Halford & Brough in the Morning - Allvin Out

Episode Date: April 17, 2026

In hour one, Mike & Jason look back at the previous day in sports (3:00), plus they discuss the news that the Vancouver Canucks have fired General Manager Patrik Allvin (27:00). This podcast is produced by Andy Cole and Greg Balloch. The views and opinions expressed in this podcast are those of the hosts and guests and do not necessarily reflect the position of Rogers Media Inc. or any affiliate.

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It is time now for our morning guest list. It's the Duick Morning Drive, brought to by the Duick Auto Group, and it's going to be shorter than usual because we've got a lot of stuff to get into and some potentially huge news as it pertains to your Vancouver Canock. 7 o'clock, AJ from AJ's Pizza is going to

join the program. Brough mentioned. To ask us anything Friday, $100 gift card to AJ's for the best AUA. You know how to get them in. At 7.30, Asa Raymond's going to join the program, play by play voice of the white caps. White caps are back in action tonight, 730 from BC Place. And then when we talk to Rick Dollywall at 8 a.m. this morning, we're going to have a lot of things to discuss. Intrepid Canucks reporter from Donnie and Dolly on Czech TV. He's going to join us at 8 this morning.

We're doing the bar inside giveaway. we're doing all our usual Friday stuff, but I'm trying to move this along because we have a lot to get into. So without further ado, Greg, let's tell everybody what happened. Hey, did you guys see the game last night? No. What happened? I missed all the action because I'm losing. We know how busy your life can be.

What happened? Missed it? You missed that? What happened is brought to you by the BC Construction Safety Alliance. Making safety simpler by giving construction companies best in tools, resources, and safety training. Visit them online at BCCSA.ca.ca. Before I break this news to the listeners, I will say this is pretty unique

and the circumstances are not what we usually expect. But Patrick Alvin is out as general manager of the Vancouver Canucks according to a report out of Swedish media. Late last night and then early into this morning, this is according to Aftan Blotet, which is a Swedish news outlet. I read it every morning. It's my favorite Swedish news outlet. one of my favorite Scandinavian tabloids.

Do you have the new afternoon-blooded? And there it is. We're still doing accents. Alvin is set to be dismissed by the Vancouver Canucks. There is not a ton of clarity right now whether this news has been delivered to Patrick Alveen, whether Patrick Alvin traveled with the team yesterday to Edmonton for the team's final game of the regular season, which they got shelled and we'll get into that later.

According to the provinces, Patrick Johnson, both Alvin and Rutherford have been contacted for comment. Neither have replied as of yet. All we know right now is that a prominent Swedish news outlet, Afton Blatt, is reporting that Patrick Alvin is out as general manager of the Vancouver Canucks. I don't want to read too much into a potential translation of a Swedish newspaper, but here's how it's translated. On Thursday evening, the owners agreed to relieve Alvin of his duties.

is there anything to that the owners agreed to relieve Alvin of his duties? We have to be careful with it. We do have to be careful. We have to be careful with it. It's a Google Translate. I think that we've heard a lot about potential power struggles behind the scenes in Vancouver and maybe a lack of agreement on the way forward. And, you know, I just wonder.

what else is going to break today. Sure. What else is going to happen today? Now, the players, I imagine, are going to do their avails. Well, who knows now? Yeah, and get the hell out. Well, they're going to have to. Because, I mean, you know, they usually just do it after their last game of the season.

And they meet the media. They clean out their lockers. If this does happen today, you're putting the players in an obviously tough situation where they're going to be forced to comment on either. the dismissal of their general manager or the reported dismissal of their general manager. Again, the connects have not confirmed this news as of yet, which is why we're handling it in the way that we're handling it.

Now, I will say this. If you want to start connecting the dots and making fair assumptions or not, mid-March, Nick Kiprios put forth a report on Sportsnet.coma that he had been told that Patrick Alvin was telling individuals, telling people, maybe leaking to sources, that he was not going to return as general manager. he was going to be fired from his post. You could then say that maybe there's a line to be drawn between Kiprio's report

and then the news that the first prominent outlet to report Alvin's dismissal was a Swedish news outlet. Alvin, of course, being the first ever Swedish general manager in NHL history. Again, draw your own conclusions, draw lines between whatever you want, but there definitely seems to be at least a correlation there that's worth exploring. there were rumors starting at the beginning of the season and I remember Patrick Johnston writing this that if things went a little sideways

