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It was then that I think some players that are still here see how those players were let go and yet how much they meant for the team. Those words that Benning said “we ran out of time” made me lose faith in the management team right there and then. Sure Marky was understandable after Demko in Edmonton. But letting go of two RD and tanev being such a locker room favorite, I believe that the players lost trust in the team. Feels like it’s still here and remains to rot this club. Stetcher I really thought we could bring back this off season. Guy plays with Heart and that is infectious in the room. This team has no trust/confidence in eachother, they are playing unprofessionally with all these unforced errors. They aren’t playing for each other for the last 2 1/4 seasons. Something has to change.

At least whoever our 1st rounder is will be elite. 5-10 overall I’m just guessing knowing our lotto luck and franchise luck overall. But this is the year the draft is deep and elite. Will get a great core piece. Those sorts of things are what will help us get over this dark period.

Bumpy ride coming up.

Do we still believe this team can turn it around? Who is still on the wagon?

I’m not arguing that those three pieces you have with Petey,Hughes and Demko aren’t pieces you can’t build around. But I would argue it’s just not enough. Not even close to enough to call it a core. Sure having a game breaker like Petey is great and the fact he plays Center is fantastic. But you need to have elite wingers for him to play with. We have good pieces around him but are they the depth that cup contenders have? No not yet. Hughes is our best drafted dynamic D man we have ever drafted. But he also needs a reliable right side D that can play the minutes he can match with. Those aren’t cheap, teams don’t give those up and we need to draft a top pair D for him or else we will just grind Hughes into dust which we have already been seeing this season and since Tanev left. He needs help. As do the other pairings. We need a replacement for OEL and Myers on the 2nd pairing. Third pairing we have so much left over of bottom Defensemen that it’s not so much an issue as the top 4 is. Plus we need to have several blue chip Defenseman prospects in our system for injuries and depth for when we need to make trades. This won’t be fixed with 3 core pieces. Demko is a stud in net no question. He is on a great contract and he bails this team out on most nights. Not this season unfortunately but I don’t blame his play because we have expected him to continually stand on his head for this team to have a shot at winning. That’s not fair to him and wearing him down. He also needs more talent on the backend to give him support so he doesn’t have to make so many desperate saves and risk injury. Our blueline being improved would improve his play tremendously. While I agree that you can build around those 3 core pieces. I would say this core is not complete. We need 3/4 top 4 defensemen, a legit shutdown 3C and another 2-3 blue chip D in the system that can fill in when injuries come (and we know they will). That’s a big list and why I don’t believe we are close to a cup contending core. Like others on here have said, you keep the key 3 and you trade/offload everyone else if you can. This isn’t basketball where one or two players change the makeup of the team. We need impact players and depth. As the late Jason Botchford once said “we need an army” and that will require patience to achieve. One that ownership/management/coaches and players need to support or move on. We can’t run with three great players and call it a competitive team, we have seen this movie long enough to realize the direction must pivot, not spin our tires in the mud hoping for a different outcome.

5-7 Toronto. Matthews with the GWG

He’s got pink eye

While I agree with this direction. Nobody will be doing anything unless this guy says so. Axed Gillis for trying to do it in 2013-2014. Trevor left the team July 25th 2018 because this guy said no to a proper rebuild. The buck stops with the mandate of ownership. As we have seen, players, coaches,GM’s and presidents in the last 18 years have come and gone yet the direction of the team has mostly remained. You could say that the one time we traded assets for futures was the 2017 trade deadline when we traded Burrows and Hanson for Goldy,Dalhen and a 4th. Other then that, it’s always been “make the playoffs” and never get draft picks because in his eyes (my opinion on this) draft picks don’t sell bums in seats, players do. Which is one of the reasons why management has traded more draft capital then acquiring it. Because that’s what rebuilding teams do, not us not the Canucks. Until he changes his tune and swallow his impatience and pride we will see more of the same with whoever is POHO,GM,coach or roster on this team. And the puppet master will be in the shadows pulling the strings.

Yeah but he was a good father. Guy broke his back picking up his kids cracker. That and his hair made him a Canuck Legend. I would gladly take Dopey Sopey right about now.

What do we need DEFENCE! When do we want it! NOW…LAST YEAR

Ding freakin, Ding!

As Cam Charron just said on SN650 has said which many posters (myself included) have been saying all off season is: “This team just doesn’t have the horses” that’s on management not coaches. Sure we can all cheer and hope that this team will just find the on switch and have a miracle comeback to get into a wild card spot. Is that a goal/direction we should be proud of? It’s fair to be questioning the holes of this team. It doesn’t make us any less of a fan when acknowledging there are problems with this roster. How this management team will fix it is anyone’s guess. But one thing is for sure, we are capped out and need to somehow resign the captain, our flashy rookie Russian and to find 4/5 top four defenders on our roster and farm system. JR needs to stop blaming others and get to work.

