Halford & Brough in the Morning - Canucks Goalie Coach Ian Clark's Role Is Changing

Episode Date: August 21, 2024

In hour three, Jason Brough and guest host Josh Elliott-Wolfe chat with NHL.com & In Goal Magazine's Kevin Woodley (1:04) about Thatcher Demko's recovery, as well as new goalie coach changes for the team, plus the boys tell us what they learned (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 Kevin Woodley, and he is a presentation of White Rock Hyundai. I appreciate you taking the time, Kevin. The latest news that Dolly Wall reported moments ago that Ian Clark potentially could be stepping away as Canucks goalie coach, but maybe taking on a different role with the team. What are your thoughts on that?

Well, like, at first, when andy contacted me on monday i'm like what the hell are we gonna talk about right like i was literally looking at my email i'm like oh uh some betting site sent me an email about uh how their ai revealed the canucks to have the most attractive team in the nhl maybe we can work that yeah i was, what do you think about Askarov? I don't really care, but I don't know. People are talking about it. Now we got some stuff. Obviously, Ricky, as always, is very well informed.

And I guess I have to wait and see what that position is. He carried multiple titles before, goaltending coach and director. I do know that there was a succession plan in place with Marco Terranius. You know, like the whole idea when he was hired in the American League, because don't forget Marco,

like Marco may not have been a name that, you know, a lot of people outside the goalie world know, but this is a guy who was very gainfully employed in the KHL, you know, worked for the team and with Igor Shishkerkin coming up through Russia. And so bringing him over wouldn't happen if it was just for an AHL thing. There was always a transition plan in place. I kind of assumed it would be next year.

And that Ian would be in more of a mentorship director role. I mean, we just saw the Rangers announce Benoit Allaire in a director role this year with some of his apprentices moving up into the roles underneath him. So does that happen here? I mean, you know, I feel like it's got to be at least 10 teams now, including the last two cup winners, have a director of goaltending. We're seeing teams expand four and five. So is that the

way this heads i'm not sure um we'll have to wait and see and get more information uh rick dropping that tweet nine minutes before i was going on air didn't exactly give me time to work the phone so um yeah i i'm not surprised at some level um but like i said the timing and let's see what that role looks like is it possible that ian clark just just wants to like not travel as much not do the day-to-day grind i'm not saying he's like jim rutherford's age but kind of that similar idea where jim rutherford's was like i'm the president of hockey ops patrick galvin is the GM, and he does the grindy stuff. Well, I mean, and again, like I said, I think there's close to 10 of these now.

Vegas had one when they won a cup. Florida obviously has one. Actually, Florida's got like five guys in the organization now dedicated to the position. Calgary, even Arizona had a director of goaltending. The Capitals were the first ones to win a cup. So that sort of trend is not new. It may be tied to physical.

I mean, it's funny. Goalie coaches, they're beating their body takes compared to other coaches. And people are going to be like, what the hell is this guy talking about? Stefan Waite had to have both shoulders repaired because of all the pucks he was shooting when he was with the Montreal Canadiens and had to step away a little bit or off the ice a little bit for a period because he had both shoulders uh surgically repaired benoit lair's hips are bad knees are a major problem there's nights in the press box where i've seen ian barely able to walk and i know there's been multiple

procedures there so i would imagine it's probably and again not knowing but my guesswork, maybe that physical toll started to get extracted a year earlier than the plans were with the contract. And don't forget, the contract was the old regime. So I'm kind of curious to see how this all plays out here. at another position in the organization you would hope that there's still an ability to be involved and the reason you would hope that is just take a look at what happened when he left columbus to sergey bobrovsky and to jacob markstrom when he left vancouver the first year after and went to calgary um this guy is one of the best coaches in the league for a reason uh the things he does to get his guys ready uh and to get them out there playing instinctively all the work that gets done in practice allows them to go out there and play freely without thinking and quite often when that is removed or has been in the past among his elite guys there's been a real drop off in the short term as they sort of struggle to not have that

person in place sort of creating all those drills and creating that freedom of not having to think about what they're doing when they're on the ice now again terranious will be a great transition because he's already learned the ropes of the in clark system and brings his own uh you know twist to it as well but you know that's been the history and it's certainly at least uh you know not a red flag but one worth watching early this season how demanding is ian clark to work with um i mean i'll put it this way uh you know i and i think it's probably why his body's falling apart a little bit on him, too. He demands that his goaltenders are the hardest-working guys on the team, and I know that he always tells them that that means he's going to be the hardest.