Patrick Alvin was going to be the fall guy and I do think that maybe not now is the time to have this conversation but if Alvin is the guy that you know where is it that wears it I don't know how fair that is

that's a very good point i think we can discuss it right now if this does happen look we're going to work on the assumption that this is news and this is happening okay here's a text into the dunbar lumber text line and it's it's a little harsh but i kind of agree with it in theory unsigned text must be nice for jim rutherford he gets to make all the decisions and when they stink he gets to fire the secretary well there's that element of it look we talked about this yesterday on the show. We've talked about it repeatedly since it happened. And while there wasn't a singular

kiss of death for Alvin's role and his diminished his diminished role in Vancouver, I think it came during the Quinn Hughes trade, both how the trade was orchestrated and in the immediate aftermath,

when Jim Rutherford made it abundantly clear that that was his deal to be made and it was his deal that was made. It was not Patrick Alvin orchestrating the biggest trade, not just of the season, but one of the biggest trade

in franchise history. Because even if you think it's unfair that Alvin would wear this, and maybe it is, another way to look at it is potentially that Jim Rutherford has been tasked with finding

Jim Rutherford's successor and Jim Rutherford doesn't believe that Patrick Alveen is that guy. You know? No, no, no. But it's like, it's like, because some people will look at this. Well, like, this is a punishment for Patrick Alvin

for what has happened, right? Yeah. Maybe it's more about like, okay, we're going to need a successor for Jim Rutherford. We're going to need someone going forward. And we just don't believe he's the right guy to you. We don't believe he has the stuff. So let's get going on the search for the successor right away.

I think there's a lot of layers to it. And I think there's a lot of different reasons why this might have happened. So it's not rather for trying to find another fall guy now? Well, I need to find another fall guy. Okay. You know what? I'm being facetious. I don't think it's even that facetious is that within this structure and within this organization,

if you always have a president of hockey ops and then a general manager serving underneath, that dynamic always exists. But surely he must be looking for another successor. But if it's going to continue the way that it continues, it's always going to exist. Like, is that fair to say? anytime you hire the guy that's underneath you and you don't give full autonomy, there's always going to be that element of,

one, who's really calling the shots? And two, if this goes badly, who's the fall guy? Because in this instance, I tell you who the fall guy was, is Patrick Alvin. Now, this is not to say that Alvin did a wonderful job as general manager and was unjustly fired. And that's probably what clouds

the analysis a little bit. I don't think anyone is here saying that Alvin knocked this job out of the park. or he had a scintillating stint as the first Swedish general manager in the NHL. There were a lot of issues along the way. There was constant, I would say constant communication problems. And I'm not talking about just public speaking. I'm talking about the way that messaging was framed,

the timing of certain messages, how things were relayed to the public and the media. And, and this goes upstairs to Rutherford as well, a general lack of accountability from the guys in charge because we're going to play some Elliot Friedman audio afterwards where he relays this notion that the entire Kinex organization from ownership to the front office is still almost dumbfounded at the way that everything crumbled underneath them.

And it often seems like they were always looking for reasons why. And you heard Jim Rutherford talk about the Pedersen and Miller Rift and you heard Jim Rutherford talk about that, well, one of the biggest, issues with keeping Quinn Hughes is he always wanted to play with his brothers. And it was always something that was outside of the organization's control. Always. And that lack of accountability oftentimes was the prominent message from the president of

hockeyups and Alvin did it as well, the general manager. We played that clip from your question of the presser after the Queen Hughes trade where you asked if they had a culture problem. And his answer was, and I know he was caught off guard, but his answer was on our team. A culture problem on our team? No, in the concessions. And I know you might have been caught off guard. Not you, but the royal you might have been caught off guard.

But you got to be kidding me at that point. You're at that point, you've had a rift between the two, two of the biggest stars on your team that led to one of them getting traded. Your head coach had left. And your star defenseman and captain had just been traded. You should be prepared to answer the question of, whether or not you have a problem in the room and a culture problem. Okay, let's get to that Elliott Friedman audio.

And by the way, the Canucks lost badly in Edmonton last night. Oh, yeah. What was it, 6-1? And by the way, with that, this is symmetry. With that five-goal loss to the Oilers last night, the Canucks officially finished the season with a minus 100-goal differential. Right on the button. Right on the button.

Such a nice clean number. They needed. It reminds me. of when Wayne Gretzky scored five goals in the game to, what did he, oh, to get to 50 goals in 39 games. And he just slid in the empty netter to get there. And like, it was, you know, that happened in Edmonton, too. I respect a nice clean number.

Minus 100. Minus 100. Yeah. I think the next team was maybe Chicago at like minus 60 something. I mean, the Canucks were dead last in the NHL by a mile. by a mind. And, you know, I don't really have anything to say that hasn't been said already, but I guess now that it is officially done, my only conclusion is that there needs to be significant change.

