Aucoin spills the beans about ex-Canucks teammates. Best Interview ever

[filthycanuck]

15 hours ago, Elias Pettersson said:

I'll take the Hockey Hall of Fame opinion's over everyone's.  Fedorov and Bure are in the Hall of Fame, Mogilny isn't, I guess that is difficult to comprehend for you.  

 

As for going to the games, I've been following the Canucks since the 1980's and went to the Coliseum on a regular basis for almost 12 years before they moved to GM Place, where I also attended many games.  I also used to watch all the games on TV and then listen to Dan Russell's show afterwards.  I even remember when we went to the 94 finals and those guys drove that Canucks car all the way to New York and reported back on Russell's show about their experience.  I grew up a Canucks fan and have seen over 600 games in person.  I am not an expert on talent but from what I saw Bure was the better player.  I never said Mogilny wasn't fast or any good, he was plenty fast and was a super star.  But Bure in my opinion was the better player, and if you take away the two major knee injuries he plays until he is 40 and scores 700 goals just like Jagr.  Mogilny was pretty much injury free but never would have played until 40 because his passion for the game wasn't as great as Bure's.  Mogilny had raw skill that couldn't be matched, problem is he didn't show it every game, that's why his numbers dipped after he left the Canucks and he eventually retired.  Bure continued to put up 50+ goal seasons even after his second knee operation.  Without that bad knee he could have hit 60 goals easily into his 30's.  I also remember Bure leading Team Russia in the 1998 Olympics.  He was the star player of the tournament and Russia went to the finals.  

 

Bure was a strong two way player.  He was a regular on Pat Quinn's penalty kill and still has the most shorthanded goals in Canucks history with 24, nobody is even close.  So to suggest he was simply an offensive force is incorrect.  If you watched as many of his games as I did he was great on the penalty kill and was a threat to score shorthanded every time he was on the ice.  

If thats the case, then you're a moron LOL. The hockey hall of fame or should I say the hall of pretty good, had Sundin get in the next year after he retired, only guy that did that was Gretzky. Great players like Lemieux and even Forsberg waited. Same Hall of fame, that had Dick Duff get in because he was simply " a nice guy". Mogilny will eventually get to the hall, keep in mind that Bure's career ended earlier that Mogilny's. Honestly, no one believes you went or watched any of those games. Oh on and who drove the Canucks car all the way to New York, it wasn't Bure, it was Kirk Maclean

[shiznak]

17 hours ago, Elias Pettersson said:

I'll take the Hockey Hall of Fame opinion's over everyone's.  Fedorov and Bure are in the Hall of Fame, Mogilny isn't, I guess that is difficult to comprehend for you.  

 

As for going to the games, I've been following the Canucks since the 1980's and went to the Coliseum on a regular basis for almost 12 years before they moved to GM Place, where I also attended many games.  I also used to watch all the games on TV and then listen to Dan Russell's show afterwards.  I even remember when we went to the 94 finals and those guys drove that Canucks car all the way to New York and reported back on Russell's show about their experience.  I grew up a Canucks fan and have seen over 600 games in person.  I am not an expert on talent but from what I saw Bure was the better player.  I never said Mogilny wasn't fast or any good, he was plenty fast and was a super star.  But Bure in my opinion was the better player, and if you take away the two major knee injuries he plays until he is 40 and scores 700 goals just like Jagr.  Mogilny was pretty much injury free but never would have played until 40 because his passion for the game wasn't as great as Bure's.  Mogilny had raw skill that couldn't be matched, problem is he didn't show it every game, that's why his numbers dipped after he left the Canucks and he eventually retired.  Bure continued to put up 50+ goal seasons even after his second knee operation.  Without that bad knee he could have hit 60 goals easily into his 30's.  I also remember Bure leading Team Russia in the 1998 Olympics.  He was the star player of the tournament and Russia went to the finals.  

 

Bure was a strong two way player.  He was a regular on Pat Quinn's penalty kill and still has the most shorthanded goals in Canucks history with 24, nobody is even close.  So to suggest he was simply an offensive force is incorrect.  If you watched as many of his games as I did he was great on the penalty kill and was a threat to score shorthanded every time he was on the ice.  

Broken leg on two separate occasions, a broken ankle, back spasm throughout his entire career, and a broken hip. I wouldn’t  called that an injury free career.

 

Mogilny has never played a full season in his 16 yrs career, and I’m pretty sure he has more man-games lost than Bure.

