Halford & Brough in the Morning - When Your Rebuild Is In The Embryonic Stage

Episode Date: May 8, 2026

In hour two, Mike & Jason discuss the latest Whitecaps reloaction news with Sun Province MLS reporter Patrick Johnston (7:03), plus the boys talk all things Canucks and NHL playoffs with Sportsnet's Iain MacIntyre (25:22). 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.

Friday. It's a fiesta Friday. Happy Friday, everybody. Halford Brough, Sports9-650. Halford and Rove of the morning is brought to you by Sands and Associates. They're open seven days a week and checks notes, open late to help you get debt-free. With no judgment or upfront fees, visit them today at sands dash trustee.com. We are in hour two of the program. AJ is going to join us in just a moment here. Our two is brought to by Jason Hominuk at jason.com. If you love giving the banks more your money, then don't let Jason shop around to find the perfect morgue. for you. Visit them online at Jason.

Got Mortgage. It's certainly a choice to be broadcasting live from the Kintech studio. Step Strong with orthotics and footwear from Kintech. Someone texted in. They really don't like it when people say be better. Oh, I hate that. I hate that. By the way, this whole bit is a variety of overused words and phrases,

mostly on the internet that need to go away forever. Some people are just texting in like normal phrases. Be right back and stuff. Adam the former bath guy Some people, hold on, some people didn't get the assignment. That's another bad one. Adam, the former bad guy, texting and he's like, I hate him when people are always saying,

hang in there. I'm like, what's going on? How many people are saying that to you? So like everyone? Hang in there, Adam. All right. Weird. Hey, weird flax, Adam.

Oh, no. Okay, let's go now to the Aval Auctions hotline. Our next guest, AJ from AJ's Pizza on, He's Broadway here on the Alford and Breft Show on SportsNet 650. What up, AJ? What is going on? What is going on? Usual Friday hijinks, but you have two ask us anythings.

One for us and one for Laddie. Let's start with the one for us. Yes. So, obviously, you know, I'm an avid listener. Yes. He loves the show. Is this pinnical crossroad moment the biggest ever for this organization? Like ever. No.

I don't think so. I don't think so. You don't think so? No. Okay. That's why I asked. Yeah. I trust, you know. It's up there in terms of moments in franchise history because of how low they finished and how bad the year was. Right. Like I think, for example, the aftermath of 2011 was a more profound existential crisis for the organization.

Now, that played itself out over a long time. This is a regime change at the managerial level. I would say that a bigger moment also was when Mike Gell's, Hillis took over and he just had to decide whether or not the Siddines were the players to build around going forward and he ultimately did right and you know we all know how it we all think the thing that gives me a little bit of like well maybe it won't really matter is that the Canucks have to be bad for a couple more years like they they do you know it's it's it's it's like there's no there's no well they better get this right because the

next three years are when they could win the Stanley Cup, right? If they're, if they're bad, you know, they're going to get high picks, which they should anyway. Now they've got to nail those picks, but I know, I understand that. It's a good question, but I just, he's one for one. You might win the $100. Well, I'm saying, I'm saying this, but for me personally, I would have been up 30% yesterday if they were playing. Yeah.

Okay, you're asking us anything for Lattie. I wouldn't prep for too much playoff revenue over the next few years, AJ. Just, yeah, I've been going to regular season action. Yeah, yeah, yeah, keep going with that. We're a HAPS restaurant now, thing. That might work for you. Absolutely, absolutely. Laddie, this is one for you, my friend.

What are the Blue Jays have to play percentage-wise to win 88 games this year? Well, they basically have to play on a hundred-win pace to get to 90. Is that the math? Essentially, yeah, that's how the math works. 5-76, buddy. But, hey, have some hope because they played 5-8. last year. And also the United States little Friday. The entire league is just

trashed this year. Everyone except for your Yankees, buddy, is very average right now. If they play at a hundred win pays for the rest of the season, they're easily in the playoffs. Okay, before we let you go, AJ's Pizza on East Broadway, what's going on this weekend and we can include today Friday, Saturday, Saturday, Saturday, Sunday, AJ's go.

Hey, we're rocking and rolling into Austin, too. They're open for full service, and AJ's is obviously going to be open and come on. My have he's tonight. Yeah, right. Game two. Yeah, a huge game for them. I love that you're calling him your Habbies too, by the way. That's the perfect chef's kiss to this.

