awalk Posted July 1, 2015 Share Posted July 1, 2015 When Mark Spector is the voice of reason... http://www.sportsnet.ca/hockey/nhl/why-bennings-not-to-blame-for-messy-off-season/ This is the recovery process, Vancouver. When the old general manager doles out No Movement Clauses like Pez candies, the new GM has to make trades like Ryan Kesler for Nick Bonino and a bunch of stuff. Or Kevin Bieksa for an 18-year-old that the Canucks won’t draft until a year from now, and you won’t see in a Canucks uniform until 2020 at best. The capped-out Canucks dealt Bieksa, a huge chunk of the heart and soul of their dressing room, to Anaheim for a second-round draft pick in 2016 on Tuesday. Like the Kesler deal, GM Jim Benning had to work off a list of trade partners submitted by Bieksa, which left his hands tied. The deal is OK, when you consider that Bieksa carries with him a cap hit of $4.6 million. And as admirable as his playing style is, he just turned 34 and is on the downside of his career. (It also means that Francois Beauchemin will be a UFA on July 1, as Bieksa effectively takes his place in Anaheim’s rotation.) Canucks fans have watched Kesler walk for a collection of so-so talent, and now a pillar on theblueline walks away for a draft pick. Don’t blame Benning — he inherited this ageing roster, and now he is simply trying to move it along without missing the playoffs. But there is a succession underway in Vancouver, and we’re watching it unfold: Bieksa turns into a draft pick in 2016, but also frees up $4.6 million in cap space. That opens the door for a free agent offer to Cody Franson on Wednesday, or perhaps Mike Green or Andrej Sekera. The one truth of the cap system is that teams are built through the draft. But Benning entered this latest draft with just one pick in the top 113 before going to work to acquire a second-rounder — but he had to deal fan favorite Eddie Lack to do so. And drafting takes soooo long. An 18-year-old usually won’t help you win a game for four or five years — if he pans out at all. That’s OK, if an organization consistently drafts players that turn out. Do that, and you’ll have the kind of depth that Columbus had when they unloaded some young prospects for Brandon Saad earlier in the day. The reason Vancouver is looking at a lull however, is their lack of draft success from 2006 to 2011. That void of talent, with first-round picks like Patrick White, Cody Hodgson and Jordan Schroeder — or 2010, when Vancouver didn’t have a selection until No. 115, then drafted five players who have not yet played — leaves an air bubble in the hose that is now playing out in Vancouver. The Sedins are ageing, and need someone to rise up and assume the first-line duties. All they’re hearing are crickets, and at age 35 they will take on the first-line duties again in the fall. Bieksa is gone, and if Vancouver is lucky, they’ll find a free agent who will make Canucks fans forget how valuable Bieksa has been all these years, even if he struggled in 2014-15. Free agent pickups are stop-gap measures, however, by teams that haven’t developed their own talent. If the Canucks are ever to get back on top in the West, it will happen because they draft smart, develop smarter, and — for Pete’s sake — quit handing out No Movement Clauses to every veteran who asks for one. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chalky Posted July 1, 2015 Share Posted July 1, 2015 ...and no insults. I'm not offended by a Mark Spector article. This is news. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
awalk Posted July 1, 2015 Author Share Posted July 1, 2015 ...and no insults. I'm not offended by a Mark Spector article. This is news. Shocking really Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FlyLow_ Posted July 1, 2015 Share Posted July 1, 2015 When Mark Spector is the voice of reason... http://www.sportsnet.ca/hockey/nhl/why-bennings-not-to-blame-for-messy-off-season/ What a boob. Columbus was awful for a long time, with lottery picks which is why they have the assets to get Saad. Yeah our drafting has sucked but the key part is you have to be really bad before you can be good again. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BanTSN Posted July 1, 2015 Share Posted July 1, 2015 "Hockey is a sport played on ice with skates, sticks and pucks. It's entertaining for people to watch." "When a hockey team loses, that means they didn't win." "Mark Spector gets paid money to write words." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
awalk Posted July 1, 2015 Author Share Posted July 1, 2015 What a boob. Columbus was awful for a long time, with lottery picks which is why they have the assets to get Saad. Yeah our drafting has sucked but the key part is you have to be really bad before you can be good again. So basically, don't hand out NTC's to veterans like candy so that if the team falters you can actually move them for draft picks and actually acquire good young talent instead of sitting right in the middle of the league neither drafting top picks nor winning in the playoffs? Total boob... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
awalk Posted July 1, 2015 Author Share Posted July 1, 2015 "Hockey is a sport played on ice with skates, sticks and pucks. It's entertaining for people to watch." "When a hockey team loses, that means they didn't win." "Mark Spector gets paid money to write words." Regardless of everything, I'm having fun on CDC today :D Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DIBdaQUIB Posted July 1, 2015 Share Posted July 1, 2015 Not a fan of Spector but this article is decent. My theory ...as the Nucks are looking at a decline and re-build while his Alberta teams are on the upswing, he is comfortable in his insecurity to throw a few crumbs Vancouver's way.Sometimes you just gotta take what you can get, just like Benning. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FlyLow_ Posted July 1, 2015 Share Posted July 1, 2015 So basically, don't hand out NTC's to veterans like candy so that if the team falters you can actually move them for draft picks and actually acquire good young talent instead of sitting right in the middle of the league neither drafting top picks nor winning in the playoffs? Total boob... So basically dont' compare a team willing to rebuild to a team that isn't.. boob. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nuxfanabroad Posted July 1, 2015 Share Posted July 1, 2015 "No insults."..?Yet he couldn't resist a passing side-swipe at a guy 1 yr removed from his position?MG made a lot of great moves too. Cowardly media groveling to a league agenda, don't impress me too much. Sure if Spector was a GM, it would be seamless success, we should all assume? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Standing_Tall#37 Posted July 1, 2015 Share Posted July 1, 2015 He's got a good point about no one being poised to challenge the Sedins for first line duties. It is a lofty expectation to expect 35 year olds to carry a team as elite 1st liners. It had to catch up to us eventually. I mean AV & MG refused to slowly inject and develop youth into the lineup when they were good. That's ultimately the reason for the fall of this franchise and the next decade of struggles we are about to embark on. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
