Halford & Brough in the Morning - Frank Seravalli With A Canuck GM Search Update

Episode Date: May 6, 2026

In hour two, Mike & Jason get a Canucks GM search update from Victory+ NHL insider Frank Seravalli (1:26), plus the boys discuss the wild Pierre Dorion story from yesterday (24:00). 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.

Sarah Valley. Sarah Valley. Syra Valley. Frank. Sarah Valley. Frank. Sarah Valley. Frank. Frank.

702 on a Wednesday. Happy Wednesday, everybody. Halford and Brough of Sportsnet, 650. Frank. Halford and Brough in the morning is brought to by Sands and Associates. They're open seven days a week and they're open late to help you get debt-free. When no judge, or upfront fees. Visit them today at Sands

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hotline. Email. sales at abelle auctions.ca to get your business assets sold and your building cleared. Let's go now to that ABLE Auctions hotline. Our next guest is our NHL Insider from Victory Plus. Frank Zara Valley joins us now on the Halford & Brough Show on Sportsnet 650. Morning Frank. How are you? Doing pretty well.

How are you guys doing? We're okay. The listenership, not as okay. It was a tough development yesterday. There's actually, it's a two-parter because there was the disappointment of losing out on the draft lottery. And then there was a massive newsday on the Vancouver Canucks front as well. There was the entire Pierre Dorian discourse.

And then, of course, right before the draft lottery, Jim Rutherford goes to the podium. And, you know, as per usual, there's a million things to unpack from Rutherford's media availability. So I don't even know. Where do you want to start here, brough? Let's start with peer. Well, let me, can I, can I start? Yeah. You go. Yeah. All right. So let me just, as the ray of sunshine that I usually am, let me just paint a different picture for Canucks fans

as they wake up this morning. I just did my first mock draft. And I know that sliding two spots is not what anyone wants. You want your pick of the litter. But I envision a path in which the Vancouver Canucks still

end up with Gavin McKenna. And it starts with the Toronto Maple Leafs not selecting the highest skilled winger in the draft, but going with the best two-way winger in the draft, and that's Ivers Denberg. I don't think they need Gavin McKenna. I think they need Gavin McKenna like a hole in their head.

They've got Austin Matthews and William Neelander. I don't know how much more high-end skill you want in your lineup. They had Mitch Marner. This guy is your Mitch Marner replacement and is thicker and still has a lot of high-end potential. That's the way I see it. I know teams have been drooling over Iversdenberg, and there are a number of teams that if they won the number one pick, they would be picking Ivers Denberg, so not a reach. So then that brings us to the San Jose Sharks, who I have, I'd be absolutely floored if the sharks don't take a defenseman here. They have none.

None in their pipeline. None on, they have two on their NHL roster sign for next season. Two. They need a D man. So I've got Keaton Verhoff, right shot D going to San Jose. that leaves the Canucks with their ability to select anyone they want remaining and I've got them taken Gavin McKenna. What do you think the reaction in Toronto would be if they passed on Gavin McKenna?

Do you want the most points and most individual awards or do you want to win? That would be the question I would ask if anyone's upset. Not saying that they can't win with Gavin McKenna, I just think as you're building a team, not a collection of superstars, that's what you need. I would think that Austin Matthews would be pretty excited at the prospect of playing with a guy like Gavin McKenna who may not be a burner like Connor McDavid, but I mean his passing, his ability to get his teammates to the puck, his vision. At least that's what stands out the most to me. And I would think that Matthews, especially after losing Marner, would welcome and love to have a player like Gavin McKenna. to come into the system.

Sure, sure. There's no doubt. I would also present the case of the best teams and hockey aren't one-line teams. They're the deepest teams. You need play-driving players. And Ivers Denberg is a play-driving winger. There aren't that many of them. Yeah.

Have you gotten a sense of, sorry, go ahead. No, I was just going to say, I think it's, this is not like crazy world that I'm presenting to you. This is going to be a very real debate that the Toronto Maple Leafs are going to have to have. I was just going to say, and of course, adding to the intrigue of this discussion is the fact that they've got a newly minted managerial duo now coming in. And it is, even though it's Toronto and, you know, Vancouver loses out to Toronto that is that dynamic. If we're able to put that part of it in a vacuum, it's an incredibly fascinating dynamic at play that you've got this underfire new hire general manager in John Chike. And by the way, nice job with the tampering on Monday.

