bigbadcanucks Posted June 24, 2014 Share Posted June 24, 2014 I get the feeling that Willie is a fully engaged coach, as opposed to the absentee coach we had in Torts, and the aloof "let the players control room" AV. As much as Torts was the anti-AV, Willie looks to be the anti-Tortorella who will teach and communicate in a respectful, private way with his players. WD seems to have a high opinion of the core players (singling out the Sedins today, only because he was asked)...hopefully the Canucks players live up to the high praise WD spoke with. It's on the players now... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
UFCanuck Posted June 24, 2014 Share Posted June 24, 2014 Virtanen seems like the next logical choice. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gyllenhaal Posted June 24, 2014 Share Posted June 24, 2014 Virtanen seems like the next logical choice. unfortunately Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ghostsof1915 Posted June 24, 2014 Share Posted June 24, 2014 I have to say I'm really impressed with Willie. I hope he's everything that Torts wasn't. And I hope he helps gets us to the promised land. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Martin Frk Posted June 24, 2014 Share Posted June 24, 2014 I have to agree! I was very impressed with Willie. He is going to be a great coach for this organization for the years to come. Now lets hope that Benning is able to add some talent to this team and give us some depth. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ghostsof1915 Posted June 24, 2014 Share Posted June 24, 2014 Sidebar. Is Benning just petrified of the media? Because every time he talks its like he's reading cue cards. Or Trevor is a ventriloquist and Benning is his puppet. Honestly if he makes better trades and great drafting I wouldn't care if he was mute. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
surtur Posted June 24, 2014 Share Posted June 24, 2014 Getting rid of a bad coach? A coach who wasn't interested in showing up to practice and mentoring the young players on his team?that guy was all talk no walk. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
He-Lord Posted June 24, 2014 Share Posted June 24, 2014 Many of us predicted the injuries with the style and amount of shot blocking he wanted. Not everyone is a shot blocker. Hopefully no more Sedins on the PK.Except for the fact that, you know, a lot of the injuries weren't because of shot blocking. That, and we weren't exactly blocking any more shots than other teams. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ghostdivision Posted June 24, 2014 Share Posted June 24, 2014 Not sure exactly what... you mean by this...Eakins has both played and coached in the NHL whereas Willie...hasn't. In fact Willie has only two years of ... pro level coaching experience ... and he's already 47...ten years older than Eakins. having said that I have a good feeling about this guy while freely admitting that i don't know much about him other than he seems to be on a roll, a roll I hope continues. What? Eakins when joining the nhl did not have more nhl experience. Unless your counting the fact he played as a player in the nhl. Coaching experience before coming to the nhl was dead even. Dallas spent two years as a maple leafs assistant and willie spent 2 years as a dallas stars assistant. Where willie blows him out of the water is every level he succeeded that dallas hasn't. Gold medal as assistant coach in world juniors, silver as a head coach. 2 Memorial cups, and a calder cup. Eakins got absolutely destroyed in the calder when he went up against jon cooper. Hes also 57, i am guessing that was a typo. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
etsen3 Posted June 24, 2014 Share Posted June 24, 2014 As far as management goes, the Canucks have made all the right moves. The hirings of Linden, and Benning, and Desjardins all appear to be smart decisions. They may not be the most experienced, but all the 3 of them are intelligent, hardworking men who have proven themselves at the lower levels. They are already well on their way to turning around the disaster that was last season, and if they can find the right players, it won't be long before this team is once again ready to win championships. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
oldnews Posted June 24, 2014 Share Posted June 24, 2014 If I were a Gambian man, I'd say the Canucks will be much better this season. I Kuwait for the season to start. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Butcher Posted June 24, 2014 Share Posted June 24, 2014 As far as management goes, the Canucks have made all the right moves. The hirings of Linden, and Benning, and Desjardins all appear to be smart decisions. They may not be the most experienced, but all the 3 of them are intelligent, hardworking men who have proven themselves at the lower levels. They are already well on their way to turning around the disaster that was last season, and if they can find the right players, it won't be long before this team is once again ready to win championships. lets not get ahead of ourselves, it will be a few years before this team is ready to win championships. I too am happy with the management decisions, i think they are the perfect moves. But its still the players we have on the ice that will be the major factor. After watching LA, Chicago, Ducks, etc, the Canucks are nowhere near this level in work ethic or talent. The Sedins seem to have lost a step, our goaltending is uncertain at this stage, we dont have enough guys that can bury the puck, and now we likely have to trade our hardest working player. I think people are jumping the gun here, and need to give the new management a couple years before high level results are expected. