The "I would like to see Torts stay for at least one more year" thread.

[Blue & Green]

With what we saw for the first half of the season, I think he deserves another shot.

Until January, the Canucks were consistently out-playing and out-shooting their opponents (putting up 40+ shots per night), even when they were losing games.

But Torts also needs to learn from this past season. I say give him another shot even if under the microscope.

Having said that, I think Linden should hire a GM and allow the GM to make the primary contribution to the decision on Torts.

Reading between the lines, it seems clear that Pat Quinn is not a Torts fan while Linden is a huge Quinn fan so just by going dot to dot it doesn't look good for him.

For those who say Torts can no longer coach in today's NHL etc. I say nonsense. He coached the Rangers to 2nd overall in the NHL just a couple years ago (2pts behind the Canucks) and led them to the Conf. Finals. Last year he coached the NYR to a 1st round upset over the Caps and lost in the 2nd round to the Bruins who ended up going to the finals.

I think that is a damn fine reading, in fact, I think the writing is on the wall.

Tort's did have success with the Rangers, perhaps their roster was more suited to his style of play for the most part. Amazingly, even with that success, he was still let go.

The Canucks had a pretty good record for the first half of the season, much of it due to the overplaying and the eventual burning out of the top players, including Kesler. It was pretty poor long term management, imo.

[HorseGem2007]

I'd say give Torts one more year run at it

Cancuk's woes started after our 2011 playoff run: lack of scorring, poor PP and our goaltending saga. They look deflated after our Cup run and Vigneault couldn't bring this team back to pkay with heart. I've never been a big fan of Gills and I'm sure he tried his best but he wasn't unable to provide the proper players for this team. So the change has been made and with Trevor in, I am sure we will see some interesting changes. I'm looking forward to see who he will surround himself with as for staff, coaches, scouts, etc....

Torts brought the Tampa Bay Lightning to a Stanley Cup after 3 years as coach

> 2001-02 > Lightning 26th in League

> 2002-03 > Lightning 13th in League

> 2003-04 > Lightning 2nd in League & went to win the Cup.

So let's see what happens, and whatever our Management team does it will happen sooner than later after a thorough exit interview with all players & coaches.

GO Cancuks GO

[SuperReverb2]

I think that is a damn fine reading, in fact, I think the writing is on the wall.

Tort's did have success with the Rangers, perhaps their roster was more suited to his style of play for the most part. Amazingly, even with that success, he was still let go.

The Canucks had a pretty good record for the first half of the season, much of it due to the overplaying and the eventual burning out of the top players, including Kesler. It was pretty poor long term management, imo.

Maybe Torts was promised more from Gillis? Maybe Torts came here under what turned out to be false pretences? Torts played and used what he had. We all know that this current team barely has a first and second line (if that) and the rest are third and forth liners at best. Pretty hard to give lot's of minutes to guys that are detriment when they are on the ice. Again. Injuries killed a team (the Canucks) that had no depth whatsoever. Blame the no depth on Gillis NOT Torts. He used what he was given to the best of his ability. The decline started long before Torts got here.

[asian player]

It's clear that some of our players are on the decline but it's odd that so many of our players are on an all time low and we're not winning. We're not disciplined enough to play a game as defensive as LA and we don't have gamebreakers in our lineup. it's obvious Torts' system isn't for our team and I don't think it's smart to bring in players to fit his system

[Merci]

It's so sad the fans are blaming the coach instead of questioning the actual talent we have.

Total media brainwashed.

It's not Torts fault Hansen and Sestito can't make a pass to save their lives.

It's not his fault Daniel Sedin is a wet blanket

[xereau]

Most. Boring. Hockey. Ever.

Nothxplzkk

[THERETOOL]

yes .. id like to see him stay one more year .. as a commentator

[Silfverberg Snipes]

It's so sad the fans are blaming the coach instead of questioning the actual talent we have.

Total media brainwashed.

It's not Torts fault Hansen and Sestito can't make a pass to save their lives.

It's not his fault Daniel Sedin is a wet blanket

I think it's both.

[Merci]

I think it's both.

Disagree.

Torts style can be summed up in one word.

Aggression.

