CKSTAM

Pierre LeBrun joined Matt and Blake and talked about how he got connected with Francesco Aquilini at the Board of Governors meeting. Talked about how the 3 TSN Insiders sat down and chatted with him for a pretty long time. He was really still on a high about the hiring of Jim Rutherford and walked them how it happened. They didn’t get into the blame game. Said that FA reached out to JR to bounce some names off of. Likened it to the Brian Burke situation in PIT. Says it’s fascinating how it all played out and why Boudreau came in before JR. Talked about FA hearing from other GM’s that his team is in good shape. Talked about the two-person approach. It’s so much different now than in the 70’s. Talked about potential AGM’s around the league. Doesn’t think JR has shortened his list. Pierre thinks JR is looking for someone he can mould and be apart of the Canucks family for a long time.

Patrick Johnston of Province Sports joined Matt and Blake in his regular Tuesday slot. After talking about his Covid immunity, he talked about the goal song. Not surprisingly people are feeling very nervous at the rink. Once players started realizing what was going on around the league, there were some that were eager to get out of the building. Having gone through it, he knows exactly how it feels. Talked about the recent run of form by the Canucks. Thinks this will all come back to earth. Can understand why fans are thinking “why now” with Covid running rampant through the league. Talked about Petey and him using a different stick and how it happened. Talked about Rutherford and what he makes of him. Came across as advertised. Open to ideas, no matter where they come from. Put the terminations of Gear and Wall, because of leaking to the media, to bed. Aquilini was blatantly honest. Talked about Stan Smyl. Says that JR clearly wants him involved. Talked about potential AGM candidates. 

Jeff Paterson joined, fresh off the Bruce Boudreau pregame availability. Talked about how having a team day off on Monday may have saved them an outbreak. Talked about how they learned from last year when they went through an outbreak. JPat went through the morning that was for the Canucks. Said there were some odd things going on that you don’t register in the moment. Talked about how the rest of the calendar year could go with the Canucks and why the league might like to get them past the Leafs on Saturday. 

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The ‘Welcome Matt’ addressed the presser with Aquilini and Rutherford and the culture of the Vancouver Canucks.

John Shannon joined Matt and Blake in his regular Monday spot. Talked about the kind of guy Rutherford is. Says he is a man of few mistakes. He understands the media business. Talked about how well suited he is to deal with Aquilini after his experience in Carolina. Says he is playing with house money. If it’s not going the way he wants, he will just leave. John laughs at the thought JR had that he wouldn’t get back in the game. He hired one of the best agents to get him a job. Even when Jimmy is angry, it is a controlled anger. Very dependable and predictable on how he deals with issues. When the world is chaotic, he will take a step back. Thinks most people came away from the presser will say to give him a chance now. He has a great CV and is a people person. Jim and Bruce are on a honeymoon right now. Means we could get a real answer, more than an abrupt answer. Says Travis went to the yups and no’s. 

The ‘Price is Right’ talks about how we in the media want a winning team. 

Jeff Paterson joined in his regular spot to break down the Aquilini and Rutherford presser. The guys talked about the state of the team, especially the d-core. Talked more about the game vs Carolina. Talked about Bruce Boudreau comments after the win that JPat says would have been picked apart if it came from the media. Liked the candidness. Says this week has been the perfect storm because of how their opponents have rolled out. Backups and 2nd half of back to back games.

Mike Russo joined Matt and Blake to talk about the Bruce Boudreau he covered in Minny. Would rather hang out and chat with beat writers than go back to the locker room after that. Talked about what he is like when things aren’t going well. Sure he does, when tension ratchets up. He has had some playoff disappointment. He has a good sense when to turn strict on them. There will be times where he raises his voice. Not always the cartoon character. Talked about the difference with Evason in MIN then they were with Bruce. Can only imagine the way he is salivating with the offensive firepower in Vancouver. Talked about “Bruce there it is”. Never heard of it in MIN but wishes he thought of it. Talked about the different size of media markets between VAN and MIN. Mike said Bruce loves the media. His favourite guys are the insiders. Says he is addicted to NHL Network and TSN. Won’t like being hand tied by the Canucks. 