That was a nice precursor to his media availability. You've got him. You've got Sandin. A lot of people have already pointed out that Sundin is intimately familiar with, you know, having lived in Sweden, probably knows Stenberg's game pretty well. You've got Shake his history of what he's done at the draft and the way he's prepared for drafts. It certainly presents an interesting dynamic and maybe not necessarily just that we're going

to go up there and take McKenna like so many people expected. Yeah, and look, here's the other part. And I've kind of touched on this a little bit, so you've got all those elements. But, like, you've also got other teams that viewed Ivers Denberg as their number one choice long before the ping pong ball started bouncing. Like, this is not a crazy off-the-board idea that I'm presenting to you. A lot of teams see them as the most complete player in this draft. And it's not that, you know, you're, you're, you're, you're, you're, you're, you're, you're, the two-way game is absolutely what stands out.

It's just that they also think the high-end offensive function isn't crazy far off of what McKenna brings, who doesn't have the other end of the ice in his toolbox. Are there concerns about McKenna? I think there have been. The slow start to his productivity at Penn State this year, raised some eyebrows, World Juniors. You saw a lot of high-end production.

against some of the weaker competition. When things got tough, wasn't as productive or as noticeable. I think his temperament and the way that he flew off the handle a couple times, both in World Juniors and obviously that incident at Penn State, it just done enough to raise some questions about his total profile and package. That's all. I think this is the highest skilled player in the draft,

and there is not a close second. There's no and zero debate and doubt about that. It's just as you're building a team, it's the exact question I asked. Are you building a collection of players or a team? And I think you have to manage different roles. And Stenberg fills one almost automatically that the Leafs just don't have. Okay, let's talk about Pierre Dorian. What is your understanding of his candidacy in Vancouver?

It's a difficult one to describe because of the reaction and visceral reaction over the last 48 to 72 hours. I believe he remains in the mix. I would say at this point he's probably an unlikely candidate, but is there nonetheless. Do you think that the reaction from the market in the last 24 hours actually changed perceptions at the highest levels of the organization. I do believe it had an impact, and I'm not going to say that it's the ultimate decider. But I believe it had an impact

because like any front office and ownership group around the league, they watched the Toronto Maple Leafs press conference introducing John Chaka and Matt Sundin. That was about as negative a reaction. in a marketplace as you could get. And I don't think anyone wants to start off such a critical stage in their franchise with exactly that type.

It's not just a reaction, but it's the track record that you look at that really stands out. My question would be, how would they have possibly thought that there would be a positive reaction or not a significant negative reaction to the idea of Pierre Dorian

taking over in Vancouver? Well, of course, it's something that they thought about. I don't think that they expected it to be as swift and visceral as it's been. That's for sure. Yeah. So let's talk about the candidates that are maybe a little bit further ahead in the race. What's your understanding of where things are at in terms of leading candidates? I guess it's a list of five.

And then when might we actually finally get a decision on this? Yeah, it's a really good question on the timeline. Jim Rutherford mentioned, of course, last night that they're not in a rush. And it's been suggested that even Jim Rutherford's own timeline as he prepares to, you know, transition to a different role, that may be sped up depending on how this works out. Now, what I don't have a handle on, really, is this notion that the Canucks might not just be hiring a general manager, that there might be also be a two-headed monster structure at play here with another president of hockey operations. I don't really have a good line of sight on who that might be. Based on some of the in-person interviews, it would seem like a lot of people that they've been talking to or advancing to the next

stage are more in line with GM candidates. So where would this president of hockey ops be coming from and how would this all work? Is Shane Don't out? I can't say that with any degree of certainty. I had heard that he was, but I don't have that confirmed. Okay. I heard Shane Donne and Ray Whitney were both out, but I don't have that confirmed. Okay. And it's possible the Canucks don't know themselves how they're going to structure this.

I mean, Jim Rutherford kind of said that yesterday. We all like to think that they've got more of a plan than they're letting on, but maybe they're still very undecided. No either 10 days ago. So it's not unusual, really. Okay, I do want to follow up a little bit on the press conference the other day in Toronto. What was the response that you were getting from your league sources during that press conference and immediately after it?

And can you remember a more, I don't want to say controversial GM hire, but a general manager that was so roundly unsupported by like any faction, media, other league execs, fan base, about the only contingent that I can see that is supporting John Chica are the people that just hate the media so much that they're going to do whatever the opposite is of, you know, the idea that's being reported. Yeah, and I think the funny thing about hearing that is that people say, oh, the media hates John Chaka. Like, that's not actually true.

The media is just voicing all the things that are being said to them behind the scenes. Like, that's, I think it's an important distinction to be made. Nonetheless, I can't, to answer your question, I can't remember a more roundly criticized ire. And then the truth is the Maple Leafs did nothing to answer any questions in the process of how they arrived at this decision. Deep due diligence was the answer. And I just, I mean, reaction that you asked about. I mean, I had multiple people that are in general manager roles around the league texting me during it. Like this was like literal appointment viewing.

