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kilgore

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Everything posted by kilgore

  1. Stole my thunder I'll go further. I'll proclaim Benning was the greatest GM in Canucks history! over the last 8 years.
  2. i agree its a combination of a few things. His physique is something that is not discussed much. That talk died down after he got here and showed everyone how he overcomes that handicap with skill. It was a joy to watch him break ankles of veteran defensemen. Which CDCer has that gif as their sig? We now can see that if he's not at the top of his conditioning, he will struggle. And that seems to snowball to affect his confidence. He will definitely have to try and increase muscle mass next off season. But he'll never be above average in mass ratings for the NHL. I think he needs to find a way to use his body in a different way. He should embrace having a more "wirey" type of strength. Learn how to bend and twist your way out of trouble. It seems like he's still trying to bowl his way through two or three opponents. And quite predictably gets knocked onto his keester. And after each time that happens, he quite visibly seems dejected. One thing about Gretzky, another fairly slight forward, I always was amazed by....other than his scoring.....was his ability to avoid injury and taking big hits. He used the same precognitive awareness of where the puck was going etc towards awareness of calculating where the meatheads were heading his way and always squeeking away.......with the puck.
  3. Not sure what you are so mad about bro. Spelling? I think Pearson is worth the 3.25. Did you want to pay him more? IMO he was paid what he was worth. Not less. I've heard Scotch whisky is made from barley and the morning dew on angel's nipples. Its a good thing. I can go and find past articles by writers that questioned the amount and timing at the time. Graphs like that were honest projections. Here's a couple of past links I found in a few minutes, if you really need them, https://www.sportsnet.ca/nhl/article/canucks-gamble-pearson-extension-pose-future-salary-cap-issues/ https://www.vancouverisawesome.com/canucks-hockey/jim-benning-paid-full-price-for-tanner-pearson-when-he-needed-a-bargain-3619791 I don't know how you missed that talk at the time. evolving-hockey.com is a respected advanced stat site. Their projections for Pearson were similar to most other hockey pundits. Again, its not that he was overpaid, its just that with the flat cap, hometown player, with the cap crunch everyone could see coming and with needing to re-sign other important players, every $ was precious. So to see him offered more than what the hockey writers world thought he could have been signed for, was slightly disconcerting at the time. I think mostly because it was a continuation of a pattern by our previous GM with aging vets. Its not a huge deal. I shouldn't have mentioned it. I didn't know it would be so upsetting to suggest he could have been had for less. A good team needs a few contracts where players play above their cap hit especially with the support players. He's just not one them, and he could have been. I like Pearson though. I'm happy with his cap hit. Its a new Jim era. Slate is clean. Swallow the half mill and move on.
  4. One of the best. I thought he was some d rated sit com actor, and AFV host for years before I saw his standup. Only he could pull off some of what he did.
  5. Not to sure about THE VIRUS THAT SHRUNK MY BRAIN! thing, but Its a valid point about if the virus has maybe something to do with it. Look how its affected Sutter long term. Maybe he has lingering symptoms.
  6. With a 44-26 shot effort liked that we would have easily scooped up 2 points against Ottawa, and had a much needed tuneup.
  7. If this is still about vaccine hesitancy....enough already. Find a trade partner. Maybe some southern States team where he'd have more in common with the local community.
