Francesco Aquilini says "I have no plans to make changes."

[stawns]

5 hours ago, appleboy said:

I fully agree that cap management has been very poor. Have more cap space this year would have allowed them to add this year instead of regressing a bit. 

Here is a thought to mull over. If you look at the contract structure we see that next year clears up a chunk of space and then the year after all of the suspect deals are gone. Jim has said that they plan years ahead . 

So , what if the team is actually ahead of what they had planned for. Players like Hughes and Petey hit the ground running. Rebuilding the core of your club is not a small task.

And that was the plan in place.  It was the pandemic and the flat cap that screwed them this year and no one could have seen that coming.  That said JB did put himself in a vulnerable position, however it should rectify itself in the next season or two.

[Convincing John]

Honestly if Benning just stops his stupid, clockwork free agent frenzy I’d be totally happy with him. Everyone is all “We have so much cap space in 2 years” while forgetting that Jim never just sits on cap space, ever. I guarantee that we will have at least (1) 30 year old locked up for 5-6 years after the garbage comes off the books. He can’t help himself. 

[stawns]

1 minute ago, Convincing John said:

Honestly if Benning just stops his stupid, clockwork free agent frenzy I’d be totally happy with him. Everyone is all “We have so much cap space in 2 years” while forgetting that Jim never just sits on cap space, ever. I guarantee that we will have at least (1) 30 year old locked up for 5-6 years after the garbage comes off the books. He can’t help himself. 

He used that cap space to keep the pressure of a franchise off the shoulders of a couple 20 year olds.  

[KirkSave]

6 hours ago, dank.sinatra said:

Look at the Leafs. They started rebuilding at the exact same time JB took over. That's a good hockey that has been built from the ground up over the past seven years with an actual sense of direction and action plan.

And the leafs haven't made it out the 1st rnd in that time. This will likely be the year for them to get over that hump based on how the current alignment is but then again not everything goes as planned (ex. tampa getting swept by columbus 2 years ago). 

 

Also, what is the leafs sense of direction and action plan? I think they have handcuffed themsleves with their big 4 contracts. They will have trouble resigning MR for his next deal and FA will need a new deal and will likely sign one similar to Marky's. If they lose both those players it will hurt them big time.

[Convincing John]

3 minutes ago, stawns said:

He used that cap space to keep the pressure of a franchise off the shoulders of a couple 20 year olds.  

Give me a break, that is pure moose poop. This theory is right up there with the effectiveness of essential oils. If you want some vets to take the pressure off the youngins sign some short term contracts to guys in their twilight. You don’t need to lock up 4th liners for half a decade. 

[-DLC-]

16 minutes ago, combover said:

Yeah because so many owners come out and say I plan on firing the gm.

only reason he hasn’t been fired is COVID changes he landscape for hiring and interviewing. 
Not to mention 18000 fans chanting fire Benning at a game. 
he’s handcuffed himself with his terrible cap management.

 

 

When did you last go to a game?   Curious?

 

And if COVID changes the landscape, can you apply that more liberally?  To scheduling and impact on players.

 

I don't disagree about the cap management...but you can't just "decide" and "do" things based on ideas.  There are others involved in that process who also get a say.

[kanucks25]

14 hours ago, aGENT said:

Nope. But we have most of the key pieces with few of them even sniffing their primes, let alone in them. Hate to break it to CDC but in reality, that could mean another season at some point down the line, that is also 'disappointing' as the team and it's core continues to mature. Going from rebuild to contender is seldom a linear line.

 

And? Does that speak to how the team is positioned next year or the year after? Nobody is suggesting they haven't massively underperformed this season. In fact that's kind of my point. Learn from it, study areas of weakness and continue to build and improve. That's how you get better... Not panic and knee jerk nonsense.

 

As I replied earlier... They could/should be more competitive next year and then could take another small step back the year after etc. Or they could make a final/win a cup in the next couple seasons. We'll see what we see when we see it. There's no magic 'we'll be good in X year'. That's frankly, silly.

 

That said, if people were expecting us to be a legit contender before any of Pettersson, Hughes etc are even in their primes... As much as that's a lovely fantasy (and I'd be thrilled to see it), it's not terribly realistic or objective.

 

I get it's no fun watching your team lose, I'm not particularly enjoying it either. But the sheer, knee jerk lunacy in this market is laughable. People need to attempt to at least glance at the bigger picture.

 

Remind me not to rely on any of you yahoos in a crisis 

How is it knee-jerk? It's year 7 lol. If people were asking for a firing after the first summer of Benning's tenure (although that actually wouldn't have even been a stretch after what he did in that first off-season).

