[Article] Booth needs to ‘make the same sort of effort everyone else is making,’ says Canucks GM

[Primal Optimist]

Booth is a problem that might only be fixed with waiving him to Utica.

[MJDDawg]

Mike Gillis: "There isn't an easy answer to this situation".

A statement like this just boggles my mind. The easy answer Mikey is to stop trading for average players on long term deals and with high cap hits.

You'd think with all the smart people in our front office that somebody there could figure this stuff out.

[grumpworsley]

It is not a mystery to other teams! If we (the fans) figured out that booth is playing unmotivated so can the rest of the NHL teams. By making this "public" (which it already was) has made it clear that if there is a team out there that believe you can motivate him to give him a call. Otherwise he is doing the calling (begging) and looking like he is trying to flog damaged goods. Don't kid yourself these other teams Know the state of David Booth

[MJDDawg]

It is not a mystery to other teams! If we (the fans) figured out that booth is playing unmotivated so can the rest of the NHL teams. By making this "public" (which it already was) has made it clear that if there is a team out there that believe you can motivate him to give him a call. Otherwise he is doing the calling (begging) and looking like he is trying to flog damaged goods. Don't kid yourself these other teams Know the state of David Booth

This is exactly how he devalued our goalies. Tell the rest of the league you're trading Lui then when you can't, accept the best deal you can on

Schneids when the GM on the other end of the phone knows you have to trade him.

Way to continue to maximize the value of your assets MG.

[Karlsson`s Flo]

No, you say that he's having a tough time recovering from his injury but he's slowly getting healthy again.

Not that he's not putting in enough effort and he's out of shape.

He did already. In fact, he was sent down to the AHL on conditioning stint. Eventually, players need to hear hard truth to get them going.

I hope this does upset Booth to hear that and lights a fire under him to play that aggressive game that he earned in contract on. Fact is, Booth needs to up his compete level in order to be successful on this team and in this league.

[sting]

This is exactly how he devalued our goalies. Tell the rest of the league you're trading Lui then when you can't, accept the best deal you can on

Schneids when the GM on the other end of the phone knows you have to trade him.

Way to continue to maximize the value of your assets MG.

Luongo with his anchor contract was untradable for assets. Schneider got us a blue chip prospect that would be top 5 any other year than 2013.

Luongo + Horvat > Schneider +2nd round pick.

Pretty good asset management. ...No??

It was Luongo who wanted to be traded and stated this clearly...so was MG to pretend it was not real when everyone knew otherwise and add the fact that Cap reasons were gonna force his hand regardless of what he said.

[Cold Hard Truth]

Could Gillis be so stupid as to sandbag more trade value ? that's definately a strong possibility that he didn't learn his lesson from so badly bungling Lulongo's situation.

or

is it that maybe Booth is now so untradeable and Gillis is sick of being hung upon by every GM in the league ?

Hard to say which is true. maybe both.

Waive Booth and make some trades.

need 2 new bonafide TOP 6 forwards if we want to give the playoffs a serious look.

Booth was supposed to be one.

[poetica]

...

is it that maybe Booth is now so untradeable and Gillis is sick of being hung upon by every GM in the league ?

...

Not to pile on the guy, but would you trade for him? Next year might be the last of his contract, but it's also the highest in terms of actual salary (@ $4.75M), he still has a higher cap hit than his play justifies and he seems to be getting worse this year instead of better. Plus, he has the stink (deserved or not) of being injury prone. I think our chances of trading him are next to nil. It's either get him back into game shape and contributing or buy him out this summer.

[Me_]

I remember when he came in last year and hit everything that moved, I thought it was Volpatti wearing a Booth jersey...

Haven't seen that side of his game this year.

Haven't most Canucks players been in the same boat as of late? There's almost no hitting especially against the California teams.

It actually pisses me off. They get banged and don't retaliate at all, and ease off about ten miles before an obvious hit.

The Rome effect still haunts this team.

[Milk Hot Dog]

Ah, Boother. I want nothing more than for this guy to get back to the player he was before his injuries.

It looks like he is headed in that direction now! Off to NY.

[Benchsplinters]

That may be true about Gillis; and may be construed as a fault by some.

I would guess it is just being patient with players, especially when they are trying to recuperate from injury. As you recall, Gillis had his NHL career cut short by serious injury so he might just be more privy to the trials and rehab effort a player must continue to go through coming back from injury. Couple that with knowing there is a psychological factor (the player is concerned he will reinjure himself) and one might better understand why Gillis is much more patient in such cases.

I believe all players appreciate the reassurance that they are not going to be prematurely thrown under the bus due to the fact their rehad was taking longer than normal. Having said that however, a player must also be fully cognizant of his responsibilities as a professional athlete and rehab physically and mentally to the best of their ability. In Booth's case I too am getting a little frustrated with his absence due to injury and the fact when he is back playing he is unnoticeable out there.

Compare him to Hansen, one of my favorite players. You wouldn't even know Hansen had been injured.

Great, so announce to everyone that his problem is lack of effort.

I honestly think gillis has too much faith in players sometimes, almost to a fault.

That may be true about Gillis; and may be construed as a fault by some.