[Kevin Biestra]

1 hour ago, filthycanuck said:

If thats the case, then you're a moron LOL. The hockey hall of fame or should I say the hall of pretty good, had Sundin get in the next year after he retired, only guy that did that was Gretzky. Great players like Lemieux and even Forsberg waited. Same Hall of fame, that had Dick Duff get in because he was simply " a nice guy". Mogilny will eventually get to the hall, keep in mind that Bure's career ended earlier that Mogilny's. Honestly, no one believes you went or watched any of those games. Oh on and who drove the Canucks car all the way to New York, it wasn't Bure, it was Kirk Maclean

Friggin' Chris Pronger got in while he was still active on the team payroll as a player!  While Paul Coffey and Ray Bourque had to wait the full period.

 

Pronger was still being paid as a player and hadn't retired!

 

Not only does the Hall make mistakes on who to let in (I think it leaves some great players out) but it seems to use the same wheel of monkeys that Colin Campbell used for suspensions to decide who gets in right away, who gets in while still not retired, who has to wait 20 years (Glenn Anderson, Phil Housley, Mark Howe) and who never gets in (Barrasso, Vernon, Doug Wilson, Mogilny, Bernie Nicholls) or maybe will get the old fake out and be let in after 30 years instead (Vachon).

[Skip Spence]

13 hours ago, Nuxfanabroad said:

Yeah..it's a fair point there. Funny you should mention old Salming. Decades back I worked with a bloke who had some funny anecdotes. I think Errol Thompson(late-80's..lil foggy?) was the guy's cousin..but it sounded like Salming was quite the partier. Good with the ladies too! :^)

 

Lot of trouble stems from giving kids salaries that are maybe 10-20x what a doctor might make. So it's societal, & this fading paradigm required it's "bread & circuses".

 

Would've found it funny if most people woke up & said, "F*** that! I'm not paying that kinda $$$$$$$$$$$ for bloody tix!" & there was some huge market correction/$ haircut for sports stars. Of course the opposite occurred. Now they've figured out Further revenue streams, & there are more advising wh*res trying to get their greasy fingers in the pie.

 

I don't argue with others on these matters..but when I saw where it was going(in my mid-20's) I chose to opt out. Now I'm prob the last NA'n who's never seen Brady throw a football. Whatever.

 Yeah Salming was a wild one. And a ladies man. Old-timey rugged manly demeanour and looks, yet still a modern man with his own underwear brand.  Is good buddies with Mats Sundin. An old ex of mine told me her best friend growing up lost her virginity at the age of 17 to Sundin when he was visiting Salming in his hometown Kiruna way up North. This was in the 90’s mind. 

 

But I hear you, the money involved in pro sports these days is absolutely ridiculous. But like I said, it is also so streamlined and controlled. Growing up we all dreamed of becoming an NHL or Tennis pro, perhaps a rocknroll star. 

Now it hardly seems fun, despite the silly money. If all you do is train, train, play games and then go home to play video games, what’s the point? 

 

The NHL used to be a league of danger, mystique and wild characters. Not so any longer it seems? 

[zduck14]

9 hours ago, filthycanuck said:

If thats the case, then you're a moron LOL. The hockey hall of fame or should I say the hall of pretty good, had Sundin get in the next year after he retired, only guy that did that was Gretzky. Great players like Lemieux and even Forsberg waited. Same Hall of fame, that had Dick Duff get in because he was simply " a nice guy". Mogilny will eventually get to the hall, keep in mind that Bure's career ended earlier that Mogilny's. Honestly, no one believes you went or watched any of those games. Oh on and who drove the Canucks car all the way to New York, it wasn't Bure, it was Kirk Maclean

Just for the record, Sundin retired after the 2009 season and was inducted into the HOF in 2012......

[the grinder]

19 hours ago, filthycanuck said:

If thats the case, then you're a moron LOL. The hockey hall of fame or should I say the hall of pretty good, had Sundin get in the next year after he retired, only guy that did that was Gretzky. Great players like Lemieux and even Forsberg waited. Same Hall of fame, that had Dick Duff get in because he was simply " a nice guy". Mogilny will eventually get to the hall, keep in mind that Bure's career ended earlier that Mogilny's. Honestly, no one believes you went or watched any of those games. Oh on and who drove the Canucks car all the way to New York, it wasn't Bure, it was Kirk Maclean

while jeff brown is with maclean wife in the back seat ?

[Salacious Crumb]

On 2/8/2019 at 10:54 PM, canuck73_3 said:

Mogilny’s 76 goal season and effortless looking play says otherwise. Yes Bure was electric but overall Mogilny was the better player. 

I think it was Harry Neale that said “Almo is one of those special players that gives both teams a chance to win every night.”