Yeah. People were tuned in in their offices, like some were surrounded by staff. One said that he was so uncomfortable that he had to get up from his desk and walk around his office because he was starting to sweat just watching it, which I think says a lot. Yeah. And, you know, look, every organization is free to go in their own direction, do what they see fit. I think the biggest thing that people struggle with is how does someone that had a poor track record in a job that they never should have had to begin with, who then on the way out is suspended for a calendar year and also had his team forfeit draft picks as a result of improper conduct not work for the last six years in the league.

And then it's not just resurfaced, but everyone's all four second chances. I think it's the difference between getting a second chance and being handed the keys to the kingdom. That's the real difference. Yeah. How difficult is it going to be for him to work with the 31 other general managers in the NHL? There will be some suspicion, and that's ultimately why I reported on the tampering inquiry a couple days ago.

It's not to say, hey, this is unsubstantiated. Look at this. It's not a headline grabber. It's really to underline that there's a lot of work. to be done to rebuild trust and not just among his counterparts in the league but also at the league office itself like they don't spend time or waste time on looking into things that are frivolous claims which i thought some of the reporting after the fact wink wink was a little bit interesting um nonetheless here we are and will he be able to deal with other general managers i think he will

over time. In the end, the goods are what matter. And people put aside any personal beefs, any distrust or mistrust, and they get deals done because you have something that someone else wants.

And that, I think, ultimately, is what will prevail. I want to ask you about the coaching carousel now because the Vancouver Canucks shocker are also involved on this front. So let's classify Barube, Brunette, foot, and key.

as guys whose jobs are still TBD because they've got new general managers or they will have a new general manager coming in relatively soon. Two guys I want to ask about both of whom made the playoffs, both of whom got bounced in the first round of the playoffs, both in the West. Let's start with Chris Knoblox's future in Edmonton.

What's going on this week? Well, they're internally debating right now how to move forward. Should we make a coaching change and should we totally clear out the bench is one question that they're asking. I would say that there are pretty strong odds that Edmonton makes a coaching change. I would ballpark it at like 80, 20.

I think they didn't see enough growth from Chris Knoblock over the three years. He tried to coach the team in year three the same way he did in year one with a totally different group of players. That doesn't work. Surrounded himself with very like-minded people on his bench who also didn't have any experience. and that was problematic, forcing Paul Coffey's return at the Olympic break. And I think there's a solid chance that they make a change. Will the three-year extension he signed in October have any bearing on that? I don't think so.

Yeah. Look, I think when you get to this stage and you've got really, everyone views it as two years with Connor McDavid, you've really got one before you need to engage in that extension conversation again. You've got one year to figure it out. I don't think you're betting the future of the best player on the planet right now on the $6 million that you owe Chris Knoblock. You had another coach that you wanted to ask about? Andre Tierney in Utah. Yeah, so also up for conversation, I'd say probably trending towards safe, but they also need to ask the question of this is a guy entering the last year of his deal.

are we extending or are we not? And if we're not, why? So that's, I think, a smaller file to watch. Sorry, just what, were they disappointed in how the year went in Utah? I know they made the playoffs for the first time in the rich and robust history of the Utah mammoth. And I mean, they did lose in the first round. And I always got the sense this year that they felt like they had a little bit more to give. Is that a fair assessment or no?

I think that's a totally fair assessment. And I thought they did as well. they just had too many nights over the course of the season where they had nothing. No life, no juice, no buzz. That inconsistency stood out to me and then also some deployment and special teams. Their power play was atrocious. They had at varying points like J.J. Patyrka didn't play on the power play. Then I think for a while in the playoffs, he was benched.

He played third line minutes a chunk of the year. Like this is a 70-point player that you got from Buffalo. and Buffalo looks like it's been smashing that trade with Josh Stone and Michael Kesselring. I wanted to ask you about the Cracken. They're going to draft 7th overall. Could that pick be in play to do something big and bring in a player that is ready to contribute right now

and bring in some star power to Seattle? It should be. Yeah. I think they're ready to be aggressive and shake things up. The last thing they need is another pick that's going to take a few years to get where they want to get to. That ownership's involvement in the NBA expansion process is going to be really interesting because if they don't get the NBA team and it goes to another party,

they're really going to have to put pedal to the medal to win over winter sports dollars to spend. I think that's a big deal. Also, I just think they realize that it's time. And speaking of coaching carousel, I mentioned this yesterday. Dave Haxall getting that team to the playoffs in year two with a hundred point season, maybe we should reconsider how good of a job that was.

