[Report] Torts wanted to buy out Alex Burrows

[Dogbyte]

In my experience, there are certainly enough intelligent fans out there that at least some could come to understand Torts system if he ever talked about it, but he never really did. This left fans to infer what Torts' system was based on how the team played, and the inferences draw didn't help Torts.

TC is definitely a different situation and holding Torts to the standard of Babcock is likely unfair. I certainly couldn't expect Torts to do to the Canucks what Babcock did to Team Canada (not to mention the fact that Babcock had much more to work with). My argument is just that a good coach, like Babcock, assessed his teams strengths and then implemented a system. In contrast, Torts seemed to have his mind made up with regard to what type of system he wanted the Canucks to play. This mindset is not a good one, IMO, because he had yet to get to know his own players.

That is sound reasoning DBTR. I guess I'm just more pissed at MG for destroying what he had built in the first place. Had a proper team been built I don't think coaching style would have been a problem but perhaps you and others are right. Torts is now a dinosaur and will never coach in the league away. Either way I think the blame lies in the man who hired Torts, not the guy who coached the way he did the last 15 years in this league.

Either way I guess you're right. He probably could have adapated better but it's pretty childish to blame all of our woes on him. Not that you personally are doing that here. Thanks for the explanation.

[Down by the River]

That is sound reasoning DBTR. I guess I'm just more pissed at MG for destroying what he had built in the first place. Had a proper team been built I don't think coaching style would have been a problem but perhaps you and others are right. Torts is now a dinosaur and will never coach in the league away. Either way I think the blame lies in the man who hired Torts, not the guy who coached the way he did the last 15 years in this league.

Either way I guess you're right. He probably could have adapated better but it's pretty childish to blame all of our woes on him. Not that you personally are doing that here. Thanks for the explanation.

No problem. A good team should be successful regardless of their coach, but I think that to win a cup, you need a coach who can think the game at a higher level. For what its worth, I quite like Torts as a person. He seems like a really genuine guy who cares about his players and wants to win. Doesn't deserve to be crapped on, but does deserve some criticism.

[Peejay]

Buyout Burrows but keep Booth. Proof that Torts is a madman.

Well, actually buying out Booth would make no sense. He is 29 and has only one year left on his contract, while Burrows is 33 with 3 more years with NTC. Canucks do not need cap space next year, and booth seemed to find himself toward the end of the season. While everyone shit on Torts about the idea of buying out Burrows, I won't be surprised if the new GM uses the compliance buyout on Burrows.

[Bure to Mogilny]

Interesting...

Have to say if Torts wanted Burr out, I can see why the players turned on him, along with how he treated Lou.

I get he felt change was needed but he clearly was too much of a bull in a china shop. Sure there is complacency in this group but getting rid of 2 of your best competitors is not the way to solve it.

The issue with this group is mental not physical, they have talent but have to get their heads straight and some young blood needs to be inserted (ie I'd love to see Shink get a shot if healed next year, his speed, talent and enthusiasm especially could be infectious (he has that Bure love of the game, that can make a big difference).

As for Burr, people here the more I read, tend to turn on players so quickly, then complain he's overpaid but he was underpaid for 5 years. He is a 20-30 goal guy who plays with a ton of heart, gets in other teams faces, can play the pp (even though he gets no time there, look up his even strength stats folks one of the best in the league), pk etc, and a HUGE playoff performer. This is the kind of player you NEED to win.

This year the guy broke his foot, comes back, and breaks his face and people bark? He comes back into the season pretty much 1/2 - 2/3 of the way through when the rest of the league is in mid season form physically and MENTALLY (TIMING) and couldn't get on track, take a look at most players coming of long injuries folks, look at how most of them perform, poorly, think a bit.

If anyone deserved a pass this year it was Burr, he EARNED IT....Thank God MG never moved him, one of the better decisions MG made/didn't make.

Look forward to all the Burr haters praising him next year when he gets back to a 25-30 goal pace.

WOW

This is the best post ive seen on any forum. Thanks for posting i couldnt agree more about Burrows. Hes my favourite player in the world after Luongo and he is the most clutch guy on the team. And with Shink he will be something special ive watched alot of his play and he is gonna rock this league with skill determining and a huge love of hockey. Pretty excited we got him

[Hockey Stache]

The entire season was a complete and utter disaster. Unfortunately, it started a number of years ago with Mike Gillis. Hindsight is 20/20 but ownership should have seen something wrong with Gillis a couple years back when he was crapping the bed with the goalie situation. What a HUGE distraction that was for nearly 3 seasons. That alone has to affect everyone involved including players, coaches, management, ownership and clearly the fan base. Unfortunately, we will never know the true underlying issues of events surrounding trade requests, destinations, trade discussions with other teams, etc. But my point is that all that crap led to an underachieving tram that hired a coach (not knowing who made the final decision on that either) that clearly had no interest in actually leading a team if the rumors are true abut Torts a) wanting to buyout Burrows, not talking to the AHL coach the ENTIRE season, c) not showing up for practices, d) only using video as a teaching tool and then not viewing video on upcoming opponents, e) incorrectly berating a player for being late to a team meeting that he was in fact early for.

