The Vancouver Canucks are on the verge of naming their 13th General Manager in franchise history: Ryan Johnson.

Johnson has been in the Canucks organization for the last 13 seasons and has been the main decision-maker for their AHL affiliate, serving as their General Manager since the 2017-18 season. He has had his hand in bringing in many young, value players, helping them develop and take the next step toward their ultimate goal of making the National Hockey League.

One of those success stories that graduated from the AHL to the NHL is Max Sasson. Across four seasons in the AHL, Sasson has scored 34 goals and 44 assists for 78 points in 106 games. Sasson joined Donnie & Dhali on Wednesday and was asked about his thoughts on Johnson potentially becoming his GM in Vancouver:

“Oh, he was awesome,” Sasson said. “I mean, I think you could talk to every single guy, honestly, whether you’re Karly or me, someone on their way up, or guys that came up from Kalamazoo. I think that’s the biggest testament I have for RJ. First of all, he commands the room. He would always give us a speech at the beginning of the year or before the Calder Cup playoffs. And, you know, when he speaks, guys listen and listen closely, because he’s just an unbelievable human. He just commands the room.

“I think he had a huge impact on myself, and I think Karly will tell you that, and Bainsy, and the list goes on and on. From the day I got there, the conversations that we had about hockey, about life, you know, he makes you feel comfortable and important, which is huge.

“If he becomes our GM, I think it’s a real treat. I think he’ll do a great job. He’s one of the best people I’ve ever met in this game. So I can’t say enough good things about him.”

Watch the clip of Sasson talking about Ryan Johnson below!

After his successful American League career, Sasson was summoned to the NHL this season on a full-time basis. He went on to score 13 goals and six assists for 19 points in 66 NHL games, while averaging 11:43 minutes per game. With the Sedins potentially moving up into a higher Hockey Operations role, Sasson gave a lot of credit to the twins for their role in helping him through his progression to the NHL, as they were his Player Development Coaches throughout his rookie campaign:

“On the ice, it’s amazing. Those guys, how hard they work. I was talking to the guys that were in Vancouver the whole time, and I was like, ‘Yeah, the Sedins are pretty much at all of our practices.’ And they’re like, ‘Well, they were at all of our practices.’ So it’s amazing that Danny or Hank will take your time and drive, you know, in that traffic, it could be an hour and a half to two hours to get to Abbotsford.

“Once again, [they] just care about everyone and treat everyone the same. And, you know, you see them shovelling snow sometimes, and you’re like, ‘Please. Like, you guys are Hall of Famers. Like, please. You don’t have to do that. Like, let me grab it.’

“So, you know those guys are, they worked with all of us so much, and taught me so many things on wall play and offensive zone stuff. And then also, it seemed like every single day I would get to the rink, and they would have a complete video package of all my shifts; what I can do here and what I can do there. Me and Karly, especially, we would go in there on a daily basis and talk to them. They’re easy to talk to; they’re super smart, and obviously, the way they played the game, I think they saw it like no one else did. So yeah, I’m super happy for them. And you know, they helped a ton in my development, for sure.”