True, actually. Yeah, no, I was, he set the high bar there. Well, he's on your list of available candidates. And I think you called it a sobering second thought. And it is pretty impressive that he was able to get that team to where they got to. So it's Haxstall obviously goes without saying Bruce Cassidy, certainly seeing a lot of Jay Woodcroft.

in these playoffs. It seems like every time they pan over to the Anaheim bench, there's a little spotlight on him. Obviously, it had to do with the fact they played Edmonton in the first round. Are there any other names that we're missing here in terms of available coaches as the Carousel spins? Yeah, I think you've got to look at, I want to find if I'm, let's say I'm the Cadux and I'm making a coaching change. I want to find the first time candidate that I think can be here for the long haul. Constantly changing coaches and regime changes is it's not just painful and costly. I think it sets your organization back.

And I look at the success of Rod Brindamore, Jared Bednar, John Cooper, all these first time coaches that have lasted for a while, go get Spencer Carberry, get the next guy. Find me the next Spencer Carberry. And I think there's a handful of them out there. And I'm not just talking about, you know, the low-hanging fruit of a David Carl or, you know, lot of people have, of course, talked about many Malhotra, and I get it. But there's plenty of coaches

out there, Jeff Halpern, or look at the AHL coach of the year. He's got five unbelievable records in Providence over the course of five years, Ryan Muginnell. Like, go out and find the next guy instead of trying to bring in a guy that's been on his

six team. Frank, this was great, man. Thanks for checking the time to do it. A lot of good ground covered here. Enjoy the rest of the week. We'll do this again next week. Thanks, guy. See you. Thank you. Frank Sarah Valley here on the Halford and Brough Show on Sportsnet 650. Before we go to break, I need to remind you about JanPro. If you're tired of mist cleans or unreliable service, don't worry. JanPro delivers consistent cleaning and responsive support you can count on.

Start clean, stay clean, visit them online at Janpro.com. So we've got an open segment coming up. I think it is time to run through Dorian Day. The day of Dorian yesterday, it started right here on the Halford and Brough Show. We lit a match, threw it on a tank of kerosene, and then walked away for the day. And boy, did that thing burn yesterday. There were a lot of developments right up until Jim Rutherford took to the podium yesterday, just ahead of the NHL draft lottery.

So we'll try and work through it all, try and make sense of the news that Dorian was a leading candidate, and then maybe not so much of a leading candidate. Is he in the final group of five, or is he not? We'll try and work through it all next as we get somewhat a little bit closer and closer. defining out who the Canucks next general manager will be. That's coming up next on the Halford Inbruff show on SportsNet 650. Hey, it's Jamie Dodd and Thomas Strance. Get your daily dose of Canucks talk with us weekdays from 12 to 2 on Sportsnet 650.

Or catch up on demand through your favorite podcast app. The number 12, the Toronto Maple Leafs, have won the NHL draft lottery. The sharks are going to pick second overall. We'll Vancouver dropping to position number three. No, God! No, God, please no. No! No! No! 731 on a Wednesday.

Happy Wednesday, everybody. Halford, Braves, Sportsnet, 650. Thanks for that, Greg. Halford and Brub of the morning is brought to you by Sands and Associates. They're ready to give you the financial fresh start you deserve. With no judgment or upfront fees, visit them today at Sands-Trustee.com. Still an hour two of the program. We're at the midway point of hour two.

we got an open segment here on the Halfford and Brough show. Our two of this show is brought to you by Jason Homoneck and Jason DaMorgage. If you love paying too much for your mortgage, then don't let Jason shop around to find the perfect mortgage for you. Visit them online at Jason. Dom Mortgage. Okay. I promise that we would go through the day of Dorian.

Dorian Day, which was yesterday in Vancouver. What a day it was. I think the best way to do this so that we can unpack it for the listeners and make sure that they're up to speed. but also do it in a straightforward and orderly fashion. So do everything chronologically. Okay. So the day started with us.

Greg Waschinsky joined us at 6.30 in the morning yesterday. And we asked him about the report from Thomas Drance in the athletic that Pierre Dorian was a leading candidate to potentially become the Vancouver Canucks next general manager. Wichenski took that reporting a step further, saying that talking to people across the league and making some calls, he was getting towards being convinced that Dorian was going to be the guy. And folks, that little video that we put up with my terribly sunburned face, it sparked a day of conversation in Vancouver,

which went every direction imaginable. So shortly after our show was done, Rick Dollywall of the Donny and Dolly Show on Czech TV, confirmed that the Canucks had interest in Pierre Dorian. He said, and I quote, Pierre Dorian is a strong candidate to be named GM in Vancouver but he has not yet been hired

others on the short list have not been told that they are out. Okay, so now we've got Dranses reporting, Drager's reporting, Washinsky's reporting, and Dolly Walls reporting, four fairly good sources suggesting that Pierre Dorian is at some level very much in the mix for this gig.