 

7 years is a long time to be asking people to continue being patient, especially when the team looks as bad as it has (save for last night). I get that there are "signs" but there are also signs of Jesus Christ returning to earth. I see wackos on the corners of busy intersections warning me to repent all over metro Vancouver.

 

How long is too long? How many years do you give Benning before you agree he should be fired? Saying things like "rebuilds aren't linear" or "you don't understand the plan" is just a way to muddy to waters so that you'll never have to admit you're wrong. And then when there are no more excuses left, time to play the owner card or the pandemic card as if every other team doesn't deal with the same stuff.

 

Pettersson made an impact in year 4, Hughes year 6. What does Benning have to show for the years before that other than Boeser? (with Demko still not being established in the grand scheme of things).

 

Benning deserves praise for the handful of good pieces he's put together, no doubt. He's also had the luxury of drafting pretty high most years he's been here, so good picks out of the top 7 of the draft are to be expected, in fact that should be the bare minimum considering we saw nothing good on the ice during those years.

 

But every time he does something good he does something else to stand in the way of his own success; this past off-season was one of his worst, which is saying something, and deserved to be the last nail in the coffin. People warned of the opportunity cost and long-term cap and asset effects of the moves made 4,5,6 years ago and they came to roost in the off-season (not to mention it's probably means more of the same next season in year 8).

Edited February 14, 2021 by kanucks25

[kanucks25]

22 minutes ago, stawns said:

And that was the plan in place.  It was the pandemic and the flat cap that screwed them this year and no one could have seen that coming.

Yes but why was Benning, who has iced a bottom-feeding team for the majority of his 7 year tenure here, operating capped out for most of said tenure?

 

It's like if you were perpetually spending all of your pay-cheque money every 2 weeks then wondered why you have no money left when you get suddenly laid off. How to save money / prepare for unexpected events is something you teach children. It's not an excuse for a high-ranking official of a multi-million dollar franchise. Y'all need standards. Like I always say, I wish my bosses expected as little of me as some fans do of Benning, it'd be an easy life.

Edited February 14, 2021 by kanucks25

[combover]

6 minutes ago, debluvscanucks said:

When did you last go to a game?   Curious?

 

And if COVID changes the landscape, can you apply that more liberally?  To scheduling and impact on players.

 

I don't disagree about the cap management...but you can't just "decide" and "do" things based on ideas.  There are others involved in that process who also get a say.

Been three years since my last game.

this just didn’t happen this is a result of years of poor planning and terrible managing.most saw this coming.

For sure we can use the schedule as an excuse just like every season we have the toughest schedule with travel . 

Most gms wouldn’t get so many mulagins on bad contracts and lost UFas.
I believe if this was a regular season no COVID Jim would already be gone. 
ive been at games when fans turn on players gms and coaches 

we’ve all seen it on tv over the years to. 
1# trending in Canada a week ago firebenning 

Is just the new age chant. 
he’s done here,the owner just deflecting.

 

 

[kanucks25]

10 hours ago, oldnews said:

Making these statements  - and then walking another walk - would only undermine Aquilini's credibility.  He's made similar comments in recent times -and both management and the coaching staff remain here.

Like this one? We're a couple months away from the 3 year mark.

 

 

 

 

[Tony Romo]

I think it is a straw man argument going after the media. If there was anything he had an issue with he should have held a zoom call and call out specific things he had an issue with. Saying the media pours gas on the fire is a big claim without having any evidence to back him up. 

 

If there is anything we should take away from this week and losing TSN1040 is the value of local media and how they help us connect with the team and community.

Edited February 14, 2021 by Tony Romo

[kanucks25]

6 hours ago, appleboy said:

We should all be happy that we are seeing promising progress. 

The words of a beaten down fan with no expectations.

 

This is pretty much why Benning has lasted as long as he has.

 

I honestly find it hilarious when people say how toxic and erratic this fan-base is. We're snowflakes.

Edited February 14, 2021 by kanucks25

[ShawnAntoski]

39 minutes ago, Convincing John said:

Honestly if Benning just stops his stupid, clockwork free agent frenzy I’d be totally happy with him. Everyone is all “We have so much cap space in 2 years” while forgetting that Jim never just sits on cap space, ever. I guarantee that we will have at least (1) 30 year old locked up for 5-6 years after the garbage comes off the books. He can’t help himself. 

Lets see if he had learned some lesson to not be so generous with terms but so far, that has been his m.o..  Preferably, I hope he still gets a chance to win with his core.

