Alain Vigneault's Extension In Vancouver Presumably Completed In The Next Two Weeks

[RUPERTKBD]

I hope Mike Gillis comes on CDC and sees some of these comments before he decides to put the future of this team with AV... I for certain will not follow the team if they continue with the AV era... I'm sick and tired of seeing him make dumb mistakes with line ups, comments, etc.

[Dogbyte]

Please can we stop with this myth.

Look at our team now after they've developed under AV.

[Dogbyte]

Why an extension?

Doesn't he still have one more year left?

The way i see it is this... Let him play out the last year of his contract. If the team falls apart mid season, can him. If we lose if an embarrassing fashion in the playoffs again, don't re sign him. If we win it all, great. We just accomplished what we wanted. If he chooses not to re sign at that point, who cares - we already won a cup.

Signing him to an extension now doesn't make any sense to me whatsoever. It shows entirely too much faith in his abilities going forward... Regardless of his past accomplishments, if this team can't pull it together when it really matters then some changes really need to be made and the obvious starting point should be the coach.

[Nucks-4-Life]

I hope this isn't true. This would be a HUGE mistake. The average tenure of the last 5 stanley cup winning coaches was 2.5 years. The numbers don't lie. This team has the personnel to succeed, it just needs a fresh new voice in the locker room. Why not try MacT this year? He took a team to game 7 of the SCF aswell. Not to mention a much weaker team on paper.

MacT for Coach!

[Hogs & Podz]

Here are some coaches out there that are possible replacements for Dale Hunter as well as for Vancouver if you aren't a fan of AV or you think there are better coaches out there:

BOB HARTLEY

Coached the Avs to the Cup in 2000-01; hasn't been behind an NHL bench since the Thrashers fired him after six games in 2007-08. Signed a two-year contract in March of last year with the Swiss league’s ZSC Lions and promptly won the title. “The man wins championships,” former Canucks forward and current ZSC Lions star Jeff Tambellini told ESPN.

MICHEL THERRIEN

Currently working as a scout for Minnesota. Fired as coach of the Penguins in February 2009 with the team struggling to stay in playoff contention less than a year after losing to Detroit in the Cup finals. Doesn’t like when his players play “soff.”

MARC CRAWFORD

Won a Cup as coach of the Avalanche in 1995-96 with Peter Forsberg and Joe Sakic; fired by Dallas in 2011 after missing the playoffs for two straight seasons.

RON WILSON

Led Washington to its only Stanley Cup finals appearance in franchise history. Fired in 2002 by his longtime friend, General Manager George McPhee, despite a winning percentage of .540 and two additional (losing) playoff appearances. Has since coached in San Jose and Toronto, and was behind the bench for Team USA’s silver medal in Vanouver in 2010.

PAUL MAURICE

Has been fired twice by Carolina, most recently on Nov. 28, 2011, the same day the Capitals fired Bruce Boudreau.

MIKE KEENAN

Won a Cup with the Rangers in 1993-94 and coached both the Flyers (‘87) and Blackhawks (‘92) to the Cup finals. Has made the playoffs only twice since 1996-97, both first-round losses in his most recent coaching stint with Calgary in ‘08 and ’09. Has worked as a Rangers analyst for MSG Network since the Flames fired him in May 2009.

JAQUES MARTIN

Was behind the bench for Montreal’s stunning seven-game upset of the Presidents’ Trophy winning Caps in the 2009-10 quarterfinals; fired this season with a 13-12-7 record through 32 games.

JON COOPER

The AHL coach of the year led the Tampa Bay affiliate Norfolk Admirals on a 28-game winning streak this season; they will face St. John’s in the Eastern Conference finals Thursday. Of course, Caps have hired two straight coaches with no prior NHL coaching experience and haven’t seen much playoff success, so that alone may make him a long shot. (Random fact: Cooper used to be roommates with former Caps PR director Nate Ewell.)

http://www.washingto...apitals-insider

[smackyo23]

Don't be so dramatic.

Funny how this thread seems to be attracting all the AV haters.

Too many people on here that haven't been fans long enough to know that this team has had a lot of terrible coaches.

If people think that hiring Marc Crawford will all of a sudden put us over the top,they need to give their heads a shake.

[Trelane42]

Watching hockey for as long as I have I'm pretty sure that I can spot a team in need of a new voice when I see it. What is it now? 6 or 7 years with AV and we've got 1 time beyond the 2nd round with the amount of talent on this team?

Not saying AV isn't a good coach but he's got some definate downfalls and I don't think the boy's are listening to him anymore.

[Tearloch7]

Lol really stupid example considering both were traded. Also considering that Hodgson was developing quote well for us.

