Torts has buyout clause and Gillis may also - Total Payout isn't what has been speculated

[higgyfan]

Injuries happen all the time, shot blocking or not. Just so happens that Torts preaches on shot blocking and that's where we all blame him on because of these injuries. You can't prevent injuries, they're going to happen.

Pat Quinn, Trevor Linden and Glen Sather beg to differ...

http://www.vancitybuzz.com/2014/04/canucks-post-game-sixpack-quinn-linden/

also...

http://www.northjersey.com/sports/glen-sather-questions-ex-rangers-coach-john-tortorella-s-system-1.679038

[viking mama]

Henrik, Daniel and Burrows didn't get injured from shot blocking

Nope...they were injured 'cuz they were over-deployed..& too-tired or broken-down to successfully dodge all of those devastating take-out hits coming at them. That was the reality....and Tortorella's game plan for them was an indirect cause of some of their mid-season injuries.

[viking mama]

Something is really bugging me recently is how the media has created a narrative that Torts storming into the Flames locker room back at January was an embarrassment to the team.

I call total BS on this. During that time sure there were detractors but the media (including the ones in NBC) were 50/50 on Torts actions. Some said Torts was out of line others said he was just trying to stick of his team. Yeah even us here said he was doing something AV would never do and there was nothing wrong with sticking up for your team.

Let's put it this way if The Canucks were in the Playoffs people would be saying Torts actions was necessary because he needed to show other teams that The Canucks are willing to stand up for themselves. Now just because the team is out of playoff contention it's become a "bad thing" that he did and showed how dysfunctional the team is.

The Calgary/Hartley "incident" was in stark opposition to the image that Gillis' wanted to have for his team. No drama queens, please...just honest, hard-working & true professionals who exhibit very high-ethical standards. Gillis wanted future Canucks' sponsers, fans & NHL free-agents... to view his Vancouver Canucks as a team of quality...with highly-skilled & disciplined professionals committed to winning....but also role-models as human beings. Tortorella's hallway behavior & the publicized beratings of his players from the bench...threw a monkey wrench into that plan...as did some of Tortorella's weirder decisions like the Heritage Classic blunder & comments about Team Canada vs Team Sweden.

Torts is an island unto himself. ...and there is NO stampede of NHLers wanting to live & breathe on that island with him. His system isn't advisable for the health of a team with such heavy travel demands put upon yheir aged veterans...nor was it effective in stimulating offensive creativity. The heavy emphasis on shot-blocking was as much of a hinderance... as a help. Just as many pucks were deflected in the net past our net-minders...as off or away! Players blocked shots, yes... but they were down & out of position...to deal with rebounds. Tying-up sticks, boxing-out & aggressively forechecking & back-checking can be effective enough.

Coach AV had a lot right...he just got a bit complacent & lazy. In his last 2 seasons as the 'Nucks coach ,...he failed to properly prepare his team to face their So-Cal opponents in the play-offs...and all that this would entail..including the slanted "So-Cal" refereeing. AV was also extremely un-forgiving... to the players that he had put into his dog-house. He was not forthcoming enough with his communications...so that his players could all properly address their issues...& prepare for their own unique challenges as his players. This was why AV was fired.

Tortorella's hiring was a big over-correction...& a step in the wrong direction - as predicted by many. More preparation & attentiveness to details was needed - yes...& I'm not sure that they got better technical or video prep out of Torts...and the cerebral & offensively creative part of their game...or 7 years of sychronicity...was sacrificed & chucked-out the window....to play Torts' system. I didn't want to watch automatons or a bunch of hockey-playing clones...I wanted to see highly-skilled specialists, out there...all doing their thing...& succeeding at it! Tortorella... with his unbalanced system of deployments...lost sight of that.