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Nathalie Rees, from Park Royal dropped by to talk about some holiday shopping for the guys. 

Rich Dhaliwal joined and started off with a Pratt story, as per our show video. Talked about Pratt and that he knew exactly what he was doing. Onto the Canucks, Rick talked about the hire of Rutherford. Believes they contacted Dale Tallon very early in the process. Dhali says the NHL blocked it. Rolled through the JR timeline. Talked about the search for the GM. Everything he has been told is that they are going out on a search. Says that it’s a good thing that JR didn’t come in and just clean house and that it came from the Canucks organization before Rutherford speaks for the first time. Talked about Chris Gear. Some agents really like dealing with him, some really don’t. Doesn’t think there will be any scout changes with them already working on the draft. They are just looking at everything, top to bottom. It’s been 8 bad years. JR will be in town this weekend and Rick thinks he will have a really good sit down with the Sedin twins and Smyl. They would be on quite the little heater if they can get the win vs WPG. Talked bout Boeser. 

Alex Edler of the LA Kings joined Matt and Blake. Talked about new adapting to life in LA. Not sure where he will end up. He is from Sweden and his wife grew up in Vancouver. Talked about 100 goals. The number doesn’t really mean that much but it’s cool to have that number. Took forever from 99 to 100. Talked about what means more, a goal or a stop, as a defender. Anything that helps the team win is a rush. Talked about how the year has gone and contending for a playoff spot. Talked about the rivalry with the Kings as a Canuck. Said the core welcomed him in. Talked about coming back to Vancouver in a Kings uniform. Said it was a bit weird being on the other side. Was exciting to come back to the building with mixed feelings. It was a really nice moment to see the video and hear the fans. That’s what made him emotional at the time. Talked about how proud he is of his time in Vancouver. The fact that he is leading in all categories is because of how long he was here. If Quinn plays here for a few more years, he will break all the records. Talked about his overall health. Taking it one year at a time but this year his body is feeling great. 

Jeff Paterson joined in his regular spot. Talked about the terminations of Chris Gear and Jon Wall. Talked about how that flew in the face of what he said on Monday morning. Doesn’t like the looks of Stan Smyl having his name, with no title, on the press release. Talked about the job that those guys did for the team. 

Gregg Bell joined the show to preview Seahawks in Houston. Started off, though, by chatting about the big Army v Navy game. Upset he will be in Houston instead of where the game actually is. Hoping the game gets back to the Rose Bowl. Talked about Adams being out. Carroll will tell you that the leadership is worth it along. Forget about the 2 first rounders he cost and the millions he is being paid. The kicker from all of this is that his big contract hasn’t kicked in yet. They are hoping he will be back for the first game next year. He has played through this before but they were playoff bound last year. At 4-8, it’s a pull the plug and get it done situation now. Talked about what a loss to HOU means to the franchise. They should handle this team with a 3rd string QB. Combine this with other games coming up, if they lose those than they will have problems. Wonders what kind of noise RW3 will be making in the offseason if they come off a worse season. Talked about Adrian Peterson. Says he really is a Hawks RB now that he is injured. Talked about West Point slang. 

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Seth Rorabough, of the Pittsburgh Tribune Review joined Matt and Blake joined to talk about Jim Rutherford. He is very talkative. He will talk to everyone, just not on game days as he still has that old goaltender in him. He came into PIT with a win now mentality. He identified the centre of the franchise and built around them. He struck while the iron was hot. Things fizzled out at the end as they depleted their minor league organization to win 2 cups, back to back. Doesn’t think he will be here for the long run at his age. Once Jim gets people installed at GM and AGM, we will see things get going pretty quickly. He had something like 50 trades in his time in PIT. Equates to one every month and a half. Not all of them were great but he wasn’t afraid to move on some players when they weren’t a fit. Talked about how he did signing contracts. Didn’t really strike any big FA’s. His mark was on the trade market. He made some hard decisions on guys to retain. Talked about Brandon Sutter. Says they were pretty close and JR saw an opportunity to improve the team. Talked about how Jim doesn’t let sentimentality get in the way of making a move. 

