Chapter 1: What is the current status of the Vancouver Canucks' GM search?
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What's up? Welcome to Canucks Talk Sportsnet 650. I'm Jamie Dodd. No Thomas Drance today. Drance really flexing those vacation days. He's off today and tomorrow he will be back on Monday. We are broadcasting live from the Kintec studio.
Chapter 2: Who is Evan Gold and why is he a candidate for the Canucks' GM position?
Step strong with orthotics and footwear from Kintec.com. 650-650 is the Dunbar Lumber text line. This hour of the show is presented by Waffle House Diner. Enjoy chicken and waffles, the Waffle House Special Classic Full Breakfast, and more. Dine in or order on your favorite delivery app. Breakfast done right. Big show today, however, in the absence of Thomas Drance.
I will chat at 1230 with the top prospect in the PWHL draft, which of course belongs to the top pick belongs to the Vancouver Golden Eyes. Caroline Harvey will join the show.
Chapter 3: What are Jim Rutherford's future plans with the Canucks organization?
Of course, Olympic gold medalist with Team USA, MVP of that tournament, NCAA champion, top player in NCAA hockey. Basically name it. She's done it this year. Very recently, one of the best players in women's hockey and the Vancouver Golden Eyes will have the chance to draft her. They actually announced when that draft is going to be today. It's going to be June 17th in Detroit.
So five weeks from now. We'll see if the Golden Eyes do indeed step up and draft Caroline Harvey. She'll chat with us at 1230. Randy Gianda is going to join me at some point in the show.
Chapter 4: How is the Canucks' leadership structure expected to change?
We'll see. We'll see what Randy's schedule is like. He's just hanging out for some reason, not on the show right now, but he'll join me at some point for the show. And then Sam Cosentino will chat with us at 130. Of course, Sam does great work covering prospects and the NHL draft for Sportsnet. We know the Canucks are picking third.
I hope we're all at least somewhat over the disappointment because now we get into the nitty-gritty of what that looks like.
We'll talk about the selections at third, all the glut of really interesting defensemen that are kind of in that range, and hopefully we'll have some time to chat about options at the Minnesota Wild Pick and in the early second round for the Vancouver Canucks as well with Sam Cosentino. Caroline Harvey at 1230. Randeep is going to join me in studio.
Chapter 5: What draft strategies are the Canucks considering with the third overall pick?
Sam Cosentino at 130. As always, when there's no Drancer, send those texts in 650-650 to the Dunbar Lumber text line. But right now, let's go to the whiteboard.
All right, now fellas, let's focus up.
It is your daily deep dive into what's up with the Canucks for today, May 7th. Headline is we continue to play the waiting game when it comes to the Canucks GM search. And I guess maybe it's more accurate at this point to say the overall front office search.
because it's becoming increasingly likely, at least based on my read and some of what Jim Rutherford has had to say, and we'll get to Jim Rutherford in a second, it's becoming increasingly likely that we're talking about maybe more than one hire, more than one addition to the Canucks front office, as opposed to simply a GM to replace Patrick Alvin.
Of course, we've got to learn about Patrick Alvin's fate as well. Technically, he could still accept a demotion to stay in the organization, although I'd be very surprised if that happens.
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Chapter 6: What are the implications of trading down from the third pick?
And while we're waiting for... Ultimate clarity about exactly what the Canucks front office will look like and what ramifications that could have for the team and their direction. Some of the players on the team. Jim Rutherford does continue to give further clarity, at least on his plans.
And the latest words and thoughts from Jim Rutherford on this come courtesy of an interview with our Sportsnet colleague Ian McIntyre. Dropped yesterday after our show. You can go check it out at Sportsnet.com.
dot CA right now and there's a lot of interesting stuff there as there always is from Jim Rutherford you know talk owns up to making mistakes in his tenure here still seems very fixated on the JT Miller Elias Patterson rift which I understand it was a big deal and
But he also, as I said, gives some further clarity on his plans and specifically that when he does step back from the role of president of hockey operations and assume the role of senior advisor and alternate governor, he's not even going to be based in Vancouver. He will be based in North Carolina, in Raleigh.
Chapter 7: How does the Canucks' rebuild philosophy affect their draft decisions?
As he said, he's got family in the United States, including in Raleigh. He wants to be closer to them at his age, and that is completely and totally understandable. And it might seem like a bit of a small detail, but we just keep getting evidence that really what we're talking about here is a total regime change for the Vancouver Canucks.
So there's going to be a completely different brain trust in charge of of this hockey team. Now, I guess you could quibble and say, well, if Ryan Johnson ends up being a part of it, is that completely different?
But at least in terms of the ultimate decision makers, I think we can say with a very high degree of certainty now that it is going to be completely different than what it has been for the past four plus years since Jim Rutherford was hired originally in December of 2021. I guess the best way to frame it is this. If he's in Carolina and he's not an official part
of the hierarchy here, major, major decisions, the biggest decisions in hockey operations will now be made without any input from Jim Rutherford, unless the GM or the president wants to loop him in.
Chapter 8: What are the expectations for the upcoming NHL draft for the Canucks?
And again, that's a big deal considering how central he's been since he's got here. And I know there's been some skepticism in the market on the idea of Jim Rutherford taking a step back. And people will say, and I've heard Mike Halford make this point, and it's a fair point. Well, wasn't he supposed to step back from speaking at one point?
Wasn't he supposed to be offloading duties from his plate to Patrick Alvins? And that never really happened. And everything he heard was at best, there's kind of confusion on who was running things in the Vancouver front office. And then obviously, of course, we all remember the infamous moment where Jim Rutherford said he took the Quinn Hughes deal off of Patrick Alvins plate.
And by the end, it was pretty clear that, Jim Rutherford was the one making all the big decisions, especially the major decisions. Probably not, you know, who do we call up from Abbotsford to fill out our roster for the game on Thursday? That was Alvian. But anything above a certain threshold was Jim Rutherford.
And it sounds like by the draft at the latest, maybe, maybe even before that, that is no longer going to be the case. Jim Rutherford will not be a part of the decision-making chain, the decision-making process, a regular part, at least, in the Canucks front office. And again, that's a big deal, and it should be a major opportunity for the Canucks as well.
Rutherford's MO, not just here in Vancouver, but really you look back to his successful years winning a couple of Stanley Cups in Pittsburgh. winning a Stanley Cup in Carolina early in the cap era. I think his MO was kind of a tinkerer, a guy who liked to fiddle with the roster, had no problem churning through players, not necessarily star players.
We've got kind of middle of the roster guys looking for those missing pieces, looking for those right fits.
to improve a hockey team in the here and now of course he was extremely active on the trade front in pittsburgh there's been a ton of guys cycled through some very very quickly here in vancouver and you know often he was pretty good at that process he was good at tinkering with a hockey team and searching for the right fits elsewhere not always we've seen what it looks like when it goes poorly here in vancouver and certainly they can tell you about that in pittsburgh well but he certainly had success i mean that's a big deal what led to the division winning season
in 2024 was finding Carson Soucy and Ian Cole and Dakota Joshua and Teddy Bluger and Pew Suter, et cetera, et cetera. That's kind of a Jim Rutherford classic right there. He was very good at that. But that's also not the job at all that is currently in front of the Canucks.
And in fact, if you're thinking like that, if you're thinking, how can I tinker with this roster to make it better in the present? Not only are you not answering the real job, you might be actively making things worse because you're giving up value or you're at least foregoing opportunities to add future value so you can include the team in the present.
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