I would guess it is just being patient with players, especially when they are trying to recuperate from injury. As you recall, Gillis had his NHL career cut short by serious injury so he might just be more privy to the trials and rehab effort a player must continue to go through coming back from injury. Couple that with knowing there is a psychological factor (the player is concerned he will reinjure himself) and one might better understand why Gillis is much more patient in such cases.

I believe all players appreciate the reassurance that they are not going to be prematurely thrown under the bus due to the fact their rehad was taking longer than normal. Having said that however, a player must also be fully cognizant of his responsibilities as a professional athlete and rehab physically and mentally to the best of their ability. In Booth's case I too am getting a little frustrated with his absence due to injury and the fact when he is back playing he is unnoticeable out there.

Compare him to Hansen, one of my favorite players. You wouldn't even know he had been injured.

[Nuxfanabroad]

Someone's gotta tell this doorknob that for the time being, in his little world, Torts IS God. If he's gonna play the philosophical/religious/existentialism-SHYTE, then donate HALF your(post-tax) salary, WHICH YOU HAVEN'T EARNED, WHILE MANY HAVE ECONOMIC WORRIES, you freekin lump!

Apologies offered, but I've had my fill of the religious hard-sell(family matter!), & have absolutely no patience for it here, in the good ol' 21st century.

[Baggins]

well what else is required to be in shape? if you read the article booth even stated he has lost an extra step...that means hes out of shape.

Um, leg injury. No where in that article does Booth or Gillis say he's out of shape. Having had knee and ankle injuries I can tell you it can take quite a while to get back to where you were before the injury. Getting cleared to play doesn't mean you're exactly where you were before the injury. And the older you get the longer that seems to take.

[Baggins]

Compare him to Hansen, one of my favorite players. You wouldn't even know he had been injured.

Um, Hansen missed ten games with a shoulder injury. Booth couldn't skate for almost five months. Not much of a comparison.

[Tr4ilerP4rk]

well what else is required to be in shape? if you read the article booth even stated he has lost an extra step...that means hes out of shape.

Have you have ever played competitive sports with an injury? He is way behind the curve because of his injuries. You can blame it on his off-season workout routine or whatever else you can find, but bottom line is he is injured/damaged goods. Its not because he sat on the couch all summer either. That is what Booth is talking about. Rehabbing or reconditioning part of the body that was injured can take years to get back to 100%. Just ask Kesler.

[oldnews]

Boohoo if Gillis gives his usual, measured, glass-half-full take on things.

Boohoo if Gillis says it like it is. This is a rare case of the latter and I have no problem with it.

Who here really thinks some GM is going to be snowed with a candy coating?

I've be supportive of Booth's on ice abilities despite a recent lack of production - particularly because he's always been a guy with very good underlying numbers whether producing or not, and so has never really hurt the team.

But it is noticeable this season that he not only lacks a step, but isn't really inspiring anyone with his physical game either, and he's pretty vacant where working with his teammates is concerned. Moreover, his attitude has come off, at least from a distance, as somewhat oblivious, where you'd want to see fire and a little chip on his shoulder (or something).

Not a big deal - Gillis was somewhat candid - and what he is saying is really coming as new to no one - so I don't really relate to all the protests in this thread (as if he has somehow hurt Booth's trade value or reduced his leverage - what leverage would that be?) - I think most of you doth protest too much.

[KILLER]

Hey maybe we can sprinkle donuts and pizzas, hide in a blind and shoot Booth at the GM's that come to eat.

[JeremyCuddles]

not like he goes out there and purposely play like crap..

Coulda fooled me.

[Mauii]

It must be frustrating to be a step behind. The NHL is top caliber and fast. I'd send him back to Utica and get some mileage under his feet to help him get game ready but a lot of that work will be on Booth to do. Maybe Canucks can give him some guidance as to what part of his game they want him to work on and expect from him ie. the role expected of him with the Canucks. I don't know if concrete goals would help him. But he has a lot of catching up to do. In the meantime Lu should have a chat with him and remind him what an amazing opportunity he has doing what he loves playing in the NHL, and to be truly grateful and appreciative for each and every game he gets to play and not take it for granted. And also, how to deal with you folks when a player is in a slump and berated. I know Booth says it's warranted but it's still must hurt and affect the guy, and will take even more strength and will just to hurdle all the insults and negativity. I do believe he has all the tools he just needs to put in the work and refine it. Go hard Booth and you'll still have many more years in the NHL...you have far more talent and skill then the majority of players in the eastern conference or Calgary/Winnipeg...what would it take to get Byfuglian. He looks out of place in winterpeg, its more like Booth's kind of place.

[peaches5]

This situation just reminds me of the Bieksa situation where those 2 years he had those leg lacerations where he was out for months each time and when he came back he was just awful. Look at him now he is the best Dman on the Canucks. You cannot underestimate a leg injury and Booths injury seems even worse than Bieksa because he couldn't even skate until September.

It takes a long time to rebuild any muscle after it's barely been used. It's not like you can just take some magic pill and magically the muscle in your leg is rebuilt it will take 3-4 months of training at least to get it back and you can't really train while you are playing hockey because then you won't be able to play.