He admitted they lost that, gave reasons why, blamed himself, and the team responded down the stretch with .500 hockey despite injuries still.

Players like Burrows were coached into their excellence, obviously it's going to be hard to have the same kind of year with a new coach. Same with Edler and probably the Sedins to less a degree than people think.

All these things mean Torts should stay,

[xereau]

Disagree.

Torts style can be summed up in one word.

Aggression.

He admitted they lost that, gave reasons why, blamed himself, and the team responded down the stretch with .500 hockey despite injuries still.

Players like Burrows were coached into their excellence, obviously it's going to be hard to have the same kind of year with a new coach. Same with Edler and probably the Sedins to less a degree than people think.

All these things mean Torts should stay,

Pounding round pegs into square holes for 82 games, and this is the result.

This squad was assembled, and played for the previous 5 seasons, as a puck possession team.

A puck possession team, asked to play an aggressive puck pursuit game, means you have half your squad out with injuries at half season. Exactly what happened.

[canuckledraggin]

I really don't see Torts back next season. He was good at coaching defensive responsibility, but there was no transition or offensive strategy to his game. How many set plays did you see off of faceoffs this year? They simply aren't in Torts' playbook. Too much dump and chase lose the puck and chase some more. And in many interviews I saw this year where he was asked to breakdown the opposing team he says We're not worried about what the other team is doing we just have to go out there and play our game. Well that's fine if you have control of the puck the entire game but you usually only have it for half of the game and you better know how to gameplan for your opponents elite players.

Granted that part of his problem was the personnel he had to work with this year and if you look at the mans game lost statistics http://www.mangameslost.com/nhl-man-games-lost-chip-tmitt-april-12-2014/ we may have made the playoffs ahead of Phoenix and Dallas with a bit more luck on the injury front. Losing Santorelli was a huge blow to the team because Torts had the option of putting him anywhere in the top 9

But his reluctance to promote a player like Kassian and continuously plug Burrows and Hansen into the top 6 because of their defensive responsibility is perplexing. Especially when you see Kass carrying the puck with speed and making great passes, which is exactly what Kesler needs on his wing.

I think having Torts as coach was a good learning experience for the club, but I don't see him being offered the job next year

[higgyfan]

It's so sad the fans are blaming the coach instead of questioning the actual talent we have.

Total media brainwashed.

It's not Torts fault Hansen and Sestito can't make a pass to save their lives.

It's not his fault Daniel Sedin is a wet blanket

Have you not been reading what Sather, Quinn and Linden have been saying about T's system?

[Brocklovich]

Honestly I think it would be a knee jerk reaction and could get coaches to think twice about interviewing for a job here if its a case of miss the playoffs and out.

Ever since 2011 finals the team has been declining and / or needing an upgrade in talent it never happened and now with some of our players declining a bit more and next to no youth or talent acquired etc the team has dipped, the division went from being fairly weak to one of the strongest (granted if the old divisions were still around Vancouver would have played Colorado a whole bunch more) it was a recipe for missing the playoffs. I think it would be completely unfair to Tortorella to gas him after 1 year, again I also think it looks pretty bad on the organization as well. AV missed the playoffs in 08/09 and was still given a chance and the team turned it around, whose to say that it won't be that way for Tortorella?

In regards to the 3rd / 4th line, up until recently the 3rd & 4th liners just simply weren't playing all that great to justify getting lots of time playing - is Sestito a guy worth throwing out on the PK?

I do think those guys could garner more time on the ice but I think first and foremost the new GM etc have to fill out the roster with solid players and stop getting project type players.

Where I think Tortorella went wrong was with his handling of the Sedins, as much as its tough to say they are offensive specialists as I don't think their foot speed is good enough to go from the defensive zone to the offensive zone all game long & they shouldn't be used on the PK. Saying that though they also were saying they wanted to be used in all situations to try to shed the label that they aren't defensively responsible.

I think Tortorella should get one more season but I think Trevor needs to be realistic and at least give him a fair roster to try to make the playoffs (I wouldn't be too upset if they blew up the roster and used the 2015 draft as a launching pad for a few young players).

I figure Kesler will most likely be moved & while his value might not be sky high I think Edler might have to go (can't see them buying out Garrison).

