Not Starting Lou Classless & embarrassing to the Player and Organization another big black eye

[PlayStation]

If anything the Boo's were Luu's or Boo's at the decision by Torts, not Eddie.

[74Hunter74]

As for you being sure that the LU-chants were meant as derision & directed at Lack. Pleazzzze!

The Lu chants WERE there at the start. A grass-roots campaign was afoot to attempt to change Tortorella's mind. Not so many went there then. But as Lack faltered...why not encourage the emergence in the game of Lu as the hero to the rescue.

When did Lack falter? He stopped 24 of 27 shots. The last goal he should of had. The first two, Luongo wouldn't have even stopped them. One was a screen shot that he might of seen if the Canucks defensman did his job and clear the front of the net, and the first goal was Bieksa's butter fingers not catching the puck and redirecting a shot that was wide, right into the net. I don't care who started or who should have started, but Lack played good enough that we should have won. The first two Ottawa goals are completely the fault of the teams crappy play in front of the goalie

[CanucksHockey11]

If anything the Boo's were Luu's or Boo's at the decision by Torts, not Eddie.

Most likely this is true but, Eddie doesn't seem to know that from his interview yesterday. Most athletes would understand but, we have to remember he's still young and new to the market.

[Staal2Staal]

Pretty much. Vancouver has some pretty crapty fans. The people that throw Lou and the Sedin's under the bus are pretty pathetic. It's like "lets forget they are three of the best players of the decade and focus on their off games". I'll tell ya what, you guys give us the Sedin's and Lou for pretty much any player on our team and we'll take that.

[Ginu]

People are not mad at Lack.. give your head a big shake... Fans are mad at the management and how else do you want the "fans" to express the price they pay per ticket to see Lack in net?

Torts managed to get this goalie controversy to a new low (Lack's 1st year in NHL)...has most fans pissed off and the team under his command has broken some of the worst streaks we have had in a very long time.... and on top of it all, you have a very pissed off all star goalie whos most likely done in this city (at least in his mind).

Your arguement is not even worht a thread... is it neccesary?

[TheRussianRocket.]

Completely agree OP +1. Just a stupid move to put Lu in the gutter after everything he's been through. Just disgusting. Nothing on Eddie as he just got the caught in the middle unfortunately, but managent (coaching) facked up big time on this one.

..if I was Lu, I'd publicly demand a trade and if that's not possible, demand a buyout and not report anymore...the crap he's been through and to put this on him, fack you! Stupid retards...

[oldnews]

More than tired of the 'poor Luo' story, the Luo is a victim angle, and all this dramatic whining about how Luo has been "mistreated".

A bunch of sentimental bulls#!t.

[RustyRivets]

There isn't to many star players that have been treated as poorly as Lou in the history of the NHL. That's for damn sure.

[grandmaster]

Repost from another thread, more appropriate here:

Imagine when Torts came back from his suspension for the Calgary locker room incident, Gillis says, "Before your suspenstion, we were 2-5-2 in Jan, Sully went 2-3, I want to give Sully another couple of chances see how he does as Acting Head Coach, come and watch the next game in the box with me."

Do you think Torts would be a professional about it?

Well said

[poetica]

More than tired of the 'poor Luo' story, the Luo is a victim angle, and all this dramatic whining about how Luo has been "mistreated".

A bunch of sentimental bulls#!t.

....Or, an honest acknowledgement that even well paid athletes are human beings with feelings that they're entitled to just like the rest of us. (And btw, read a little more carefully before jumping in with your pre-drawn conclusions. It's not just Luo's feelings that people are concerned with, but Lack's as well.)

....Or, a realistic view that more was at stake than just 2 points in a single game and a coach's job is to manage his team for the long term, not just to do whatever it takes, including damaging relationships with his players and the team's fans while knowingly creating unnecessary negative media attention that will only serve as an unwelcome distraction just to try to get a single win.

Besides, you're obviously fond of the sentimental BS because you keep posting the same thing in every thread where it comes up, even when it's in the thread title so you could easily give it a miss.

[VintageDz]

People are not mad at Lack.. give your head a big shake... Fans are mad at the management and how else do you want the "fans" to express the price they pay per ticket to see Lack in net?

Torts managed to get this goalie controversy to a new low (Lack's 1st year in NHL)...has most fans pissed off and the team under his command has broken some of the worst streaks we have had in a very long time.... and on top of it all, you have a very pissed off all star goalie whos most likely done in this city (at least in his mind).

Your arguement is not even worht a thread... is it neccesary?

If ppl were not mad at Lack, why did he receive the booing treament?