He's right there with them, right? So he's not going to go get other shooters to shoot pucks for him and drills. He's going to do a lot of it himself, and that takes a toll. But that's the mantra. We play the most important – i've heard him say this we play the most important position on the team therefore we have to be the hardest workers on the team he's very demanding he demands a lot out of his guys um some might argue that that he pushes you know too hard and yet it's hard to argue with the track record of success you know again like don't forget bob didn't just stumble into two Veznas.

He arrived out of Philadelphia as a throwaway. Completely transformed his game. Look at Jacob Markstrom before and after. Look at Thatcher Demko before and after. Same goalie physically in terms of what he brought to the table, but how he plays the game is completely different from pre and clark um what do you make of the other news from rick dollar rick yesterday's news which is so old now but uh the news that thatcher demko may not be ready for training camp or maybe his rehab um hasn't gone perfectly and the idea that we actually don't really know if

Factor Demko has had some sort of surgical procedure? Yeah, certainly it's hard to envision the first part without the latter part. And the questions will be asked, how do we get from here if not? Just given, I i mean he was literally flying in the crease morning skate game seven second round of the playoffs looked like he was ready to hop on the ice and go i was shocked by how good he looked so how do we get from there to here um without a procedure there's certainly been a lot of talk in the goalie world that that there has been one um but i'm not able to confirm that well i guess we'll have to wait to see if thatcher or the canucks confirm that uh in terms

of timeline i don't i don't actually i i for nhl 32 and 32 project i talked to patrick alveen on uh monday when i asked about it the exact quote was thatcher's in town he's working here and our hope is that he will be up and running and ready for the season and my bad it was pre-Dolly Wall tweet so I did not follow up with does that mean training camp but certainly since Rick's uh report uh poking around a little bit uh I don't expect that he would be ready for training camp, but that doesn't mean he won't be ready for this season. What can the Canucks do or what do they need to do as an insurance policy? I suppose. Well, I guess it depends what you're insuring for, right? Like, you know,

and again, like Rick Rick reported PTO. And listen, like, that's the one thing here. Like, it's all the insider here. I don't pretend to be an insider on this stuff. More of the analyst role, have relationships around the league with most of the goalies and most of the goalie coaches. So I get stuff that way, but I'm not really an insider. But everything Rick reports tends to be pretty darn accurate. So I get stuff that way, but I'm not really insider, but everything,

everything Rick reports tend to tend to be pretty darn accurate. So I trust him. There's a reason, reason the market trusts him because he's so good at it. So when he says PTO, that kind of screams to me that situation that I just talked about, not ready for training camp, but expected to be ready for the season. And so that's more of a short-term fix if you're looking for a long-term fix the irony is the list of free agent goaltenders is almost non-existent but it still contains a guy that i had at the top of my list when free agency started and that's kevin lincoln his adjusted numbers over the past two seasons in nashville put him like he was my breakout candidate for this season i've said it in multiple markets since the start of free agency even predating free agency as a predictor and i did this with

charlie lindgren when the capital signed him said that we'd look back at that as one of the best signings of the off season and now he's an nh one, making $1.3 million in the final year of that deal. Same numbers that Conor Ingram presented, the underlying numbers at Clearside Analytics, when it suggested that he's a guy you should target off waivers, and now he's a starter in the National Hockey League. Like, Lankanen looks ready to pop statistically. I'm shocked that he's still a free agent. I think maybe it had to do with price range,

and probably not enough teams have access to those statistics. And some of the other stuff isn't as flattering. It doesn't dig into the minutia to see how good he's really been. He made $2 million in Nashville last year, so maybe the price tag was high in that. Outside of Brassois and stolars nobody was going that high for a backup so for whatever reason he's still available i just don't see him as a pto guy like he's a guy who you know i believe has offers and so the the options beyond

that are carter hot heart which is not an option um and it gets pretty thin right like and you know it's funny martin jones my understanding is he's retiring okay so i don't think he's an option either and ironically he's probably north vancouver right now um but he hasn't been training i do not believe he has any intention of continuing to play so i don't think he becomes an option and And so, yeah, you can go find a guy to, to, to plug a hole in, um, training camp. Uh, but I, I just don't see it being of the pedigree of Lankan and it, and it falls off from there. Um, the good news is if you don't get the answers you want in the next month and a

half heading into the regular season, in terms of where your number one goaltender is at there's a little thing called the waiver wire and there are a bunch of teams that are three deep with nhl proven guys that i would have you know not ahead of lankanen but ahead of anybody else on that list like like i think chris Dreger ends up on waivers in Florida. I think that James Reimer ends up on waivers in Buffalo. Unless teams decide that they're going to run a three-goalie system,

and certainly Buffalo's done it before, the Red Wings have four NHL guys, although you could argue over Jack Campbell being one of them, but Alex Lyon, for all he's done in the NHL, could also end up on waiver. So unless some of these teams hold on to three goalies long term and in the NHL, there are going to be options on the waiver wire if you think you need help for the start of the season. Maybe more so than what you're going to be able to get on a PTO basis.