[Brocklovich]

Pounding round pegs into square holes for 82 games, and this is the result.

This squad was assembled, and played for the previous 5 seasons, as a puck possession team.

A puck possession team, asked to play an aggressive puck pursuit game, means you have half your squad out with injuries at half season. Exactly what happened.

Lets be fair though they just don't have the personnel to be a puck possession team, they don't have the speed or calibur of players or as many players having career years etc etc.

I seriously love how the media just blames the coach yet refuses to look at everything else like the fact the division the Canucks are in is a lot stronger than what it was during AVs entire run (Not saying AV was a bad coach or anything negative about the guy)

Scotty Bowman, one of if not greatest coach of all time, would have had a tough time getting this team into the playoffs.

[Tr4ilerP4rk]

Torts is the main reason why injuries became such a problem - overuse of the top players and misuse of their skills IE: Sedins killing penalties and everybody else blocking shots. The Canucks have been fairly healthy the last month and look at their record with most of the bodies back... Torts is done.

[Brocklovich]

Have you not been reading what Sather, Quinn and Linden have been saying about T's system?

Sather is one guy I just don't listen to I find he just riding the coat tails of that amazing edmonton team from the 80s that he won cups with personally I think he is one of the most overrated coaches / gms out there.

Tortorellas system does work if its not an aging core of veterans or players not willing to play his way.

I agree to an extent that he has to be more flexible in regards to is how he plays his top players, but I think that falls on the GM to get competent players to fill out the rest of the roster. If we had the currently 3rd line all season long but had 2 legit top scoring lines I think you would see a more balanced ice time spread but when you have some of the players vancouver had you can understand why they only saw x amount of minutes a night

[Brocklovich]

Torts is the main reason why injuries became such a problem - overuse of the top players and misuse of their skills IE: Sedins killing penalties and everybody else blocking shots. The Canucks have been fairly healthy the last month and look at their record with most of the bodies back... Torts is done.

Ok so then the question is where does it end, if they bring in someone else and miss the playoffs / players continue to decline do we blame that coach & fire them all? Do they offer the new coach a 1 year deal based on that fact?

I think its really stupid to fire a coach after 1 unsuccessful season, have a meeting with the guy and give him a legitimate chance to coach the team and let him rectify his way ( as I said AV was given a fair shake and led the team to its best success in awhile)

[tas]

not an nhl caliber coach in 2014.

[CanucksSayEh]

Lots of guys were having great seasons until injuries kicked in. Kesler is still at his usual goal total, despite an awful offensive team. Higgins is having a good year, Santarelli re-ignited his career. Bieksa started with a monster season, same with Henrik who was top 3-5 in scoring for a couple months.

Tanev has been our best d-man, took a big jump in his progression and is taking heavy minutes. Kassian is starting to turn into the player we all hoped he'd be. Richardson has far exceeded expectations. Even Sestito has shown some flair.

Most of the players that have tanked, have been doing so for years, and should have been expected to continue doing so. Daniel has been a shell of himself since the concussion, Edler has gotten worse every year for 3 seasons now, Hansen was never a true scorer, as hot and cold as they come.

Garrison is really the only surprising decline, hasn't been good on D, but putting up decent points. Burrows as well, but he was just the unluckiest guy ever this year, too many injuries all at the worst times. Booth too, but he has done well as of late.

1 more year is fine by me.

[Goal:thecup]

Torts screaming F-Bombs at individual players on the bench alone was enough for me; he most likely cannot change that so he needs to go.

All that stuff Torts almost bragged about like not knowing the conference, or the division, or any of the players in the west just shouted incompetence, arrogance, and ignorance.

Refusing to teach offense and the power play was just unbelievable; if that was true, he did not adequately perform the duties of his position.

Hiring Gulutzan and then ignoring his input was what??? Torts and Sully just shut him out; in hindsight Gulutzan probably had the right ideas.

He should not have been given the job in the first place and that is why GMMG was fired. There is no point in firing him right now with 2 games left in the season and the team out of the playoffs.

The new president will not put up with his non-performance of his duties and his mistreatment of the players.

The coach is almost sunk, he is just treading water for a few days.

I can't wait to see who the new coach is (and the new GM).