I've never even heard them called Habies. AJ, thanks for this, buddy. We appreciate it. Have a good weekend. Good luck with the Habies tonight. That's AJ from AJ's pizza and he's brought a way. A reminder, ask us anything Friday here on the Halford & Brough show on SportsNet 650. Best ask us anything gets $100 to go, I guess, cheer on the Habies, which is now a thing. If you get Habies, they got a cream for that now.

good one that's worth very well done do we have Patrick on the line or are we waiting no I was waiting to get in that little zinger I haven't called him yet

you should do that you should probably call him it's a singer the zinger the zinger the zinger ask us that anything Friday do we have any at the ready here

yes calling in to watson ask us anything would you rather use the men in black mind wipe everyone knows what that is to erase your memories as a Canucks fan

and reset your fandom control all delete your Canucks fandom? Or plug yourself into the Matrix in a world where the Canucks are perennial Stanley Cup favorites but a part of you knows that it's not real. Okay, well, I don't want any part of me to know that it's not real. Isn't the whole idea of plugging yourself into the Matrix

to just like you make a decision at one point but once you make that decision, you don't know that it's not real? But he's throwing that wrinkle in there so that there's a catch. Because otherwise we probably just take the perennial Stanley Cup contender. I don't want to control, delete my fandom because... I kind of do. If the Canucks ever win the Stanley Cup in my lifetime,

and it's not looking great right now, but because of that, but because of that, because we've been through all this, like, isn't this all what we're still hanging around for? Like the payoff? Yeah, yeah, yeah. It'll be that much sweeter because there's been so much pain. You know, they call the payoff pitch?

Like, we've been fouling balls off at the three, too. count for a while now. 50 plus years. Staying alive at the plate. Let's go now to the ABLE Auctions hotline, our next guest. Sports Calmness for the province. Patrick Johnson joins us now on the Halford & Breath Show on SportsNet 650. Good morning. Patrick.

How are you? Good morning, boys. I was much more sultry when Andy called me this morning because you know, it's not as early as you guys get up. I mean, he answered the phone. You went, hello. This is pretty good. 7.10 in the morning is still pretty early and we appreciate you taking the time to do this.

And the reason we're doing this is we wanted to dive deep into your whitecaps folder, your whitecaps dossier as it was. You wrote about this midweek in the aftermath of what Axel Schuster had to say. And there wasn't much that Axel either did say or really could say. But there's a significant revenue gap here for the whitecaps that they're trying to close. And just kind of take the microphone from here and tell us like what you know, what Axel said, what you're hearing about the lack of. revenue that the white caps have and how they're trying to remedy that. Yeah. Again, it was asked what do you need, which of course is what Rattie Callan said last

week. And I think, you know, I mean, essentially what it is is that they are in a position where they play in a obviously huge stadium. It's simple to say, well, they could just charge more for tickets, but it's not that simple. That, you know, they're trying to close. a tens of millions of dollars gap. And, you know, you could jack your ticket prices.

We know what the team across the street has done and how people feel about that. Obviously, the Whitecaps have been successful. But, you know, I asked him that specifically. And he said, you know, it's not that simple. He said, you know, first of all, we don't want to be the club. But the first thing we do is we go ask fans to pay more. You know, that there are so many sort of challenges that they recognize that they need to look at the broader the broader business and how they do things.

The thing to understand all this, first of all, before I say anything else, is that the top two sources of what they call commercial revenue, so not fan, not match day, in major league soccer, are healthcare, which obviously is not available to Canadian clubs and gambling, which is there, but in BC, there is literally only one outlet that's allowed to spend money on that kind of thing, and it's play now, and playing out hands millions of dollars, to the Canucks and doesn't sponsor anything else.

And so, I mean, that's a certain level of frustration from the White Caps. At the same time, the big picture comes back to the whole thing, which is that they do need to do a better job. I think they've come to recognize that the position that they've filled for, you know, they may be about whether it's taken to granted, been lazy, whatever, that they need to think of themselves in bigger terms. But, you know, as I said to him after, I said, listen, you know, the Canucks know that people still want to go to Canucks games,

even if they haven't been very good, especially when it comes to, like, entertained clients and things like that. Like, that's an area of the white caps do better at. Like, yet people think, oh, I'd love to go get a box of the white caps. And beyond that, you know, there's things like, you know, there are, I think, sponsor areas, you know, like there's a long list. He said, you know, there's 30 categories that leak has sort of identified. And in total, some of them they're doing.

But, you know, there's a lot of different things that they aren't doing that they need to explore better. And then on top of that, I think there's also what they're talking about now, which is why perhaps they might want to take over the building itself. I think if you think about, you know, nobody is interested in the official hamburger of BC Place, but they might be interested in the official hamburger of the whitecaps if the white caps around the building and you were able to get that at all times.