Because I just don't see Lankan in it. He's just too good for a PTO. Kev, one of the things that we promised the listeners we'd ask you is, is there something about Thatcher Demko, the way he plays, his body, that makes him more injury susceptible than others? That's such a tough question. Listen, the way he plays, the way they play, the amount of pace, it's very demanding.

The style that they play, they're in and out of the post, they're down and on the knees. It's a very demanding physical style. And I do think up until the last year or so, I'm not sure that the training that was being done was goalie specific enough. Um, and, and so the human body was not designed to drop into a butterfly. It sure as hell wasn't designed to do it at six foot four with levers that long internal rotation of the hips and all

the stress that points on the joints around it and so to do it at the pace and the speed and the power that thatcher operates under and that's what allows him to be so good puts even more stress on those joints so i i'm not ready to say that like thatcher demk i i know that that talks out there i do think a lot of these injuries have been one after the other and related, and I don't think it, I mean, you spin it however you want, different part of the knee, whatever, but it's not a coincidence he came back for one and got the other one right away in the same knee. And they were working so hard to bring him back.

Yeah, and he was flying out there, right? But there's a difference between being ready to play and being healthy, right? And so I don't know what's happened in the between time, and we'll have to wait for the Canucks. Again, whether they do or don't inform us is their prerogative. Whether it gets out, whether Thatcher wants to answer that question, that's up to them. And I don't know what changed or what had to be done

and whether that included a procedure. But in some ways, to to me from the outside would be almost reassuring. Like that comes with a more fixed timeline and a more like if a surgeon's been in there and had a look, you know exactly what's going on. As opposed to, oh, he had two injuries and it's just taking longer to come back from the second one. Do you know what I mean? Like it's, you know, I'm not a doctor. I just play one on the radio.

But it feels a little less nebulous. It feels like you have a little more concrete answer, even if right now there's uncertainty about the timeline. I mean, the reality is it's the human body, and it's being asked to go in a position and into positions that, as I just said, are not natural for the human body. So maybe it takes a little longer to get comfortable after the amount of trauma of two injuries

in the last six months. How much trust should the Canucks have in the goalies in the organization beyond Thatcher Demko? And I'm not, you know, I'm not being like, what if Thatcher Demko misses the season? I'm just saying, you know, the backups probably need to play a little bit more.

Archer Seelov's, I um i mean for me he was very impressive in the playoffs given the situation he was put in yeah you can look at his overall numbers and say they weren't that impressive but i think he was an impressive um given where he is at in his career given the situation he was put in he was impressive but he obviously has things to learn so i guess the question is like how quickly can he learn has things to learn. So I guess the question is like, how quickly can he learn those things where the Canucks, once they have to make a decision on Thatcher Demko's contract situation, can actually make an informed decision and maybe go with one over the other?

Well, and let's not forget that as of nine minutes before I went on the air, let's add to that equation, making that transition to full-time NHL Let's not forget that as of nine minutes before I went on the air, let's add to that equation. Making that transition to full-time NHL or no longer having the guidance of someone who most people would categorize as a top two goalie coach in the NHL, top two or three. So add that to the mix. There's still lessons to learn.

Obviously, managing um and how to navigate that it became pretty clear in the playoffs right and the Oilers went to town on it like barely a shot a game in the first three with traffic from the point and almost five a game by the end of the series and and a number went in when they when it was important um is he our team's going to target him that way in the regular season do teams pay that much attention to a pre-scout in the regular season like they do in the playoffs probably not but he's going to learn he's going to target him that way in the regular season. Do teams pay that much attention to a pre-scout in the regular season like they do in the playoffs? Probably not,

but he's going to learn. He's going to have an opportunity to learn. And that's the thing I've always loved about our tours is even when he got called up a couple of years ago for the first time, first game, like a lot of people forget the first game didn't go well. And you're like, Ooh,

but he bounced back. Like his ability to manage the pressure, like the mental side of it, which is often the toughest thing to measure we've had so many signs of how well equipped this kid is to handle it um and so it's just a matter of having a little bit of patience and giving him the time to learn some of the other things the physical tools are there the mental tools are there it's just a matter of experience and putting it all together don't forget like this is another guy who you know we lamented the michael di pietro lost season but i think in that same year he barely played and ended up at

the very end of the season down in the echl for a little while right like so he he's still really young and he lost development opportunity you know in part because of decisions made by the organization at the time and in part because it's just COVID. But so he's a little behind on the games played scale. There's a goalie there. I think we all saw that in the playoffs. How ready he is to step into this role right now, again, it's just experience and time and putting the patterns together.