Also considering players like Edler, kesler, burrows, the SEDINS, Hansen, etc have developed quite well for us

LOL

[Tearloch7]

You do realize that Linden said Vigneault, along with Crawford, was his favourite coach to play for right?

[tocnhockey]

I'm pretty sure he won't. However, I'm absolutely certain that if he did, the opinions of a bunch of random people on an internet forum would make no difference in his decision whatsoever.

The fact is, no-one here is anything but a fan. You don't have the insight into what goes on with this team, you just think that you do. The guy who does have that insight, seems to believe differently than you do as far as it pertains to the abilities of AV.

BTW: If you do decide "not to follow" the team anymore, (which I doubt) you won't be missed. In fact, you are more than welcome to take the rest of these negative Nancies with you.

[ccc44]

Hodgson: Wasn't getting enough ice time because AV didn't trust him. Got benched in crucial 3rd periods. That's why he wanted to leave.

Grabner: Played some games, put up decent numbers, but was demoted to the 4th line. Traded.

Tanev: Starting to gain trust under AV, but is still overlooked. He would rather have Rome in.

[Dogbyte]

It gets me everytime when people name these two players in an argument.

Maybe they didn't develop well for US but they did develop well.

Plus what about all our other players?

Edler, Burrows, Tanev, Hansen.

Come on people, AV is good with his rookies.

[ccc44]

I hope Mike Gillis comes on CDC and sees some of these comments before he decides to put the future of this team with AV... I for certain will not follow the team if they continue with the AV era... I'm sick and tired of seeing him make dumb mistakes with line ups, comments, etc.

[Dogbyte]

Daniel, Bieksa, and Kesler were injured.

And coaching lost us the series, hahaha.

[Dogbyte]

And whose decision is it to let Kesler play when he's injured all the time? I guess that's Kesler's fault for playing and having a coach who is not in charge.

I liked his quote when Kesler decided to come back a month early. "Well I hope he's ready, it's a little early but I expect him to go out there and not be limping at all." So Kesler just did't limp but played like garbage all year and gave nothing to the team.

Good job AV!

[ccc44]

C'mon, Grabner is absolute crap. What league are you watching? Edler has also put the blinders on CDC in my opinion. He has all the tools to be a great dman in this league but is so far away right now it's not even funny. His development has been terrible. He is just barely reaching to the heights we all think he can. Hansen is developing nicely but with Burrows I think anyone would develop playing 2+ years with the Sedins.

[tereKat]

I'd rather have AV than any of the guys suggested above. seriously, who do you want to replace him? he's a great coach. he's had the most success in vancouver. and please, enough of the "AV doesnt know how to handle young prospects" thing. don't forget that in his watch Edler became an all-star, bieksa became a top 4 dman, kesler became selke winner, burrows became a skilled player, and jannik became the reliable player that he is right now. He's a very smart coach and he will eventually find a way to win in this changing hockey game.

[RUPERTKBD]

Don't get me wrong here because I do respect most of the posts you make on here as you seems to be more often then not, a rational influence.  However, I've been a hockey fan for as long as I can remember because growing up on Northern Ontario thats all there was and I'm 35 now so let's say I've been a fan since the early 80's when I can remember watching games.  I moved to Vancouver 15 years ago and I've been a Canucks fan for 14 of those and I do remember some of the "not so good" days.

Watching hockey for as long as I have I'm pretty sure that I can spot a team in need of a new voice when I see it.  What is it now?  6 or 7 years with AV and we've got 1 time beyond the 2nd round with the amount of talent on this team?

Not saying AV isn't a good coach but he's got some definate downfalls and I don't think the boy's are listening to him anymore.

[Dogbyte]

Players are more responsible for there own development then anyone else , Teams give them the tools and players need to have the ability and commitment . Rookies dont develop playing a couple minutes a game and teams dont contend with rookies and there development mistakes so you have great coaches in the system in the minors to have them develop to handle all situations and that comes with putting them in it . Just remember folks that at the end of the day everyone wants the canucks to win and you need players who can play at both ends of the ice and do the little things that seperate teams who contend from teams that are scratching and clawing for a spot

[stawns]

I get most of the factors with playing young players and also playing safe, and it's hard to argue with our record. It just seems like we never have any good stories of youth here except the ones that write themselves. (Kesler, Hansen, Burrows, etc, never got the chance until they proved it and were worthy of it).

I watch hockey from all over the league and know pretty much every set up of every team. Every year teams surprise me with youngsters and AHL'ers coming into the line-up. These are feel good stories of exciting young players that benefit teams. With the Canucks, I can't remeber the last time I was surprised by a player that played his way onto the team through help from the coaches and the organization (Tanev maybe but I think more because again he proved himself when called up as an injury replacement). We never take a chance, we just play it status quo every single time and wonder why we never improve in that area. Granted we sign a lot of good players but that's not what we're talking about here.