Chapter 1: What is the current status of the Vancouver Canucks' GM search?
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Hey, what's up?
Welcome to Canucks Talk Sportsnet 650. I'm Jamie Dodd. No Drance on the show today. He will be back on Monday. I'm broadcasting live from the Kintec studio. Step strong with orthotics and footwear from Kintec. 650-650 is the Dunbar Lumber text line. This hour of the show is presented by Waffle House Diner.
Chapter 2: Who are the leading candidates for the Canucks' GM position?
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. No drance, but a big show coming up nonetheless on a Friday edition of Canucks Talk. Brendan Batchelor will join me at 1230. Of course, the voice of the Canucks here on Sportsnet 650. We'll chat the latest around the Canucks with Batch.
Look ahead to the summer and some of the decisions facing them there, too. Allison Lucan, who, of course, does a great job covering the Seattle Kraken, will join me at one. And I'm curious to talk a little bit about Seattle's offseason.
Chapter 3: What are the philosophical differences between Evan Gold and Ryan Johnson?
Of course, they're picking in the top ten as well. But I also just want to chat Stanley Cup playoffs, some of Allison's takeaways from what we've seen so far through the playoffs. maybe a little bit also about the shape of these GM searches that we've seen play out. Some of which have completed in Toronto and New Jersey, others are, which are still ongoing in Nashville.
And of course here in Vancouver. And then at one 30, Dimitri Filipovich host of the hockey PDO cast will join me to wrap up the week. And we'll chat Stanley cup playoffs, heart trophy finalists, lots to get into with Tim at one 30.
But as I alluded to, of course, the Canucks GM search still ongoing and, And so to get into that, let's go to the whiteboard.
All right, fellas, let's focus up.
Chapter 4: Is there a missing piece in the Canucks' GM search process?
It is your daily deep dive into what's up with the Canucks for today, May 8th. We'll start with the headlines.
And I think the headline is we seem to be in the end game of the Canucks GM search. And as has often been the case here on the whiteboard with this open GM position, we're kind of rolling the broadsheet, the headlines all into one section here together because there has been a lot of interesting reporting over the last 24 hours or so. And it really started yesterday.
Satyar Shah here on Sportsnet 650 as well as Irfan Ghaffar on his podcast with the Daily Faceoff saying that there's a lot of buzz around Evan Gold. Maybe Evan Gold has emerged as the frontrunner. Of course, Evan Gold is the assistant GM currently with the Boston Bruins or a assistant GM anyways, currently with the Boston Bruins.
This morning, Elliot Friedman on the Fan Hockey Show, which you can hear, of course, right here on Sportsnet 650, says that they're getting pretty close. And he thinks that Evan Gold and Ryan Johnson are the last two people standing in the contest.
Chapter 5: How could the Canucks retain both Ryan Johnson and Evan Gold?
That matches what Rick Dollywall is hearing. He said other candidates are being told that they're out. Drance confirms that as well. But it's down to Ryan Johnson and Evan Gold as the two candidates remaining to be the next Canucks general manager. Now, I know it is a Friday, right? And the Canucks love to drop big news on a Friday of all sorts of different varieties.
I want to note also, Drance, and this was on the Donnie and Dolly show earlier today, saying he'd be shocked if we get an announcement today. Dolly Wall agreed with that.
So it doesn't sound like we're going to get that Friday news drop from the Vancouver Canucks, even though they are apparently getting very, very close in their search and down to, from all the reporting, two names, Ryan Johnson and Evan Gold. But it doesn't sound like we should expect anything probably until Monday.
Chapter 6: What are the implications of hiring an experienced candidate for the Canucks?
So this is interesting, right? We're finally... This has been a long process, and I say that with no... No slight implied. It's totally fine that they've taken their time and done their due diligence. That's what I wanted. And I'm glad that they've done it. It does still feel to me like there's a missing piece of the puzzle. I said that on the show yesterday.
Is there something we're missing that's going to make this whole thing fit together and really make sense? And Jim Rutherford alluded to it in his interview with Ian McIntyre, right?
Chapter 7: How do power dynamics affect the Canucks' front office decisions?
Like, well, when you see how things shake out, you'll understand. It all makes sense. And I was thinking about it a little bit more this morning. What are the possibilities for the things that we are missing? And I think here's some possibilities, right?
Because when I say there's a missing piece, what I'm getting at is we've heard that Ryan Johnson was Jim Rutherford's preferred candidate, but that maybe ownership wasn't sold on him. Has that changed enough? I'd be a little surprised if that's changed enough for them to just go with RJ. We've also heard that ownership was at least interested in hiring an experienced candidate.
Neither of those guys fit the bill.
Chapter 8: What are the potential long-term outcomes of the Canucks' GM decision?
Are they willing to hand the keys to the kingdom over to either of these people, either candidate, Ryan Johnson or Evan Gold, and say, okay, there you go. It's yours. We're not bringing in anyone else. Here you go. That would surprise me, which is why I think there is a missing piece of the puzzle.
And that missing piece could be that they've interviewed a president or VP type candidate that we just haven't heard about, or maybe multiple candidates that we just haven't heard about. That's very possible.
It could be that they're looking at Ryan Johnson or Evan Gold as the GM, but they're still searching for somebody that they want to bring in as a vice president or a president of hockey operations. There could be some Power dynamics playing out behind the scenes, slowing things down, or at least causing a little bit of friction. That's always possible.
And then the other one, and I know Elliot Friedman wondered about this. Rick Dollywall said maybe he's heard that there's some movement in this direction, or at least some efforts in this direction. The other thing could be, okay, you're down to Ryan Johnson and Evan Gold. I think those are two very strong candidates to be a GM candidate.
in the National Hockey League is there a way you can keep both of them and could that be how the puzzle ultimately comes together and make sense and I guess the way you would go about this is instead of hiring a more traditional very experienced long tenured executive to become the president of hockey operations and maybe handle more of the public facing duties do you find a way to promote Ryan Johnson and it probably wouldn't be president but maybe vice president of hockey operations and
And do you find a way to retain Ryan Johnson, but name Evan Gold your general manager? I think that's a very interesting idea. I also think that's a very, very tricky needle to thread. And maybe that's why there's some of these discussions happening, or why there's a little bit of a delay, even though they're down... to two candidates.
Maybe they're thinking through, okay, how exactly do we do this? Will it work? Are they comfortable with it? The two principles involved here. What are the risks of going down that road? What are the advantages? Because again, I really like the idea of them working together. And as, as Elliot Friedman said on the fan hockey show, they have got a skill sets that would compliment each other, right?
Ryan Johnson with his playing career player, a player development background, uh, Of course, Evan Gold with the educational background, legal salary cap, all of that. I'm not saying neither of them can do things on either side of that, but you can see how there's a very complementary skill set. And of course, they both they have both run AHL teams as well. So it's a very interesting idea.
I do think it's a situation where the devil is in the details exactly how it would play out. You would have to be absolutely certain that you've nailed the structure, that everybody is on the same page, and that the hierarchy, the org chart, the workflow needs to be very, very clear and ironclad in that situation to avoid dysfunction.
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