So much blame going around the organization yet it must be projected to the right place. It’s his team but it’s his mess and we are getting tired of this movie.

100% bang on. What we need to do more of is have much more patience in regards to allowing our D prospects to develop because it takes as you have said above, a long while to make the lineup. Posters, myself included weren’t upset at the fact a 5th round pick right side D man in Jonathan Myrenberg was traded. It was the words that Allvin said that it would take 5 years to develop and make an impact. Pardon me, but isn’t that one of the reasons our D corps is the mess it’s in right now? We trade the Forslings, 2nds (Ramus Anderssons) before they can grow into NHL players. With new management looking as impatient as the past regime, it’s frustrating as a fan to see other teams have home grown talent on their backends while we overpay in free agency or do middle of the road/middling trades that don’t provide the help that this roster needs. It’s not the trade itself it’s the principle of not being able to wait long enough for the players to grow onto the team like the Sopel’s, Auccoin’s and Bieska’s you have mentioned above. Great post IBatch

For just once right? We are not Pittsburg or Edmonton that had both Super Mario and Sid the Kid for the Pens. The Great One and McJesus for the Oilers. For 52 years we are due from pain AND probability. If we can accumulate picks this year, this is the draft to be doing it.

Party and paid and then party again… hopefully with us because this kids getting paid somewhere

What the hell is this? You know the 2023 class is as deep as 2003 was right? Please stop

God I miss the summer summit when we had them for STH’s. I don’t believe there has been one since Trevor Linden left as he was the one that was there answering questions from season ticket holder fans. Would be nice to have something to have the paying customers ask questions as to what the hell are we doing? Other than spinning our wheels to try and gain playoff revenue (we all see it for what it is) I myself, a STH will be writing a long thought out letter to Francisco/JR/PA and why I am no longer going to be a STH until there is a legitimate plan and direction for this team. I purchased season tickets in Brock’s first season because I thought that for sure the franchise would go through a rebuild with the twins retiring. Nope and in the summer of 2018 when Linden left and we went shopping in FA and used all the cap space to get the Roussel’s,Beagle’s,Gagne’s MDZ’s and others instead of weaponizing our cap, taking bad contracts for picks and prospects to speed up the process. That of course never came to be and I’m just exhausted as a fan to pay these prices for a “get in and anything can happen” false hope that the last two management mandates have been shown. My letter may or may not ever get to the person that it needs to go to. Even then FA might just scoff it off and think it’s just a one off disgruntled fan. You are right, the STH’s and fans need to come together and send a message for change to happen, we can’t keep going this way. Apathy has sunken in with the fanbase and regardless of retool on the fly or rebuild, there will be empty seats in this arena either way FA goes with this. But I can stomach a PROPER rebuild with the hope that we are building something to be proud of and to cheer for as a fanbase. What we have now is depressing and hopeless feeling as a fan.

Best thing about this season is talking to fellow STH’s at games and sharing the same views. It’s therapeutic. Agreed with the discussion about the narrow concourse, don’t think anything will change until there’s a new building. The viaducts are what they are and there’s not a lot that can be done to get around it. It is what it is-TB44

Exactly what I was thinking. Love that green.

That’s alright. It’s early and the boys actually look great in the RRs.

It’s a friggin hockey forum for Pete’s sake. I hear you nuts. I spend the hard earned dough to afford season tickets the last 5 seasons , buy the merch, watch as many games I can. Spending thousands a year on this team bleeding blue and green. But as soon as I say something like “I don’t think we have the horses to win it all and we need to be mindful of the future of the team rather then the here and now of trying to squeak in” I’m a toxic fan. I don’t tell fans how they should think or say as a fan, you do you. It’s a hockey discussion board, there should be room for healthy discussion for the good and bad. We are all Canucks fans afterall, we won’t agree with everything that this franchise does, but we have the best intentions of them getting over that finish line. There’s nothing wrong with discussing how we will get there. I appreciate your posts Coconuts and transparency on how you feel about the team.

Same here buddy. We all cheer for this team but I’ve been called out for not having the most positive outlook for this team. Like everyone else on these boards, I want to see this team lift it’s first elusive cup. Contrarian opinion be damned. It’s just hard to see this team be anymore then a wildcard team. That’s if we go on a big tare like you said.

Oh yes local blue jays coverage on SN650 just what the sports fans on this westcoast outpost want. Oh well they are nice enough to keep our radio station rather than do a Bell media and pull the plug with no warning.

Hey Roberts how are you doing? Better news is I’m getting a new dock on Cortes Island so my access won’t be so hard lugging all my stuff from the boat to the cabin. Hope you are well and enjoying that gem when you can.