And that's what a lot of this is at this level. It's recognizing patterns, anticipating patterns, and having enough structure in your game to be in the right spot and then build off that awareness as you get better at recognizing it, learning what side of a screen to look around. To look, yeah. That happened a few times in the playoffs that I remember. Oh, you looked the wrong side of the pucks in the net. By the way, Kevin, I'm going to rudely interrupt you

because there is some official news now from the Vancouver Canucks. They have announced that Marco Terenas has been promoted. If people want to get to know him, we had him on the Ingo Radio podcast before that. Don't be promoting yourself while I'm doing breaking news. This is very rude. I'm trying to be rude here. He has been promoted to the goaltending coach of the Canucks.

Current head goalie coach and director of goaltending, Ian Clark, asked for a new position with the team and will now work as a goalie scout and goaltending development coach. So he asked for a new position with the team, and will now work as a goalie scout and goaltending development coach. So he asked for a new position with the team. He's now going to work as a goalie scout and goaltending development coach. Here's the quote from Patrick Alveen. When Ian approached me to say

that he needed to make a change in his role to transition off the ice, we quickly went to work to find a solution. Sounds exciting. With Clarkie wanting something different at the hockey club, we were extremely fortunate to have Marco in the system and ready to take on the responsibility of becoming our new goaltending coach in Vancouver.

Unfortunately, Ian can no longer go on the ice regularly to do the things that have made him successful, but this new role will fit with his expertise and having Clarkie going out to find and develop talent will be a big asset to the organization. Kev, this seems like a big deal. I know they're going to spin it, but this seems like a big deal that Ian Clark will no longer be working on a day-to-day basis with the Canucks goalies yeah um and you can obviously caught me a little off guard there because uh

everything fit right to what we had discussed earlier Terranious uh sounds like health um right in terms of not being able to go on the ice and like I said I, there's just a toll that gets taken right up until you told me the new role. Everything fit. And so the question that I guess would have to be asked is, I mean, listen, he's absolutely right. You know, trying to remember what that quote was like. If you look at the track record, even when he was a goalie coach in Columbus, he had a heavy influence on the scouting. I think they picked seven goalies in the years he was there.

Six of them played in the NHL. Like, that's almost unheard of. And a lot of them at a really high level, certainly above the draft pedigree. And so that does fit. Like, he's really good at that, right? Like, even if you take a look at Seeloff, right? Like, not a guy that a lot of people had eyes on,

and here he is getting the Canucks to the second round of the playoffs this year. What was that worth to the owner? But the part I'm left scratching my head on is the natural transition would just be to make him the director. I talked at the beginning of this interview about how many teams have moved in that direction, how common it is for teams to

expand the department. I guess they are expanding it because in theory they now have to hire for Abbotsford because he's not going to be a coach there. So they'll have three. They'll add a body. I can't figure out why you wouldn't put him in a director role and allow him to work with Marco in this transition period maybe there's a reason uh that I'm missing in terms of why Ian wouldn't be able to be around but without that um yeah those questions I talked about, you know,

take a look at the history of goalies the first year he's gone. If he is removed more than I expected, I'll be curious to see how that goes. It adds a layer of challenge, although he's never going to, like, just bail on Thatcher, and, like, I'm sure he'd be there to help. But, yeah, you've got me in a bit surprised and uh i would have to struggling to make sense of why you wouldn't take advantage of that resource directly um but who knows like maybe in under that new role there's still a window there um to have some type of you know not say because that's the wrong word but to be able to be there

in that in that mentorship guidance role as as Marco transitions up to the end. And again, this is not, Marco's an excellent coach. And was even before he came over here and he's learned in system since he got here. But yeah, that's, that's a bit surprising. And again, we just saw Benoit Allaire who's in that echelon in terms of how he's regarded as a goalie coach um officially announced as a director of goaltending today so to see in transition but not into that role leads me a little bit that's a bit surprising to me and again in part because you know when this deal was done five years ago which predates this regime

that was sort of the expectation was towards the end of it. And like I said, next year more than this year, I expected this transition to happen. And now it's happening early and it's not happening into a role I expected. Kev, it's officially Canucks season, isn't it? Yeah.

It's August 21st. Why they're the hottest team in the NHL. Yeah, it's August 21st. It know, why they're the hottest team in the NHL. Yeah, it's August 21st. It's starting a little earlier than usual. We've still got a few weeks left on the golf course, but I think today it's officially Canucks season. Thanks for joining us on a fairly newsworthy day for the Vancouver Canucks. We'll catch up soon, buddy.