Frege, Elliot Friedman, then went on the fan hockey show with Mike Fiat and Matt Marquesi and suggested that Dorian was a leading candidate as well. All that Fridge would say about the future is that nothing is imminent. They weren't ready to announce

a higher Dorian or otherwise. Shortly after that, we got a pretty significant update from old Gary Mason. We hadn't heard from Gair in a while. We heard from everybody else. Why not hear from the Global Mail's Gary Mason? Gary Mason tweeted out that

the Canucks have narrowed their GM search down to five and he classified it as good candidates. Dorian would be one of them but I guess like Friege had reported about it not being imminent Gary said it would be wrong to characterize Dorian is in any way the frontrunner Gary then added that Ryan Johnson was still in the mix

Mason then followed up with a weird subsequent tweet saying that he would say that Dorian's chances were quote between nil and non-existent now that would say to me that you are not a finalist for the job. Because your chances are between nil,

which means nothing and non-existent, which means more nothing than nil, probably. The only thing that had been finalized was your candidacy. Like, that's over. It's not happening anymore. I digress. Craig Button then went on the Donnie and Dolly show.

And then he started to talk about the reasons why Dorian might have been established as a leading candidate. He said, quote, to me, it comes down to what you are willing to accept in the role, and it sounds like maybe Pierre is willing to accept parameters that other candidates aren't. Is that him speculating or is that him knowing stuff? Because it sounds to him like. You know what the narrative is that's out there.

And I have no information to support this narrative, but a few people have told me it and said, trust me, I know it. I was like, okay, well, I don't trust you, but sure. But Dorian went into the interview, essentially said, I can turn this around quickly. And then all of a sudden ownership was like, this is the guy that I like. And it is worth. Which is our biggest fear. It is worth pointing out to follow that up that Jim Rutherford when he met with the media yesterday

did corroborate that some of the candidates that they talked to told the Canucks that they might be through the toughest part of the rebuild and they might be ready to come out the other side. So let's try and parse through all this now and get down to brass tax. If you had to put together what might look like the candidates, the final five on the short list,

who would it be? Well, Dolly Wall suggested that Evan Gold, Ryan Bonus, Jamie Langanbrunner, and Brett Peterson were names that he thought could still be in the mix. Also Ryan Johnson. What about Shane Dohn, you might be asking? Well, according to

multiple reports, including one out of Arizona. It sounds like Donne is now out or at least on the outside looking in. And this was kind of corroborated by what Frank Savalley just said on our show. He said he didn't have anything definitive, but he heard similar stuff that Don probably isn't for this job. Yeah, and I think the issue with Donne always has been where does he fit?

What would the structure of the hockey ops department be with him? Does he have enough experience to be the president of hockey ops? Trevor Lyndon probably didn't, but they made him that, gave him that title anyway. Lyndon was a franchise icon, a little bit different from Shane Donne, who's a franchise icon of Arizona Coyotes. And it also didn't end well with Trevor Linden.

So maybe they didn't want to go down that sort of route. We'll see how it works in Toronto with Matt Sennon. Dean, although he's not the president of hockey ops and there's a little to be determined about how everything gets reported and who reports to who in Toronto. You know, with Shane Donne, I love the idea of Shane Donne and I said it. I said, I love it if the connects could find a way to bring him into the organization. But I did admittedly struggle with, okay, in what capacity, right? Is he going to be the front facing guy that's answering all the questions from the media?

will he be good at that? I mean, you know, he's a great guy, a positive guy, by all accounts, I don't know him, but by all accounts he's a great guy, but that's still a very tough role. And maybe they want to go with someone who's done it before. And this brings us back to Pierre Dorian. We have heard repeatedly that there are elements within the organization, and I suspect it's ownership that is going to value experience. And I think they will look back on their past few GMs and note that they are all rookies

and that at times they struggled when asked questions. Like you can't have a GM that never talks to the media. Yep. Right? You know, it's not like you can just bring it like, oh, he's working. Like he doesn't talk to the media. So you can talk to our president of hockey. or whoever, you know, whatever it is.

And, you know, I just think about the times where Jim Benning seemed overwhelmed. Yeah. And Patrick Alvin seemed overwhelmed. Sure. And they were going through pressure moments where things had not gone their way, and you could tell. And that does not send a positive, of signal to the marketplace.

Now, is Pierre Dorian the answer to that? I don't know, because there were many times in Ottawa where he seemed overwhelmed, and there were situations that were going against him, and it didn't look like he was like the pillar of stability there. It looked like he was crumbling along with the rest. But I actually do have time for this text from Dell and Surrey. who writes in and he says, I think Pierre Doran might do well as a GM for the Canucks.

