Patrick Johnston: Live from Manny Malhotra's first press conference at Rogers Arena.
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What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
Let's bring Patrick in, who took in today's proceedings at Rogers Arena, and joins us with, as always, pithy thoughts on Canucks matters. How are you?
Well, first of all, let's be clear, Blake. It's my wife that likes sours. Oh, okay.
She's already cool, though. She doesn't need savings.
Yeah, it's true. It's true. And I will say a side note. Long ago, I made a cake for Manny Malhotra's son, Caleb, at age four. It was a Spider-Man cake. And when I showed Manny the photo that she got with him all these years ago, he was, wait, was there a Spider-Man cake? And sure enough, I could swipe down and said, here it is. And he was like, that's the one.
Yes.
His wife, Candice, is a master cake maker on top of being very handy with timepieces as well. She's a very talented lady. We love seeing her, especially at the Nat in the summer. Let's move on to the matter at hand. Overall thoughts and impressions, how do you think he did?
I mean, you know, spoke well, well-spoken, all the things I think that If you obviously dealt with Manny when he was a player, but also when he was a coach, you know this was a guy that had good answers. And so polished, sharp, professional. But at the end of the day, he's a coach. And how the team performs on the ice will be the ultimate answer, won't it? That, to me, is what I was left thinking about. I was like, listen, he did well at Abbotsford. He certainly did well as an assistant coach in the NHL. But at the end of the day, this is about what he's able to do with his team and how he gets them to perform and how he gets them to buy in and how he has his star players understanding the challenges in front of them and so on and so on and so on.
And that will be shown on the ice.
We were just kicking this around, PJ. I think you might have been listening in, but how long do you think he has until the market starts worrying about wins and losses? Honeymoon period, duration thereof. What says you?
Well, I think it's... It's a tricky one, right? Because you had to frame last year in the sense of, okay, are they going to finally throw in the towel and move to a rebuild, which they did. Okay, what does this mean? This means the team is going to struggle for results, but how are they playing? And certainly for a while, going into the trade deadline, there was a lot of angst about what was going to happen, and then we got to the other side, and we saw mostly nights where the guys were skating hard and trying hard and giving fans something to at least feel emotionally good about. You know, as long as he's able to keep doing that with his team, and listen, he's a coach. He is going to try to coach to win, right?
Like, that is inherently what he is here to do. I think he's got a season, you know? Like, you've got a season to see how it goes, and... Adam Foote had a hard time, partly because the team stank from the beginning, but was also sold as something they never proved to be, which is a team that we thought was going to contend for the playoffs. And... By the middle of the season, it was clear that was not going to happen, and the captain was gone, and on and on and on. So, you know, failing some sort of catastrophic further failure, and I don't see where that would be, it is hard to see people really going sour before the end of the season. And, you know, realistically, you need to see growth going into that second season.
In season two, if things are not improving, if things are not looking better, then I certainly think people will start calling for change or getting frustrated or what have you.
Is it misplaced to get too excited about the continuing development of the young players that he had in Abbotsford that he hasn't seen for a year? It's easy to point to that and say, hey, they could get even better now that they've got their whisperer back. Is that too easy to make that leap?
Well, I think realistically, you have to remember that star players are the guys you know are going to be star players. Linus Carlsen is a great story, right? And has proved himself to be a very competent NHL winger, right?
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Chapters
4 chapters
1
What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
0:02–5:50
2
How did Manny Malhotra come across at his first Rogers Arena press conference?
5:50–9:18
3
How long is Manny Malhotra likely to get as head coach before fans demand results?
9:18–18:39
4
Can Manny Malhotra accelerate development of Abbotsford prospects in Vancouver?
18:39–22:40
Speakers
3 identifiedMore from Sekeres & Price Show
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