After the Draft/FA weekend, I'm worried about the future of our.... humanity.

[Egon]

Hey everyone --

I've been a reader here at CDC since the early days and never actually posted anything but felt compelled to do so after this weekend.

After going through what I've personally felt was a successful Draft weekend for the Canucks and a decent free agent signing of Ryan Miller, I was pretty disgusted at what I witnessed regarding the conduct of a lot of our "fans" over the internet, moreso over the "Twittersphere" rather than on the CDC (though we do have a chosen few I witnessed here as well).

Here you have young 17-18 year old kids at the NHL Draft going through quite possibly the greatest experience and achievement of their young lives up to this point.... only to have people tear them to pieces before they've even had a chance to get started. It was like the verbal equivalent of teachers beating students with baseball bats and spitting on them as they collect their high school diploma.

You had newcomers to Vancouver (Bonino, Vey, Miller, etc), brought in by management to hopefully change the culture of this team, who seemed generally excited and happy to be here, and they were chirped to a ridiculous degree within hours of being named to our team.

It was mind-numbing reading a majority of the replies to the announcements of these players. Instead of congratulatory responses, you got insults about the player's talent, looks, wives, etc.

If you didn't stop reading within a couple minutes, your IQ would drop a ridiculous amount.

Even the members of the media had stooped to a new lowest of lows.

It was saddening to see that these are the levels humanity has reached these days and unfortunately we may see even lower.

I'm happy that the new management team as been working hard to change the attitude and culture of within our team. It'd be nice to see us all work to help change the culture of the fan base as well.

[PhillipBlunt]

Thank you for the post. Well said. The vermin was truly out in force the last week or so. Their wretched squeals merely mask severe inadequacy.

[Warhippy]

Because of you we will never have a Ghostbusters 3.....

Way to die on us

[Scruffy05]

Here here. Standard big, tough cowards hiding behind a computer screen. Unfortunately, since there will and can be 0 consequence for their actions, be prepared to be ripped apart as if they are ravenous raccoons.

[Pickly]

Worst fans in the NHL IMO. Benning and co are trying to construct a new team with a new identity and less than 2 months on the job and a 2 days into July fans are already claiming the the seasons a write off, tank for Mcdavid, Virtanen is a bust, should have drafted Ehlers, and should have signed Iginla wtf are you doing Benning it's your fault he didn't sign here. It's mind boggling how stupid some fans are.

[awalk]

Honestly I stop reading during the summer and just tune in for the rumors. CDC gets trade rumors at a speed previously unbeknownst to man.

Canucks fans don't seem understand hockey, they only seem to understand "Canucks."

[Egon]

Thanks guys. And I have to give props to all those who did take on this weekend with a positive spin and welcome these new draft picks and players with open arms... forgot to add that in my post. You all deserve to be recognized as well.

Because of you we will never have a Ghostbusters 3.....

Way to die on us

Hahaha... There's always Winston.

[Rex425]

Totally agree. Sometimes I start to think if these people will actually cheer for the damn team instead of blaming the players.

[John McClane]

This post deserves a +++

[awalk]

It's like... "Oh, we got an all-star Olympian goaltender....better quickly question every single facet of the acquisition!!! Suddenly I'm worried about how the other goalies on the team FEEL"

"we drafted a center? why would we do that? we have good centers! TOO MANY GOOD PLAYERS!!!"

[McBackup]

Worst fans in the NHL IMO. Benning and co are trying to construct a new team with a new identity and less than 2 months on the job and a 2 days into July fans are already claiming the the seasons a write off, tank for Mcdavid, Virtanen is a bust, should have drafted Ehlers, and should have signed Iginla wtf are you doing Benning it's your fault he didn't sign here. It's mind boggling how stupid some fans are.

What's it like knowing you're an awful fan?

[bigbadcanucks]

Nice, thoughtful post, Egon.

As you can see from Phillip, Scruffy and War, there's lots of posters here on CDC that are equally thoughtful in their analysis and commentary...I'm sure you'll be seeing others (the majority) here on CDC who are of the same ilk.

Just to give you some hope...remember that the human population is segmented in the shape of the bell curve. The vast majority of the CDC falls into the meaty part of the bell curve where the folks are into good analysis, debate, discussion with a dose of humor. There are those at the extremes of the curve that can easily be dealt with by using the ignore function. Easy peasy.

[Jester13]

Welcome to the Internet.

Sorry, but are we really discussing the ridiculous actions of a minority of fans again?

Time to move on an accept that some people are major dbags

[aGENT]

Canucks fans don't seem understand hockey, they only seem to understand "Canucks."

Ooooh...that's a bit of a stretch too.

[luongotv]

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

I too can't stand the attitude fans are showing towards our team. We all share a responsibility to carry the reputation of our organization. Benning and Linden are trying to revamp our look on and off the ice, but what is the point if the fans are totally pessimistic towards every change that occurs?

[TheSnipeshow91]

Well said. I think we should just leave the criticism to professionals like Bob McKenzie. Not 10 year old kids on the internet who didnt even know hockey until the 2011 cup finals.

[RogerEpic5]

Well written OP.

Am I the only one that actually feels optimistic about our future..?

We got Vey in exchange for the 2nd round pick. We could have used it on McKeown. But no we didn't. Many people got mad and one even said that Benning is a rugged piece of crap.. Some tho, like me were happy. It made sense. Tyler Toffoli and Tanner Pearson were all locked up in the starting line up.

So you have

Brown/Kopitar/Gaborik

Pearson/Carter/Toffoli

King/Stoll/Wlliams

Clifford/Richards/Stoll.

Where do you exactly plan to have Vey in the line up? And he is NHL ready... So it made sense that Vey would be the odd man out. And we got him

That is a great trade and I'm happy. We should be thankful that our GM Benning and that he made this team Better and Better. I'm glad we signed Miller. I'm glad we got Virtanen/McCann. I'm glad we got Dorsett. These past few days, I couldn't be a happier Canuck/fan.

[Vancanwincup]

I know one thing, if I was the one being attacked, it would fuel my drive to prove these morons wrong.

Hockey is getting bad fans, just look at minor hockey around Canada.

Way too many incidents of parents that attack verbal and sometime physically the young players on the ice.

Hockey at a young age is about fun and learning not winning. Winning is a bonus of proper teaching of the fundamentals of the game. Parents yelling at their ten year old kid to kill the other ten year old on the ice is beyond disturbing. I'm so glad that they are taking steps to solve these problems, but to have to have bring about these steps is a shame. I remember when going to a game to watch kids was fun and the crowd respected each other and the only yelling was at the Ref.

[ice orca]

People were so wrapped up in who they thought Benning should draft or trade for and when it went sideways for them they melted. It is a small group but they bitch so much it seems larger. Then you have the straight out trolls.. Most of the fans are smart enough to give the kids a good chance and will be behind them.

[awalk]

Ooooh...that's a bit of a stretch too.

They understand that they like the Canucks and want things with their Canucks to be just the way they want it so.

We aren't used to a GM coming in with a strong vision who doesn't stray from that for anything. Haven't had that since Burke. Burke was a hot mess though, and Benning got the goalie that Burke never could, so I think we are already off to a better start.