This is an inflection point for the Canucks and just saying, well, we'll get a new general manager or, well, we're rebuilding. that isn't going to cut it. It might cut it for you. It's not going to cut it for me. Me neither. If the philosophy of the organization doesn't change, if the way they handle themselves on an everyday basis doesn't change, if the way they identify and evaluate talent and character doesn't change,

then the rebuild is not going to work. I just don't know how much more of a wake. cup call, an ownership group would need. This team has failed so spectacularly over the last couple of years. So spectacularly. So many chickens

have come home to roost. I mean, have you been to Rogers Arena? It is inundated with roosting chickens. God, they're all roosting. A lot of roost. There's a real smell there. I think that might sell a few tickets personally. I showed up and there was a chicken on my seat

and I got to hang out with said chicken the whole game. You thought it was roasting. Maybe get a few eggs out of the deal. You thought it was roasting chickens. It's roosting, which means it's resting. No, no, no, I'm fine with a live chicken. Yeah, yeah. And you'd be like, this chicken was because you traded away too many draft picks.

And that chicken over there was because you ignored the importance of leadership and culture. That chicken over there was because you did not, you wasted too much cap space. Yeah. And they're just like, they're all coming home to roost. With the ostrich. That was Ekman Lars. In the most recent 32 thoughts, which I believe is either dropping

or has dropped early this morning, Elliot Freeman had a lengthy analysis on what you're talking about, that everything's coming home to roost for the Vancouver Canucks, but that the team is still very much mired in thinking about the past instead of turning the page,

making the decisions, and going to the future. It was a very long clip. I play a bit of a longer, version. I'll leave some of the preamble. Okay, sure. Why not? Why not at this point? We're going the first hour completely uninterrupted Canucks anyway. So this is Frege on the Canucks, talking about how they need organizationally to make the decisions and turn the page.

Elliot Friedman for the most recent 32 thoughts. I think the biggest thing that the Canucks have to do is make their decisions and then turn the page. I don't know if there's a market in the league that looks to the past more than Vancouver does, or debates the past more than Vancouver does. I think they have to make that a focal point. We're turning the page and we're not talking about the history ever again. Now, saying that, Kyle, I think that the way the last two seasons unraveled,

after that playoff birth and great series with the Oilers, has been an earthquake inside the organization. And like I've said, several times this year, I don't think they really understand how they got here from there. And I don't think they've ever felt they got the best possible answers to it. And I don't think, I think they're still in disbelief that here's where, We are. That two years after that series, they were in 32nd in the league. And one of the reasons I think there's still some uncertainty over what may happen here

is because I don't think they're satisfied or can completely comprehend how we got here. I just think it's been a lot of disbelief culminating in the Hughes trade. And it's sort of, I think they've had a difficult time figuring out, you know, now they've accepted their rebuilding, right? But I think there's other parts about the path from here on out that they've struggled with. how do we address it or how do we go about it or you know who leads it or what our leadership structure is what our overall structure is since the Hughes trade it was really as shocked as the fans were and as shocked as we were I think it really rocked the organization too so I still don't have a great grasp on where exactly they're going to go here. There's real disappointment.

But I do think that whatever they decide to do, they have to say, all right, new era, that was disappointing, but we're closing the books and we're moving on. Enough worrying about the past. You know, the whole Ryan Johnson stuff, the, you know, Rick Dallowall reported that Nashville asked for permission to talk to him. The Canucks have disputed that. I think there's a little bit of semantics there. I do think Nashville wanted to talk to him. I think the Canucks felt when Johnson got an extension,

there was an agreement that he wasn't going to pursue any other opportunities. So I guess it just comes down to how you look at it. You know, Pedersen, I think, is the big one, Kyle. And, you know, obviously he's had a really difficult year off the ice, too, in his family life. And I'm hugely sympathetic to that. But I do think that they're going to sit down with him if they haven't already and looked at the potential outcomes. The Canucks have made it clear. They don't want to eat money.

And I think there will be teens. who will look at this and will investigate it. And I think there will be teams who may ask to meet with Pedersen, but I don't think trading him, if everybody wants to do that, including Patterson himself, who has the ultimate say, I don't think it's going to be impossible. But what I do think that, you know, everybody involves going to have to be creative on what they're willing to do.

