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(Article) Winnipeg Jets timeline led to Linden's dismissal


Tre Mac

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I think more often than not JB's UFA picks have been misconstrued as attempts to "speed up" the process and I cannot disagree more imho.

 

If I joined the Canucks as GM and I realized how poorly the franchise had drafted, mainly due to poor drafting but partially due to being a winning team for year and partially to trading assets away trying to contend. I would be faced with the reality of not enough NHL caliber players on the team and in the system. If I feel I can draft well and produce quality prospects how do I develop them? I surround them with NHL players to buffer them and mentor them as they develop in a competitive environment.

 

So how do you fix years of poor drafting? You have to dip into the free agent market... People can argue that the signings were to "retool" or "accelerate" the rebuild but I ague that you have to have an NHL team for your prospects to join. A team filled with guys like Jason Megna type players is not going to cut it and you need more than just the Sedin's to do it especially when they are heading into the twilight of their careers.

 

You need guys like Dorsett, Miller, Erickson... Players that have had success at the NHL level and actually "know" what they are talking about. No offense to the Megnas.

 

But that's just my opinion.

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29 minutes ago, Tre Mac said:

Where you getting seven years?  Linden said four more years around the draft meeting(and it'll be four more years regardless what JB does) not seven years from now.  And it was JB 'retooling' (perhaps from FA impatience)that set the rebuild back a couple of years in the first place. 

Probably from the Guardian -- sorry, should have known better.  But surely Benning and ownership do not see the team as a contender this year or next (playoffs, likely yes), which means that the difference between them and Linden was between 1 or 2 years after that, hardly something that should have been seen as a dividing point.  So as far as that goes, Willis seems to be grasping at air.

 

And enough of this "setting the rebuild back" Smarmy/Botchford/Burke nonsense narrative.  If anything, the rebuild was accelerated by acquiring young assets for picks, increasing the odds of getting real players from them.

 

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lol. Don't know why some here are so antagonistic towards a sports writer just doing his job.  He's selling copy.  But this topic is also perfectly legitimate to speculate about, for the simple reason that we still don't know what really happened.

 

I don't see how one can dismiss the basic premise that it boiled down to Linden preaching patience and resisting the quick fixes like Eriksson and Gagner, even Miller. And that Aquilini, as an owner with a shiny toy, wanted playoff hockey sooner rather than later.  And that finally Linden had had enough.  Makes sense to me.

 

"The Canucks’ rebuild, unfortunately, has been slowed by a couple of things. First off, while the Jets were committed to the bigger picture Cheveldayoff talks about, the Canucks were trying to accelerate things by signing Ryan Miller, Loui Eriksson and a bunch of other free agents while trading for players who were intended to help now."

 

Don't know how anyone can argue with that 

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2 hours ago, xereau said:

This is all just speculation.  But it kind of does make sense, if its true.


Linden was apparently going around the draft for a few years asking various teams' brass for tips and tricks on how to build a franchise.

 

Is this how you build a business at the highest level of an industry?  Go around and openly admit you know squat about being at the top of an industry to your direct competition?

 

I bet this noob behavior, if its actually true, truly pissed Mr. Aquilini right off.

That is exactly how Sam Walton build up a company from scratch. This company is the world's largest company by revenue and the largest private employer in the world.

 

That company is Walmart. 

 

Walton was just an employee at JC Penny's and knew nothing about how to run a retail business instead he did exactly what you are saying Linden did, he went to all the different retailers and found out what worked for them and what didn't.

 

The advantage of openly admitting you know squat about being at the top of your industry is that no one sees you as a threat and you would be amazed at the information one can accumulate in a perceived position of ignorance or weakness. 

 

So yes that is exactly how you build a business at the highest level of an industry. Especially if you are starting from scratch. 

 

Edit: Aquilini is a noob but his pride/ego won't allow him to admit it, nor to stay out of the affairs he doesn't understand and is not willing to learn about. 

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2 hours ago, PhillipBlunt said:

I can literally hear Ed Willes nasally, whiny voice throughout the entire article. Willes has no clue and is providing no corroborating evidence to back up his claims regarding Linden and his dismissal.

There was someone on Twitter talking about an Edmonton beat-reporter, and mentioned that it seems like these old guys just got the job and then had no competition. There was nobody but the public to call them out on their BS.

 

Now with bloggers, the Athletic, Twitter, etc., guys like Willes can be exposed for the frauds that they have become. 

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2 hours ago, xereau said:

This is all just speculation.  But it kind of does make sense, if its true.


Linden was apparently going around the draft for a few years asking various teams' brass for tips and tricks on how to build a franchise.