  8. With Rutherford, or through his prodigy, it could very well be some player we didn't expect, like Horvat. Of our top tier tradable assets, leaving off Pettersson, Hughes, and Demko as untouchables, if you include Boeser, Miller, and Horvat, I'd prefer Horvat traded over Miller and Boeser. Boeser I think will be a consistent scorer for a long time. He has a few more years on Bo as well. And fits well into our young core. Miller just brings that intangible that every contender needs. I don't know where this team would be without him frankly. He's the leader already in the heart and passion of the team. He would be a "only know what you got til its gone" player. I suppose if he wanted to max out and cash in on what would be his final big contract, he may price himself off the team, but if its in the neighbourhood of what Bo will demand, I'd lean towards Miller. Next tier down, I'm not that picky. Packaging any combo of Pearson, Dickenson, Poolman, Hamonic. Motte only if the deal is right. He's another intangible type player, who can be a difference maker. Especially for the cap hit. I've heard Rathbone's name. Just no. No more decent prospects traded at this stage. So dumb to do that on a team still building. We still haven't seen the best he has to offer yet IMHO
  9. Pearson has played well this season. I'd say he's worth the 3.25. The issue I had, and to a degree still have as long as its affecting the cap, is that Benning could have re-signed him for less. Could have had a bargain player instead of one playing just barley up to his contract. JB was, as Sat put it at the time, bidding against himself with the re-sign. Most hockey writers were suggesting between 2.5 - 3. That was the comparable based on other players with the same stats and age. And with the cap situation being so dire, and flat, and just after losing a few valuable pieces on the team because we couldn't squeeze them in, it seemed a bit dumb to pay Pearson, another aging vet when we are working to get younger, above market value. He probably would have accepted 2.75. And when every dollar counts, that extra 500,000 could come in handy. On its own, its not a terrible deal, but it was just another example of the cuts of a thousand knives with JB in charge. Projection chart from evolving-hockey.com at the time:
  10. My gawd! Can we stop this Gillis vs Benning...who is worse? Both made mistakes and/or had deficiencies of different kinds. All of the reasons have been laid out for pages and pages. I don't need to repeat myself, or others points who agree. You don't need to either. You are spinning tires. No one is saying that Gillis was a great GM. Especially on drafting and developing. But its pretty disingenuous to not factor in that the team was working towards a SCF appearance. That was the cycle we were in. And in that regard, Gillis got us to within a game of winning it all. No prize for second place, but pretty darn close. He didn't just inherit the team. First off, he convinced and re-signed core players for below market to keep them together. He made the deal for Ehrhoff. He made the deal for Samuelsson. He signed a sought after Hamhuis as a FA. He signed Manny Malhotra as a FA who was a key member until his injury. He found and signed a young gem in Chris Tanev. He brought in Higgins and LaPierre, great support pieces. Raffi Torres brought some much needed grit. He re-signed Hansen to stay with the club who drafted him. Schneider developed into a very good goalie. And for all the trouble that the Luongo deal caused us, by Bettman retroactively, Lu was a key part in our rise up the standings, and was the price he had to pay for a true #1. Drafting is not the only job of a GM. All of that got us very very close to a parade down Robson. Would I have liked him to do the almost impossible task of trying to go for it all, PLUS find more gems in the lower picks he inevitably was stuck with, because of the success on the ice? That the scouting department he trusted to do that job for him were more competent? That he was less arrogant how he came off to the fans? Of course. But that didn't happen, so Benning didn't have a lot of young up and coming prospects to work with. (Rutherford doesn't either) So it was perfect timing to hire a GM who was a draft and develop specialist......or so we thought. The fact that Benning actually acted the complete opposite of his resume, whether by personal conviction that a "quick turnaround" was actually possible, or that he was led around by the nose of the owner...either one of them is bad. As fans we could only trust that he knew what he was doing. We cheered that in our new GMs opinion, we were actually in better shape than what we.....and Gillis and Torts, and later Linden....thought! I mean, what the heck to we know? In Benning we trust. But that unrealistic vision was compounded even after the Sedins and the core were given those chances in 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015....and failing, and their play visibility declining..... THEN a big splash signing of LE? And thats only one of the many failed signings of players traded for, or FAs with terrible timing. And terrible term and cap $. Its not that we are not an okay team today (after so many years and picks and prospects had to be sacrificed to get here) its how much better shape we'd be in if we'd had better more honest management. But that's all hypothetical. So its hard to argue that of course. But its hard not to look how the Rangers were honest with their fans about a rebuild, and trading away beloved players, stocking up on picks, and only three years later they are (or were quite recently) at the top of the NHL standings. That may be an exception and outlier, but the comparison of the management styles is glaring. Both had their deficiencies. One mainly in amateur scouting, one in pro scouting. That's why we don't have our parade yet. No GM is going to be good enough until that happens. Can we agree there?
  11. Yeah Garland OEL and Miller were good "pickups". Like Benning was just cruising around and found them standing on the corner. Two firsts, a second, and a third are valuable assets. Especially on a team already in deficits for picks and trying to rebuild. Add the risk of taking on OELs contract. It's not like we had a GM that had banked cap to go out and sign them as free agents. I hope they are all around and playing well by the time the rest of the team is ready to compete. Otherwise they will become dwindling assets.
  12. “Like um, we like tried but you know like we ran out of time and like we tried really hard to make the deal but like, um, you know, in the end like we couldn't get it done.............. like" In an alternative universe where Sutherland didn't exist, or Schneider wasn't injured (who was playing better than Lu before that), Boston alumni weren't running the disciplinary department, or any one of a number of calamities were avoided in that fateful SCF, and we'd pulled out the win, Gillis would have been forever a god on here. Funny how that works
  13. Poor JB . Didn't have a chance after that sabatore Gillis . Eight years on the job wasn't nearly long enough. Personally I think it goes back even further. To the beginning. Our first GM Bud Poile , AN EX LEAF FFS! He set it all in motion.
