December 9 2021 - Seth Rorabaugh (Tribune Review Sports), Scott Rintoul, Jeff Paterson (Canucks Reporter)

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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