Chapter 1: What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
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Let's go now to the Able Auctions Hotline. Our next guest, Ian McIntyre, Sportsnet's very own, joins us now on the Halford & Brough Show on Sportsnet 650. Morning, I'm Mac. How are you?
I'm doing well. I'm kind of recovering. Yesterday was a very big day because I had planned ahead, had the day free because my son, who is home from university, it was his birthday. And so we had 12 people coming over for dinner and I was doing all the cooking. So that press conference was timely.
That's great. I'm glad it worked out for you. It didn't work out for us because it was, again, moments after we got off the air, I guess it was hours, but the news was announced. But nevertheless, we push on here. Hey, I got a question for you to start. Was yesterday's news more about Adam Foote or more about Manny Malhotra?
Well, for me, it was more about Manny Malhotra. I mean, obviously, it's a big, big decision whenever a hockey team wins. fires his coach. And in some respects, I feel sorry for Adam Foote, because in a way, he never had a chance. But in the end, it was, as I've described it, it was another of the many home-run cuts that Rutherford and Alvin took a year ago, and they whiffed on it.
But we know why they went with Adam. It just didn't work out. But to me, it's about... The other part of the regime change, which I think is still coming, which is Manny Malhotra joining the GM who hired him, the guy who repatriated him to the Canuck organization, moving with him up to the top job at the NHL level, especially after what
ryan johnson had to say about manny and how he described uh his his sort of search process which is basically i'm going to talk to manny and then depending on how that conversation goes maybe i'll talk to other people but yeah that was telegraphing it pretty pretty well it was like yeah we'll cast a big net if it doesn't work out with manny
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Chapter 2: What are the five key off-season priorities for the Canucks?
But it's about how they are as teammates, how they are as professionals, because that's so much of what has undermined the team the last couple of years. But I think it's all very positive. I think the Sedins were a great hire because... you know, talking to them a little bit over the years.
I haven't talked to them a lot because the Canucks kind of frown on reporters talking to others in the organization. You know, poor Stan Smeal, who I've known not quite forever because he's older than me. But, you know, he'd have a ghastly look on his face if he saw me coming like, oh, no, I can't talk to Ian, even though I've known him forever.
From what contact I had with the Sedins, it wasn't artificial that they had such a passion for the player development side of it and for helping young players. I knew that they had a very strong idea. about how your team should be assembled and how your players should be built. And, of course, Ryan Johnson, he ran the minor league team, so he's got that mindset. But there is alignment.
I would say this about feeling positive. This might be the most positive time right now.
Yeah, yeah, I recognize that.
As soon as they start playing, it's probably going to get less positive. But I think the key is, and we've heard Ryan mention it. We've heard Jim Rutherford mention it. I think Aquilini mentioned it during his cameo appearance in that news conference. Everybody's using the word patience.
And really, as excited as some might be about what the Anaheim Ducks did this year or what the San Jose Sharks are on the cusp of doing, or what Buffalo is doing now. I mean, Buffalo's in a category all its own, missing the playoffs 14 years. But San Jose just missed the playoffs for the seventh straight year. And they have Macklin Celebrini. Chicago is hopelessly still out of the playoffs.
And they have Conor Bedard. And the Anaheim Ducks are back in the playoffs after missing for seven years. And they've got a bunch of good players. You know, I'm not sure this market is positive as everyone... feels right now.
And as hopeful as most people are about the team being constructed in a lasting, positive way, I'm not sure anybody can take seven years of the Canucks not being in the playoffs. It feels like a long time, if you say it out loud. So hopefully it's going to be less than that, but it is going to test everybody's patience and loyalty and at times faith in the people who are trying to do this.
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Chapter 3: How does the change in coaching staff impact the Canucks' strategy?
The one thing I would add about that, uh, It's easy for we who don't buy tickets to invest mentally and say, yes, this is the right thing. The real challenge is for the people who actually keep the team going by buying tickets and how are they going to feel about in year three or year four if this trajectory is drawn out. So continue.
Well, I don't doubt that there's going to be some empty seats over the next few years, but hopefully what ownership sees is this is the necessary investment in order to get future returns and years and years of playoff revenue as opposed to playoff revenue here and there. Okay, so you had five off-season games. priorities for the new Canucks management group. Your first one is choose their coach.
And we have covered that. Um, your second one is revamp hockey ops. Where are the Canucks at with hockey ops?
Well, it was, uh, uh, news yesterday from Ryan Johnson talking about the people who are going to be staying, which it seems to be, uh, almost everyone other than the four coaches that they, that they let go yesterday. Um, So where's hockey ops? Well, hockey ops, I think they have to try to be a little more progressive. I think they will be with Ryan Johnson and the Sedins.