Because right now the only times you can get official whitecaps stuff is when they're playing a game there. Right. You know, so they're sure you can scale out sponsorships. So stuff that they have is not available when you go there for a concert. And, you know, it's not just that you could literally sell more of those things. it's also that you could offer more exposure. And so there's a lot of different things going on that are not going on, I should say,

and that's what they need to do at the stadium itself. And next week, basically the senior revenue guy from the league is going to be coming out to meet with the province and start talking about options that they have here. But fundamentally, at the stadium itself, you know, they need to figure out ways to make more money on match days. They need to figure out ways to make more money generally in sponsorship. and that kind of thing. And in the end, you know, what Axel said, is that, listen, if we're at the final step and we need to bridge it to get back, you know, to get to their target number and it's, you know, a million dollars or something like that, you know, they could add a few bucks on everybody's ticket. Yeah, they will do that. But in the end, that's not the first thing he wants to do. Patrick, I want to cut to the chase a little bit. Because there seems to be just a lot of talk and going around in circles and all that sort of stuff. And like, I mean, you've, you've, you've covered this story as closely as anyone in the media. Do you think they're gone? or do you think they're going to stay? No, I don't think they're gone.

I can't guarantee they're going to stay. You know, because in the end, ownership is trying to sell, right? And that is the fundamental challenge. And right now there has been no one that has stepped forward and said, we are going to buy the team and keep it here. Obviously, there have been, I think, a few groups that have emerged since all this talk has come out. I know the minister mentioned that there might be something happened today. You know, as I said all these things, and I think the white caps and sell, that's great.

But, you know, until someone is actually putting, you know, a true offer on the table, they'll be able to show their funds where their money comes from, you know, but they're still in the same spot. So, you know, I sort of say, listen, there is a path here. I wrote this last week, how they could stay. You know, there is a path, which is fundamentally they reset their sort of revenue picture. They cover all these bases that we're talking about. They add a whole bunch of sponsorships.

They find ways to sort of scale up revenue that they make. at D.C. place, they reposition themselves. And then one of these groups does come along and says, yeah, yeah, we're interested. I mean, I think fundamentally right now that anybody that's new that's emerged that has made a call, you know, they still can't say whether this is a group that's actually a fundamentally option in terms of investment or a right purchase, right? So they're still in the same spot, which is that they don't have anybody identified to come along, you know, whether it's a white knight or whatever.

They don't have anybody. So that that is why, you know, if you had to say, are they going or are they staying? Well, right now there's nobody on the table. So the likely thing, the only one on the table is Vegas offer, which also is not exactly one that is, you know, it's not like there's a stadium in Vegas ready to go. You know, the Vegas one is complicated too. But there's deep pockets behind that bid. Absolutely. Yeah.

And that's the big difference, right? Like, that is the important thing to understand. You're absolutely right. Yeah. So like, then the thing about that, you know, is that, yeah, there's a, there's a, there's a, there's a, there's a, there's a, there's a big difference. guy with a bunch of money who has a plan and says this is what I want to do what I want to do. And at present, there is no one like that here, but White Cash remain hopeful that they are going to find one.

I struggle a little bit when I hear like, well, they'll just, you know, reposition themselves. Like, what does that mean? I mean, if there's a 50, if they're losing $50 million a year and that number is floating around a little bit, like that is a hell of a gap to close. Yeah. Yeah, and I think that that then becomes a question of, well, what the heck is going on with this league, right? Because the white caps are top five in attendance. They have already announced that their first game back in August against LFC is going to be an upper bowl game, right?

Like, they're eyeing a full-on 55,000 seat sellout. And you're telling me that a team is averaging as much as they are can't make it work. Like, what does that say about the league? And that, I think, is the other thing in all this. And that is, I think, an incentive. Why major soccer does not? want to have a steam move because that says bad things for the leads business as a whole. Like, like, that is insane.

So you're absolutely right. Like the 50 million gap, if that's what it is, even 40 million, which is, you know, sort of the revenue target. Now, he, as well, she said 40 million is an average revenue target. Now, I don't know if it's, they're not making zero clearly, right? But it's tens of millions of dollars they're trying to make up. because for the longest time I mean listen Bloomberg came out with a number last week

which is 300 million US which we know counted it is just over 400 billion Canadian that they've lost since they've joined the league and my understanding is that the bulk of that has happened in the last six years and that's not just because of COVID COVID didn't help obviously but a lot of that's because of salary growth

and this is the thing that I think people kind of go well the lions don't have a problem like you're right the lions as a total for their roster pay less pay less money than Thomas Miller makes in the season. So like... Yeah, the CFL has a pretty strict salary cap. Yeah.

