Francesco calls out Province writer Ed Willis

[MJDDawg]

I fail to see any calling out in that article. 

[THERETOOL]

8 hours ago, mpt said:

For sure, problem is they shouldn't have been there in the first place.  This management keeps saying one thing and doing another, and now they still can't admit it.  If this team was truly rebuilding (shhhh can't say it) and the upper management knew we weren't good enough (as they said) then why lock up a guy like Eriksson for 6 years when he clearly showed in his post season interview he didn't care about his performance because he always sucks his first year on a new team.  These errors need to stop and unfortunately that all starts with Linden and telling us the truth. He's lied to us since 2 days before he took this job and it hasn't stopped since.  Honestly IMO he's wrecking his legacy with this franchise because he can't tell the truth.  

 

I have more respect for Benning as he tells what he truly thinks, sometimes that gets him in trouble but at least its the truth (even though we may disagree - as he was the one so adamant about getting Eriksson, Sutter, Dorsett in the first place and locking those guys up long term).  

 

So tired of mistakes and dishonesty from this upper management, public relations nightmare; if I was Aquilini I'd think strongly about offering a top position with top salary to a Ralph Krueger/Bob Nicholson type asset to fix this mess from the top down.

I agree with a lot of what you've said here ..    Its weird cause Im not angry , Im just bummed about it 

[THERETOOL]

1 hour ago, NewbieCanuckFan said:

I seem to remember Larionov leaving not because the Canucks couldn't afford to pay him what he was looking for but rather "The Professor" not wanting to give a cut of his salary to the government back home; so he bolted overseas where (for whatever reason) that 'special tax' wouldn't be applicable.

 

Course I'm just going by memory....

no ... your just going by fact .     the poster your responding to was going by memory ..  foggy and wrong memories

[Googlie]

9 hours ago, mpt said:

This better not be over yet, having locked up older players to big money is going to hurt us in the end.  The best thing the Canucks can do is finally come out and say hard times are ahead, get rid of older players on long term contracts that wont be apart of the future, lower the overall working salary cap much closer to the floor, lower ticket prices to attract a sell out crowd and let us watch the excitement of the young kids we can look forward to develop.  

 

No one wants to go see a team of young players being sat while we watch older players eat up minutes when we know they shouldn't be here when the team is now competitive.  Who wants to pay top ticket prices for that?  Dump 20 million in salary and drop ticket prices by 30 bucks a ticket.  The same revenue will be made, and fans will return to Rogers Arena.  Spending to the cap and finishing in the bottom 5 makes no sense; please dump the bad contracts.

What a myopic viewpoint

 

The best thing the Canucks can do is:

The Twins have a bounce back year and net 70+ points each

Loui gets comfortable with stable linemates and pots 25 goals

Boeser wins rookie of the year award with 30 goals and 30 assists

Marky proves he is a #1 goalie 

Edler is further rejuvenated playing with Stecher

Goldy proves he belongs, as does Jake 

Etc, etc, etc

[Googlie]

1 hour ago, NewbieCanuckFan said:

I seem to remember Larionov leaving not because the Canucks couldn't afford to pay him what he was looking for but rather "The Professor" not wanting to give a cut of his salary to the government back home; so he bolted overseas where (for whatever reason) that 'special tax' wouldn't be applicable.

 

Course I'm just going by memory....

No, you are spot on.  Was a point of principle for Igor not to pay the Russian Hockey Federation

[gerry35]

The media can't handle anyone challenging them, they are a thin skinned bunch. While there are a few good ones out there in general the media these days are the enemy. Some people just gobble up anything they say as fact when they are just out to push certain agendas. There is no real problem with ownership or the management, just people who can't except that it will take time to rebuild and don't want to see they good things that are happening like lots of new prospects and more to come in June.

[Tre Mac]

10 hours ago, Jtutino said:

"Fourth head coach in 4 years", he makes it sound like we have a new coach every year when Willie was just here for 3 seasons

Was just going to post this.  They put that on the cover of the sports section in the Province today.  I am confuzzled.