Sure Burrows had a very poor season and has struggle in the last 2 seasons but he is certainly a large part of the Canucks core and if he is able to bounce to even having a mediocre year next season then his cap hit is not all that bad. Just seems like a big shock that Burrows is the player that Torts singled out as wanting the team to buyout.

The most glaring error made by Torts, and by extension Gillis, is the fact that he did not talk to Green in Utica once throughout the entire season. How can that even be????? I would have to think that for any successful franchise that the head coach of the NHL team and the head coach of there minor league team would or should be talking on a weekly basis. How on earth would the team ever know which players are excelling in certain areas. It's not always the highest scorer that needs to be called up. Between Torts not talking to Green and his fiasco in Calgary, management should have let him go well before the season even started. How on earth did Gillis not know about all of these issues throughout the season???? Did he not discuss any of this with Torts? Did Gillis even talk to Green throughout the year? What a total farce this entire year was. Thank goodness that both of these guys are gone as it pretty clear to me that neither of these guys had any clue what was happening in this organization.

[CanuckleHorse]

Maybe he knew the refs would never let go of the Auger incident and the team that Burr plays for will forever be taking it in the poopchute not agreeing or supporting Torts just seen too much $hit let go these last 3 yrs to not think it also Torts had to protect his team Dont push him

[Salmonberries]

^^^lol

[King Heffy]

Well, actually buying out Booth would make no sense. He is 29 and has only one year left on his contract, while Burrows is 33 with 3 more years with NTC. Canucks do not need cap space next year, and booth seemed to find himself toward the end of the season. While everyone crap on Torts about the idea of buying out Burrows, I won't be surprised if the new GM uses the compliance buyout on Burrows.

I'm not opposed to using the buyout on someone other than Booth, but why Burrows over Edler? Burrows was pretty good, but had horrible luck. He may not have been worth his contract, but at least he can help the team. It was also his first poor season. Edler, on the other hand, was absolutely dreadful. He was a complete liability out there for the second season in a row, playing consistently awful defense.. Not only did he not earn his contract, he didn't earn a roster spot.

Burr's proven that he has the dedication and ability to bounce back.

[DarthNinja]

Torts wants Canucks to buy-out Burrows...Canucks then buy-out Torts.

Must be some type of reverse psychology thing...if Torts was smart he would have instead said "buy me out" lol.

[Ben Kenobi]

"Burr's proven his ability to 'come back'?"

Sure, if you believe that 15 points per season is his new level.

[Ben Kenobi]

"You don't expect top scorers to block shots".

So we've got two 50 point players on the first line who can't play hard minutes, can't backcheck, can't forecheck and can't block shots, and can't score on the powerplay.

Does this sound to you like a recipe for success going forward, Deb?

If Dank and Hank were Ovie, I could see it. But they aren't and haven't played at that level in years. It's unrealistic to expect them to play at this level.

If Dank and Hank want to extend their careers in the NHL, they are going to have to do the little stuff.

[Ben Kenobi]

"A rebound is surely coming next year."

What if it doesn't? Do we fire coach and GM in December?

[Ben Kenobi]

Nuck nit:

"Ehrhoff is our savior"

No, he's not Garrison is younger and better than Ehrhoff.

[DownUndaCanuck]

To be fair, Burrows had one of the worst seasons a forward can have in the NHL, let alone as a top line player. Torts should have cut his minutes, and he did eventually get sick of his crap and bump him off the top line. 0 goals in 30 something games is unacceptable if you're playing 18 minutes on the top line. Injuries are just excuses, if he's that badly injured he should be off the ice resting - we have young players like Jensen who easily could have filled those minutes and score more goals.

Burrows is getting paid 4+ million, and is a huge chunk of our cap space, so all you fools who think "he's great at defence and shot blocking and PK" can get out. Burrows at 4M is a disgrace and one of the biggest reasons MG lost his job was because he signed the twins and Burrows to these giant contracts based on 2 or 3 years of brilliance, expecting them to continue it into their late 30s.

Burrows is a perennial 3rd line player, deal with it. He's a fantastic 3rd line player, but that's all he'll ever be, and should be paid accordingly. Other shot blockers don't take up 4M worth of cap space and 18 minutes worth of ice-time defending. Those minutes and dollars are spent on goal scorers and playmakers, and quite frankly Burrows is neither of those. His offensive skill has dried up and it's showing - he's even playing horribly for Canada right now against very poor opponents.