brownky Posted July 1, 2015 Share Posted July 1, 2015 "No insults."..? Yet he couldn't resist a passing side-swipe at a guy 1 yr removed from his position? MG made a lot of great moves too. Cowardly media groveling to a league agenda, don't impress me too much. Sure if Spector was a GM, it would be seamless success, we should all assume? MG made more bonehead moves than he did great ones. Great move: Ehrhoff for a draft disaster Patrick White Bonehead move: Luongo Contract Bonehead Move: NTC like Caaaandy Great move: Locking up the twins for reasonableness Bonehead Move: Trading draft picks for crap Bonehead Move: Being rubbish at drafting what picks were left Great Move: Chris Tanev Bonehead Move: Keith Ballard Bonehead move: David Booth Great Bonehead move: Cory Schneider for Bo Horvat pick. Great because it's Horvat and he looks to be panning out. Bonehead because he reaaaally should have gotten more back for it, and because he had to do it at all due to Luongo Contract (see above) So it's fair to take swipes at him. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DeltaSwede Posted July 1, 2015 Share Posted July 1, 2015 Over the past weeks I have become confused and honestly surprised by a lot of reactions by other Canuck fans basically saying that Benning is the worst thing that's happened to this franchise. Even questioning if Baertschi was worth giving up Kylington for just as an example. Baertschi will most likely be wearing a Canucks uniform next year and getting points for this team meanwhile Kylington was passed by most of the teams in this league twice before he was selected and has absolutely no guarantee of becomming an NHLer... It angers me so intensely that people just think that players outside of this organization are somehow incredible in comparison and that all these changes need to happen just for the sake of it. Not even understanding simple supply and demand in a market. Wake up. Teams weren't fighting for Lack like they were the other keepers CLEARLY because the return would have been greater then. I'm not here to defend Benning but it is obvious this man is doing what he believes to be the best approach to build a stanley cup winner with the tools he has (and it is not a lot like it says in this article). It doesn't happen over one season, especially with a very old core with trade clauses. CDC has never been close to being as bad as it is right now, maybe it is just a lot of summer posters but some of the reactions have just been clueless and impatient. I don't understand peoples negative reaction of the return on Bieksa after reading for years how awful he is on here.. Why would such an awful defender return anything more than a 2nd rounder? The way he has been spoken about over the past few years I'm really surprised he fetched more than a 7th. The grass isn't always greener on the otherside and an old Ehrhoff is not the answer to a Stanley Cup unless you have a few Toews and Crosbys playing for you. Sickening this stuff, absolutely sickening. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
oldnews Posted July 1, 2015 Share Posted July 1, 2015 When Mark Spector is the voice of reason... http://www.sportsnet.ca/hockey/nhl/why-bennings-not-to-blame-for-messy-off-season/ Says the idiot whose team has had 4 first oveall picks in 6 years....because their GM's history of drafting so good! Your own back yard is full of dog turds Spector. The only road to improvement in Edmonton is through lottery tickets. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
higgyfan Posted July 1, 2015 Share Posted July 1, 2015 Meh, nothing that hasn't been said a hundred times on this board. The most obvious thing is his lack of knowledge of the Nucks prospect pool. Anyways, pretty hard to pick up players like the Sedins if you never get a sniff at the top picks in the draft year in and year out. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shift-4 Posted July 1, 2015 Share Posted July 1, 2015 Since when is Bieksa good enough to bump Beauchemin? Or is he just suggesting that with Bieksa in they won't bother with contract talks with FB? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
elvis15 Posted July 1, 2015 Share Posted July 1, 2015 Spector thinks we got a 2nd for Lack, and neglected to mention we got Kassian for Hodgson. This is not really 'sense' - ooh, we got cap space and we're in recovery. NTC's are so terrible even though all top teams use them and maybe we'll be ok if we draft smarter. Way to drop that wisdom on us, buddy... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TyrEnkidu Posted July 1, 2015 Share Posted July 1, 2015 We had to do SOMETHING !!! There was no way that they could ice a contender with the current line up as it sits , so as painful as it seems , this team needed to make strong changes and as fans that's going to hurt...at least for a little while , I am cautiously optimistic and hopeful. There are some strong contenders in our system and with patience and decent coaching there could be some real gems in the coal pile. Maybe we even get lucky and have a few Horvat's in the mix and as much as I like to think I know all about this team , the truth is there are only a handful of people who truly understand some of the potential of our younger player's and NOT one of those people are here ...I am looking forward to what the "Stash" has to say and I cant wait for Rookie Camp ! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ghostsof1915 Posted July 1, 2015 Share Posted July 1, 2015 Kinda of hard to get the most out of your players when so many have NTC's and NMC's. Benning is just cleaning up the mess. Gillis is the one that let the party get out of hand. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
theo5789 Posted July 1, 2015 Share Posted July 1, 2015 If Beauchemin can be signed for relatively cheap (2.5?), I wouldn't mind having a vet like him on the back line. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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