 

As electrifying as he sometimes was he was also at times infuriating. Not sure there is a player in the history of the league that had the kind of uptick he did in contract years... 

[Westcoasting]

1 hour ago, the grinder said:

while jeff brown is with maclean wife in the back seat ?

Yeah that is one of those internet "stories" 

[filthycanuck]

4 hours ago, the grinder said:

while jeff brown is with maclean wife in the back seat ?

hahahha most likely! Jeff Brown played a big part on that team too. Too bad, he also played a big part on the divorce

[filthycanuck]

3 hours ago, Salacious Crumb said:

I think it was Harry Neale that said “Almo is one of those special players that gives both teams a chance to win every night.”

 

As electrifying as he sometimes was he was also at times infuriating. Not sure there is a player in the history of the league that had the kind of uptick he did in contract years... 

As good as he was in the season where he scored 76 goals, his season in NJ when he won his only cup was pretty impressive. You know pigs where flying when Almo was playing out his mind defensively

[filthycanuck]

2 hours ago, Westcoasting said:

Yeah that is one of those internet "stories" 

was that ever confirmed or just urban myth?

[filthycanuck]

14 hours ago, zduck14 said:

Just for the record, Sundin retired after the 2009 season and was inducted into the HOF in 2012......

my bad. When you get older seems like the seasons fly so fast

[filthycanuck]

21 hours ago, Kevin Biestra said:

Friggin' Chris Pronger got in while he was still active on the team payroll as a player!  While Paul Coffey and Ray Bourque had to wait the full period.

 

Pronger was still being paid as a player and hadn't retired!

 

Not only does the Hall make mistakes on who to let in (I think it leaves some great players out) but it seems to use the same wheel of monkeys that Colin Campbell used for suspensions to decide who gets in right away, who gets in while still not retired, who has to wait 20 years (Glenn Anderson, Phil Housley, Mark Howe) and who never gets in (Barrasso, Vernon, Doug Wilson, Mogilny, Bernie Nicholls) or maybe will get the old fake out and be let in after 30 years instead (Vachon).

Exactly, the hockey hall of fame is truly messed up. Rogie Vachon won multiple cups as a BACKUP goalie, and was a terrible GM in LA, and yet the guy who scored the most famous goal in Canadian Hockey history Paul Henderson is NOT in the hall of fame due to some backdoor politics. I find the hockey hall of fame the most irrelevant out of the 4 major sports as if you have the career number or have some pull with the committee, you're pretty much going to get in eventually. Its not as revered as the Football Hall of Fame where you had to be top 3 at the barest minimum, top 5 in your position for a certain period of time

[Westcoasting]

6 hours ago, filthycanuck said:

was that ever confirmed or just urban myth?

Well Kirk said so on the radio and laughed about the rumour on how ridiculous it was.

[MattJVD]

On 2/9/2019 at 12:09 AM, CptCanuck16 said:

The craziest thing about Mogilny is that he was a 5th round pick! 89th overall in the 1988 draft.

If he was from North America he'd be a top pick. But being Russian in the 80s, it was unlikely he would ever come to the NHL. Remember he was technically a member of the Red Army and defecting was a serious crime. 

[almo89]

Almo was my favorite player growing up. Love to hear Aucoin giving him praise. I remember Jim Hughson saying Almo was one of the most misunderstood guys. He hated the media and the attention, but apparently was great in the locker room. He took young guys under their wing and made them feel at home. He may have not had the heart in hockey like some other players, but it sure sounded like he loved life after escaping the Red Army. I got to meet Aucoin, Strudwick, Mogilny, Kariya and Messier as a teenager at one of those old Canucks Carnivals. It was one of the coolest experiences for a teenager. Struds and Aucoin were definitely the nicest dudes that day. 

[filthycanuck]

4 hours ago, MattJVD said:

If he was from North America he'd be a top pick. But being Russian in the 80s, it was unlikely he would ever come to the NHL. Remember he was technically a member of the Red Army and defecting was a serious crime. 

Being a Russian player back then was terrible, the team really treated their players like dogs. Like they would string players along " We'll let you play in the NHL, but you have to sign contract to play with us for 2 more years", and then reneg the the deal and do the process all over again. Very corrupt system they had over there, I don't blame Almo for jumping ship. His hockey dreams were in somebody's hands rather than of his own

[LowerMainLander18]

Bure was a superstar.

And Mogilny was a genius.

 

But those alone did not complete the team.

[Westcoasting]

1 hour ago, LowerMainLander18 said:

Bure was a superstar.

And Mogilny was a genius.

 

But those alone did not complete the team.

The Delicate Genius?... oh no that was on Seinfeld