I knew it! Benning and Linden are human.... it's long so be warned!

[2SKATES1STICK]

NTC like candy, trading draft picks like candy(For the wrong players) was his legacy.

Our league-worst prospect pool was his doing.

[wallstreetamigo]

No, i'm seeing things pretty clearly actually.

As far as the guys wife goes, who can explain another mans taste. And where does it say that i will be banned for not thinking a guys wife is hot ? I didn't call her any names, didn't run her down. Just would have thought his standards would be a bit higher. And NO, i wouldn't hold her hand at the mall. Maybe for 6 million dollars a year you might be able to get me to walk her around the block in the evening, but thats it. Ban me, Bigshot.

But back to hockey, This guy is a washed up, second tier version of luongo and all that came with him. The guy has prima donna written all over him. The signing was hasty and expensive at a time when every penny counts and your moves in the front office have to look great to regain the fans trust. I think that we could have done without him, and the money would have been better spent on skaters rather than a goalie on his way down playing for a team on its way up.

Looking forward to your retort.....

You call the guy's wife a monster and to you that is not running her down? I really hope for the sake of any significant other you may have that you are actually single.

The Gillis crybabies are the most annoying people on CDC. The guy made some good moves when he first came to town then made a bunch of mind numbing mistakes that have set this team back significantly. Eventually he got to the point where he was afraid of his own shadow (and rightfully so imo) to actually stick with an actual vision for the team. He became a "paralysis by analysis" type GM which happens when guys are worried about losing their jobs.

The change should have come two years earlier when he showed the world he could not make a decent trade to save his life and started handing out NTC to depth players.

[wallstreetamigo]

I am a believer of linden and benning . Id be lying if I said I wasn't afraid that aqua man is still trying to run the show , or at least tell these guys that they need the revenue of playoff hockey .

We need a rebuild . that doesn't mean we need to tank , it only means if we are trading youth for a outside chance at a playoff spot we are losing .

Rebuild = loss of season ticket holders and playoff revenue = not an option for the Aquilinis unfortunately.

[canucks155]

I like how you praise MG when he's the one who f***** this team.

Too many NTC/NMC.

Luongo/Schneider saga

Luongo/Lack saga

Hiring Torts (many believe it may have been managment tho)

Leaving us w/ 2 goalies who aren't proven starters

Shipping out Luongo w/ a retain for a 3rd liner and goalie we have to trade now (not his fault for the last part tho)

Signing Luongo to a terrible contract

Signing Sundin

Trade for Booth

Always traded away picks

Threw the kitchen sink at the Panthers to get Ballard

etc

As long as B & L don't sign anybody else I'm happy. One more bad season against w/ an overrated goalie and an awful/old team is what we need to contend in a couple of years. His trades were good considering the circumstances and while I don't like the pick at 6 for Virtanen, any GM we hired would've picked him too since he's from BC.

[canucks155]

Rebuild = loss of season ticket holders and playoff revenue = not an option for the Aquilinis unfortunately.

Get McDavid or Eichel and you'll get way more season ticket holders, more playoff appearances and more money for the next 15-20 years.

[Jiggs50]

Demko was probably our best pick in terms of need. We didn't have that ELITE young goalie prospect (Gibson, Lehner, Allen)

[-- Alexander 89 Mogilny --]

Hate the Miller signing? Did you stop and think why it's done?

A teams first choice with good young prospects is to try and win while they develop, that way they can stay competitive and their players don't get comfortable losing.

Miller gives us that option.

It's a 3 year deal, Lack is not ready to be a starter, that was proven last year. Also, Lack is only signed for 2 more years (He will be a UFA, not RFA). So the first year is gonna be another learning year for him, but he will again challenge the starter, which will raise his stock again.. Then the year after he will continue to challenge Miller, and I see Lack being dealt by the deadline for whatever we need (probably scoring). Then, by the third year, Markstrom will be backup for the year and hopefully lives up to his ALL STAR POTENTIAL (yes, he has that) and will be our starter once Miller is gone. Then we have Ericcson (sp?) who is hopefully ready to be a NHL caliber back up with starter potential. We can use him as our backup for at least a year, and if he falters, who do we have? The best goalie prospect in this years draft in Demko.

Not every prospect pans out, I suspect Ericcson will falter and then we have the 1-2 punch in Markstrom/Demko. That'll breed another goalie controversy and we hopefully are able to trade one of them for a similar return we got for Schneider (Horvat is a STUD)

I'll agree with the Hiller part, though. 2 years for 4.5/year would've been great for Hiller, but not too upset with Miller. You have to realize with the cap continuously going up, so do players' contracts.

After the trades, our team is not in a bad position. We have a great chance at challenging for the playoffs, and doing some damage.