Yeah, no, hopefully that all made sense because you guys were throwing it at me live as we went here. Hopefully I processed it in a way that made sense to the listeners. Give me a minute to wrap my head and we can reconvene next week. All right, go do some work, pal. See you. Okay, bye. That was Kevin Woodley, our goalie guru.

This is weird. It's weird. It's weird. I get what he's saying, though. I hope it wasn't the organization saying hey we don't really need a director of goaltending but we still want ian clark you know in the full it sounds like it sounds like clark went to them well yeah but i'm saying that the director of goaltending he's surprised woodley was surprised they didn't name

him director of goaltending which the rangers just did with their longtime goalie coach benoit lair well he was already the director of goal-testing. Right, but into a specific role, like head of the department kind of role, it doesn't feel like that from the title that he was given. He's just another goalie scout, right? He's obviously the most experienced one they have. Well, get your What We Learns into the Dunbar-Lumber text line at 650-650. I want to hear what the listeners think about this news and anything else in the world of sports.

We've gone a little bit long on this segment, so so we got to go but you're listening to the halford and brough show on sportsnet 650 jam pro the leaders in commercial cleaning and janitorial if your workplace demands a clean environment contact jam pro for free no obligation quote visit jam pro.ca now for my favorite part of the show what'd i say talk to the audience oh god this is always dead it's what we learn time it's what we learn time it's what we learn time. It's what we learn time. On the show.

Welcome back to Halford & Brough. Final segment of the show today. Josh L.A. Wolf, Jason Brough here with you. Halford & Brough is brought to you by the Dilawri family of Honda dealers. Experience the Dilawri difference today. Visit. Experience the Dilawri difference today. Visit your nearest Dilawri Honda dealer today. Text in, get your What We Learns in on the 650-650 Dunbar Lumber text line.

And also, it's hour three of the program. This hour of Halford & Brough is brought to you by Campbell & Pound real estate appraisers. Trust the expertise of Campbell & Pound. Visit campbell-pound.com today just to bring everyone up to date. If you missed it, the latest from the Vancouver Canucks, Marco Terranis, formerly the goaltending coach of the Abbotsford Canucks, has been promoted to goaltending coach of the Vancouver Canucks

and current head goalie coach and director of goaltending, Ian Clark, asked for a new position with the team, and he will now work as a goalie scout and goaltending development coach. The goaltending development coach. Which I would assume means he's probably working with the prospects at times. And not as consistently, I'd assume assume as he's but it sounds like he's gonna have a far less integral role with the Canucks exactly right which when let's I'm gonna read this statement from Patrick Alvian again yeah okay because this is the how the Canucks are saying this all went

down and it was actually this is this is I've read a lot of press releases in my life. And this one kind of sticks out as like someone telling a story about how it all went down. This is Alvin's quote. When Ian approached me to say that he needed to make a change in his role to transition off the ice, we quickly went to work to find a solution.

With Clarkie wanting something different at the hockey club, we were extremely fortunate to have Marco in the system and ready to take on the responsibility of becoming our new goaltending coach in Vancouver. Unfortunately, Ian can no longer go on the ice regularly to do the things that have made him successful, but this new role will fit with his

expertise and having Clarkie going out to find and develop talent will be a big asset to the organization. I don't doubt that. If I was wanting to go out and like, hey, we need to trade for a goalie or we need to draft a guy, Clarkie go take a look at him. I'd want Ian Clark to do that. But here's what else I want Ian Clark doing. Working day to day with the goalies that are playing for the Vancouver Canucks. And that's meant as no disrespect to Marco Terenas. I just like, you know, I know that Ian Clark is one of, if not the best goalie coaches

in the NHL. Marco Terenas still has to prove that. Yeah. Dude, not to go full conspiracy on this. Do we think this was all Ian Clark being like, hey, this is what I want to do. I want to transition, and I don't want to be director of goaltending.

I want to be a scout. Well, here's what it could be. Here's what it could be. Yes. It could be Ian Clark going to the Canucks and saying, I need to make a change, maybe physically. Yeah. Because he can't go on the ice anymore.

He's almost 60. Yeah. Here's what I would like to do. And then the Canucks being, well, we're going to do it a little differently. Right. That could also be possible. I'm not saying that there was a huge disagreement, but if Ian Clark went to the Canucks and said,

here's what I propose, and then they go, okay, fair enough. Fair enough. We're not mad at you for not being able to go on the ice day to day, but that doesn't mean that we have to do what you propose. And we're going to actually go in maybe a slightly different direction. And is it time to panic? It feels more like it's time to panic

than it was yesterday. I'm starting to panic a little bit. By the way, the latest from Rick Dollywell, he's saying the Canucks are in the goalie market making calls. That was two minutes ago from Rick Dollywell. But Brough is right, though. No one affects your goalies more than the goalie coach that is on the ice with them every day because they're the ones working on the habits.