And secondly, I think there are teams. who will consider it as long as they can talk to Pedersen first. I think they want to get to know him a bit more before they trade for him. So this idea that Elliot put forward that the Canucks can't understand how they got to this point, like what happened? That is probably an infuriating thing for a lot of fans to hear. I'm thinking about the ones who've been warning the Canucks about things like asset management for years, the ones who kept pleading for the Canucks to patiently build a roster instead of making win now moves for a team that wasn't ready to win consistently.

I mean, put it this way, the you need an army crowd isn't all that surprise that the Canucks have ended up here. And neither is the crowd that says your top players have to be your top players. Your top players have to be leaders. Your top players have to have character. The Canucks put their trust in a trio of players, J.T. Miller, Elias Pedersen, and Quinn Hughes, who didn't lead very well. And I think you can question how much they wanted to win, their character, their knowledge of how to win,

all three are very different personalities. And some of them showed leadership qualities at times for sure. Yeah. But clearly, the right culture did not get established under their watch and under the watch of management. I keep thinking about the Canucks top brass wondering how they got to this point and the are we the are we the baddies keeps playing in my in my brain like you know

I don't know if everyone knows that skits Mitchell and Webb English guys and it's a couple of like SS guys and they're sitting there fighting the Russians and and they're like one of them goes like we've got skulls on our cap like are we? Are we the baddies? See? And it's kind of like, it's like, you know, because the Canucks have this idea that sometimes, like, it feels like they've got this siege mentality that everyone's out to get them.

Well, that's where I wanted to go with it. Everyone's out to get them and everyone is just criticizing them. And it's unfair. And why are people always criticizing us? And then, you know, like, I wonder if there's been any realization from ownership is like, maybe some of those critics like they kind of had a point

that's kind of where I wanted to go with it because in that clip that you're talking about the critics right in that clip you're talking about there is an actual moment of self-reflection it's when they actually ask for the first time wait is it us yeah yeah I don't think the connects

have ever gotten there I really don't I don't think they've ever had a moment where they're like should we look inward is it us did we make a mistake, the public messaging put forth, and again, specifically in the case of the Miller Pedersen Rift and Quinn Hughes

wanting to play with his brothers. And as someone pointed out in the in-basket, the injuries, there's never been a moment where any of those things have been turned inward and the questions have been asked that are we at fault for this? It's always immediately defensive and blame it on something else and put it

on someone else. Miller and Pedersen had a fight. We couldn't have seen that coming. Had nothing to do with us. And, you know, Quinn Hughes never wanted to be here anyway. I always wanted to go play this, but it had nothing to do with us. Nothing, nothing to do with us. We're perfect. And that's why a reimagining of this entire thing, this entire thing is so important.

It might have started with Patrick Alvin earlier. And in case you missed it, before we go to break, I will remind everyone of the news this morning. According to Swedish news outlet, Afton Blotidt, Patrick Alvin is reportedly out as general manager of the Vancouver Canock. Again, this is the only report that we've got of that so far. We are waiting for confirmation. Patrick Johnson of the province has reached out to both Patrick Alvin and Jim Rutherford for comment, but this broke late overnight, and we are just picking up on the story this morning.

We will continue to chase throughout the show and try and get confirmation, but we are going obviously connects heavy on the show today. We're going to continue this conversation on the other side. If you want to weigh in, Dunbar Lumber text message in Basket is 650, 650. We will continue the Kinex conversation on the other side. You're listening to the Halford & Brough show on SportsNet 650. It's Kinnock Central on SportsNet 650. From exclusive interviews to insider scoops and post-game breakdowns, we've got it all.

Tune in weekdays 4 to 6 p.m. on radio and on demand through your favorite podcast app. On a Friday, happy Friday, everybody. Halford Brough, Sportsnet 650. It's a fiesta Friday here on the Halford & Brough show. Halford and Brought for the morning is brought to you by Sands and Associates. They're ready to give you the financial fresh start that you deserve. With no judgment or upfront fees, visit them today at Sands-Trustee.com. We're still in hour one of the program, Hour 1,

is brought to you by North Star Metal Recycling. Vancouver's premier metal recycler pays the highest prices on scrap metal. North Star Metal recycling, they recycle you get paid. Visit them at 1170 Powell Street in Vancouver. The Fiesta Friday is. Tough look. We're going to press on. We're going to move ahead.

According now to multiple North American outlets, including reporters like Farhand Lulogy, Darren Drager, and Pierre LeBron, we can confirm that Patrick Alvin has been relieved of his duties as general manager of the Vancouver Canucks. If you did not wake up to hear the beginning first half hour of this show this morning,

we came to air with news that a Swedish outlet afton blotet had reported overnight that alveen had been relieved of his duties we are lacking a little bit of clarity on when the news was delivered if alveen traveled with the team to edmonton for their final game of the season last night but now according to multiple outlets we can confirm that patrick alveen has been relieved of his duties as general manager of the vancouver canucks um so we also believe that the players are going to meet with the the media today um i haven't seen any schedule or anything like that, but perhaps...