But like it also is just like the scale of expenses are just not the same. And what's happened in MLS, it's not just now, this is the other thing that we think about. Like it's not just that they obviously pay their first team more money. But like, you know, MLS next pro, I was thinking about this yesterday. I was looking at sort of the white caps sort of schedule the week that they send out to us and thinking about, oh, right. You know, it's not just that they're, you know, they're playing the first team on the road, but they're playing San Jose. They're also taking their second team, right? It's expensive.

They're younger. Right. And the second team doesn't make any money. Like, at least the average of Canucks have, I mean, they have struggled drawing fans, but they still have fans. You know, like people are still paying tickets and that kind of thing. Like, nobody's going to see the whitecaps reserve team, right? Like, that's an expense that didn't exist six or seven years ago in the same way. So, like, their expenses have gone way up.

And the league has got more expensive. LA, you know, if you, you know, I think it's best to understand that like there are three teams that are really driving the bus in terms of revenue. And that's the two LA teams and Miami. And those guys have huge sponsorships and partly because of the nature they play in America and this is a bigger scale. And that's the other challenge in Canada, is that we're just a smaller, we're just a smaller place. There's no such thing as a national sponsorship. You buy into Toronto and it's spilled up to the rest of the country. the Apple TV truly for the league on a league scale is a disaster.

It doesn't drive them any revenue. Like there are a lot of problems that go beyond just the white caps. But fundamentally, this is where we're at. The owner doesn't want to keep losing tons. And he wasn't losing tons and tons and tons and tons of money until about six years ago. And now he has been. And I think he doesn't want to do that anymore. Okay.

We only got you for a few more minutes, Peach. So I do want to ask you about the Canucks. Of course. The GM Chase, Evan Gold, is he going to be the guy? Well, I mean, it's been interesting. Obviously, we're hearing his name a lot more than anyone else's. You know, obviously the instinct was that Jim Rutherford started hoping it would be Ryan Johnson, being the guy that he's worked a lot with.

But, yeah, I mean, listen, gold has been a capitalologist. He's clearly a smart guy and has been in the league a long time. So, you know, that part seems likely, especially given the names we've heard. Yeah, so now I'm just curious to see what the other part of the story is, like who ends up becoming, you know, whether it's a senior drives or whatever you want to call it, because it seems pretty clear that Jim Rutherford's stepping away. Yeah. I find it hard to believe that they would bring in Evan Gold,

who's never really had a public-facing job in the NHL, stick them in in a market like Vancouver and be like, all right, good luck. You can call Jim Rutherford in Raleigh, North Carolina, if you need any advice. Yeah, Minnesota, actually. I think that's where he's going to know. His son's been playing hockey there. But yeah, exactly. Like, it, it, it, it isn't, that, that part is the one I'm trying to,

trying to sort of square and all this, because, because this will be a third rookie GM in a run. Supposedly that's been a criticism or why one of the reasons why ownership didn't want to go to Brian Johnson. So I'm just like, okay, well, what's the difference other than this guy as a lawyer and went, to, you know, went to Toronto, you know, or whatever, right? Like, it's just kind of, I don't get it. Like, what's the difference?

So that part is still very odd to me and why I've kind of been waiting for the shoot drope. I'm told nothing's happening before the weekend, right? Like, we're talking about next week, I guess. So that's why I've been sort of waiting for the other shoe to drop. I'm like, okay, what else is here? So we'll see how that shakes out. I still think there's going to be someone else, how they structure it.

But so if it is gold, I mean, obviously nothing's done until it's done. But if it is gold, I just feel like there's, There's got to be something else here. Pige, always good to catch up with you, buddy. Thanks for coming on the show today. All right, good morning. Go back to bed. All right.

Gotcha. See, pal. Patrick Johnson from the province here on the Halpert & Brough show on Sportsnet 650. That's interesting. Had a variety of conversations this week. And there's a few fairly obvious things that are going on that. I think maybe the listenership of the general public isn't quite aware of. White caps-wise here.

White caps-wise. Okay. all of the efforts about trying to close this revenue gap, or at least acknowledging how much there is to make up, is in part to try and put together a clearer picture for any group that may come in and buy the team and keep them local. So if the white caps can put together

a better financial package to the next buyer than what they currently have, they would love to do so. Now, the problem is, and this is the song and dance that doesn't ever seem to end, still not getting a super clear picture from the club exactly what they want.

And Axel again kind of punted on that when he met with the media on Wednesday in part because he doesn't want to negotiate in public or through the media. I get that part of it. But at a certain level, it might be beneficial to give a little bit of a glimpse behind the curtain as to exactly what the asks are

to be more financially viable. It's so muddled everything. Secondly. It's just really, do you know what I mean? Like I hear it. And, you know, I realize that it's a negotiation in some ways and sometimes this happens. But the lack of clarity in this is not just worrying. It's kind of annoying.

