Suggestions Heading Into the Deadline (No Proposals, None)
Entry posted by LuongovsTuuka
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It is a tough time to cheer for the Canucks, with a season going so wrong from one that had started out so well. Things looked good at Christmas, but it's been really poor since then.
There is a lot of reactionary talk on the forum and I honestly don't agree with 99% of what I am reading, so I opted to go the blog route. New posts on the forum tend to either get torn apart or potentially locked, so there's that to consider as well.
Throwing away this team's core for nothing or for middling draft picks and prospects is a really bad idea. The idea that the team can be fixed by tanking and drafting early is a bad idea as well. Yes, Chicago and Pittsburgh did that, but they also signed some great depth and the Pens got two guys in Malkin and Crosby who simply make them nearly unstoppable. I could point to the Islanders, Columbus, Florida and Edmonton as examples of why blowing everything up could mean disaster.
Gillis has signed this core and right now it isn't playing to its full potential. This can be seen as Tortorella's fault on some level, and maybe they change the coach again after this season. The thing is, Gillis has signed guys for below market value and the Canucks have managed to get free agents. He has signed both UFA guys like Garrison and Hamhuis as well as college kids like Tanev or European talents like Lack and Eriksson. They come here, in part, due to the reputation the team has had for winning and for the team atmosphere.
Everything on that level looks broken right now. The team cannot score. They have zero confidence as a team. They play back and they play not to lose. This season is lost. I saw that early in January and I have seen it with the Canucks for a long time. If you look at any playoff exit since 2006, before Gillis was in the picture, this team has never been good at turning momentum back in their favor. Now that has carried over into the regular season as well.
There is no magic wand to be waved here. There are no easy answers. Okay, you ditch Luongo and get what back? You want cap space? Okay, but if you're right no one wants to sign here, you're just saving the owner some money. It's not like ticket prices will drop if the team's salary goes down.
I don't have as big an issue with the decision to start Lack over Luongo in the Heritage Classic as others do. It's one game out of 82 and the team has won one of its last ten. Torts was playing a hunch and he lost. My issue is that this can even be an issue right now.
Everyone seems ready to ditch Gillis, but I don't see a lot of solutions outside of trade proposals which are usually terrible ones. The real solution has to start with Gillis. Sit down with the Sedins, Kesler, Luongo, Bieksa, Burrows and any key guys in this line up and ask them what THEY think will work. Keep Tortorella out of the meeting for the first hour. Swear they can talk off the record and say whatever they want. If they want to vent about the stifling system they are being forced to play, let them. Let them discuss who they feel should go and why. Have them honestly grade their performances. These guys have played together for almost a decade, so honesty should not be a problem within this group. Ask them where the team should be headed and whether or not they want to be a part of the process going forward. At the end, ask if they want to meet with the coach, If the vote is a no, then sit with Tortorella after that meeting and tell him what they said, without naming names and causing more internal strife. If Tortorella is not on the same page, then as a GM make a decision about who you feel is right or wrong. If Tortorella is badly out of touch, you let him go right now. You do not wait until the end of the season. You then hire the most player friendly coach to finish the year you can find and work to repair the broken relationships on the roster.
Notice I didn't say who to trade or who to trade for. There is something wrong internally and bringing in new players likely won't fix it. If there is something that wrong and Kesler was openly whining during the Olympics, then the entire league knows the Vancouver locker room is toxic right now. Players will not want to come here. My main concern is that a knee-jerk reaction and dealing away key guys could lead to five or six down years before the Canucks show they can hold their own with the best in the NHL again. The Vancouver market is not known for supporting losing teams for very long. Combine a weak Canadian dollar with low attendance figures and tell me how much worse things get. Maybe the internal salary cap drops so the owner can make a profit and the Canucks become like the Islanders money-wise.
I am not going to stop supporting the team because of down times. I never have. I never abandoned Boston even when O'Connell was the GM and when Ray Bourque had to head to Denver to win a Cup. That was as dark as it got, but I kept cheering for them anyway. Yeah, I know the Bruins and Canucks don't get along, but I picked Boston when Neely went there and never imagined they would ever meet in the Finals. I certainly had no clue they would get along so badly when they did either. My point is, as dark as things look for the Canucks right now, just throwing everything and everyone out would be a mistake. There are some good young players on the team, some solid prospects developing and there could be a solid draft pick or two picked up this year as well. Even in poor draft years there are solid players drafted. During the pre-season, I was excited by Gaunce, Shinkaruk, Horvat and Corrado and I still think those guys have a solid future with the Canucks.
Maybe I have to take time away from the Canucks' forum right now. It just seems to devolve into pointless arguing and the same stupid trade proposals. If pointless arguing and stupid trade proposals are going on in the GM's office, then the team is in real trouble. Cooler heads have to prevail. Make the Canucks a team players want to come to again.
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