May throw a wrench into things. We'll see. So who's going to be the next Connects GM or the next leader of the hockey ops or whatever is a question that is obviously going to be asked now? There has been talk about Ryan Johnson, but there has also been talk that maybe there isn't universal endorsement for Ryan Johnson within the Canucks organization. And another team, the New Jersey Devils, who fired their general manager a couple of weeks ago,

hired a new guy. So the New Jersey Devils hired Sunny Mehta as their general manager on Thursday. The 48-year-old comes to New Jersey after working in Florida's front office, and he's been there for the last six years. But Mehta, who grew up in. New Jersey and actually played high school hockey in the area. First broke into the National League working for the New Jersey Devils from 2014 to 2018 as their director of hockey analytics.

A very unique character, very bright guy. I believe he spent time as a day trader and a professional poker player. Listen to this. Prior to moving into roles with professional sports teams, META made a living as a jazz musician in New Orleans as a professional poker player and a derivatives trader at the Chicago Board of Trade. He is the author of two books on poker. He has a master's degree in data science.

He's a very interesting guy, very well, schooled, well educated, but also a very diverse employment background. He's worked in a lot of different places and a lot of different fields. Kind of jealous of this guy. People are like, what are you interested in? I like to golf. I like sports. What else?

I told you. So I've got a question for the listeners, and it's based on some trends that we're seeing in the NHL, and frankly, the world of sports. And a trend from a lot of very successful teams as well. It's a bit of a sensitive question because I don't want to sound like a snob here. That's what a snob would say. But should some sort of post-secondary education be a bit of. a requirement to run a hockey ops department in this day and age. Or at the very least, should it be something that you look for,

that you say this would be preferable in a candidate. I can't help but think a law degree would be valuable. Sure. In, you know, the salary cap era of the NHL, I think a degree in data science would be extremely valuable because you're getting all the sorts of information and you have to cut through the noise and determine what's significant and what's not.

When the Canucks had their most success, you know, it was Gillis and Gilman. Both those guys had law degrees. Pat Quinn had a law degree. A lot of people don't know that, but yeah, you had a law degree. Again, it's like it's a bit of a sensitive issue because I know, you know, There are lots of successful people without a formal education.

And there are lots of unsuccessful people with like multiple degrees. I mean, Halford has a degree. I have a degree. Come on. Look at us. I have a diploma. But formal education, when it is effective and it isn't always effective. When it is effective, it does train people to break complex problems into parts.

evaluate evidence and data instead of just relying on gut instinct or this is the way it's always been done. And it also teaches people to justify or reevaluate their decisions when they're challenged. It's also, it's like, it's tough to get a master's. It's tough to get a law degree. You have to, you have to sit down and work at it. it takes discipline and I think that's a sign. Well, maybe for you.

Oh, it was easy for you to get your lot of degree? No problem. He graduated university at 13. Okay, look, again, I don't, please don't text in about, you know, you know it's going to go that way. I know it. But look, you're obviously still going to want a GM that knows the sport as good with people can handle the pressure of their job.

But I just don't think we should ignore what some of the more successful teams have been doing. and a lot of them are looking for people that are really, really bright people. And, you know, it's not just that they have a master's degree or a law degree. It's that, like, they're capable of getting it. And there is a certain way of thinking that's taught in law school. And there's obviously a certain way of thinking that's taught when, you're dealing with data and statistics and probabilities. And I think it's very, very helpful and important to be able to think that way.

You can teach yourself if you want, but to be able to think that way in when you're running a team that you often do have to break down complex problems and you do have to plan over years for the future. And you do have to sometimes change your plan and reevaluate your plans. and it's not just like looking in the past and blaming what happened and throwing your hands up in the air. Yeah, okay, so there's a lot of different layers

to this. Obviously, what you set from the like beginning of that conversation about, I don't want to come across as a snub. But it really shouldn't be about the educated against the non-educated and shouldn't be about university graduate. I know, and you're not changing, but people are going to take it that way

because some people didn't go to university and can't think critically. I'm kidding. I'm kidding. Just joking. But there's something to be said for trends across professional sports. And what you're seeing more and more is that the teams that have an extraordinary amount of success are often the ones that have a lot of resources put into proper data analysis, understanding that there's a particular process that they go through in reading,

scientifically analyzing that data, but also the freedom for the people that are working with that data to make the decisions based on what they've learned. You can't have roadblocks within your organization. You can't hire someone that's got this wealth of knowledge and education and information and then not let them flourish. You can't just be like, go go work in the corner.