Most ppl would have no problem with the "we want lu" chant BEFORE the game started, but when the chant and boo happended during the game, and it just goes and show how pathetic and embarassing some canucks fans are..

The chant and boo were very undeserving for lack, and it accomplished nothing but kicking lack while he is down, and embarassing the canucks fans as a group

[RonMexico]

More than tired of the 'poor Luo' story, the Luo is a victim angle, and all this dramatic whining about how Luo has been "mistreated".

A bunch of sentimental bulls#!t.

Totally agree. I'm drowning in a waterfall of tears from Lu supporters.

[Heretic]

When did Lack falter? He stopped 24 of 27 shots. The last goal he should of had. The first two, Luongo wouldn't have even stopped them. One was a screen shot that he might of seen if the Canucks defensman did his job and clear the front of the net, and the first goal was Bieksa's butter fingers not catching the puck and redirecting a shot that was wide, right into the net. I don't care who started or who should have started, but Lack played good enough that we should have won. The first two Ottawa goals are completely the fault of the teams crappy play in front of the goalie

Pure speculation.

Luongo is very good at stopping screens.

Don't give Lack a "free pass" because he isn't Luongo.

That's the type of hypocritical comments I can't stand.

Same thing when Schneider is here.

He lets in a bad goal "no big deal, Luongo would have let that in as well", but if Luongo let's one in, these same hypocrites want his head.

[Papayas]

....Or, an honest acknowledgement that even well payed athletes are human beings with feelings that they're entitled to just like the rest of us. (And btw, read a little more carefully before jumping in with your pre-drawn conclusions. It's not just Luo's feelings that people are concerned with, but Lack's as well.)

....Or, a realistic view that more was at stake than just 2 points in a single game and a coach's job is to manage his team for the long term, not just to do whatever it takes, including damaging relationships with his players and the team's fans while knowingly creating unnecessary negative media attention that will only serve as an unwelcome distraction just to try to get a single win.

Besides, you're obviously fond of the sentimental BS because you keep posting the same thing in every thread where it comes up, even when it's in the thread title so you could easily give it a miss.

this.. the game is more than just getting 2 points. CDC and vancouver fans in general seems to think that Athlete don't have human emotions because they get paid millions a year. But the reality is that they are human too and things like that will make or break the team.

[RUPERTKBD]

The coaching staff can't be that dumb. Just about every fan, every analyst, knows that goal tending is NOT the problem with the Canucks.

Maybe if they spent more time teaching the players to score instead of guessing at whom to put in goal, the team would be in a playoff position and a contender once again.

Edit: There are only 3 teams in the league that have scored less than the Canucks.

I don't know where you get the idea that I was being critical of Luongo...

While I'm in agreement that it was a mistake not Starting Lou, I think calling it "dumb" is a case of 20/20 hindsight. Lack was on a roll and Torts clearly felt that the two points were more important than Luongo's feelings.

I happen to disagree with that sentiment, but I can certainly understand it, especially since I'm not the guy who's coaching a team that's currently sitting out of the playoff picture.

As I said earlier, the move backfired, but it's understandable that the coaches felt good about starting a guy who had only given up one goal in two starts and also stopped 6 of 7 in the shootout.

[LLYNCES]

Luongo has been a key player for years and means more to this teams fanbase than a 10 million dollar a year bench warmer.

It was because of Luongo we even got into the play offs back years ago (and not just once) People also like to forget that he was our team captian at one point who has had basically everything taken from him. Even if he didn't deserve to play that game (not like he's getting games to prove himself lately) he at the very least was ENTITLED to play it based off of his years with this team.

This guy has been a part of our team for years, he has given his heart and soul to this city and he gets....to ride the bench for our one heritage classic game where he is more part of this team than the majority of the players out there skating? Because Lack is playing good?

Torts is a moron for not viewing players as human beings, and Gillis and the entire management should be ashamed with how they treat our key players. As much as people might want to hype up the Luongo hate in this city, the vast majority of the fans want Luongo playing the majority of the games and want him in our key games. Nobody wants a 10 million dollar playing sitting on the bench half the time and being excluded from our key games.

Lack is a good goalie, but Luongo is a 10 million dollar a year key player that is consistently getting benched and not being allowed to prove himself. How are you going to build confidence in a goalie when you are giving him no leeway at all and taking away his net the moment he makes a mistake?

Lack should have never gotten that game.

[oldnews]

....Or, a realistic view that more was at stake than just 2 points in a single game and a coach's job is to manage his team for the long term, not just to do whatever it takes, including damaging relationships with his players and the team's fans while knowingly creating unnecessary negative media attention that will only serve as an unwelcome distraction just to try to get a single win.