They're the ones picking up little things in the goalies game that they might be able to work on midseason. And that affects them, I think, on a more, you know, basis that's like immediate than a scout would, right? So I think you are right to be concerned that he's stepping out of that role because not a lot of guys do it better than ian clark he's one of the best in the world at it anytime you take him out of that role it's up in the air right saying that the next coach is gonna do a poor job but he has big shoes to fill with ian clark uh to go like to to find

the optimism in this to find the positivity in this i will find the positivity in this, I will say the Canucks, they probably do need some more goaltending prospects. I have some hope in Artur Shilovs, but I don't know if he's the guy. And Thatcher Demko got two years left on the contract. I wouldn't be opposed to them finding the next Thatcher Demko. But you always need to be doing that. Yes. Constantly, really. Does this improve your odds?

They have six goalies in the Canucks realm that they have the rights to. And yeah, there's not a ton there to really work on and chew on. There's some teams that have double digits of goalies in their system, and the Canucks are at six. Sorry, I was just a little shaken when Josh tried to paint a positive of this. I'm like, I'm not used to that. Halford and I usually just keep digging the hole of negativity. I do find that on the show sometimes, I'm like, oh, I'm getting a little'm not used to that. Halford and I usually just keep digging the hole of negativity. I do find that on the show sometimes,

I'm like, oh, I'm getting a little too doomy right now. I got to snap out of it. No, you don't need to snap out of it. It's fine. It's part of being a Canucks fan. Yeah, yeah. Yeah, look at Adoc. He's under a chair right now.

Oh, God, this is awful. All right, let's do some what we learned. We'll start with ours. Josh, do you have a what we learned? Yeah, I uh some what we learned uh we'll start with ours uh josh you have a what we learned uh yeah i have a what we learned so does it seem kind of lame now that we've had i learned that the mariners lost again or something i don't know this was going around yesterday and it was more surprising to me than anything but outside of vasily podkholzin and if he doesn't start in the opening night lineup for the Edmonton Oilers, their youngest forward on the roster is Connor McDavid,

which seems not good for a team that, you know, wants to keep developing. Makes me, like, I have a lot of questions about how long their window is because they don't really have anyone coming either. This is what they are. Yeah. Now, there was an update provided on evander kane by uh stan bowman yesterday and whether kane's on ltir or ir to start the season it sounds like he's gonna have a procedure if he

hasn't already had one and he's going to miss the start of the season. But we don't know how effective he's going to be when he comes back. And, you know, he's getting older. How old's Vander Koehn now? 33 or something like that? And like he was a big part of that team, or at least in theory he should have been a big part of that team when they were in their competitive window. I know he was dealing with the sports hernia issue

that has led to all this, and that made it hard. But he was not the factor that he should have been in the playoffs last season. Yeah, and I guess my thing... And Nuge is getting a little bit older. But I think as long as you've got McDavid and Dreisaitl, you're going to be competitive. But maybe your point is

there's competitive and then there's winning Stanley Cups and my thing with this is they're due for raises obviously and so they're going to be taking up even more of the cap and generally when you're a team that wants to be competing for a Stanley Cup when you have guys on that big of a ticket you need rookies and guys on like cheap deals and they do not have. You need it for the energy of the team, I find. That too. Like, I think that's a huge part of it. You need, you need to reinvigorate the team on

a yearly basis, bringing these young guys. And then we were talking about the Leafs, right? And one of the reasons I'm kind of down on them is like, who's going to be, is it Matthew Nyes that breaks out for them? And if you want to go all the way back to when the Canucks, 2013, like they didn't have any, we hoped it was going to be Cody Hodgson, but it didn't work out for various reasons. And then Zach Kassian comes in and, you know,

that didn't really work out to the extent that it needed to and then eventually you chip away chip away at a team and it becomes a bad team but now i don't think that's going to happen to the others where they become a bad team because mcdavid and dry side will still have so much more many more years in their primes um but i think you make a really good point. And I think that a lot of people are saying that about the others. Like, this is an old team and you've just let Holloway go and you've let Broberg go. And even though you have added a young player in, Pod Colson, I think Holloway was a more effective player,

certainly in the playoffs last season, than Pod Colson was. Yeah. Like, if we're looking at it, and I saw this going around on Twitter too, I'd rather have Holloway and a fourth than Pod Colson and a third. If you're kind of looking at those deals just like one-to-one. But that being said, even he kind of isn't enough. And maybe they traded for Matthew Savoy. Maybe he's enough.