Sedin-Sedin-Jensen

Kassian-Bonino-Higgins/Shinkaruk

Burrows-Horvat-Matthias

Vey-Richardson-Dorsett

Sestito

Bieksa-Hamhuis

Edler-Tanev

Sbisa-Stanton

Corrado

We also have Shinkaruk who I would love to see make the team. And Virtanen might surprise and challenge for a role (I think he will, kids a stud if he just develops some better hockey sense). I feel like we need to trade one of Burrows or Higgins to give some young guns a chance. Burrows will have a better year and his stock is at an all time low, but if he isn't playing with the Sedins, he belongs on the third line. He is a GREAT checker and Horvat can set him up for some beauties. Shawn Matthias has also proven that he can score. Wouldn't mind seeing him on the 2nd line and having Higgins on the third.

Side note: How fun would a rookie line of Shinkaruk-Horvat-Jensen/Viratanen be?

And they're not done yet. We'll probably pick up another forward that can score. Personally I think we should take a chance on someone like VIlle Leino if we can get him for cheap. Or to go a safer route we can grab Vrbata. I also would like to give Grabovski a chance if he can play the wing too. Some skill with Horvat would be helpful, he could even slot next to Bonino. Kassians size on that line would negate theirs.

Top 6 scorer and a PMD is all we need to be legit. If you think the Sedins are gonna play as poorly as last year, think again!

[ilduce39]

Stopped reading here

Can't even imagine what sort of self-indulgent ("I know more about third round picks than our GM does") cynical trash follows it

Lol @ people questioning the management of the team less than 24 hours into free agency, and months before the first game is to be played.

Why didn't we sign Moulson and Niskanen with our ten million!?!!

Wow, Jaw.. I stopped reading at that exact point as well. The "finally" really got me.

Twinsies!

[Baggins]

NTC like candy, trading draft picks like candy(For the wrong players) was his legacy.

Our league-worst prospect pool was his doing.

There was no prospect pool at all when he took over. At least there's some very promising prospects now.

[Vancanwincup]

A big thing here that I don't think people realize in GMing, is that it's a two way street. People have this video game, arcade like understanding of what GMs can do. They come out and say, go get this guy or that guy, but don't realize the other guy also has to pick our offer in a field of 15 other offers. Yes, we wanted a top 6 winger, but here's the thing, so do 29 other teams. And there were like 6 or 7 available. We had little to no chance at getting any of them because they simply do not want to come here. Our situation in being one of the bottom feeders starting to go into a rebuild. Tough to find big name free agents itching to come to that situation. Just because we have a bunch of cap space, doesn't mean we can just buy whoever we want. No, all we can do is try and convince the player, give him a contract and hope he bites. Sometimes they do, but most of the time they don't.

For all you guys saying we shouldn't have gotten Miller, ok then what do you do with that cap space? We had other offers out, for example, Jarome Iginla. They didn't take. I'd much rather spend the money upgrading our decent goaltending, than not use it at all. It would be nice if we could just hand out contracts as we see fit, but unless the player has a reason to come to Vancouver, there really isn't much Benning can do. We didn't make playoffs last year, and we're not booming with potential so why would someone like Paul Stastny, or Matt Moulson sign here? I like the Miller signing purely because he is the best impact player we could get, that actually had significant mutual interest in getting a deal done.

Again living in the past, Miller is not an impact player any more and has not shown any sign of every reaching this level again. Between Hiller and Miller, Hiller is just as good at this stage of their careers.

[wallstreetamigo]

Get McDavid or Eichel and you'll get way more season ticket holders, more playoff appearances and more money for the next 15-20 years.

And of course with the draft lottery changes you can guarantee that this team will be bad enough to for sure get one of those two, right?

Don't get me wrong, I will be perfectly okay if the team falls off a cliff this season and gets one of those guys. But th Aquilinis are businessmen that look at risk vs reward. They are still paying millions for Gillis and his mistakes. That is likely a huge reason they want playoff revenue to offset those costs.

As much as we want the Canucks to be all about building a cup winner the reality is that to the Aquilinis it is a money making business first and foremost. I am sure they want a SC winner (think of the cash for them....lol) but they do not seem willing to go through any painful money losing scenarios to get there. It is what it is.

[stawns]

Hate the Miller signing? Did you stop and think why it's done?

A teams first choice with good young prospects is to try and win while they develop, that way they can stay competitive and their players don't get comfortable losing.

Miller gives us that option.