 

Is this how you build a business at the highest level of an industry?  Go around and openly admit you know squat about being at the top of an industry to your direct competition?

 

I bet this noob behavior, if its actually true, truly pissed Mr. Aquilini right off.

I don't think anyone should be blamed for always trying to learn more. Just because he was asking for tips, doesn't mean he doesn't already have a lot of knowledge. 

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1 minute ago, Down by the River said:

There was someone on Twitter talking about an Edmonton beat-reporter, and mentioned that it seems like these old guys just got the job and then had no competition. There was nobody but the public to call them out on their BS.

 

Now with bloggers, the Athletic, Twitter, etc., guys like Willes can be exposed for the frauds that they have become. 

I'd like to refer to that as the Dhaliwal effect.

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Just now, PhillipBlunt said:

I'd like to refer to that as the Dhaliwal effect.

Yeah. I preferred Dhaliwal when he wasn't on 650, but nevertheless, when he's Tweeting, you feel like you can be 100% confident that everything he is saying is exactly the information he has. No slant, no bias, just reporting what someone else said. The guy hits the pavement and gets big interviews. If he ever says something that turns out wrong, I'll always believe that he was simply working with information that was wrong, not that he tried to make something out of nothing. 

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1 minute ago, Down by the River said:

Yeah. I preferred Dhaliwal when he wasn't on 650, but nevertheless, when he's Tweeting, you feel like you can be 100% confident that everything he is saying is exactly the information he has. No slant, no bias, just reporting what someone else said. The guy hits the pavement and gets big interviews. If he ever says something that turns out wrong, I'll always believe that he was simply working with information that was wrong, not that he tried to make something out of nothing. 

Exactly. He makes no leading statements, doesn't interject his opinion into his work very much at all. He's the only source that's truly trustworthy.

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10 minutes ago, kilgore said:

lol. Don't know why some here are so antagonistic towards a sports writer just doing his job.  He's selling copy.  But this topic is also perfectly legitimate to speculate about, for the simple reason that we still don't know what really happened.

 

I don't see how one can dismiss the basic premise that it boiled down to Linden preaching patience and resisting the quick fixes like Eriksson and Gagner, even Miller. And that Aquilini, as an owner with a shiny toy, wanted playoff hockey sooner rather than later.  And that finally Linden had had enough.  Makes sense to me.

 

"The Canucks’ rebuild, unfortunately, has been slowed by a couple of things. First off, while the Jets were committed to the bigger picture Cheveldayoff talks about, the Canucks were trying to accelerate things by signing Ryan Miller, Loui Eriksson and a bunch of other free agents while trading for players who were intended to help now."

 

Don't know how anyone can argue with that 

How about because there's no actual evidence for it?

 

First of all, most of those signing weren't about attempting to speed anything up/contend for the cup. See:

 

All just more blathering, baseless, speculative spin.

 

There's arguably more evidence in fact that the opposite was true. Linden was always the one quoted about 'supporting the twins/not being fair to tear down'. Everything from Benning/Aqualinin has been 'no quick fixes' and 'we know where we are as an organization' and 'we're focused on future/youth'. 

 

Judge the team by their actual actions, not self-interested, blathering twits.

 

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ask yourself this, has Trevor come out and said anything at all about this?  I don't believe that willes talked about this to linden, this is just his opinion of what happened and not a fact. until it is a fact. I choose to not believe this

 

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5 minutes ago, aGENT said:

Judge the team by their actual actions, not self-interested, blathering twits.

Actions like trading a second rounder for Vey

Signing Eriksson to such a deal.  Vrbata, Gagner ..?

 

"Blathering twit" or not, he's doing exactly what you ask for....highlighting those actions. And judging them on that.   That's what a sports writer does.

 

As well, the article was more about what Winnipeg did right, rather than what this management did wrong.

 

But meh...its not something that keeps me up at night. Linden is gone whether we know the actual details as well. (We were also promised to know more details about Bure's departure at one time).  But its just another opinion piece.

 

I think it very well may have been a mix of reasons. Spending time with family more could very well be one reason. He'd given a lot of his life already to hockey, including leading the players union. Accepting the role as President was probably something he could hardly refuse and not look bad. But an unrealistic stubborness by Aquilini could very well have been a final straw.

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43 minutes ago, kilgore said:

lol. Don't know why some here are so antagonistic towards a sports writer just doing his job.  He's selling copy.  But this topic is also perfectly legitimate to speculate about, for the simple reason that we still don't know what really happened.