So I've said this a few times going back and really digging deep into when Columbus nearly lost the crew. And I said, don't pay attention to the end game. Pay attention to the certain talking points that occurred along the way. Because there is a sort of roadmap of where this thing. goes. And right now what we're seeing is the provincial government sort of lobbed its public salvo and you know how a jobs minister Ravi Kalan put out there that you know there's this

secret group this bid that's hanging out there. And you know we asked the question like well why is the provincial government breaking this story or putting this out there. Why isn't it coming through MLS or through the white caps? And then you will start to get other remarks from the quote unquote other side, like all of a sudden Canada soccer comes out with a statement. Yeah. Supporting the White Caps stay and talking about how they need more

from the provincial government, among other government agencies and bodies. So you will see this in the coming days that while both sides don't want to negotiate publicly, they're more than happy to send messaging publicly. Right. And that is a big part of this. And if you go back to the Columbus situation, that's really what happened. There was a back and forth and a back and forth.

And I always say the breaking point for Columbus was when there was a letter from then owner, Anthony Precourt, co-signed by MLS Commissioner Don Garber that said, the crew are leaving. And we support this move. That's how far it got down the road in Columbus

before it really reached a breaking point where they were like, we can't let this happen. So for those of you that tired of the endless back and forth and you know, the public messaging and the massaging, I still think we have a way to go. Because I've also been told that there have not been

any plans, for example, to start having next season's schedule, the sprint season that MLS is going to have with like, Vegas is the placeholder. You know what I mean? So yes, the team is losing money. Yes, they're for sale. Yes, Kerfut would like to stop

losing money and maybe close the sale, but it doesn't seem like they're there yet. And that'll take us to the break. We got to go on the other side. Ian McIntyre is going to join us from the road. IMAQ back out on the road working. He's covering the Aves Wild series, which doesn't get back on our way until tomorrow. It's got a big mid-series break. We'll talk to him about that. And of course, the general manager search in Vancouver. You got something? What a local show we've got. I know. Just had, wait, way, AJ, local restaurateur,

Patrick Johnston, local writer. IMAX, local, although on the road right now. And then Rick Dollywall, who is, like it or not, local. About as local as they get. You're listening to the Alfred and Brough 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. 733 on a Friday.

Happy Friday, everybody, Halford, Bruff, SportsNet 650. Halford and Brub at the morning is brought to you by Sands and Associates. They're ready to give you the final. financial fresh start you deserve. With no judgment or upfront fees, visiting today at sands dash trustee.com. We're in hour two of the program with the midway point of the show. Ian McIntyre. IMAX is going to join us in just a moment here.

Hour two of this program is brought to by Jason Homanock at Jason. Dot mortgage. If you love paying too much for your mortgage and don't let Jason shop around to find the perfect mortgage for you, visit them online at jason. com. Let's go now to the ABLE Auctions hotline, our next guest, back on the road. work in the Aves Wild series, but also keeping close tabs on the Vancouver Canucks. He's doing it all.

Ian McIntyre from SportsNet joins us now on the Halford & Brasho on SportsNet 650. Morning, I'm Mack. How are you? I'm doing well. I'm doing my best to try to focus on one thing or the other. And I'm not really focusing enough on either, probably. But it's a fun time, interesting times for the Canucks. we had our playoff coverage planned a little bit in advance. And, you know, when I was assigned to this Colorado Avalanche, Minnesota Wild Series, I was, you know, pretty excited about that because it should be a great series,

Quinn Hughes, all that stuff. But there are a few things going on back home with the Canucks. So maybe the timing wasn't the best. We'll see. I fully expect that they'll announce their general manager about an hour before one of the games of this series. It was kind of a crazy day, the draft lottery day. There was this morning skate and then a draft lottery story that I'd written, have to admit, written a lot of the background to it before the draw, but waited for the draw in the press room in Denver.

and then was madly writing my story while trying to listen to Listen Live 650 so I could hear what Jim Rutherford was saying. And as I'm writing, I'm hearing the goal horn go off because the game has started and I think, okay, I got to wrap this thing up. I got to wrap this thing up. So I clicked off, listened live, finished my story, filed it, went upstairs and then got a note saying, oh, by the way, at the end of his press conference, Jim Rutherford said he's leaving. Okay. We'll see what tomorrow brings. But I was actually really lucky I got to talk to

Rutherford the next morning at some length and so at least I could do a proper follow. I was going to say, I don't know if Jim's sense of theater is great or poor because he went out with a bang, right? Like, by the way, I'm stepping down. Okay, thanks for coming out. So there was a nice little ending to all of it, but he did kind of bury the lead.