And that's a sort of classic trope too, right? The nerd in the corner. Now, this isn't to say that real life experience doesn't matter or should be sloughed off. you mentioned Lawrence Gilman there, right? Gilman had his law degree, but when I did an interview with him, this was after he had been removed

from the Vancouver Canucks was still looking for work. He has this anecdote. I think it's kind of folksy, but I think he also believes it. He said the most important job he ever had, getting him ready for the jobs that he would later have. And hockey was when he was a waiter at the keg in Winnipeg. And he said it was because you had to go up

and you had to sort of read a table right away and figure out what they wanted, what the vibe was, how you were going to react in a moment's notice. And he said it really helped him in negotiations because he said the back and forth, sometimes situations arrive that you can't prep for and that's going to be able to help you think on your toes.

And I'm like, wow, what a great experience. What a great anecdote from a guy that has a wealth of education. But one of the most important jobs was waiting tables at the keg. Yeah, yeah. So it can be for sure. You need to be well-rounded and you need to have a lot of different jobs. tools in your belt. But to go back to this sunny meta, a higher here, traditionally speaking, he is outside the hockey people circle. He didn't play junior. He didn't have three roommates in

college that went on to play in the NHL. He's, I mean, like, look at the jobs that he had. He's a thinker. He's a thinker. But also just unique in the sense that he tried his hand, pardon the pun, at being a pro poker player. played jazz in New Orleans. All these things just give you an outside perspective from what can be, can be at times a pretty insular hockey world.

And that can force the guys that you're working with to maybe share your thoughts. Like are we not looking at this from a bunch of different perspectives? Are we maybe mired in just the way that we look at things? And as we tied back to the Vancouver Canucks, I think one of their problems over the last few years is that they've always looked at things

through one particular lens. And it's always been, how are these things happening to us? How are these things always affecting our organization? Maybe do we need a perspective where we look inward? Do we need someone to come in and say, guys, the issues aren't with everyone outside this organization. It's within.

And sometimes you need an outside the box thinker or someone that has a totally different life experience to get there. And that's why, again, when we go back to the Vancouver Canucks, they have been in a very weird way, gifted a great opportunity here. And it is to completely reimagine top to bottom what you are as an organization. Because there's nowhere to go but up. You were the worst team in the national hockey league this year by a country mile. As you pointed out earlier, you had a minus 100 goal differential.

That's hard to do. You have to be really bad at hockey. Really bad. Yeah. You finished 32nd in the NHL by a long shot. the next team was like 15, 20 points clear of you. You have to be really bad at hockey to do that. And you have an opportunity here.

And it can't, honestly, it can't stop with Alvin. It can't just be we're going to move out the GM that's only been here for four years anyway. You really need to take a look at this thing and say, how can we change significantly? Best practices. Talent evaluation. Amateur scouting. Pro scouting. alignment, which we hear so much about.

Is there all these things in place so that when you draft and develop and stockpile talent, they're going into a system that's going to help them flourish and isn't going to, you know, stump them along the way? It's a big task, but it starts today. I hope this is the first of many moves where the connects are making new hires and new decisions to try and set a path forward where they're going to be successful. And they're going to say, we're going to take more responsibility for all. of our actions moving forward.

Okay. Should we table the Canucks news until we know a little bit more about what's going on? It has been confirmed the original report out of Sweden that Patrick Galvin has been relieved of his duties by the Vancouver Canucks. It has been confirmed by a number of insiders. So we'll see if the Canucks have a press release at any point today and we'll see what they're going to do with their player availability. by the way.

When they're going to schedule their... It is scheduled. Okay. Player availability right now, again, right now, according to Connects PR, year end media avails with the players is going to start at 10 a.m. Okay.

So that'll be an hour after we get off the air. Yeah. Unfortunately for the players, on top of everything else, they were going to have to answer following this dismal season, they're now going to have to answer a lot of questions about

their previous general manager. I think the next questions are going to be, you know. What happened? Well, the one is going to be, you know, pretty crazy what happened, eh? The most obvious one is you answer is like, do you feel a sense of responsibility that, as soon as the season was done,

your general manager was left to walk? Who's going to be the most interesting interview of the players? Pedersen. Why? He never says anything. They're going to have to ask them the questions now. Right? Well, they ask them the questions all the time.