Scott Rintoul, Vancouver Sportscaster and our Thursday regular joined Matt and Blake. Started off with his first thoughts on Jim Rutherford. Says that this is ownership admitting a few different things. They went out and got someone who won’t be a yes-man. We are talking about a hall-of-famer here. You can’t poke holes in the credibility. People will call back on him trading for Gudbranson after this franchise got rid of him. JR doesn’t need this job, he wants to be in this. Talked about Bruce Boudreau. You don’t hire them for PR reasons, but they come with a bump. Boudreau got the bump. Talked about the game vs the Bruins. Could say that they played better when they lost in BOS compared to winning in Vancouver. The bounces would have gone the other way a couple weeks ago. Thinks that JR is the kind of President that would go down to the dressing room and talk to the players. Change is afoot in this organization. The players know that more is coming. Talked about how long the plan could last for the team. Talked about the role Henrik and Daniel have now and will have down the road. Scotty referenced the Islanders when they brought in Lou and Trotz and how quickly that turned around. 

Our Canucks reporter, Jeff Paterson joined in his regular spot. Started off with a quick synopsis of the Bruins games. Wasn’t as fun as the LAK game but Quinn Hughes was doing it at both ends of the ice. Talked about Tyler Myers and his 28 minutes. Talked about Demko, who has been great. One goal in the last 2 games and that was a five on three. Talked about the game-day entertainment presentation and how it’s taken a bit of a dive. JPat talked about Rutherford and if it was the right choice. Liked the hire on a lot of different levels. Talked about all the trades he pulls off. Noted that JR has traded Pearson before. Talked about the size of the new front office. Talked about potential trade chips. Says that JT Miller would be the most likely candidate. 

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Plenty of talk on potential GM candidates from Matt and Blake. The Welcome Matt on the Canucks franchise value according to Forbes. 

Host of the Ray and Dregs Podcast and NHL Insider, Darren Dreger joined Matt and Blake. Talked about how quickly the house cleaning materialized with the Canucks. Says that was surprising to see. Talked about what convinced Boudreau to come here. Would be surprised if there was a clause in BB’s contract that would see him not getting paid next season. You have to look at the big picture and who the next GM and POHO will be. If FA can convince Rutherford to do both jobs then he is the man for the job. Believes there is legit interest. Dregs says the fit needs to be right for JR. Talked about the potential return of Gillis and Gilman. Thinks that nobody should be surprised about that. Dregs thinks that Gilman will be a GM in the NHL. He has had good success in his 20 year management career. Thinks that the Blackhawks could have interest in him as well. Doesn’t believe that anyone has gotten permission to speak to him. Darren hopes that a blocker wouldn’t be put out by the Leafs. Hoping that the Aquilini family are looking outside the box. Talked about Stan Smyl. Wonders if he feels like this is the mountain he is willing to climb at this point in his life. If the answer is yes, how could he not be considered. Wonders how much the budget will be considered. Circled back to Rutherford because he can fill 2 roles. Talked about George McPhee. 

Jackie Redmond of the NHL Network joined Matt and Blake to talk about what makes Bruce Boudreau so great to work with. There is this jolly aspect to him. Doesn’t think she has ever seen Bruce in a bad mood. They worked together enough to know that he doesn’t let anything fester. Says it is hilarious to see him laying the ground work in press conferences. Claims she didn’t hear him swear a lot outside the set. Talked about their shared love of wrestling. Bruce is a massive fan of the WWE. 

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