I'll need a refresher on how Luo has been mistreated, or why him not starting a game is classlees and embarrassing.

Meanwhile, Kesler is stuck here whether he likes it or not. We all know how the script ends, right.

Just trade the guy already.

[poetica]

I'll need a refresher on how Luo has been mistreated, or why him not starting a game is classlees and embarrassing.

Meanwhile, Kesler is stuck here whether he likes it or not. We all know how the script ends, right.

Just trade the guy already.

Dude, you're posting on page 8 of the thread talking about why it was disrespectful and embarrassing. If you need a refresher (which one would have thought you would have bothered to get before posting about how it's all just whining....) maybe try reading the first 7 pages.

[elvis15]

Don't go to the games unless we support the decision of the coach & management - eh? LOL.

...

If it means you're going to boo and/or chant that the goalie not currently playing should be, then yes. You certainly aren't supporting the team on the ice so I don't know why someone would want to spend the kind of money it takes to go to a Canucks game if they aren't there to do that.

And that's my point, booing and chanting "we want Lu" while Lack is currently in net is not supporting the players.

While I never said they were directed at Lack, I stand by saying they were derisive. Lack may understand they weren't directed at him, but I'm sure hearing them didn't make him feel good - particularly after he's let in a few goals to allow Ottawa back into a game we were leading 2-0.

My pick was John Stevens out of the options available, but we don't have the information on why one was chosen over the other. Perhaps Stevens wasn't as interested, or didn't interview as well. Perhaps Torts' experience as a winning head coach won the day. Second guessing is great when things don't work out, but I didn't hear much of that when we were on a roll in December.

Elvis, if Richards was demoted down the lineup and finally scratched in the playoffs because of poor production,

Then why?? wouldn't Burrows and Daniel be getting the same,

Even Torts stated much later that he regretted doing that to Richards, as I am now sure he has the same regret over Lou!

I feel he learned nothing from disrespecting a key, veteran player on the team.

Should we expect another "I'm sorry" presser soon.

One of the two goalies gets sat every game. You can't play both. That is not the same situation as benching someone like Richards, and he's learned from having done so in any event (as you mention yourself).

There's also a difference in benching someone because they aren't playing well, compared to someone like Burrows who actually is playing well overall and just having trouble burying chances. Daniel's a bit different, but what options does Torts have currently on this team that are outperforming him and could take his place?

You have to consider all the factors if you want to understand why a player would or wouldn't be benched. I would have started Luongo due to the play being close to Lack's and the obvious media storm that follows otherwise, Torts decided to start Lack based on his current hot streak and the need for this team to get 2 points.

[kazin!]

Pretty disappointed in the organization right now. I don't agree with "oh he makes $5.3m a year! He should stop being a baby". I get that professional hockey players are assessed on their performances.

I get that he is making a large sum of money that was GUARANTEED to him by OUR management. At the time the deal looked like a steal. He was (might still be if the team in front of him didn't blow) a top flight goalie and that AAV was low in comparison to other goaltenders.

The issue is that instead of management getting full value for their assets (developing and grooming Schneider and then trading him when appropriate for a mammoth return - could've been a young roster player and a prospect and a pick if done right I believe) and riding their #1 guy (goaltending has not been an issue for this team since Luongo came here), they sold him down the river for these younger guys who could play MAYBE incrementally better. Schneider is a very good goalie and his technique allows players to feel calm (I play hockey myself). But the management and ownership has fully invested in Roberto, which is why they gave him that huge career-spanning contract to keep him in Vancouver at a cap hit that gives flexibility for other areas. THAT is the biggest mistake in the past few years.

Can you imagine this squad bolstered by a young impact forward? For imagination's sake, let's pick Brayden Schenn (as the Flyers had a huge need for a tendy). With one of those two, we likely don't trade Hodgson and they form an offensive third line that gets minutes too. Or, if we do trade Hodgson, we put Schenn on Kesler's wing and Kesler finally gets a skilled winger to play with. Kassian can come along (as he's doing now) with LESS (relative) expectation.

I'm not saying this team is a young impact forward from being elite again, but avoiding the goaltending situation (see: asset management) of the last few years would've helped the team OVERALL.

Now with Lack...we could do the same thing. Groom him UNDER Luongo, and then trade him when his value is high. Repeat with Canaata. Repeat with Eriksson. That's how you develop your assets. Then you flip them for organizational needs when their values are the highest.

I sincerely hope we get new management that understands hockey. Gillis has made some great moves, but his blunders have outnumbered them in my mind.

Well now you know the answer to one of life's mystery's...it isn't always about money.

Sigh...you realize "mysteries" is a word, right?