One thing he probably won't have is a big ego, which seems partly the downfall of Rutherford and Alveen. I don't disagree that ego has been an issue for this organization. I mean, I've said it that I think Jim Benning, even though he doesn't come across as Mr. Arrigand, had a big ego and thought he, was really smart and thought that he's a hockey man he's been in this game for a long time I know what a good player looks like that sort of thing and he said a lot of things that struck

me as arrogant you know there's been a lot of people that have come into this organization and be like trust me I can fix it so the other part of Dorian day was at the end of the day when a lot of people started to wonder if the visceral blowback to the reported hire made a difference. Dollywall threw it out there. This has made its way back to Canucks headquarters

and a lot of people started to wonder was this a plant? Was this Jamie Dodd right here on SportsNet 650? wondered if it was a false flag. We wondered if it was a trial balloon, all these different ideas kind of centering around the idea of did this get out ahead?

a time just to see, just to see, not if it would be received negatively, but how negatively it would be received. Jamie Dodd has got this thing where he's like, why can't the Canucks just be normal? Why do they have to be so weird all the time? And I was struck yesterday that, you know, Canucks fans are like, are they so clueless that they thought hiring Pierre Doran would be fine in this market? Are they so. out of touch with the fan base and what the fan base wants? Or are they tricking us? And I'm like, I don't really know which one I prefer.

Like are you guys like, is this some sort of, as you put it, like false flag? Is it some sort of like PR game? Is it to do with some sort of power struggle that's going on in the Connecticut? organization. I'm like, I don't, I don't know if I prefer any of these options. Like, because one option, you'd be like, they have no idea that Pierre Dorian would create this sort of negative reaction. Or, or it's, or it's something like, that's not just, it's something like, not untoward, but something tricky. I don't necessarily mind leaking something to the media to be like, hey, you want to know how bad it's going to be?

watch this. And then you float the idea of Pierre Doran being hired as your general manager. And then you see, I mean, Donnie and Dolly had a poll question yesterday. Would you be okay with Pierre Doran being hired as Connect's general manager? 97% said no. Yeah, but, but I mean, what did they expect? Maybe that would be the great question. Is it, will it be negative or how much negativity will there be?

And I think it was probably the latter. And if that was that scenario. Sometimes I wonder if people in the organization follow, the league. Do you know what I mean? Like, oh, Pierordorian, now remind me who is that? Well, counterpoint. Counterpoint. They did this in Toronto is the John Chaka hired got floated 10 days before he got hired. And they still went ahead and hired him despite overwhelming criticism

and overwhelming negativity. And they still pushed forward. Now, here's another wrinkle that I think we very much need to consider here. I don't think that the Vancouver Connect's general manager searches anywhere close to being near the end. I think that they are still actively looking at candidates. Yeah, me too. There was a report from Elliot Friedman, and he reiterated again on NHL network radio again this morning, that Scott White, currently the assistant general manager in Dallas,

is going to be in the mix. And that comes after he apparently was deep in the weeds with Toronto, potentially getting their GM gig, which eventually went to John Chica. so you could infer that, well, now that he's done with the Toronto search, maybe he gets to pivot an interview with Vancouver. Another interesting name to keep an eye on, and this also comes courtesy of Freed, and those that have listened to 32 thoughts,

the most recent one that dropped this morning, might already know this, is a guy by the name of Martin Madden. Freed spent about five and a half, six minutes, extolling the virtues of Martin Madden, who worked his way up from a scouting role in Anaheim to become the assistant general manager to Pat Verbeek.

Now, he's also worked under the previous regime as well with Bob Murray, and Martin Madden is a guy that is very much, I would just to use the phrase, like he worked and operated in the shadows. Not a ton of people know who he is.

Yeah. He's a scout-based guy. His father, interestingly enough, was a former general manager of the old Quebec Nordiques back in the 80s, Martin Madden, Sr. So he's a hockey lifer. He's worked his way in.

But the thing that him and Scott White have in common, is that they don't have really large public profiles. As a matter of fact, Sean Shapiro, he used to do really good work writing for The Athletic. He now does slap shots hockey. He wrote a big piece on the work that Scott White has done in Dallas and said that part of the reason nobody knows about White is because he doesn't play the media game.