It's a 3 year deal, Lack is not ready to be a starter, that was proven last year. Also, Lack is only signed for 2 more years (He will be a UFA, not RFA). So the first year is gonna be another learning year for him, but he will again challenge the starter, which will raise his stock again.. Then the year after he will continue to challenge Miller, and I see Lack being dealt by the deadline for whatever we need (probably scoring). Then, by the third year, Markstrom will be backup for the year and hopefully lives up to his ALL STAR POTENTIAL (yes, he has that) and will be our starter once Miller is gone. Then we have Ericcson (sp?) who is hopefully ready to be a NHL caliber back up with starter potential. We can use him as our backup for at least a year, and if he falters, who do we have? The best goalie prospect in this years draft in Demko.

Not every prospect pans out, I suspect Ericcson will falter and then we have the 1-2 punch in Markstrom/Demko. That'll breed another goalie controversy and we hopefully are able to trade one of them for a similar return we got for Schneider (Horvat is a STUD)

I'll agree with the Hiller part, though. 2 years for 4.5/year would've been great for Hiller, but not too upset with Miller. You have to realize with the cap continuously going up, so do players' contracts.

After the trades, our team is not in a bad position. We have a great chance at challenging for the playoffs, and doing some damage.

Sedin-Sedin-Jensen

Kassian-Bonino-Higgins/Shinkaruk

Burrows-Horvat-Matthias

Vey-Richardson-Dorsett

Sestito

Bieksa-Hamhuis

Edler-Tanev

Sbisa-Stanton

Corrado

We also have Shinkaruk who I would love to see make the team. And Virtanen might surprise and challenge for a role (I think he will, kids a stud if he just develops some better hockey sense). I feel like we need to trade one of Burrows or Higgins to give some young guns a chance. Burrows will have a better year and his stock is at an all time low, but if he isn't playing with the Sedins, he belongs on the third line. He is a GREAT checker and Horvat can set him up for some beauties. Shawn Matthias has also proven that he can score. Wouldn't mind seeing him on the 2nd line and having Higgins on the third.

Side note: How fun would a rookie line of Shinkaruk-Horvat-Jensen/Viratanen be?

And they're not done yet. We'll probably pick up another forward that can score. Personally I think we should take a chance on someone like VIlle Leino if we can get him for cheap. Or to go a safer route we can grab Vrbata. I also would like to give Grabovski a chance if he can play the wing too. Some skill with Horvat would be helpful, he could even slot next to Bonino. Kassians size on that line would negate theirs.

Top 6 scorer and a PMD is all we need to be legit. If you think the Sedins are gonna play as poorly as last year, think again!

youth in the lineup next season

mathias

kassian

jensen

vey

tanev

bonino

sbisa

stanton

a solid young core of 22-26

Utica (of note)

Shink

gaunce

Fox

Corrado

Zelewski

Archibald

Lain

Kenins

Anderson

sauve

Jr/College

Horvat

cederholm

Virtanen

Mcaan

Demko

[Baggins]

Again living in the past, Miller is not an impact player any more and has not shown any sign of every reaching this level again. Between Hiller and Miller, Hiller is just as good at this stage of their careers.

Last season Hiller had a .911 S% playing 50 games for one of the best teams in the league. Miller had a .923 S% in 40 games playing for Buffalo. One of the worst teams in the league.

[Gurn]

"As far as free agency I'm glad we signed Miller. Lack was not good after Luongo left last year so I'm not sold on him as a Number 1 yet. He's a very capable back-up that can take #1 role for a period of time if need be. Free agency also isn't over so we may still add some pieces."

Lack played well after he beat out Lou for the starters job. The downside for Lack was Torts would not play Markstrom and overplayed Lack who ended up injured and still had to play. If you like Miller fine but don't try to pin this signing on Lack so called bad play.

[stawns]

"As far as free agency I'm glad we signed Miller. Lack was not good after Luongo left last year so I'm not sold on him as a Number 1 yet. He's a very capable back-up that can take #1 role for a period of time if need be. Free agency also isn't over so we may still add some pieces."

Lack played well after he beat out Lou for the starters job. The downside for Lack was Torts would not play Markstrom and overplayed Lack who ended up injured and still had to play. If you like Miller fine but don't try to pin this signing on Lack so called bad play.

he was good, just hugely overplayed. Who would expect any young goaltender to excel under those circumstances. No one should be looking at last year for any kind of comparable.

[ilduce39]

"He knows more than you so don't judge his moves"

apparently we just have to clap and cheer for every move because it's Benning. Not saying I agree with OP but every time somebody has a different opinion on the moves, he gets sh*t on

This double-standard has been floating around CDC since I signed up - if you're being critical the team, management, coaches, ownership or players - prepare to be criticized yourself. The door swings both ways.

