A Canucks lesson from the Carolina Hurricanes; a FIFA we-told-you-so

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Ryan Johnson and the Sedins would be wise to pick Eric Tulsky’s brain as much as they can.

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Published Jun 13, 2026 • 4 minute read

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General manager Eric Tulsky of the Carolina Hurricanes. Ryan Johnson and the Sedins would be wise to pick Eric Tulsky’s brain as much as they can. Photo by Bruce Bennett /Getty ImagesArticle content

Last week, Jeff Marek made some vital notes on his The Sheet podcast about what makes Eric Tulsky, GM of the Carolina Hurricanes, so successful.

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“Can you think,” Marek posited in general terms as what you need in your modern NHL GM. For the longest time the question was only “did you play?”

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That was never a sharp way to operate, hoping that mere ex-player vibes would lead to success; in the modern era it’s not even a question at all. The ability to consider your situation, to draw on outside ideas, to solve your problems in non-player ways is pretty clearly the way forward.

Tulsky, as most of you know, certainly has never played at any level. But he has thought about the game at a high level and that is truly the key to his success. He is not precious about how things are, his only task when he gets up every day is to find ways to win.

The GM has many tasks he faces: he has to challenge and support his staff to find ways to make the team better. He has to liaise with his coach about how the team is doing and what it does and doesn’t need. He has to talk to other GMs around the league to see if there’s a trade to be made that would make his team better.

“And most importantly, he has to manage up,” a league executive reminded me recently.

It’s very clear that Tulsky is a master of all these things — especially that final one, working for Tom Dundon, an owner truly like no other.

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Tulsky’s greatest talent has been turning over his roster without fear of constantly thinking many steps ahead. Remember, Marek pointed out, the Hurricanes have the NHL’s best defence corps and that only after they moved on from Dougie Hamilton, Brady Skjei, Brett Pesce, Brent Burns and Dmitry Orlov.

He just finds the next version of all those guys — and often he does so cheaper. Think of the Mikko Rantanen experience: the player in the end didn’t want to stay and yet the Hurricanes came out of the whole sequence with Taylor Hall, Logan Stankoven and two first-round picks.

And they’re a game away from winning the Stanley Cup.

To get Rantanen, he’d traded a heck of a player in Martin Necas but at the end of all this he has two key players in his current run for the cup, plus draft picks that could be used down the road to restock the prospect cupboard or to trade to other teams for the next round of acquisitions to keep his team thriving.

He’s just not a linear thinker. He’s serving all his purposes, building for the now and keeping the future in reserve. Ryan Johnson and the Sedins would be wise to pick his brain as much as they can.

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Everyone loves B.C. Place

Australian media has been raving about the Dome from their first views of it this week.

It’s a true big-league stadium, one that deserves all the praise .

I continue to be baffled by Don Garber’s take that it does work for MLS; it’s the biggest stage and it should be an ambition of the Whitecaps’ and the league’s to fill it.

The roof

OK, so we’ll accept that B.C. Place’s shadows in the daytime could be a mess for TV.

But at night, why not let it be open? That stadium is going to cook on hot days.

Some fresh air will be welcome. Surely some common sense will prevail.

Ticket prices

As many have noted, the sight of empty seats in Guadalajara on Thursday evening was not a good one — and it was a reminder of what the organizers, Gianni Infantino and Co., forgot: this is the game of the people. For all the premium experiences you want to sell, they aren’t possible for most, but if priced right most could afford a plain old ticket.

And yet they decided to not price enough tickets for the masses, for all the claims that Infantino might make trying to prove to the contrary.

Empty seats in Guadalajara is one thing. But empty seats in the Bay Area on Saturday for Switzerland versus Qatar? The richest country in the world proved its own point on ticket prices: they’re ludicrous.

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Hopefully 2030 won’t be a repeat.

How water became cynical

Hydration breaks, eh?

It’s so obvious what they really are: the great American tradition of needing commercial breaks as often as possible.

Player welfare? That’s not what these breaks are about.

Magical sights on the streets

For all the frustrations we have with this World Cup, it really is a sight to behold seeing fans of Australia and Turkey on the streets of Vancouver. The World Cup does bring the globe together, it does put us all next to each other and, you hope, leads to better understanding of each other.

Here’s hoping for the future.

pjohnston@postmedia.com

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