Lest we forget, this was the general manager. now you're going to quibble with wasn't really the general manager but for argument's sake the general manager that made him the highest paid player on the team the richest contract in NHL in franchise history

I will quibble with that because I think it was Rutherford I know but you got to he was the general manager at the wheel right I mean my first question would be like how do you feel that the general manager that was in charge when you became the highest paid player

in franchise history is now been dismissed from his job right how much responsibility to you and the rest of the players feel that Patrick Lelving are fired. Those are legitimate questions. I mean, do you want to be here next year? I think Pedersen.

Would you be welcome to a trade? Those are all things, right? Questions for him. I don't know if you'd answer them. But don't you think Pedersen himself exemplifies a bit of a lack of accountability? Yeah, but that's not what I'm talking about with when they meet today. Like those are the questions that you could ask in the aftermath of the Alvin dismissed. Right. If a new general manager comes in and says, we'd like to trade you, would you be, would you welcome that trade? That's a pretty straightforward one, right?

Yeah, I just don't expect to hear anything. Who knows? Who knows? I mean, maybe Philip Pironic will have something to say. You know, always loquacious, Philiperonic? Well, I mean, look, if he wants the captain's job, and he seems to be kind of, I don't know, running a campaign for it. He's cool with it, I would say. That's how I would classify it.

He's cool with it. But if he does, maybe we're going to see a different Philoporonic today. Sure. Is Thatcher Demko going to be available today? Is he going to be up there? Maybe some questions about all the work that he has to do, his confidence level of returning to the form that he once showed before injuries derailed everything.

You know, I think the young players might provide some of the optimism if they get up there and say, like, I really want to be part of this team, and I want to be part of this movement to bring. this team back to respectability. Yeah. I think that could be interesting. And then look,

don't forget, we've got some pretty exciting playoff games starting this weekend. Oh, yeah. I know there are going to be complaints about the playoff format. Because I think, what are the seeds of Pittsburgh

and Philadelphia in the Eastern Conference? Two, three? No, no, no. But like overall in the Eastern, conference, where did those two teams finish? Oh, okay, yeah. I think they might be like six, seven.

Sorry, guys. The Bruins, the Bruins. Six, seven. Nice. Greg's doing the hands. Need a dog cam. The Bruins being a hundred point wildcard team is kind of hilarious, especially when you look at that old other.

Actually, the penguins and flyers are seven, eight in terms of their seedings, and they're going to meet in the first round. and then so too are two of the top five teams in the National Hockey League in Dallas and Minnesota. So the playoffs schedule, by the way, and I know that we're jumping all over the place, but it's been a very, very busy morning. Playoffs start Saturday. Saturday afternoon, as a matter of fact. And it begins with the Carolina Hurricanes and the Ottawa Senators. That series obviously gets underway in Carolina.

That's a matinee on Saturday. We got three games on Saturday. Later Saturday, that series I was just talking about, the Minnesota Wild go to Dallas. Dallas has home ice. in that one to open the Western series between the second and third place teams in the central. Then the nightcap on Saturday,

the primetime game, it's the one you were just talking about. Pittsburgh hosts Philly in their series opener. Sunday we get the real like extravaganza of playoff hockey. Four games on the slate. You got the L.A. Kings who last night, because of the results,

Edmonton winning, Anaheim winning. L.A. falls to the second wildcard and they will take on the president's trophy winning Colorado Avalanche. After that, you're going to get Tampa Bay and Montreal in what is the series I'm most looking forward to in the first round. That's the must watch for me.

That's the one where I'm scheduling time. Like, I'm watching every game of that series. For sure. I'm also really intrigued about Boston Buffalo. Oh, yeah. That's going to be a great one as well. That also goes on Sunday. Sunday at 430R time,

I will flip away from Montreal and Tampa just to see what the crowd is like in Buffalo. that's going to be awesome. And then finally on Sunday, you get Utah, the first wild card going up against John Tortorella and the Pacific Division champion Vegas Golden Knights. Now, if you're wondering about that others. So the Oilers and Ducks don't play until Monday, right? They don't play until Monday.

