Okay

... is what makes me feel, f- uh, good about the future of this team.

They just have, they, they have people that get it, right? People that understand what it takes to build a winner, and they're committed to doing it.

And like I said earlier in previous hits, there's alignment, whether it's the Sedins, whether it's Ryan Johnson, Manny Malhotra, the players.

You know, I was talking to Gallagher about [laughs] I was talking to Gallagher about, you know, the, the, the coaches skating with the players during drills.

And yeah, the, I mean, they show that they're invested, that the players really notice that, and they believe that their coaches are invested when they do stuff like that.

And it was funny, Brandon was telling me that there are a couple of coaches that were in the training room afterwards getting treatment and some ice bags.

Yeah.

Moj, is there any flaws in his game? Is there any way he can get better?

Um, I, I would say one thing, and I, I don't even think it's been a flaw this year, but in the past we've seen it.

And that is what makes him so great sometimes in terms of his confidence and his decision-making.

Um, sometimes he might try to push the ball where he shouldn't Right? And I think i- if you're looking to nitpick, uh, I think that would be it.

But, I mean, I can't even remember the last time he really forced a throw and you kinda said he shouldn't have made that throw.

I think he might have done a couple times-

My God

... on board because take a look at his contract and take a look at how much money he is still owed and the, the term of this contract.

Yeah.

That's something that plagued this team last year.

So many times, you know, y- they'd be in games, and they'd just go through this really bad stretch where they give up two, three goals.

And that's something that I think if you're a Canuck fan, if you're looking for the development of this team as the season progresses, that those moments become less and less, that the poise, the experience, maybe even some of the veteran leadership makes a difference in those situations where things all of a sudden just kinda go south, right? Um, they, they have to stay away from those two, three goal outbursts that other teams had on so many occasions last year, and we saw last night versus Calgary.

And I think once they do, it'll be a nice sign of this team maturing, so to speak.

That's vancouvergiants.com.

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Yeah

... and, you know, I've heard other people talk about it as well.

They've really gotta clean up the review process.

It just takes too long, right? I mean, I mean, the command center is there to overturn egregious errors, something that's obvious.

And, like, when you're spending five minutes, you know, with the command center going back and forth, then, then it's not egregious.

It's a borderline call.

Stick with what you saw on the field.

Donny & Dolly The Team, on chat.

What was the turnaround there?

You know, it, it, it's interesting because not only Benavides, but I listen to a lot of the, the post-game shows to get a feel of what's going around, going on around the league.

And, you know, you hear it everywhere.

I mean, two weeks ago, Tommy Condell was a genius when the Bombers beat the, the Alouettes.

Now he's like the dumbest person alive after they lose a game, right? So coaches, it's, it's just part of the business.

They take the heat.

But, you know, when it comes to the Lions, I think their defense has evolved.

What are the vibes you're getting about this team heading into camp?

Uh, how did this team start one and five, and what led to the turnaround for a three-game win streak?

Well, first off, offensively, um, a lot of injuries to the receiving corps.

Basically, what you guys are going through right now in Regina.

I mean, we went through that the first three, four games.

I mean, I don't think we had a healthy complement of receivers, or, or starting receivers, until Javon Katoy and Barry Hill got back into the lineup.

And that was what, two games ago? Right? So the game against Hamilton.

So it's just been a myriad of injuries on offense.

Yeah.

Yeah.

So I mean, you know, is there a population up there? Probably.

Is there enough corporate support? That's the bigger question.

And the, the biggest question is the stadium, but I, I do see this happening though, Dave.

Uh, and you know, I've talked to some people with the Lions informally, and just, you know, "This is what I think." And they go, "It's been talked about." And that is to somehow maybe figure something out with Kelowna, maybe make it a training camp site.

I, uh, you know, in my world, what I would be looking at is to build some sort of permanent training facility, clubhouse type, um, building with the Okanagan Sun, and in conjunction with the city, province, or whatever government bodies you need to work with.

And, you know, let the Okanagan Sun utilize that facility during the course of their season, and the Lions could utilize that during the course of training camp.

Roark had a nice day, but how, how big was that for the Lions just to kinda get off the schneid?

One foot out the do- Yeah, no- Tomorrow's off ... we're, we're tomorrow off 'cause we, we worked the holiday

...

Oh, yeah.

Donny and Dolly, the team on check.

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Yeah, exactly.

Harris to Bo Levi Mitchell to, to Vernon Adams.

And the thing that's kinda scary, it's like, [laughs] you know, you always hear that, uh, old expression, "If you sit down at a poker table and you don't know who the mark is, maybe you're the mark." Um, I, [laughs] with the Lions right now, when you're looking at the schedule, you're going like, "Hold on a second.