As a matter of fact, Jim Nill has to often talk him up as a future NHL GM in waiting because he won't do it himself. Martin Madden has a pretty impressive. He's got a really great draft record with the Ducks, and he's been their chief scout for a long time. He got a degree in engineering for McGill, which is a tough degree to get, and then an MBA. And, you know, he's been involved with the Ducks for a long time, and he's seen the Ducks go through what the Canucks are about to go through. and hopefully they will come out with as much talent as Anaheim currently has. Now, we had Neidermeyer on the show, and he works with Anaheim,

and we had a good conversation about some of the things that go into a rebuild. Neidermeyermeier has the name. I'd never heard of Martin Madden before until I heard it from Friege, but why don't we listen to Elliot Freeman on what he had to say about Martin Madden? Long clip, but we've got the audio, and if we're up against it for time, we can cut. But it's about three minutes and a lot of information here about a guy that the Canucks are interested in. Here's Fridge from 32 thoughts on Assistant General Manager in Anaheim, Martin Madden. I found out this week that one of the people the Canucks interviewed, and I don't know yet if it was in person.

I think it was definitely a Zoom one, but I don't know if he's made their cut of five, as Rutherford mentioned, is Martin Madden of the Anaheim Ducks. Martin Madden, I don't know him very well, but I know of him, and a lot of people do. He is incredibly highly regarded as a talent evaluator. And again, I don't know if Madden's a finalist for this job,

I do know they talk to him. Extremely interesting to me. You know, he keeps a very low profile when I was speaking to somebody today, a couple people today saying I'd heard he'd interviewed. The thing that they said to me was they didn't know if he would want something that high profile. But when you are trying to collect players and you have a pick as high as Vancouver's is, especially now since it's not one, they said that would be the kind of person you would want in your organization. So it was an intriguing name. I also believe the Canucks now have Scott White in their mix, although I don't know if he's been there in person.

I think they've indicated that they want to talk to him. And I think that's one of the reasons Rutherford said it might be next week until the GM is hired. I heard White entered this process late, probably because of the Toronto stuff, and they may still want to talk to them. You know, in person, they've done Evan Gold in person, they've done Ryan Bonas in person, they have Ryan Johnson there, Pierre Dorian in person. You know, I don't know what to make of what was going on on Tuesday. You know, Dorian was obviously a serious candidate. you're not bringing somebody to Vancouver if he isn't a legitimate candidate.

I don't think it was as close as it had been portrayed. Nothing was imminent. They weren't at a point where they were about to hire anybody. As Rutherford said, this might go into next week, and I suspect one of the reasons is because White entered this late after he didn't get Toronto. but I just don't think they're that close yet, but I don't know how anybody can't say he wasn't a legitimate candidate.

They brought him there. Anyway, I just don't think they're ready to name anybody yet. But you know what? When I heard about Madden, it's an interesting guy. Like that is the kind of guy when you're rebuilding, you want him in your organization. I just don't know how he and some other people wondered would he want to be the front facing guy

in a market like Vancouver. He might be the kind of person you need a president of hockey operations with somebody who can handle the public. Which is what you were alluding to as well, right? Like it is a difficult job. Let's make no mistake about that. And when you start putting together a checklist, you want so many different things.

Oftentimes they don't necessarily You're not going to get everything, right? We want someone that's got new, fresh ideas, but also someone that's experienced and knows the ways of the league. Yeah, it's like picking a defenseman in the NHL today. He's like he's got to be able to skate and move the puck, but also he's got to be able to be big and tough

and break up the cycle. We want someone that's confident and able to speak confidently in front of the media, but also not too big of an ego. Yeah, humble. Yeah. Humble confidence. We want someone that likes to exist

the shadows, but also is willing to be front facing. It's very difficult. Tall, handsome. Right. But also short and stout. We need a front facing shadow man. Yeah, a little bit. Okay. We look gentle eyes.

But also a stern glare. So what you're looking... Which is why sometimes you have these dual role things like what they've done in Toronto. One guy can't tick all the boxes. What if we have two? Great idea. You're saying co-GMs? Great idea. One short guy, one tall guy.

Great idea. concept, but then it always comes back to the same thing. Well, who's in charge? Right. Because there's got to be one guy in charge. One guy that kicks everything upstairs. And it's Chica in Toronto. It is Chica in Toronto.

Like the buck is going to stop with him. And it brings up a tough situation. Because if you argue passionately and fight valiantly for something, you often wonder, like, is it worth the energy? Because I know I'm not going to win this argument. I know I'm not going to win this battle because I'm not the guy in charge. I mean good GM candidates when they get hired teams are loathe to let them go well I think the situation of Toronto is going to be really interesting because one thing

that John Chico was asked was what if there's an idea that you really want but Matt's Matt Sondin says I'm against it Chica just said then we won't do it yeah but like I mean that's he's not wrong but that's well he might be that's easy to say now what if it's a if chika's like this is like can't miss idea like we have to pull this off and then sundeen's like yeah i don't know like chika has the ability to be like well does he have the ability i don't know if he's the one that's reporting to ownership then does he have the ability to say like okay we're going to do it because it's easy to say the stuff before you

ever do it yes until you're finally in the mix i mean when Trevor linden was hired and you know then he hired jim benning you know i was like i'm sure you sure they'll work great together. Mm-hmm. Until they didn't, right? Well, he was gone. Yeah. Very difficult.