Maybe he hits. But they don't really have a Savoy. Maybe he's enough. Maybe he hits, but they don't really have a lot coming. Give us a moocow on that. I want to move into the Dunbar Lumber text line and read some what we learned. And actually this one's just from, this isn't a what we learned, but Chris from Burke Mountain

texts into the Dunbar Lumber text line and Chris, thanks for texting in. He said, what I learned, oh, it is a what we learned. What I learned is that you guys can't seem to come to terms with the title goaltending development coach. Doesn't this suggest he's still going to be

involved in coaching goaltenders? Maybe just not on the ice. You guys sound triggered. This isn't doomsday news. Where do you think coaching goaltenders occurs? On the ice. It happens there.

Do you think they're breaking down video? Zoom session. They're doing it over the phone now. Nobody said this is doomsday news. We're saying what I said to Kev was this seems like a big deal. And that Ian Clark will no longer be on a day-to-day basis working with the likes of Thatcher Demko. There's no way to sell it as not a big deal.

Even if you're going fully optimistic, it's a big deal. Well, they're trying to with this press release. But it's a big deal just because this has been, for a long time, it was like, oh, how are the Canucks going to figure out their defense? Do they need help on the forward group? But it's okay in net because there's no questions there Ian Clark is just going to find someone train them up even if you don't have Thatcher Demko and now it's like wow is that gonna happen if like it's there are now more question marks about and a group of players that you didn't expect to have question marks about. And look, it's probably not immediate question marks

because Thatcher Demko, I mean, he has questions outside of his performance on the ice. But if he's healthy, you know he's at least capable. It's more the succession plan after him that you're worried about. Justin in East Van, what we learned, the Canucks' pillar of goaltending strength has been shaken with the news of Demko's health status and Ian Clark stepping down as the head goalie coach.

I'll stay in the house of positivity and hope that Ian Clark will add more prospects into the Canucks' goalie pipeline. There's nothing wrong with trying to find a silver lining. Josh tried to find a silver lining. Josh tried to find a silver lining. He's like, hey, every team needs to find new goalies, and maybe Ian Clark can help find some talent for the Canucks. But to suggest this isn't significant news is just burying your head in the sand

or maybe trying to convince yourself that it isn't. Ian Clark has been one of the consistents with the Canucks on the ice with the goaltenders for the last few years. And I think we can all agree that the Canucks goaltending has been pretty good for the most part over the last few years, except for, you know,

a few minor issues here and there when there were some injuries to the starters. But, you know, you don't, every time there's news, like you don't have to try and convince yourself that it's not significant like you don't have to just be like whoa wait a minute how could this not be bad or how could this not like just it the news is what it is yes there's

probably some good parts to it some bad parts to it you can dive into it again like i that that would be the the positive i guess, that I take from it. But if you look at the entirety of the picture, it is bad news. But if you're searching for a positive, it is, hey, maybe this helps with the Demko succession plan and finding future goalies for the Canucks. Also, what we learned, people still don't know how to spell Ian Clark. Yeah, no E at the end.

Including Rick Dollywall, who in his initial tweet spelled it incorrectly. There's no E. I think Dollywall, in his text to me, bats about 300, which is good for baseball, but bad for spelling of names. Dollywall's still like a double S on the Kessler guy. It's Clark. That's the thing that gets me. It's Clark.

Yeah, but a lot of people have an E on. A lot of Clarks have an E on. That's true. Yeah. At any rate. God, I love Dollywell. Christian, if you can see some of the DMs, I should publish them as a book.

It would sell well. Christian with what we learned. I learned that I haven't learned the truth about the Ryan Johansson saga in Philly in this cat and mouse game with his quote unquote injury and avoiding being bought out.

Was it avoiding being bought out or was it avoiding being sent to the AHL? Maybe it was a bit of both. I mean, it was probably both from each side. Like the team doesn't want to buy him out. Right? Are you sure? Well, unless it's the mutual like, hey, you breached this.

Right. And, like, they don't want to have to pay him. I mean, they're not buying him out. They're terminating his contract. Yes. They're okay doing that. But until... There's no cap penalty for that.

This is fine. What was the exact wording? Because it was funny wording, too. It made me, like... Material breach. Yeah, what the hell is a material breach? Material breach of the contract. Well, it means...

Material breach. He went against the contract. Hey, dog, you're going to have to read the whole contract. I never hear that. You've never heard the term material breach? I just don't hear people use it very often. It's very unusual. Well, it means he went against the contract. Hey, dog, you're going to have to read the whole contract. You've never heard the term material breach? I just don't hear people use it very often. It's very unusual. You are adorable. What is a material breach?