You did write about this for Sportsnet.com. In great detail, talking about Jim Rutherford stepping down and his explanation as to why now. Maybe not necessarily focusing on the why in the now, but your biggest takeaway from, it was a fairly long conversation as far as I can gather with Jim Rutherford about stepping away as president of hockey ops. Yeah, I guess, you know, it's hard to escape his optimism.

I don't think a lot of people share it, But it's pretty overt when he talks about, you know, the culture and changing and the young guys that they've started this rebuild with. It's really hard. I think it's because I figured you were going to ask me like what his legacy might be. And right now, like these last four years, there's, it's just been, we've lurched from kind of one crisis to another. and look where the team is now versus where it was four years ago. Mind you, it came in at a chaotic time at a low point as well after Jim Benning and Travis Green were fired the same day.

But I don't think we're really going to know what to make of Jim Rutherford's time in Vancouver until we actually see if this is going to work. Like if two or three years from now, the Canucks are an up-and-coming team, they're competitive, they're fast, they're well-coached, they have exciting players and more exciting players than just what they have now, because I think we all know this isn't enough. Then I think there's going to be a different context into what Rutherford did in Vancouver. But right now it's just, you know, it's disappointing. what has happened if you look at if you look at the core what what he inherited the ages of those players what we thought was possible and and now how it's turned out i mean it's it's it's almost worst case scenario but as jim has said and i think he's accurate on this things arose that they

didn't expect to have to deal with. And the biggest one, I think, was the dysfunction and the culture problem in the dressing room. But I also think that's, you know, as a management group, that's one of their biggest failings as well in how they, how they handled that or underestimated the problem initially. And, you know, it ended up basically they had to, send everybody away and try and start over. And that's what they're doing now. And we'll see, we'll see where this goes. I'm Mac, what do you think is going to happen with Ryan Johnson? Yeah, I hope that, I hope that he's the next GM. But I think that he will be a GM. And if he's not hired, if he's not hired here, I think somebody else will hire him. And I don't mean like,

you know, a month from now or next season or even within a couple of years. But I think this is this is kind of a point for him. And I've known Ryan a long time. I, you know, covered him as a player. But I have not talked to him during this process because, you know, I do, first of all, that would put him in a very difficult position. And also I just don't think it's necessarily fair to do that at this moment. It seems to me he has done everything that he's been tasked,

everything he's been asked to do in Vancouver. He's done. If you look at his work on the player development side and then the building a team for Abbotsford and then working, you know, expanding his role as an assistant GM, if he's not going to get the job now, I'm not sure how much more there is for him to do here. And so I think this is, I think maybe his career would be at a little bit of a crossroads.

And that's not to say whoever they would hire instead of him wouldn't want to keep him on. Because one thing about Ryan that makes him exceptional as well is his ability to work with different regimes. You know, this is one of his greatest strengths. His inclusiveness with the staff around him, his ability to communicate and work with different kinds of people. And so if someone else comes in and takes the GM's chair, I'm sure Ryan would be able to adapt and work and continue to do excellent work. but I just don't know that you know, without the end goal of working his way to GM here,

I don't know how much longer he would stay. So I think it's a big, big time for him personally, obviously. You've hinted at this a little bit in your writing about maybe Ryan Johnson being too nice of a guy for the decision makers in the Kinex organization. I've heard that as well, but just through like rumors and speculation, I haven't heard it from the horse's mouth,

but this notion that Ryan Johnson isn't a killer. You know, do you think there's something to that? And if so, what do you think of it? Well, the reason that I may have hinted about is because I've heard what you've heard, Jason, and it's not my belief. I think it's absurd, frankly. I think that's absolutely absurd.

You can either you can do the job or you can't do the job. And being a nice human being, somebody who cares about people on a personal level, I don't think that should disqualify you from anything. If I'm doing the hiring, that would actually be a pretty positive trait to have in my company. You can be nice and be extremely competitive at the same time. Right. So I have asked around the edges about that, about that thought. On the record, I asked Trevor Linden what he thought of that.

And remember, Linden is the guy who, you know, brought Ryan in and sort of empowered him on the player development side. Excuse me. And Trevor said, it's ridiculous. And he cited Pat Quinn as an example. that Pat Quinn was, you know, a pretty good human being. Yeah. And he was also a very good general manager.

And so, yeah, I think it's nonsense. But there was that sort of, you know, in the air around Vancouver, that there's this idea, perhaps, within ownership that they think Ryan is too nice a guy. And, you know, I think that would be ridiculous. I think if anything with what? we've seen happen to the hockey team and so many of the problems boiling down to

personal relationships and human interaction. Character, I think, is the word that I would throw out there in a lot of cases, frankly. Sure. I mean, yeah. Character is, you know, a broad, a broad umbrella term.