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SID.IS.SID.ME.IS.ME Posted June 24, 2014 Share Posted June 24, 2014 Am I the only one that thinks Pittsburgh is in more turmoil than the Canucks right now? They appear to be getting farther and farther from being a cup contender. At least the Canucks realize they're not good enough and have hit the partial reset button.I found it interesting that Doug Maclean, who just interviewed with Rutherford for the Pens job, referred to Pittsburgh today as a team that was beginning a "rebuild." That's the word he used and it's not one that people tend to toss around lightly. Makes me wonder what's being said behind closed doors during the interviews and how Rutherford is actually characterizing the direction and future of that team. Certainly fits with some of the recent rumours (like Letang being on the trade block). The Penguins have some great players, including two of the world's very best, but they also have needed change in their core for years and they don't really have a very balanced or complete lineup (when you really look at them top-to-bottom). Their current situation is far more similar to Vancouver's than it is different. And Vancouver seems (at least now) to be much more ready and willing to make the necessary changes. Pittsburgh has wrongly believed for too long that they're only a few tweaks (like adding rentals) away from winning another Cup. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JeremyCuddles Posted June 24, 2014 Share Posted June 24, 2014 Torts: I know nothing about the players, I just accepted the job. Desjardins: Did his research before coming here. Had options and chose Vancouver. I think that's a really nice sign. That's weird. Pretty sure we are his second choice considering Pittsburgh didn't give him term or assistant coach choice. If they offered him what Vancouver offered I bet he chooses them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sugar baby watermelon Posted June 24, 2014 Share Posted June 24, 2014 Well we got him now and I couldn't be happier, our team is starting to move in the right direction with our top down, now comes the draft & then free agent frenzy, getting real excited over here. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ilovewinona Posted June 24, 2014 Share Posted June 24, 2014 First of all, I haven't read all the pages in this thread, so someone might have said this before. But Willie totally reminds me of Uncle Jack from "It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Madwolf Posted June 24, 2014 Share Posted June 24, 2014 Sidebar. Is Benning just petrified of the media? Because every time he talks its like he's reading cue cards. Or Trevor is a ventriloquist and Benning is his puppet. Honestly if he makes better trades and great drafting I wouldn't care if he was mute. IMO there are people who are great speakers, and those who aren't. Doesn't generally have much to do with ability. Charlie Strong wasn't the greatest with the media when he was the head Football coach here at the University of Louisville, but the guy could flat out coach. He basically slept in his office. This group we have right now all strike me like that, from Linden, to Benning, and now Coach Desjardins. I'm excited. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alfstonker Posted June 24, 2014 Share Posted June 24, 2014 I was very impressed with Willie D at the press conference. He seems like the type of guy I would go through a brick wall for and I'm sure this will be a massive step up from Tortorella. I also liked the way that for the second time now he has spoken of utilising the players individual strengths and adapting to the opposition. I could never understand Tortorella's pig headed approach, especially from a guy who missed so many practice sessions. Lastly I am so glad we have hooked up with Willie having got rid of Gillis because I seriously doubt any coach could thrive under that kind of management style for long. I am very excited, I like the way JB has said he has had a couple of chats with Tallon and they were to speak again, not because I want us to pawn our future for a No 1 pick but because it seems to show Benning as someone who can phone up other GM's without pi--ing them off. Lastly now that I have heard Willie speak and discuss his coaching style I want to keep Kessler more than ever. I think he might regret leaving this team in a year or two and he is, at his best, irreplaceable and part of the heart of the Canucks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alfstonker Posted June 24, 2014 Share Posted June 24, 2014 That's weird. Pretty sure we are his second choice considering Pittsburgh didn't give him term or assistant coach choice. If they offered him what Vancouver offered I bet he chooses them. Except he hadn't met and talked to TL and JB then, so you don't know. I don't really care, I'm a great believer in fate and what is pre written. I'm sure Tortorella would have taken the Pens over Vancouver and look how that worked out. At the end of the day I watched a guy who couldn't have looked happier. He was like a kid at Christmas and that is enough for me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alfstonker Posted June 24, 2014 Share Posted June 24, 2014 torts was brought in to "keenan" this teams core. He did a masterful and thankless job of exposing our clubs strengths and weaknesses. we know exactly who the character guys are in the core group now, who will bleed blue and green till the ship goes down, and who needs to move on. time for a new era in canucks hockey and thanks again torts for the quick turn around and precision dismantling of our old gaurd Really? I salute your terrific imagination. There was nothing wrong with our core. Torts tried to destroy it by binding it to the only style of hockey he knew how to play. It led to injuries, fatigue, tuning out and finally total disrespect of our team and their abilities. He attempted to create the illusion, only too easily gulped down by some of our "fans," that he was martyring himself coaching a bunch of "past it" old men. The Calgary "episode" should have had him fired for bringing the club name into disrepute. I would then have fought in the courts any attempt to gain a financial settlement. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.