 

I don't see how one can dismiss the basic premise that it boiled down to Linden preaching patience and resisting the quick fixes like Eriksson and Gagner, even Miller. And that Aquilini, as an owner with a shiny toy, wanted playoff hockey sooner rather than later.  And that finally Linden had had enough.  Makes sense to me.

 

"The Canucks’ rebuild, unfortunately, has been slowed by a couple of things. First off, while the Jets were committed to the bigger picture Cheveldayoff talks about, the Canucks were trying to accelerate things by signing Ryan Miller, Loui Eriksson and a bunch of other free agents while trading for players who were intended to help now."

 

Don't know how anyone can argue with that 

Well said.

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14 minutes ago, kilgore said:

Actions like trading a second rounder for Vey

Signing Eriksson to such a deal.  Vrbata, Gagner ..?

Short of Eriksson (and even he's not as bad as the sentiment surrounding him), inconsequential and none were particularly attempts to 'rush' anything (short of perhaps the *yawn* Vey move). They were vets largely brought in to support the existing team and give insulation to the ACTUAL rebuild/youth. Precisely what they have done and continue to do.

 

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4 hours ago, Ghostsof1915 said:

The reality is we have no way of knowing. I still say Linden's only child Roman who is under 2 years old. Linden sacrificed a lot of his life to hockey.

I'm pretty sure he heard the rumblings of impatient fans. He got all the grief, and not much of the rewards of the job. It's not like he needed the income from

being club president. He was doing well financially on his own. Maybe he just wanted time to be a dad, and enjoy time with his son and family. 

I would not be surprised when his son is a little older, he might take on a job as a consultant with the team. 

 

Maybe we should just be thankful of the commitment Linden had for the Canucks. And appreciate that the guy wanted the team to win and be built the right way. 

I agree. You never get these young years back with your kids. Its important to be there.

 

Ed Willes is a hack 

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The paramount point here is the Jets owner is likely the richest man in Canada. I'm not sure if he follows hockey but his patience is founded on no need to turn a profit from the Jets.  Aquaman is not on the same page as David Thompson. There is no rush because Thompson bought the team because of philanthropic / community wishes. As pointed out in the article JB really blew the first couple of drafts, you can't do that and still expect quick success. Virtanen might be showing signs of turning things around similarly Juolevi. They may become NHL regulars ( likely will ! ) but when you are drafting with that high a pick most are looking for star type players. They thankfully hit the jackpot with Boeser, Pettersson and probably Hughes. For my own part I tend to believe JB's saving grace will be Brackett. The more rope this guy gets the better off the club will be ( I hope they have him signed long term )

 

Linden may well have been onto the recipe for success, but, he had the opportunity and input during his years there and didn't step up. He was a rookie in the job and that was clear. His loss is not great and neither will the loss of JB unsurmountable. I hope Brackett stays the rest  are interchangeable. The flaw in the future of the Canucks is the inability to add pieces with FA signings or trades  

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42 minutes ago, aGENT said:

Short of Eriksson (and even he's not as bad as the sentiment surrounding him), inconsequential and none were particularly attempts to 'rush' anything (short of perhaps the *yawn* Vey move). They were vets largely brought in to support the existing team and give insulation to the ACTUAL rebuild/youth. Precisely what they have done and continue to do.

 

well, where do you walk that line is the question.  How much was it to insulate the youth, how much was it to add depth pieces to our aging core to go for one more run?  I will say that with the Sedins still here I can see the temptation to keep going for it every year.  And what do you do with the Sedins other than playing them? They couldn't be traded as a package even if they'd wanted to leave.  But lets not deny that is what was happening. Well, you can I suppose.  If you actually think they couldn't have done any more (or less perhaps) to start the pain earlier, then I can't convince you and for sure not some blathering twit.  Cheers

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16 minutes ago, kilgore said:

well, where do you walk that line is the question.  How much was it to insulate the youth, how much was it to add depth pieces to our aging core to go for one more run?  I will say that with the Sedins still here I can see the temptation to keep going for it every year.  And what do you do with the Sedins other than playing them? They couldn't be traded as a package even if they'd wanted to leave.  But lets not deny that is what was happening. Well, you can I suppose.  If you actually think they couldn't have done any more (or less perhaps) to start the pain earlier, then I can't convince you and for sure not some blathering twit.  Cheers

None of it was 'attempting to go for one more run'. They were supporting the existing team for sure (the twins in particular) but that is not mutually exclusive with rebuilding and in no way did anyone think this team was a cup contender nor were they in any way attempting to make it one.

 

Their main focus has always been the post-Sedin, youth oriented rebuild. They simply also supported the existing NHL club (that also insulated kids).

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