I think they need, they obviously, the glaring need obviously is in the player development and AHL management side. And Ryan talked about that yesterday. It was interesting that he talked about that being two jobs because Ryan did both. And at times he did more than those two jobs, particularly in the regime change to Rutherford from Benning.
He understands how monumental those roles are, both in terms of heading the player development, but also having someone specifically to run and find players for your minor league team. So those are going to be big hires. Those are big, big openings that they have to fill. And then I think they can take another step in their analytics department as well.
Johnson, of course, talked about how pleased he is with Aiden Fox and the job that that department does, but it's still pretty lean. You know, there's some teams that are about the same or maybe even have a body or two less, but there's lots of teams that have a bigger analytics department.
So now that we know that Cammie Granato and Emily Castonguay are staying, now that we know that Todd Harvey, it very much sounds like he's staying as There'll still be some changes. There always are. There'll still be at least one or two changes, I think, in their scouting department.
But I think the big things they have to do is now find somebody who's going to oversee player development, which is more important to the organization than it's ever been at this stage. And they need to replace Ryan in Abbotsford.
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Chapter 4: What role will Manny Malhotra play in the Canucks' future?
Yeah. Yeah. And it sounds like Ryan's okay with that. Uh, I don't know how it's going to work. There's so few, uh, samples of that in the NHL. It obviously didn't work recently for the Lowry's in Winnipeg the way they wanted it to, but, uh, You know, Caleb just sounds like the player and the person that this team so badly needs.
Like a first-line center who, like his dad, has tons of leadership and character. And I thought it was interesting that Ryan just came out and said they're not going to sacrifice anything because of the father-son relationship. If they think these are the ā in other words, if they think ā
they think Manny is the best coach they can get, and it comes to the draft, and they think Caleb is the best player for them at number three, if he's available, then that's what they're going to do. And I'm all for it. I'd like to see how this works out. I guess, you know, if you believe in both, and you believe that you're building the right dressing room culture, then obviously it can work.
We just haven't seen it work very often. But again, it's a very small sample size of fathers coaching their sons at the NHL level.
My biggest concern with the entire ā the theory of it is that not only is it fairly unprecedented, although you mentioned the Lowrys, and I guess to a lesser degree there's the Brindamores and everything, but none of those situations evolved from this ground zero starting point of a rebuild where ā You know, Malhotra comes in and he's not just an ordinary draft pick.
He's going to be considered one of the cornerstones of a franchise that's going to build from here. So there's going to be an extra amount of pressure on the player. I feel like adding the dynamic of where we're also going to go with this unique, unprecedented thing of having his dad coach him. Oh, and by the way, the dad is also a rookie NHL head coach.
I feel like there might be too many variables in terms of like it's too unique to and it's too unprecedented that maybe it might be just safer to go with something else. I'm curious to get your thoughts on that approach.
Yeah, I mean, it would be safer not to do this, but how are you going to feel about it two years later if it looks like Caleb is trending towards being a 100-point center and the Canucks still have a huge gap down the middle? Again, I think it comes back to if you believe in the people involved,
But to your point, Mike, I would argue that if you are going to do this, it's probably the best case scenario to do it now, to do it at the beginning so that this isn't a dynamic that suddenly pops up, say, three years into Manny Malhotra or any coach's tenure where his son joins the team or vice versa. It's not a dynamic where the player is on the team and then his dad gets hired as coach and
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Chapter 5: How does the Sedins' involvement influence the Canucks' direction?
The Padres are a good team. White Sox really aren't. Mariners kind of had this one under control, but they got this weird thing going on. So they've moved former starter Luis Castillo to the bullpen, right?
He of the six-plus ERA this season.
Castillo's having a problem. He's having a nightmare season. They came up with this plan, and it's called piggybacking in Major League Baseball. Now, it doesn't involve Luis Castillo riding Bryce Miller in from the outfield. Got to be a better way to say that, but also probably not. piggybacking is where you take two starting pitchers and you throw them like between three and five innings each.
You try and get a complete game out of both of them, right?
And you only pitch two pitchers. That's it.
Yeah. That's the piggyback. That's the idea. The split shift. Yeah. Piggyback has two dudes. That makes a good piggyback. Everyone knows that. Anyway.
What happened last night?
Castillo does an okay job getting through the back half of the game after Miller goes through the first half of the game. They don't give up any runs. Then the ninth inning comes around. They have a really good closer, Munoz.
For some reason or another, Dan Wilson decides not to go to Munoz at the top of the ninth to close this thing out, which is what he's accustomed to doing, given he's, you know, a closer.
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