Well, and what happened was they had a difference of opinions. Big picture. Yeah. Big picture. Yeah. Now, the understanding at Toronto is very much obvious. It's, well, if they both can't agree on something, then it doesn't go, right? If we're either all in or we're all out.

That's how this works. And again, great in concept, love the idea, but it could be incredibly difficult to pull off. one text is suggesting are you suggesting chundine is in locked in don't try and split up chundine i love that chundine's happening you're you're trying to make chundian yeah well we're not trying it's happened okay chondine has has become a thing big chungis big chungus big chungus that's what alfred said yesterday all right isn't that the gigantic uh bunny rabbit yes it's the big bugs bunny yeah big chung uh okay it's time now for the smart decision brought to you by crow uh i think this one is hilarious.

So, you know the situation with LiveGolf right now, right? Where the funding is being pulled. Is that how they say that LiveGolf is being canceled without actually canceling it? As they say, we're pulling the funding. And then it just dies naturally. And then the live executives are like, maybe we can find another sponsor. So, oh, yeah? So Bryson has already come up with an alternate road.

He has said that he hasn't had the conversation. She's had some conversations with the PGA tour, but never a full-fledged conversation about potentially rejoining. Bryson's decision is that he's prepared to grow. His YouTube channel should things fall apart with Liv, and he's not accepted back onto the PGA tour. I mean, that might be, might be a better way to make money. Okay, and also, I don't think money is going to be the driver for Bryson to Shamm.

I feel like he's got a lot of it. He's probably okay, maybe taking a haircut. Probably one of the drivers that drove him to live golf. And then he made his money. Right. So, you know, and it's funny because I don't follow Bryson's career all that closely other than what he's done on a tour, live or PGR or otherwise. But I was unaware as to how popular he is on YouTube. I was watching prior to the Masters, the Premier League released a video of some of the biggest Premier League stars asking them who was going to win the Masters.

and a lot of the guys like either picked Rory or Matt's Fitzpatrick because they were all from the England and Northern Ireland the UK and everything and a lot of them said I think I'm going to go with Bryson because I know him yeah where they watch his YouTube channel all the time I have not watched a second of his YouTube content but as I understand it and I've watched a few of the things that he does like he goes out and tries to break 50

from the from the forward tease I mean he did it with Trump once I saw the one where he tried to shoot a chip shot over his house and pull it out on the other side. Which is kind of, I mean, it was kind of cool. People love that stuff. Yeah. There's a couple of YouTube golf things that I watch.

You know, so we'll see. But the other thing that you've got to consider is like, how much does he care about winning majors? Does he care about, does he, where does it rank? And it's not judging. I'm all, I'm curious about it because one of the issues with going and playing live golf was like, are you really? grinding out on on that tour are you are you are you really becoming the best player you can be

against that competition um and i think a lot of the guys that went over there not all of them but a lot of the guys they missed the competition they miss being in the spotlight and having those pressure moments you know the more the more i've followed sports the more i realized like for the best players and the guys that are the winners, and this sounds so corny, the competition is the reward. Yeah. It doesn't have corny, but I get what you're saying.

Like once you get enough money and you're comfortable, just want to beat a guy. Or of course. But that's, but that is like, that's why you're playing. And I think a lot of people don't get that. They're like, no, the money is the reward. No, it's like you get to go out and do this for a living where you get to go and compete.

And I think that's where a lot of the guys that are successful, they've had bad losses. But they don't see that as necessarily like devastating. Like you think about the losses that Cooper has had recently, John Cooper, you know, devastating. But and then you hear him afterwards, he said, you know, the hockey gods have been on my side for a lot of my career. They didn't go this way. Do you think he would pass up the opportunity? Do you think he'd be like, well, I wish I hadn't coached. coached in the gold medal game of the Olympics.

No, it's all like the competition, being in those moments, being in those pressure situations, and actually getting to live, that is the reward for a lot of them. So this decision might also be a smart one because Deschambeau, while practicing yesterday in preparation for this week's live golf tournament Trump National, he intimated and suggested, hinted that the PJ tour is going to hit him with massive penalty should he come back? Oh, yeah, yeah. The smart decision brought to you by Chris.

Crow, you're trusting accounting and tax advisors for over 55 years. Crow smart decisions lasting value. Learn more at chromokai.com. Final hour of the program coming up. Randy Jandah is coming up. You're listening to the Halford in Brough show on SportsNet 650.