Yeah, character. Character for sure. But, you know, a dressing room at the end of the day, it's a group of relationships. And the tricky thing about relationships, as we all know, is they evolve. So what might be true one day might not be true a month from now. But if you have somebody who actually cares about these relationships on a genuine level, I don't see how that can possibly be a bad thing with where this organization is right now.

and especially since so much of the rebuild and the optimism that comes from Jim Rutherford is not just about the players, the young players they have and what talent they might develop and what other young players they might get. It's about that culture and it's about those relationships in the dressing room and how much more positive and supportive they became post-deadline. in the last couple of months of the season. So if you have a general manager who has, you know, demonstrates character and those ideals, I don't see how that could possibly do anything but help this organization.

IMAQ, you've been covering this team for a long time. You know what a good team looks like. You know what a bad team looks like. Where do you think the Canucks are right now? Are you on board with Jim Rutherford's optimism about what they have right now? I think they have some good young players, but that doesn't make them a good team. Like they're a long way, a long way from being a good team. They need to, you know, whatever you think they have now, let's say double it.

If you double that. So you get another, you know, get another boo-yam, you get another Braden Coots. And then you continue to develop, you know, you basically double everything. So another Ogrin. And then maybe you can start to be competitive. But I do like some of the young players that they have, but I think there's just not nearly enough yet. Like this isn't, this rebuild is really at the embryonic state.

Like they haven't yet laid a foundation. and I think that's something that the Jim said is the foundation is there. I think the foundation might be there in terms of the attitude and the dress room culture with this new group of players, but there's not enough players yet for this team really to take off. And that's why this year's draft is so important. But even if they do really well at this year's draft, and I would agree with Rutherford, that it can be a bit of a game changer if they do more than just pick

a foundational player at number three. They need to really hit on their other top picks as well. But that that's still not going to be enough. You know, you're going to be at this for years. So I like who they have

but they just need a lot more. We're speaking to Ian McIntyre from Sportsnet here on the Halford & Brough show on SportsNet 650. Let's turn our attention to this series that you're covering right now, IMAQ. It is a 2-0 series lead for the Aves on the wild. Weird long break in between games two and three here.

I'm assuming you're in Minnesota now, correct? I am. I'm in St. Paul. I arrived yesterday. I stayed behind a day in Denver to sit out the snowstorm and also cover the avalanche practice yesterday before I traveled. I got to say, like, when I, flew to Denver on Saturday, the NHL had not yet released the schedule for the series.

All we knew was that game one was going to be on Sunday. And when I landed and looked at the schedule and saw that, okay, game two is on Monday, that's what we thought. Or sorry, game two is on Tuesday. That's what we thought. And then I scrolled. I got to Thursday on the NHL schedule. Oh, no games. That's weird.

got to Friday. Well, where's this series? I thought, come on. You got to be kidding me. Three days. I've never seen that. Nope. I've never seen that.

So it's going to be a long series, even in five games. It's going to be a long series. But it's been really fun hockey. You know, the 9-6 game, I don't think we're going to see again for another 20 years. There hadn't been a game like that since 93. I don't think we're going to see another one for a couple of decades, but it was, you know, rip-roaring good fun. And then game two, I just thought the avalanche just they look really good.

I don't know how, and we'll see. I mean, Minnesota now has home court, and we'll see maybe the series is going to be 2-2. They've obviously got some serious injuries that are affecting them without. Brodine and Ericksonette, but man, when I look at Colorado and just see how well they play, and yeah, they've got McKinnon and McCar, but they've just got a lot of good players through their lineup. And they play, and they play so well together. I don't know how Jared Bednar doesn't get more credit for what he's done here, for his, for his longevity and keeping this team you know, at the top of, near the top of the NHL,

even in the years where they disappoint in the playoffs and go out early, which has happened a couple of times. There's still every year at the top. And the players, he seems to have a lot of buy-in, which is hard to do. Again, getting back to relationships when one coach has been around the same core of guys for so long, it's tricky because the relationships have to evolve. but he's obviously been able to to keep everyone believing and engaged and happy enough

that it's not affecting anyone's play. I just think, you know, Bednar must be a remarkable coach for the Adelange to be like this year after year. What's he done to turn Brock Nelson into a Selky finalist? I was like, I saw that, saw that, I was like, Brock Nelson. Like, I don't think he's ever been in the Selky conversation and all of a sudden. He's a finalist. And you always see a guy like that on a Stanley Cup contender. Like you got Nick Suzuki in Montreal.

