Interesting Read from TSN about Canucks

[C.Schneider]

Sorry if this has been posted already, delete if that is the case.

 

Link to article
 

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If owners could be fired, who goes first?

Listening to Ottawa Senators owner Eugene Melnyk go off last week, pointing fingers and raging about the team’s current situation, a thought crossed my mind: What if fans, fed up with a lack of direction, progress and ultimately results, could push the button on the owner of their favourite franchise? 

Some owners just provide cash and stay out of the way. Others, qualified or not, insert themselves into daily decision making. Then there are those which treat their teams like toys. They shake them up and play with them for a while and then move on to something else, coming back every once in a while when the mood strikes. Quiet owners with huge chequebooks are the best for fans. Hire good people, and then get out of the way. 

Looking around the NHL, there are some obvious choices for dismissal, but in the end the choice on who walks the plank first comes down to Daryl Katz in Edmonton and Francesco Aquilini in Vancouver. A few years ago, Katz would have been the hands down winner/loser in this discussion. But today The Watercooler is giving the nod to Canucks ownership. They’re fired.

Katz stumbled around and hired his buddies and let the once-proud Oilers disintegrate into a franchise worth one’s pity rather than support. He seems to have learned, however, and the Oilers now have a top-end management group led by Bob Nicholson, a new building about to open and a franchise player in Connor McDavid. The Oilers are on the precipice of some very good things.

Out in Vancouver, however, the Canucks have one of the worst teams in hockey, a terrible prospect list and a coaching staff and management team now on the clock. 

Not very long ago, the Canucks had an experienced management group and one of the best coaches in the game. Gone are GM Mike Gillis, assistant GMs Laurence Gilman and Lorne Henning, director of player personnel Eric Crawford and head coach Alain Vigneault. All that group did was get the Canucks to Game 7 of the Stanley Cup in 2011, win the President’s Trophy twice and make the playoffs every year for what seemed like forever. The Canucks were a force. Now they’re a riddle.

Firing Vigneault was the biggest and worst mistake the Canucks have made under the ownership of Aquilini. Following it up by hiring a then burned out John Tortorella was a close second. 
Gillis was the boss for those moves, but there’s no way he makes them without being pressured. Gillis also knew the window had closed on his roster in 2013 after losing four straight to the San Jose Sharks in the opening round and wanted to retool but wasn’t given the green light.

The Canucks had a pedigreed team on and off the ice. Now? Well, they’re headed for rock bottom. Can they rebuild from there? Are the right pieces in place? There are far more questions than answers.

Trevor Linden was a hell of a player. We’re told he’s a very nice man and a smart fellow. GM Jim Benning and head coach Willie Desjardins have their attributes. Benning is a respected talent evaluator and Desjardins was an accomplished coach at the junior and AHL levels.

But they’re all question marks at this point. One thing is clear, they won’t be able to accomplish anything if they’re not left alone to do their jobs.

Gary Lawless

 

 

[John Tortorella]

Ya i read that. I would put our prospect pool on middle of league. 

 

[Gaudette Celly]

Quote

Out in Vancouver, however, the Canucks have one of the worst teams in hockey, a terrible prospect list and a coaching staff and management team now on the clock. 

Source: Gallagher

[Blue Jay 22]

I wouldn't say a terrible prospect list. Not top 10, but not bottom 10 either. I put us somewhere between 12-18.

[Hectic]

5 minutes ago, C.Schneider said:

Sorry if this has been posted already, delete if that is the case.

 

Link to article
 

 

I'm sorry but these articles piss me off. First off, I bet when Vigneault was fired TSN was all good, and now all of a sudden it was the worst decision we made. Second of all, this ownership meddling business just has no concrete and reliable source. And 3rd.. because we miss the playoffs 2 out of 9 (?) years we are now considered down to below Oilers status? Man just brutal

[X-PatLostInEdm]

He's flat-out wrong on the Edmonton situation. Lowe and MacTavish were there before Katz was. Katz didn't hire them, he just wouldn't fire them.

 

And if our brain trust was so wonderful back then, where were the articles from the eastern media saying so?

 

This story means nothing. Can't even get his research right.

[-Virtanen]

Toronto Sports Network strikes again.

