it's a winger a goaltending for whatever it might be um somebody who's been in here and especially at that level where where he's been with with the young young players for for a long time now like you you see their
You see their trajectory. So it's one thing if you come in one, oh, he's a pretty good player. But is that a plateau or is that a beginning or is that the peak? That's where he'll have hands-on experience in that sense and not just relying on another coach, another scout telling him what they see. It's always nicer to see it with your own eyes.
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Chapter 5: How does Ryan Johnson's familiarity with the organization impact his potential success?
In your mind, Yannick, what's sort of the most important thing, the most important signal that you're looking for in the incoming general manager, whether it's RJ or anybody else?
Don't say, oh, we think we can make a playoff to here or something like that. Be realistic. Go in with the expectations of what they are. Because if you come out and say that, you start signing these pretty good UFAs to probably a little bit too much money. He said that it's going to go right downhill real fast. Uh, the team is not there yet.
We saw that last year, uh, unless something miraculous happened with the players on the roster, all of a sudden they take. multiple step forwards. This is a process we have to go through right now. So stay with that and be okay with not being a playoff team, with not being in the hunt. Be okay with, hey, we're developing some of these young guys.
We're getting four picks in the first 40 here in this upcoming draft. Hopefully a couple of these will have some tantalizing aspects to them, whether it's skill, abilities, or performance. or projection in the future of what they can be, and then sell hope down the line instead.
Chapter 6: What role might the Sedins play in shaping the team's culture?
Nobody is expecting RJ or Gold, whoever comes in, and turn this into a playoff team right away. So don't chase it. Stick with it now, and whether it's one, two, or three years, I would be okay with that. I don't know about everybody else, but that would be the... You need a little bit more time. It's not one pick. You look at the teams that are having success around the league.
They have these top four picks. And it's not just one of them they have. They have accumulated these over time, and it's two or three or even four of those guys, and then you add to them afterwards. But you need your homegrown talent to shine through, to carry the load, and then find the pieces that are missing around them through trades, through free agency, when the time is right.
If it is ultimately Ryan Johnson, Yannick, who takes over, are you concerned at all that the Canucks are hiring someone who's been a longtime part of the organization and has been connected to what's happened over the last several years as opposed to bringing in somebody with a fresh perspective from outside?
No, because again, yeah, he's been an assistant general manager and he's been part of it. But again, the decision-based, is lying somewhere else.
Chapter 7: How important is the scouting process for the Canucks' future?
And I know that now we're crisscrossing into things here when Rutherford Zillow, Alvin, wasn't in charge of everything. Hopefully, whoever comes in is in charge of everything in terms of player personnel, decision-based, and then you can let them have a whack at it sometimes. When you're a little lower on the totem pole, so to speak, you're agreeing with what the boss is saying.
It might not be your opinion, you might have voiced it, but again, it's their decision in the end. And then you go with it and then make the best of it. But once you get in the driver's seat, You're determining the direction, the picks and all those things. Sometimes at a draft, there's a lot of players available and scouts might have one favorite, others might have another.
And then that's where the general manager is like, I'm picking one. Him or him. And then we judge you based on results like everything else in this business. If you're successful, if your picks, if your signings, if the development pans out, then you're successful. If not, then it's a short-lived job opportunity and another one will arise.
Yannick, there's so much loose change in the couch cushions, I think, in terms of how the Canucks have been won or run, excuse me, that I feel like there's easy wins just about everywhere. You already mentioned the patience angle.
Chapter 8: What are the immediate challenges Ryan Johnson will face if appointed GM?
Um, Is there anything hockey-wise, like something that we'll see more directly when we turn on our televisions and watch the Canucks next year that you'd like to see change as the club enters a new era?
Well, you can always, like, it's hard to say that because the team will have to play how it's constructed. So I have an idea and an understanding. I was like, this is how I want my team to play. This is how I wish the Canucks would play. But if the players on the roster aren't situated forward, you cannot do it.
The Phoenix that we played against, the Minnesota that I played against early in my career, those teams were successful way as well, not in an entertaining way, but that wasn't because the players there were those type of players. They were defensively minded players, structured players, yes, salary cap and all those things, but Depending on your roster, you've got to play to their strengths.
So once we show up here in September, October, and you start looking at the roster, and okay, there's quite a bit of skill here. We've added some young guys. Let's see what they can do. And then I'm okay with losing...
bigger games where it's like okay we lose this one six four but the young skill is coming through you can see the talent in there on the other side okay we drafted these big defensemen that are good shutdown defensemen that have potentially to develop i don't want to see them get exposed now so i don't want to run and run and gun game now so you kind of have to you kind of have to um wait for the roster to kind of develop to see okay this is how we have to do and i know coaches
have a coaching style but but it doesn't matter which style you have if the players on your roster are not built for that then you gotta adjust and and you gotta you gotta play the hands you're you're kind of dealt so whether or not we want them to play a certain way or a specific way we always talk about the copycat league um if you have the players great go for it if not you gotta play to their strengths
Yeah, I want to unpack the copycat league thing a little bit, Yannick, because the last two nights watching playoff hockey on my couch, there's one overall thought that has stuck with me. Like, the Buffalo Sabres' best player in this series by a mile has been a 5'10 guy who's maybe a buck 80 in Zach Benson, and he's, like, playing the net front on the power play. And...
like he's playing a power forward game at his size. Meanwhile, for the Montreal Canadians, it's been Lane Hudson. He's maybe five foot 10 himself, maybe a buck 90. If I'm being generous, I don't know if you saw that photo of him with Canadian basketball legend, Oliver Ryu, but he like came up to his knees. Doesn't matter. He's the best. He's the best player on the ice in that series.
And then Colorado last night, They have this third pair that they've designed with all small guys, right? And it means that they're always paying a discount price to add defensive depth. Everyone else pays second rounders for guys like Logan Stanley, who the Buffalo Sabres are going to scratch tonight. And they're just like, yeah, we'll get a much better player for a fifth.
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