On Friday, Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman provided an update on the Vancouver Canucks‘ ongoing search for their next General Manager.

“Let’s take a look at the names that we’re aware of, and I’m sorry if I missed anything here. Shane Doan, Jeff Tambellini, Brad Pascal, Ryan Johnson, Patrick Burke, Ray Whitney, Evan Gold, Ryan Martin, Brett Peterson, and Jamie Langenbrunner… Those are the ones I know about. Now, Tom Fitzgerald, I think I mentioned it on the last pod, but in case anybody didn’t hear, shame on you if you didn’t. I think they did ask to talk to him, but I understand he’s focused on Nashville, so that didn’t happen,” Friedman said on the latest episode of 32 Thoughts — The Podcast.

“I believe some people have been told they’re out. I think Patrick Burke was told he was out. I think Ray Whitney was told he was out. I think Ryan Martin was told he was out. So I don’t know if there’s a shortlist yet. I think there’s— there might be a little bit of semantics in terms of, they’ve told some people they’re out, but I don’t know if they’ve completely whittled down the list. We’ll see where that goes, uh, over the next two days.”

Friedman then offered up some further information about the Canucks’ GM search.

“I heard positive things about Doan, I heard positive things about Gold, but there could be others, I just might not have heard everything. I think the Canucks have an interesting dynamic here. I think a number of you have heard a similar kind of report, I’ve said it, and I’m definitely not the only one [who did], that Jim Rutherford, I think his choice was Ryan Johnson.

“If you don’t hire Ryan Johnson, and let’s just say you hire someone like Evan Gold or Brett Peterson, who are in a similar position to Ryan Johnson, but comes in from another organization, I think you might have a question there about what it means for the future of Johnson in your organization. Like, the Canucks obviously thought very highly of him a year ago to extend his contract and ask for him to agree not to interview anywhere, but when you’re in a situation like that and then you bring in someone from outside who’s similar and put them above him, you kind of have a decision to make. So that’s one thing I’ve been thinking about.”