[ThaManbeast]

6 minutes ago, Hectic said:

I'm sorry but these articles piss me off. First off, I bet when Vigneault was fired TSN was all good, and now all of a sudden it was the worst decision we made. Second of all, this ownership meddling business just has no concrete and reliable source. And 3rd.. because we miss the playoffs 2 out of 9 (?) years we are now considered down to below Oilers status? Man just brutal

2 out of 3.

[Hectic]

Just now, ThaManbeast said:

2 out of 3.

ya but then keep going back

[Kakanucks]

YAWN, what the H E double hockey sticks does eastern media know about Canucks anyways.

 

 

[Nuxfanabroad]

10 minutes ago, Hectic said:

I'm sorry but these articles piss me off. First off, I bet when Vigneault was fired TSN was all good, and now all of a sudden it was the worst decision we made. Second of all, this ownership meddling business just has no concrete and reliable source. And 3rd.. because we miss the playoffs 2 out of 9 (?) years we are now considered down to below Oilers status? Man just brutal

When it's in the moment, you may paint with a fine tip brush..if that suits yer narrative.

 

Now when looking back at a franchise's history(even recent), where HQ's likely hate/resent the owners(?, only explanation imaginable?)..just slap on any colours with the widest brush available.

 

The unfortunates strolling slowly in a short skirt, in the seedy end of town? Yes, that's essentially what 21st C media has been reduced to. It's probably worse in the Financial/socio-pol realms...

[aGENT]

Stoooopid article is stoooopid

[HC20.0]

I disagree with this article. Firing Gillis was definitely the right choice, especially after how badly he bungled the goalie situation. AV's time was up here, simple. The Canucks were falling apart under Gillis, and he left this management group a HUGE mess. Vets past their best before dates, and almost no prospects. Everybody saw this season coming, it was no secret that we were going to be bad this year. Poor arguments in this article. Katz or Melnyk deserve the honour. Katz refused to fire Lowe or MacT, and ruined the Oilers, while Melnyk goes on and on about how mad he is with his team, yet refuses to spend any money on them. If he actually opened his wallet, the Sens could be a very good team, and probably would've made the playoffs this year.

[higgyfan]

Looks like lawless is clueless.

[Alflives]

21 minutes ago, C.Schneider said:

Sorry if this has been posted already, delete if that is the case.

 

Link to article
 

 

I think Lawless I reading CDC.  Much of this is plagiarism.  Right Desi

[nux4lyfe]

Yeah these whack jobs are idiots, first of all..we don't necessarily have a 'terrible' prospect pool, If anything it looks much better than it did 2 yrs ago thanks to JB...Also AV was aquaman's firing not Gillis..I believe that 100%..I'd have him back in a sec if I could.

[Kaner]

Although I question JB and WD's moves sometimes, they aren't bad given the cards they were dealt. It's a process that doesn't happen overnight. Having said that, I wish we got to experience a 'green light' retool with Gillis and Vingeault. It would be interesting to say the least, about how we would compare to where we are now.  

[Nuxfanabroad]

Where are the media indictments directed towards the Laffs???

 

Burke set them back a decade, with his misdirection. Was he working for TO..or Boston(secretly?)?? Follow him up with his lackey, Donut-Davo.

 

How many atrocious buyouts? Komisarek..Grabs..Clarkson? Followed by more contracts that were painfully desperate.

 

Their coaching-carousel?

 

Their wh*ring teachers/media incestuous ownership, mogul-meltdown?

 

Now they've got a front office hierarchy more akin to Chinese communist leadership, where you've got to play Whack-a-mole(TM), cos' you don't know who/what to blame.

 

What precisely have THEY accomplished, since the Beatles were last touring?

[Canada Hockey Place]

For the most part I like the owners. If they get blamed for the bad times / they should get credit for the good times. 

 

But if they were the ones who who pushed for hiring Tortorella... and then fired Gillis and Co. after that... they kind of deserve some negative karma for forcing someone else to fall on the sword. Shame.

 

Having said that, I hope the luck turns around, this season will be forgotten. 

[Kragar]

Aqualini bought the team in '04.  If you are going to give credit to AV, MG, etc. for all the success that came, what about the person that hired MG in the first place (2008).

 

Hey, he may not be a great owner, but these jackasses like Lawless need to take off the blue-and-white glasses and realize things could be worse.

 

MLSE, bringing the world to its feet.  Yep, the wide world of fans whose teams play against the Leafs.