What, you're using material breach in a sentence regularly? No, but I've heard it used. We go from Ben, who's going to law school, to A-Dog, who's never heard of material breach. Material breach? Sounds like a metal band. Isn't that what whales do? We are material breach. It's a metal band. Isn't that what whales do? We are Material Breach. It's a metal band.

That actually is. Yeah, it's a metal band that you see. All right, let's not do band names here. Tyler, with what we learned. Someone else was already doing that. We were talking about the last World Cup and what it means to be invested in something. And A-Dog was like, I was invested in the World Cup.

I'm like, in what way? Because it was fun. It was entertaining. And I said, no, no. Brough just has a cold, dead heart, Joe. No, I don't. I don't. I think my point is valid.

When you're emotionally invested in something, you're not having fun. It's like when you're in overtime game seven against the Blackhawks 2011. Are we all having fun? No, I feel like I'm going to barf. I'm hiding under a pile of blankets. Exactly. That's what it means to be emotionally invested in something, is when you have something to lose.

When I watched that World Cup, if Canada had lost to Team Europe in the final, I'd be like, who cares? Okay, so let's just say I was entertainmentally invested. Made a new word there. Entertainmentally? At any rate, Tyler says what we learned. Brough was invested in Iron Eagle. It was not about the entertainment. I was

emotionally invested. The guy, he was rescuing his dad from a made- up Middle Eastern country. And they got their oil reserves. They blew him up. Hit him where it hurts. Josh, you not know Iron Eagle yet? I'm looking at the news right now.

You're being introduced to Iron Eagle right now. You know what I think originally why the Iron Eagle talk came up? It's because I had the hot take that I liked Iron Eagle more now. You know what I think originally why the Iron Eagle talk came up is because I had the hot take that I liked Iron Eagle more than Top Gun. Yeah, well, no, I remember it was all the

way back at the old station and you said I love it. Because Top Gun was so cheesy. I thought you made it up. I thought Iron Eagle

was this made up movie that Brock just invented on the spot and I look it up like oh my God, this was a real movie. Chappy. You would have

liked the soundtrack. I know, I listened to it after the fact. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Queen, One Vision. Very 80s. Yeah, it's good. It's very 80s. And I didn't like, I thought the Top Gun was just like too.

Top Gun was cheesy. It was cheesy, right? The new one was awesome. I didn't like it when he wore jeans on the beach playing volleyball. The first Top Gun was just like. That made me hot to watch. First one was just like this. Yeah.

It was just like this two hour army propaganda Or air force propaganda movie That's how the first one felt The new one though was really good The new one was good The new one was awesome The new one was good Liam in Calgary This is what we learned

This is speculative from Liam I learned the Canucks are quietly addressing The Demko situation by adjusting and hiring New athletic therapists and performance therapists I saw the statement from the Canucks are quietly addressing the Demko situation by adjusting and hiring new athletic therapists and performance therapists. I saw the statement from the Canucks informing people that the training staff had been updated, which leads me to believe that perhaps management sees it as a rehab issue and that it may not be limited to Demko. And then maybe, and then Liam, who should be in sports radio because he's good at this. He goes, maybe, just maybe maybe management thinks Petey's knee

could have been handled better not to mention the Pearson situation from last year is in Hughes publicly stating he felt it wasn't handled correctly. Seems fishy so I was on vacation when that news came out about all the Canucks new athletic therapists. Did anyone make a big deal out of that? Was there anyone who did any

work or did you guys read it and take it like the non-questioning sheep you are that's us that's what we did oh look they got some new trainers see if you're gonna make it in this Vancouver media every press release that comes out you have to look with every press release is a conspiracy what's really going on here oh did they Patrick Alvin that's a long quote from Alvin. He's sure explaining this pretty aggressively. It feels like you got something to hide on this. Josh did ask for feedback after working with me for a couple weeks. I'm like, yeah, you got to be like, I don't know.

Questioning? Yeah, questioning. You got to question everything. You got to make up more conspiracy theories. You're Vancouver media. I don't know. Questioning? Yeah, questioning. Gotta question everything. You gotta make up more conspiracy theories. Yeah, my bad. Your Vancouver media. Canucks just announced that they bought a new Zamboni.

What could this mean? Yeah, what happened to the old Zamboni? There's gotta be a story there. Yeah, gonna look into this tomorrow. Appreciate everyone texting. 650-650. Appreciate everyone texting. 650-650. Appreciate everyone listening. Thanks to A-Dog.

Thanks to Laddie. Thanks to Jason Brough. I've been Josh Elliott-Wolfe, and I'm questioning everything now. I promise. This has been Alfred and Brough on Sportsnet 650.