Deb, If I may
Most of us here on this server are Canuck fans. Most of us think there are ways for the Canucks to succeed. Many many many of us who want the Canucks to succeed think the moves they are making (under Benning, certainly, and even still with Rutherford and Allvin, since they haven’t made any moves that are clear wins) may be too hasty or the wrong move. When we see this become a pattern, we get jaded.
It’s not that we hate-watch the team, it’s just that over the past 8+ years, this team has made wrong decision after wrong decision after wrong decision, to the point where this becomes laughable.
We’ve now lost two picks in the next two drafts because we were impatient, and you could even argue that we’re stuck with OEL’s contract for the same reason.
I like Ethan Bear, but he’s lost his place in the lineup to (former Canuck) Jalen Chatfield. If he was going to be available on waivers within a week, why should we spend a 5th to get him?
And this logic can be applied to most of the deals that have been made by Canucks GMs in the past five years, if not longer - Forsling/Clendening, McCann/Gudbranson, choosing Virtanen over Toffoli, Eriksson+expiring contracts+9th overall for OEL+Garland, Dickinson+2nd/Stillman, and now trading a 5th for Bear/Pedersen.
It adds up over time, and not every Canuck fan has the same unbreakable positivity when this team has won three playoff rounds in the past 10 seasons and continues to make moves which could be avoided.