[chickenman92]

10 hours ago, R35Godz1lla said:

Can someone please explain to me why hockey fans have this stick up their ass about how owners of hockey teams should and should not act?

 

I get it, I do. We are all fans here and we want to see the team do well, so even if we all express it in different ways at the end of the day if we see an area where we feel things are being done poorly we want to make a comment about it.

 

So with that said I will never understand why the people who own these teams are supposed to never do and or say anything. Do you all really expect them to just cut the cheques and show up to the odd game?

I think it comes down to specific areas of expertise. Aquaman, great real estate guy, but managing the decisions and day to day operations of an NHL team is a different industry. And because of that, you want people with a expertise in the NHL handling those jobs. 

 

For me, ownership should oversee who is in the front office, ie, President, GM, Ast. GM, etc... Then the front office group should oversee the coach, players, drafting, trades, etc...

 

If ownership isn't happy with the team, get a new president or GM, but at no point should owners be telling the GM who should coach, or what deal should be made. 

 

Case in point, the rumour is, Gillis had a deal to send Ryan Kesler to the Ducks for Rackell, Theodore and the 10th pick...Aquaman said no, he wasn't trading Kesler unless he got another star back and the Canucks ended up settling for a lesser deal. 

 

 

[mpt]

1 hour ago, Googlie said:

What a myopic viewpoint

 

The best thing the Canucks can do is:

The Twins have a bounce back year and net 70+ points each

Loui gets comfortable with stable linemates and pots 25 goals

Boeser wins rookie of the year award with 30 goals and 30 assists

Marky proves he is a #1 goalie 

Edler is further rejuvenated playing with Stecher

Goldy proves he belongs, as does Jake 

Etc, etc, etc

That is the best thing the Canucks can do, but then there is reality.  Remember Eriksson said he always struggles the first year with a new team, a new coach, and learning a new system; so don't expect much under Travis Green.  I was so disappointed with his post season interview, just a tonne of reasons why he was set up for failure and thats normal to him.  This is the character guy Benning raved about, maintenance free?  I beg to differ.  

 

The Sedins will never be 70 point players again, it doesn't matter how much they feel they can be.

Loui has to learn a new system with a new coach, so we can expect another dismal season

Boeser will likely have a good year but 20 goals will be reasonable great target for a rookie season

Marky is likely only going to be playing 50 games max no matter which goalie comes here

Edler will have a season like every other season, we can't expect anything different from Edler no matter what potential he had 10 years ago

Goldy will prove he can flourish in the NHL and will likely compliment the Sedins quite well like he showed down the stretch

Sutter hopefully is put on the expansion draft list after we draft Patrick.  Gaudette coming down the pipes will be an added bonus moving forward.

Gudbranson better show up and play well this year before we lock him up to a long term deal.  How can you reward a poor season cut short by injury with a long term contract?  Isn't this team a team that rewards good play?  It will be hypocritical to lock him up long term.

 

Really though it all starts with the draft and Benning needs to hit some home runs in the 2nd and 3rd round, that is the problem with this franchise.  Teams are built through the draft, but we don't do that very well. You can't just rely on 1st rounders.  Hopefully some of these mid round picks a few turn out to be NHL players.  We need another solid showing this year.

 

I don't feel I'm being negative, just being a realist, we can wishfully think, but thats a little naive IMO.  Best thing we can do is dump all the big long term contracts with no future here and lower towards the cap floor and use that money to decrease ticket prices.  With a young hopeful team, the fans will come back and sell out Rogers Arena.  I enjoyed watching the kids play in the last 15-20 games, more fun watching that then watching older players with no future here while young players sat and watched them play.

[Wilbur]

11 minutes ago, mpt said:

That is the best thing the Canucks can do, but then there is reality.  Remember Eriksson said he always struggles the first year with a new team, a new coach, and learning a new system; so don't expect much under Travis Green.  I was so disappointed with his post season interview, just a tonne of reasons why he was set up for failure and thats normal to him.  This is the character guy Benning raved about, maintenance free?  I beg to differ.  