I mean, you go back to the Canucks, right? 2011. Just happened to be the year that Kessler won the Selke. And you need those types of guys in the playoffs. And I didn't know that Brock Nelson could be that guy, but apparently he is. Yeah. Well, I think what Brock Nelson did is stabilized a position for them because really they had as good.

as they've been, they had a gap there. They tried at second line center. They traded for Casey Middlestat. That was a poor trade in hindsight, giving up Bowen, Bowen Byron. But they thought that Middlestat would be their solution as a second line center. And he wasn't. And so now Nelson is the solution. I'm not smart enough and astute enough when I'm watching a game to pick out the finest

details of defensive play. Yeah, you can see who's in the right spot generally. So I can't answer you why he's suddenly a Selky finalist other than he does everything so well. And obviously his metrics are good, like his defensive numbers are good. And I think he's really made it easier for McKinnon playing ahead of him and has given some real stability. He's just one of those guys. I'm not going to say he's under the radar

because he was a prominent player with the Islanders. He's making a lot of money and has been in the NHL a long time. So it's not like he's a secret or a guy that people didn't know he was a good... Yeah, I think he's under the radar though. I think you can say that. Well, yeah.

Yeah, I mean, on this team he is because of who they have. but he's been a very good player. And they plugged him in and has been what they hoped he would be. I saw somebody, to your point, I saw somebody tweet when it was announced that he was one of the Seelke finalists that he had never received a vote. Yeah, a vote. Not a nomination. Just a vote.

Fifth place, whatever. Vote. Yeah. So maybe you must be right to you. You've got to be under the radar because he has been a good player for a long time. And I think, you know, and sometimes what happens for a player like that, when you're that good and you're that conscientious and you just have the trade craft, right, the skill set, you know what you're doing as an NHL player. When you come to a team like Colorado, there's so much clarity to the expectations of what they want from you. Because you don't have to be the – don't worry about getting 80 points.

Don't worry about, you know, driving the first unit power play. You just have to be good at both ends, take some matchups, so McKinnon doesn't have them all, contribute offensively in a secondary way, and just be a good pro. And, you know, guys like Brock Nelson, I think, you know, they love that clarity. Every player loves clarity, but sometimes even the really good players. if you just simplify for them what it is that your expectations are, they can really flourish.

And he's flourishing with this team. Yeah, the right guys and the right positions. And IMac, you know it always comes back to the centers. Yes, it does, which is why this draft is so interesting for Matt Cooper and what they might do. By the way, I couldn't, well, I think we're all in agreement. It's beyond ridiculous the way the lottery works now. for Toronto to win it. Give me a break.

And even San Jose, like because, because Toronto is such, Toronto winning is such a soul crusher for most people on the West Coast, we overlooked that the San Jose Sharks who won the lottery two years ago, they were in the Canucks position two years ago

and held the first pick and got Macklin Celebrini. And now they have this team that's on the cusp. of being a really good team. Oh, sure, let's let them move from ninth to second. They had 86, they were 28 points ahead of Vancouver. But surely they deserve that second pick more than Vancouver. I want you to turn into a conspiracy guy.

And just like that's, that's, that's how you're like, because do we have a good conspiracy guy in the Vancouver media right now? No, because Tony retired a few years ago. Exactly. All right, I'm, Mack, we've got to get going. Enjoy this long road trip. Game three, apparently is played at some point. And thanks for joining us today.

Thanks for breaking up the monotony. See you, pal. I appreciate being on. See you. Ian McIntyre from SportsNet here on the Halford & Brough show on Sportsnet 650. It's time now for the smart decision brought to you by Crow. Not just the smart decision, but a heartwarming decision as well out of Philadelphia of all places. 76ers are trying to prevent

Knicks fans from taking over the building in games 3 and 4 of their series in this second round. Embedde was very frustrated with that in the past. Previously, they've tried to do it strategically by limiting and geographically targeting ticket sales that might have been going to the New York area.

And now they're doing a very cool thing and a very smart thing. Arresting people in Nick's uniforms? Beating them up at the door. Tonight, Game three, they are giving away 250 tickets to frontline medical personnel from Children's Hospital of Philadelphia and another 250 to local educators from a school in the greater Philadelphia area and Camden, New Jersey. So there's that. That's very cool. Game four, they're going to give away another 500 tickets to moms and children, because of course,

it's Mother's Day this weekend, selected by the Uplift Center for Grieving Children and the Boys and Girls Club of Philadelphia. So very cool. Great way to do this instead of ticketing the resale. Why not give away the tickets for free to some locals who can enjoy the games three and four this weekend. That is your smart decision brought to you by Crow. Your trusting accounting and tax advisors for over 55 years. Crow smart decisions lasting value. Learn more at cromachai.com. Rick Dollywell is coming up next year. Listening to the Halford & Brough show on Sportsnet, 650.