[EmployeeoftheMonth]

"He knows more than you so don't judge his moves"

apparently we just have to clap and cheer for every move because it's Benning. Not saying I agree with OP but every time somebody has a different opinion on the moves, he gets sh*t on

This...

is bull.

Seems to be a lot of pissing and moaning lately about not being able to piss and moan without people questioning it.

[taiwanchik]

I agree....somewhat.

I have said it's still too early to tell and I'm trying to give Benning the benefit of the doubt...but from what I've seen so far, things are questionable. I'm not trying to trash B & L... just a summary of things thus far. I still support them and wish them the best, but I will never trash GMMG for his work done or to show support for B & L.

One thing for certain is that Miller is a distraction.... he is known for it and also likes to call his teammates out. I've done a lot of reading on Miller lately and this is what I've gathered. I'm not sure what other claims you're talking about so I can't talk about them...

You CANNOT blame GMMG for trading both goalies, it was the coaches fault. MG is not responsible for who plays during the games and Loungo is gone because Torts decided to play Lack instead for the outdoor game. Stupid and dumb move...and Torts was hired by the owner not GMMG. If we go back even further, Loungo initially wanted out because AV decided to make Lack the #1 during the Playoffs when it was really unnecessary and uncalled for. Had AV realized that goaltending wasn't the issue than we'd never have been caught up in this goaltending fiasco in the first place. Blame needs to be put on those responsible...not whoever's convenient.

And I have gone on other message boards and I still don't care what others think about us... I do know that the perception of GMMG was negative and effected his trading partners/options so I am happy that we have a new GM that others will trade with.

I am and was quite content with others hating us ......but lets face it, the hate will return

GMMG had his glory but could'nt keep it up. Ultimately it was Gillis who inked Torts. Whether or not Aquilini had a role in it is based on pure speculation and with no physical proof that he did. To make a bold statement that he did either means you have insider information or that you truly believe everything Tony Gallagher has to say. The moves Benning made were necessitated on him having inherited a mess Gillis left. Gillis had to go. The promises he made, he was never really ever to deliver. Don't you find it ironic that TWO NHL coaches demoted Luongo to 2nd role status? The only way that happens is when a player starts choking or when the other net minder becomes red hot. Certainly Schneider earned that chance and to some respect Lack. Blame the coach will you but certainly a player also controls his own destiny. Under GMMG, he was never able to ice a good 4th line nor was he able to get Kesler good line mates. Booth was already trending downwards and was not the answer.

Miller is a good signing because Lack is not ready to be #1. It's funny how everyone is crapping on Garrison, on how he's over rated and overpaid, suddenly once he's gone, they complain about the return. Given the circumstances, the return was fair. Heck, look what Tampa received in return for Sam Gagner - a 6th rounder! Let's be clear. No one is perfect. Time will only tell if Benning and Linden's vision come to fruition. for you to be crapping on them already, yet glorify Gillis shows what lack of insight you possess. I take the moves with a grain of salt and can only look forward to the upcoming season. Had we stuck with Gillis, it will be a Calgary Flames 2.0 move and we would ultimately hit rock bottom. Say what you will but have a little patience will ya.

[ocnucksfan]

MG road the coat tails of prior management then gutted this team, stopped reading after you said he deserves praise. He made what, 2 good acquisitions? He's proven he can have a vision? He's proven he has short sighted vision, a one track mind and such a small mental capacity he can't think past one player! Not to mention he was useless at the draft.

Benning has already shown he's a huge upgrade and the team hasnt even hit the ice. No doubt things will be rough, were a transitioning team, but remember what Benning inherited and whom he inherited it from.

now im paraphrasing of course but seriously. never has an OP been so wrong about so much at the cost of so many.

[Chalky]

This is so weird. I am a perpetual optimist and I have rarely made any negative comments about the team or the players. Now I am the minority because I dislike everything Benning has done except the Linden Vey trade.

I am not a negative person, but I would have preferred to not have signed a goalie who has never been the same after a hit to the head to a higher per year cap hit than we payed Lu. I don't think Miller is an upgrade on Lu and I definitely believe he is a downgrade from Schneider. I know this is not all Bennings doing, It was Gillis that severely bungled "Goaliegate", he is left holding the bag though. I would have much rather had Lack in net with a cheaper veteran back up and Markstrom in the AHL or trade bait. It's not an extreme opinion. As it is now, you can all kiss Lack goodbye, and that saddens me. Lack will be one of the parts to a trade to get some scoring, either that or we ice a team of 3rd liners and finish middle of the pack, just outside the playoffs.

I love Trevor Linden. He has all the time in the world to fix this team as far as I'm concerned, but I just don't understand how some of you folk are on your knees with your eyes closed and your mouths open. Signing Miller was a mistake.