 

The Sedins will never be 70 point players again, it doesn't matter how much they feel they can be.

Loui has to learn a new system with a new coach, so we can expect another dismal season

Boeser will likely have a good year but 20 goals will be reasonable great target for a rookie season

Marky is likely only going to be playing 50 games max no matter which goalie comes here

Edler will have a season like every other season, we can't expect anything different from Edler no matter what potential he had 10 years ago

Goldy will prove he can flourish in the NHL and will likely compliment the Sedins quite well like he showed down the stretch

Sutter hopefully is put on the expansion draft list after we draft Patrick.  Gaudette coming down the pipes will be an added bonus moving forward.

Gudbranson better show up and play well this year before we lock him up to a long term deal.  How can you reward a poor season cut short by injury with a long term contract?  Isn't this team a team that rewards good play?  It will be hypocritical to lock him up long term.

 

Really though it all starts with the draft and Benning needs to hit some home runs in the 2nd and 3rd round, that is the problem with this franchise.  Teams are built through the draft, but we don't do that very well. You can't just rely on 1st rounders.  Hopefully some of these mid round picks a few turn out to be NHL players.  We need another solid showing this year.

 

I don't feel I'm being negative, just being a realist, we can wishfully think, but thats a little naive IMO.  Best thing we can do is dump all the big long term contracts with no future here and lower towards the cap floor and use that money to decrease ticket prices.  With a young hopeful team, the fans will come back and sell out Rogers Arena.  I enjoyed watching the kids play in the last 15-20 games, more fun watching that then watching older players with no future here while young players sat and watched them play.

I see where your coming from but disagree with Sutter and Gudbranson.  Sutter is a guy that plays a lot of tough minutes which will be very valuable in the next two years.  We'll see where the lottery ping pong balls drop but Gaudette definitely won't be a prominent Canuck until Sutter's NTC turns to a modified NTC.  Canucks are so low on centres it would be folly to give one up that can play hard NHL minutes right now for nothing.  While I agree Gudbranson didn't do much last year to warrant a large long term contract, I'm wary of his pending UFA status.  In a perfect world he'd sign a 2-3 year "late-bridge" deal so the Canucks can be guaranteed at least one year of his UFA years.  Given the choice between 1 year and long term/big money I'd go for the former but I hope Benning fights hard for that middle ground.

[messier's_elbow]

I was hoping for managements sake ownership was meddling. Loui Erickson was managements idea? Yikes. 

[Boudrias]

1 hour ago, Wilbur said:

I see where your coming from but disagree with Sutter and Gudbranson.  Sutter is a guy that plays a lot of tough minutes which will be very valuable in the next two years.  We'll see where the lottery ping pong balls drop but Gaudette definitely won't be a prominent Canuck until Sutter's NTC turns to a modified NTC.  Canucks are so low on centres it would be folly to give one up that can play hard NHL minutes right now for nothing.  While I agree Gudbranson didn't do much last year to warrant a large long term contract, I'm wary of his pending UFA status.  In a perfect world he'd sign a 2-3 year "late-bridge" deal so the Canucks can be guaranteed at least one year of his UFA years.  Given the choice between 1 year and long term/big money I'd go for the former but I hope Benning fights hard for that middle ground.

Totally agree on your Sutter take. He is a core transition player.

 

Gudbranson is still a ? to me. 30 games does not tell the tale IMO. A lot of respected opinion says he is a quality team mate and player. Willie Mitchell's endorsement counts with me. I do hope there is a 3 year bridge deal in the works. I certainly noticed how much the Canuck physical play fell off after Gudbranson's injury. As much as Gudbranson talks positively about resigning I would be concerned. He has experienced a rebuild already in Florida and that cannot be a positive. If he gets an offer from a more advanced team he might be interested in avoiding the inevitable Canuck turmoil.