I can't believe the Oilers got the ducks in the first round. After that, after that season that the Oilers had, which was not good for them, they get, I think, the worst team that made the playoffs. Yep. I'm willing to have a conversation about L.A. being the worst, but I think if you ask me right now, I'd say Anaheim is the worst. But, but Anaheim, Evanton games this year have been wildly entertaining. Now, granted, most games involving Evanton have been wildly entertaining because they can't defend their goaltending stinks and they have Connor McDavid. I think this series has the potential for maybe goalie changes from both teams repeatedly. I don't know if they'll actually go to different starters.

but I think that this one might be more competitive than we think because of the ability for Anaheim to put pucks in the back of the head. They do score well. I'll say that, right? Kutter Gochay is a 40 goal score. They've got good offensive weapons. They can take advantage of a team that's Lucy Goosey defensively. And you're also talking about an Oilers team that's going with the

Connor Ingram and Tristan Jari break glass in case of emergency option. So I think that there's some real potential for fireworks there. But if you had to ask me right now, I'd say, One, the favorite and two is going to win that series. I like this from Bob and Nanaimo. He said Anaheim probably got the best matchup they could have. Maybe. Maybe.

If it's going to be running gun hockey. Yep. I don't think that they're. They can put goals past. Connor Ingram. If the options were you're going to play Vegas or you're going to play Colorado, obviously you don't want Colorado, I think maybe.

You know, I'm not 100% sold on Vegas's goaltending either. I don't know what to... I'm not sold on Vegas. I like what they did down the stretch under Torrance. I think Torz did a very smart thing. And then he went in there and did the old, I'm going to be the opposite of my predecessor. I'm not going to grind these guys to a nub like Cassidy did.

He almost pulled a Bruce Boudreau. A little bit. He's like, you guys are good players. I'm going to stay out of the way. You just said anytime I need to... Plus, we're playing Vancouver twice. We got Calgary, I think, in there, which shouldn't be a problem. Torts understood the assignment.

Okay, he knew what... He's like, if I just get out of their way, they're going to beat a bunch of bad teams. And we're going to get some confidence going into the playoffs. Very, very, very excited for the playoffs. I believe the Vancouver Canucks have just made the announcement, Jason, that Patrick Alvin has been dismissed as general manager. So here's how it was written on social media. Jim Rutherford, president, hockey operations,

announced today that Patrick Alvin has been relieved of his duties as general manager. So it is officially official now. And it was Jim Rutherford that made the announcement. I mean, I guess you have to do it. And he made sure he made sure it was like, put president of hockey ops in there just so everyone remembers. So this is going to, you know, it was funny. We had Thomas

Drance on the show midweek and he said, I'm not going to make any significant plans over the weekend. And that wasn't just because of a lack of a social calendar. He was pretty much convinced that there was going to be big news coming down this weekend and we got it started earlier than even he expected. So Alvin is out.

The players are going to meet with the media today beginning at 10 a.m. I really got to wonder what's coming next this weekend. Because say this about the Alvin dismissal. It was done promptly. We don't even, we haven't even talked about Adam Foote. Nope. That's another thing.

Well, that's the next thing, right? I don't know. I mean, Brotherford could be next. Could be. Yeah. Right? We don't know how this is going to go. The chronology, it might matter and it might not.

I'm really not quite sure yet. I'm really trying to get a read on this situation. But Alvin being first to go kind of felt like an inevitability. And it kind of felt like the right thing for a fall guy to do is to take the fall. What happens next gives you a real idea of where the winds of change are blowing within the organization. We got a lot more to get to on the program. I know it's been a crazy start to the show and there's been a lot of news breaking here.

So we're going to talk to AJ from AJ's pizza coming up next. We're going to set up a weekend in which you should go to AJ's to eat pizza, drink beer and watch sports. We'll get back into, we should dive into the Dunbar Lumber text message in basket, I think, because a lot of people are weighing in right now. We are going to talk to Asa Raymond because there is a big game in downtown Vancouver tonight, your white caps are playing at BC Place. And Thomas Mueller wants you to be there and fill out the lower bowl.

So we will take a brief diversion in the 7 o'clock hour to talk a little white caps. At 8 o'clock, Rick Dollywell is going to join the program. We were going to have an NBA guest on to talk about the playoffs. And we were like, we can't do that. We had to bounce him. By the way, his handler bounced him like basketball. His handler actually got a whole. of A-Dog and it was like, I bet you guys are going to talk Vancouver Canucks this morning.

Do you want to reschedule? And we were like, thank you. Dear Handler. That's nice. That's very considerate. They knew the assignment as well. It's a big Canucks day here. Can you imagine? If we had the NBA guests.

They're like, even for the Halperd & Brough show, this is kind of a dick move. So what do you think of Alvin's firing? He's like, oh, yeah, it's terrible. Yeah. So if you missed it, Patrick Alvin is officially out as general manager of the Vancouver Canucks. We will continue to cover this throughout the morning and then of course 8 o'clock Rick Dollywold is going to join us

for everything he knows. Hour one is in the books. You're listening to the Halford Inbrough show on Sportsnet, 650.