  14. Maybe even one on the whole history of the team Canucks, not all bad
  15. Well, that's one improvement right there. JB was terrible at keeping things close to the chest. JB bummbled out how he didn't look at any offers for Miller (the goalie), he managed in a "day to day" style, and that he "ran out of time" and the other instances he probably should have thought a sec before opening his mouth. It made me wonder just how well he could play poker with other GMs.
  16. I concur. We needed a house cleaning in management and coaching
  17. Rutherford at .500 is an improvement right off the bat. I've wanted the Aquilinis to hire a more experienced front office for a long time. Dam right I'm stoked!
  18. Why is it even important now to have to have a winner between Gillis and Benning? It's the Rutherford era now. You were responding to a post I made before JR Gillis also was able to re-sign core players to reasonable cap friendly contracts as a part of his building a contender. Which definately helped us get as far as we did. "Gillis did a TERRIBLE JOB constructing his rosters post 2011" Well the constructing was done. I don't think anyone including you wanted much personnel changes right after our run. And when he wisely figured we needed a proper rebuild after a couple of more tries, not helped by key injuries, he was forced by ownership to take in Torts for yet another stab. And was finally let go for his insubordination. After the season Torts also agreed the core was getting stale. But Benning didn't see it that way ( or was led by his nose by the owner) and we spent the next seven years spinning our wheels. Benning managed to salvage a bit of of his reputation with his hail Mary last summer, cleaning up some of his previous mistakes, but we'll never know how much better shape the team might have been today without such fickle management. And I think the whole culture of a team, the confidence, is built from the top down, not just from the coach. We are so much better off now.
  19. "While JB has now traded two 1st round picks, multiple 2nds, and we are no where near close to being a contender" So.... You really think I'm wrong on what you quoted? And I wrote that before JB was let go, and before the Bruce effect, but even today, do you think we are close to contending? And the context was that Gillis traded only one #1 pick, AND got us to a game seven. You also missed Tanev who wasn't a bad find either. Gillis,s number one job was not gathering picks in the window we had then. And also he wasn't picking high. How many lower picks are "flubbed" by other GMs? Also one had a much more talented amateur scouting department to work with and he himself touted as a draft specialist. While Gillis made the mistake of trusting the scouting staff here already. He's admitted that was a big mistake. While a pick like Virtanen was all JB At any rate neither of them were particularly great at the job, for different reasons. I'm done comparing past GMs. What's the point? I just find it laughable that anyone would be blaming the firing of JB on Gillis... Eight years past! Poor Jimmy. Lol Yes we are in a better position than when JB first entered. We should be after being a basement dweller for so long under his management, I applaud JB for making chicken soup last off-season out of the chicken &$@& he made. Probably his best performance yet. I was genuinely stoked at the start of the season. And I've always thought this team was better than their record the first months. But JB's also created a few headaches for JR going forward with cap and depth issues. If we want to keep our core and even improve and build on that. I'm so happy we finally have a legit front office, than EITHER of our previous two. I really don't have a lot of interest in looking backwards now that JB has packed his bags. Agree to disagree and let's move on Dazz. Go Canucks Go!
  20. Unfortunately, I think it's the latter. I'm appalled and also impressed with just how powerful The Big Lie theory that Goebels promoted works so well. ( Like three other one that Trump actually won the election) Which is exacerbated 1000x because of easy access to social media. Add the fact that anyone can start a YouTube channel, Facebook page. Add to that there is more than one type. Those that promote anti-science views because they're just bat &@$& crazy, and love all the attention. As well as those that promote dangerous falsehoods for political reasons, to screw up an elected government they hate, to throw monkey wrenches into the works, promote conspiracy theories to make the jobs harder for those trying to fight the virus. like a Tucker Carlson. So they can later use any failures and confusion caused by their deceit to further criticise that government for the poor numbers. Tucker, an entitled and double vaxxed inherited wealthy dumbass who's never worked a day in his life.
  21. The argument that Henry, or Fauci, changed their minds about the response level needed to tackle the pandemic, as new more alarming numbers and knowledge evolved.... And that means they have no credibility, even called liars, is such a ridiculous argument. She's repeated that is an air borne virus. And the need for masks. Obviously the cheap masks most use aren't as good as n95s, but they are way better than nothing, plus everyone can't afford them, plus they are in much shorter supply. I do agree, and frankly shocked, that so much of the third world and poorer nations are so under vaccinated still. "Money So they say Is the root of all evil today"
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