 

My best case scenario is that Benning trades one of Edler or Tanev or even both. He resigns Gudbranson and goes all in on Alzner. The threat of tampering can always be made but hopefully Alzner will be messaged that Van wants him badly. Other teams do this without consequence.    

[Hypocritical Cranium]

3 hours ago, MJDDawg said:

I fail to see any calling out in that article. 

Exactly, all FA did was explain a position he has as an owner. It is nice to hear from him. It's not like he is behaving like Trump. The media is always trying to create things from stuff they 'see'. Ed can now correct his article with information coming from the horses mouth. 

[Boudrias]

3 minutes ago, Hypocritical Cranium said:

Exactly, all FA did was explain a position he has as an owner. It is nice to hear from him. It's not like he is behaving like Trump. The media is always trying to create things from stuff they 'see'. Ed can now correct his article with information coming from the horses mouth. 

From a fan who goes back to the beginning. The current ownership is the best there has ever been! Spent to the maximum in CAP and spent big bucks on building out the organization. Buying the AHL franchise was truly Mike Gillis's biggest gift to the org.  

[FireGillis]

I don't believe anything that comes out of aquaman's mouth.

[189lb enforcers?]

12 minutes ago, FireGillis said:

I don't believe anything that comes out of aquaman's mouth.

That's why he hired Linden! 

 

[DarthMelvin]

16 hours ago, Stelar said:

 The bottom line is I am putting my faith at this point in Trevor Linden. He has lived and died for this team. He may not be the most experienced but he has the best interest of the team at heart.  I think he is on the right path.

I thought this once...until the talk of trading the Sedins came up early in the season. His reply was that it would be a slap in the face to the Sedins to ask them to bow out to a trade. Instead Hansen and Burrows got put up on the block, They went on to the Play offs while the Sedins watched from the golf course. 

 

So does TL have the best interests of the team ( AND FANS) or not? 

 

2 years in a row I was able to acquire the twins in my pool... both years have been a mistake. We need TL to step up and put personal feelings aside when it comes to creating a successful season.

[Stelar]

10 minutes ago, DarthMelvin said:

I thought this once...until the talk of trading the Sedins came up early in the season. His reply was that it would be a slap in the face to the Sedins to ask them to bow out to a trade. Instead Hansen and Burrows got put up on the block, They went on to the Play offs while the Sedins watched from the golf course. 

 

So does TL have the best interests of the team ( AND FANS) or not? 

 

2 years in a row I was able to acquire the twins in my pool... both years have been a mistake. We need TL to step up and put personal feelings aside when it comes to creating a successful season.

Listen, the Sedins are big boys.  If they wanted to move on they could easily walk into TL or JB office and ask to move on.  They have earned the right to stick around if they want. Are you equating Hansen and Burrows to the Sedins? 

[Stelar]

1 hour ago, Boudrias said:

From a fan who goes back to the beginning. The current ownership is the best there has ever been! Spent to the maximum in CAP and spent big bucks on building out the organization. Buying the AHL franchise was truly Mike Gillis's biggest gift to the org.  

Agreed. Although I did like the griffiths era as well.  Local ownership is the way to go.  If I owned and spent that kind of money on a team I would want input.  

 

For some reason the fans want to have a say and input but not ownership.  Lol. 

[coho8888]

14 hours ago, R35Godz1lla said:

Can someone please explain to me why hockey fans have this stick up their ass about how owners of hockey teams should and should not act?

 

I get it, I do. We are all fans here and we want to see the team do well, so even if we all express it in different ways at the end of the day if we see an area where we feel things are being done poorly we want to make a comment about it.

 

So with that said I will never understand why the people who own these teams are supposed to never do and or say anything. Do you all really expect them to just cut the cheques and show up to the odd game?

I don't have a problem with whether or not an owner is "hands" on or not.  I do want the owner to be accountable though.  If the Aquilinis were the ones that influenced the hiring of Torts, then own up to it.  If ownership were the ones that wanted to retool on the fly then be transparent about it.