This isn't an easy game.

This is an easy game.

Maybe we're the easy game right now." So I think the Lions really, you know, it's gonna be a real test for 'em.

Because one of the things this organization stressed in the off-season, and I've talked about the last week or so, is that general manager Ryan Grigson and, and head coach Buck Pierce wanted to get off to a good start.

Yeah.

but it's pretty cool.

[laughs] You don't want 'em back because after we found out with Expo 86, the property prices went through the roof.

Um, the, the one thing where I kinda, it hit me a little bit, when we were flying out to Saskatchewan, uh, we were leaving Vancouver and there were probably, like, we fly out of a, a, a, a, a private area, so to speak.

Uh, one of the aviation companies has, like, a building and the charters come in and out.

When we were leaving, there might've been about 15 or 20 Vancouver motorcycle officers just standing in the parking lot waiting for Team Australia to land.

Their bus was there with the, you know, the big kangaroos on the side, the Australian flags.

So it kinda hit me a little bit then, and then when we came back, Australia had played that night versus, can't remember who they played.

Amar Doman.

What happened in Saskatchewan?

Well, I mean, clearly it's their start.

I mean, you can't allow the, the other team to get the ball twice in the first, uh, their first two drives and score touchdowns.

So I know a lot of people are looking at the final drive.

Um, yeah, I mean, they needed a stop.

They didn't get it.

They needed to score on offense.

Yeah

Hey, is it, is it, is it too early with, with the Lions in Regina on Saturday in mind, is it, is it too early to say this version of the Lions could be better or is better than the one that lost the Western final in Saskatchewan last year?

I don't think so.

I mean, you know, you always wanna get, you always want to improve as a team.

So do they believe they're better? I think they do.

I mean, obviously [laughs] there's gonna be a pretty good test in Regina come Saturday.

I- it's interesting because, you know, w- people always talk about it's just another game.

It's just one of 18.

Nothing but a heartache.

Yeah

... giving some money to a homeless person.

And, you know, he just realized what type of person Manny Malhotra was just by that little, you know, that little incident there.

So, you know, that's the, the type of guy that you, you're dealing with.

That's the type of people that you have.

I mean, the Sedins are quality people.

You talked about them wanting to get back into the community more, getting the organization back in there more.

Yeah.

... that you said, "Holy smokes, uh, uh, watch out for this guy"?

Yeah.

You know, it, it's interesting because there's a lot of excitement.

We talked to Mike Benavides yesterday.

We talked to Buck Pierce, other coaches as well, Mark Washington.

And there's excitement because we've seen a lot of players step up and make plays in camp.

Now can we see those players make plays in games? Couple of linebackers really stand out.

Who's the backup? And, uh, talk about the backup quarterback, uh, the fight going on there.

Hmm.

But there are a couple of guys.

Uh, one of the, the couple I've watched the defensive line yesterday.

A couple of guys stuck out.

A guy that they brought in yesterday, just flew in yesterday, was a kid named Pena, 94.

He looked good.

The other kid that I liked, uh, was, uh, number 96, David Gusta.

Mm.

With that in mind, how do you think people are going to look back at the Jim Rutherford era with the Vancouver Canucks?

Not fondly.

I think they'll look at a lot of mistakes that were made.

I know that even when they were contending, they were always kind of robbing Peter to pay Paul in terms of addressing some of their team needs.

Just a misread on the Quinn Hughes situation.

Here's the thing that really kind of irritates me.

I don't think a lot has been said about this.

told by Buck Pierce, is the offense they were running against

[laughs]

... um, you know, it was, it was like that was just John.

He was always kinda trying to help you out.

He'd always listen to the shows.

And I remember the, the day that he phoned me, um, I was on air, and he phoned me and said, "Hey, I don't know if, if anything's come down yet, but I'm hearing that Luke Bourdon has died in a, in a bike crash." And he said, "Be prepared, 'cause this might be coming down here in the next little while." And I said, "I haven't heard anything," and, you know, obviously we, we got the news a short while later and...

But, you know, that's the type of guy John was.

Like, he was just, he was always there willing to, to help you out, um, to do whatever it took, and he always did it with a smile on his face, right? I mean, he, he was just, like I said, just a great guy, a, a great broadcaster.

Yep.

you think, Moj, when you hear names like Shane Doan and Ray Whitney as possible future members of the Canuck front office, what goes through your mind?

Well, you know, first off, I have a concern, and this is my concern, and it goes back to even the coaching hire of Adam Foote.

I think you have a limited pool to choose from.

And I say that because, I mean, we saw the recent article in The Athletic talking about how the Canucks are, you know, not a, basically a dysfunctional team.