Tortorella would have been right to have scratched Burrows or sent him down to the minors, not bought him out, but you can't really blame him for wanting to do so. He had a disgraceful season and if he can't work his way back up the lineup starting from a 3rd line role next season, he doesn't deserve the icetime that could and SHOULD be given to our fantastic prospects. Looking around the league, young kids breaking into the NHL are scoring big goals in the playoffs right now, and I just don't see washed-up-Burrows doing that.

Finally, for all of you who think he's a great shot-blocker and defensive forward - he had one of (if not the worst I believe) +/- rating on our team behind only Edler. The reason he had so many blocked shots was because he was always out of position or giving the puck away in his own zone and defending, getting shot at repeatedly. That's not what you want from any player, let alone a 1st liner, let alone a supposed "good defensive player".

I'm giving Burrows one more chance next season under a new coach to get his game together, and if he doesn't have a decent +/-, play well defensively, forecheck and backcheck well (not hard, he has to do it efficiently) or score some goals, I'll want him gone.

[CanuckleHorse]

Does anybody know if that buyout expires?

[King Heffy]

Does anybody know if that buyout expires?

This off-season is our last chance to use it.

[Hockey Stache]

DownUndaCanuck!!!! That was some serious rant.

I agree with some of what you say. Burrows has been declining in recent years as has most of this roster. I agree he should no longer be playing with the twins. In fact I think it's is finally time the team splits up the twins to maximize the TEAMS assets. Burrows should be playing on the 3rd line where he is most effective playing a strong defensive game where he can add some offense. He should NOT be on the power play at all. Penalty kill and 3rd line duty for Burrows. The issue then is that he is being paid well beyond what a 3rd line penalty killer should make.

Unfortunately for the Canucks, they currently have an abundance of similar type players in Higgins, Hansen, Richardson, Mathhias, Santorelli (if he resigns) Booth, etc. For the Canucks to contend and make the playoffs, none of these players should be playing in the top six. Outside of say Richardson and maybe Matthias, none of these mentioned players are physical enough to be fourth liners either. Hansen used to be the perfect 3rd/4th liner with his speed and forechecking but once he was put into a top six role he even admitted he changed his game. Too bad because a 3rd line of Burrows-Santorelli-Hansen would be extremely effective.

To change the make up of the team at least 2 of these players will have to be moved somehow.

Interesting times are coming. Hopefully the new "regime" has the courage and smarts do be able to make some serious moves to change the core and culture of this team. Younger, faster, more skilled. If that means moving Burrows (a heart and soul core player for this team for years) through trade or buyout so be it.

[*Buzzsaw*]

Here's something that people need to realize about the Sedins.

In the 2010-2011 season Daniel Sedin put up 42 points on the powerplay. Henrik put up 35.

The following season without Ehrhoff, Daniel put up 25 and Henrik put up 27.

This season Henrik was on pace for 21 points, and Daniel was on pace for 20.

Anyone that knows the Sedins, knows that their bread and butter is the powerplay. Without a strong powerplay, they're never going to be point per game players again. That's biggest area Gillis failed to fix.

That's why the first order of business for the new GM needs to be going out and getting one of Boyle, Ehrhoff, Letang, or Niskanen. Without a player like this, we might as well trade the Sedins now, because their production will continue to stay at around 60 points.

Hit this nail right on the head

Canucks need a D who is a powerplay specialist to work with the Sedins... is that person Boyle?... He has the skills, but is getting old and will likely see his production drop off this year, his speed and defense skills are also going to degrade, he was a -8 this year despite being on a good team... Erhoff would be a nice fit, but is too costly.

I'd prefer to see someone younger, but young puck moving defensemen are hard to come by.

I suggested a trade with Nashville for Roman Josi... but that would cost us. But Kesler for Josi + a good prospect and a low pick would work in my opinion. Nashville hasn't forgotten what Kesler did to them... he's gonna give us high value.

[Ghostsof1915]

Hit this nail right on the head

Canucks need a D who is a powerplay specialist to work with the Sedins... is that person Boyle?... He has the skills, but is getting old and will likely see his production drop off this year, his speed and defense skills are also going to degrade, he was a -8 this year despite being on a good team... Erhoff would be a nice fit, but is too costly.

I'd prefer to see someone younger, but young puck moving defensemen are hard to come by.

I suggested a trade with Nashville for Roman Josi... but that would cost us.

If it's going to cost us, lets go big and get Weber.

[*Buzzsaw*]

If it's going to cost us, lets go big and get Weber.

Never happen.