Edited February 14, 2021 by ShawnAntoski

[Tony Romo]

30 minutes ago, KirkSave said:

And the leafs haven't made it out the 1st rnd in that time. This will likely be the year for them to get over that hump based on how the current alignment is but then again not everything goes as planned (ex. tampa getting swept by columbus 2 years ago). 

 

Also, what is the leafs sense of direction and action plan? I think they have handcuffed themsleves with their big 4 contracts. They will have trouble resigning MR for his next deal and FA will need a new deal and will likely sign one similar to Marky's. If they lose both those players it will hurt them big time.

Me personally, I would rather spend 11 million on John Tavares and have to work around the contracts of star players, than spend 9 million on a 4th line and have to work around those contracts to sign our stars. 

 

I would also rather have had 60 draft picks the last 7 years as a rebuilding team, instead of 48, especially since drafting is this current regimes biggest strength. 

 

 

[knucklehead91]

17 hours ago, King Heffy said:

Do you want Baumer to cause more damage with our young D though?  Hughes is already struggling in his own end thanks to Baumgartner's inability to implement any kind of defensive structure. 

Who needs defensive structure when we are in the other end for 80% of the game

[stawns]

38 minutes ago, Convincing John said:

Give me a break, that is pure moose poop. This theory is right up there with the effectiveness of essential oils. If you want some vets to take the pressure off the youngins sign some short term contracts to guys in their twilight. You don’t need to lock up 4th liners for half a decade. 

who did he sign for 5 years?

[-DLC-]

30 minutes ago, combover said:

Been three years since my last game.

this just didn’t happen this is a result of years of poor planning and terrible managing.most saw this coming.

For sure we can use the schedule as an excuse just like every season we have the toughest schedule with travel . 

Most gms wouldn’t get so many mulagins on bad contracts and lost UFas.
I believe if this was a regular season no COVID Jim would already be gone. 
ive been at games when fans turn on players gms and coaches 

we’ve all seen it on tv over the years to. 
1# trending in Canada a week ago firebenning 

Is just the new age chant. 
he’s done here,the owner just deflecting.

 

 

I've seen some of the best games in years in that recent past.   Exciting as hell....

 

I don't care about what trends on Twitter...it doesn't make it factual.   I have not heard that chant...not once.   It IS mostly people on Twitter, not the ones in the stands.  Maybe because we all have different expectations?  Some want to be entertained and know that winning/losing (even in streaks) is part of it and we go to the games HOPING our team gives us a good game.  Some support winning and losing in unacceptable.  But that way isn't fun for me.   

 

Look, I'm not denying that there are issues and they've been glaring.  But teams have to figure things out as a work in progress and we have to allow for that.  Some put a 7 year stamp on this but it was...a retool that then transitioned into a rebuild.  

 

We don't have Ferland, who would have likely provided some of the grit/pushback we long for.  Mistakes have been made, for sure.   

 

But I feel that all the "noise" that surrounds this team is more harmful than helpful.  That's all. 

 

It's a never ending cycle of "FIRE"  (Gilles, Willy, Green, Benning, Torts, etc.).  I don't know that it will ever be perfect enough to stop the chants.  Which is sort of the point.  So that seems to be more the "go to" for some who may not accept other "excuses" that are often "reasons".

 

I don't hate everything Benning's done, nor do I love it.  "It is what it is" and when we lose, we always look for someone to blame as a scapegoat.  "Excuses".

[stawns]

6 minutes ago, Tony Romo said:

Me personally, I would rather spend 11 million on John Tavares and have to work around the contracts of star players, than spend 9 million on a 4th line and have to work around those contracts to sign our stars. 

 

I would also rather have had 60 draft picks the last 7 years as a rebuilding team, instead of 48, especially since drafting is this current regimes biggest strength. 

 

 

disagree, you win Cups with 4 complete lines

[stawns]

45 minutes ago, KirkSave said:

And the leafs haven't made it out the 1st rnd in that time. This will likely be the year for them to get over that hump based on how the current alignment is but then again not everything goes as planned (ex. tampa getting swept by columbus 2 years ago). 

 

Also, what is the leafs sense of direction and action plan? I think they have handcuffed themsleves with their big 4 contracts. They will have trouble resigning MR for his next deal and FA will need a new deal and will likely sign one similar to Marky's. If they lose both those players it will hurt them big time.

not to mention the Leafs did not "start" rebuilding at the same time........years and years of futility

[Tony Romo]

1 minute ago, stawns said:

disagree, you win Cups with 4 complete lines

Not saying you are wrong. I just think the best way to get 4 complete lines is to pay for stars in the top 6 and top 4, and build in the rest of the roster under those constraints, rather than pay for bottom 6 guys and try and fit in the stars.