And you just wonder whether or not worthy candidates want to come to Vancouver given the dysfunction.

And I say that because... why take a job where you know you're not going to win it? And that's the biggest thing.

There's an old adage in sports, do not take a job where you know you can't win.

also NFL draft goes today, and we don't want to dig deep into this, but your Raiders, Fernando Mendoza, they pick

What did you think of Zeve Williams' performance, Moj?

You know what? I think William is, like a lot of these young players right now, he is trying to find out what he can do at the NHL level and what he can't do.

And I think when you're a player trying to figure that out in the league, and I've talked to guys about this, coaching is a big part because you have to learn from those mistakes.

You can't make the same mistakes over and over.

But the one thing I loved about the Canucks last night, guys, I don't know if it was just me, but they just had like a little feistiness to them.

Guys were sticking up for one another.

We've seen this the last few games.

Okay.

What would your reaction be if Ryan Johnson left the Vancouver Canucks?

Um...

I don't know if I'd really have one.

I mean, is he an up-and-coming executive in the National Hockey League? Yes.

Maybe the fact that they denied Nashville permission tells you that perhaps maybe he's in line for a promotion within the organization.

So maybe that's a good sign.

Here we go.

In regards to facing the Canucks for the first time, and he said something to the effect of, honestly, I don't know many of the guys in that room.

GMs wanted to get Tony bad from the arena.

But the thing is, those bodies back then, they had leverage.

You weren't going to, you know, ban the province from the building because the province is one of your biggest sponsors.

I mean, this was.

above Burke's pay scale and above Gallagher's pay scale where these decisions were being made.

But I look at these entities now that are covering the Canucks, and the media has been sliced and diced into so many different fragments, and everybody has their own little sliver, that when something like this happens, you don't really have much power, right? I mean, all due respect to Rob and Trevor and The Daily Hive, they don't have the weight to battle the Canucks on this issue, right? Whereas, you know, if you're sending six reporters back in the day, like the province, you do have the weight to battle the Vancouver Canucks on this issue.

So it's kind of scary because I think a lot of these entities now are, they're a little trepidatious sometimes with their coverage.

Yeah.

Yeah.

yeah i mean i don't think it's a negative i think for me if i'm looking at it from an organizational standpoint if i'm you know some sort of consultant or whatever that's the way i would approach this whole situation and you know talk about a reevaluation of the entire organization you know it's interesting because people are talking about oh evaluating you know the hockey operations department and management and coaching staff and the players to me it's everything it's everything in that organization and i'm talking about your scouting your player development uh... whatever i want to know who the person is that sold us on the vander king i want to know who the person is which doctor told us that that you don't go with last the entire season whatever the case may be on evaluating the entire organization from tip-to-toe to make it better right and that's the one thing that people don't realize about winning When you win a championship, George McPhee mentioned this when the Vegas Golden Knights won, and I totally agree, and I've heard other people talk about it, particularly when it comes to football.

Teams don't win championships.

Organizations do.

It's an organizational mindset, and that includes everybody from your scouts to your trainers to your equipment people to your hockey operations people to your coaches to your players to the people selling tickets.

Well, let's start with the

Whitecaps and Mueller, right? Yeah.

Everyone that I've talked to in this organization realizes...

Well,

it's interesting because someone who has had knee issues since 1989, when I tore it in the shrumble trying to tackle some guy named Sean Millington, it's just gotten worse over the years.

Arthritis set in.

And it was interesting when I asked the surgeon, Dr. Tim Costomo, by the way, nice plug for him.

He did a great job.

I said, on a scale of 1 to 10, how bad was it? He goes, 9 1⁄2.

Apparently, there's a whole bunch of osteophytes in there, and osteophytes are these little bone fragments, I guess, that float around.

Hey, your opinion of Elias Patterson's two-goal game, breaking the 20-game goalless drought and what it might mean going forward.

How do they rectify that problem?

Well, I'll tell you, and it's funny you mentioned the column, Donnie.

I remember asking the late, great Frank Smith at UBC.

I said, how did you turn this program around? It was a program that didn't even win football games.

And within four years of arriving at UBC, they're playing for a national championship.

And I said, so how did you turn it around? He says, the key thing is you got to find the character guys first.

And it's interesting listening to what Chris Pronger talked about as well.

cancer

It

doesn't surprise me.

I mean, I know Rick and I were talking about this earlier this week, and Rick was mentioning that Dallas was in the mix.

I'd reached out to some people that I knew at the Stars organization.

They were calling it an option to get Tyler Myers.

Well, they wind up making the deal.

There's a connection there, of course, his family.

Come get them, but, you know, make me a good offer.