Linden. So...

[JM_]

Linden had two big ideas. The first one was re-tooling around the Sedins, and we all saw that result. Sure the second one was a longer rebuild, which for whatever reason he couldn't see to Aqulini. 

 

As far as how it would "look"? probably something like it looks now, with a lot of good young players. I doubt it would be much different from a player personnel pov. 

[Tre Mac]

34 minutes ago, Ghostsof1915 said:

Psst. Who hired Dim Jim? That's right. Linden. 

And he sewered Linden and the Nucks are now stuck with bloated payroll and they wasted Petey and Hughes ELC's.  You reap what you sow, Linden went back to his successful business ventures and his family.  Benning will be gone and Ownership has to repair all the damage done.

[higgyfan]

12 hours ago, DefCon1 said:

The problems we have is not fixable since our roster is mediocre. Tell me what issues can be fixed with a bottom 6 forward lines that scores very little. Gaudette and virtanen are below average forwards. Sutter, Beagle and Roussel can only PK and provide zero offense. Then you have the rag tag AHL spare parts in Hawyrluk, Mckewan amd Baily and a boat anchor known as Ericksson. We make fun of Oilers depth but their depth is better than ours since Poolparty and Chiasson can still score some goals. Who scores on our bottom 6 aside from maybe Motte scoring occasional goals? Then we have to rely on a rookie who plays on the SECOND line to provide offense. Lets be real, our issues are not easily fixed. 

Next year could look quite different.  Sutter is gonzo, Roussel should be traded (retain some salary) or bought out, only one of Gaud/Virt will be here.  One way or another Eriksson will be gone.   Some excellent UFAs will be available.

 

*Ferland/Coleman Laughton(3.5m) Motte(1.22m)

Goodrow(2.5M Beagle(3M) Mac(825.0)

Gaudette(1.5m)

[garthsbutcher]

14 hours ago, danjr said:

I am so curious what hindsight would be with Benning and Aquilini at this point.
Would dearly love to know Linden's true vision for how to go about the rebuild before he left.  At this point I feel we have stepped back from a few seasons ago even.
This team is utterly disgusting in every element on the ice.  There are few crisp passes.  Everyone is fumbling and fighting pucks.  Our tenders just aren't sharp even (well demmer is getting hotter).  Could his team building process have prevented, limited or negated this ineffective team?  

In my heart I think he had the right path, but everyone else wanted to choose a quicker more risky route.  That really looks like it's backfired at this point.  Sure we have some incredible pieces.  But if those pieces can't get you into the playoffs, how in the hell can you reach the ultimate goal?  Next year may be more of the same.

Linden will never work for Aqua man ever again and he despises Benning for throwing him under the bus. 

[oldnews]

Thanks to Trevor Linden - my perception is that he did a great job here.

Not going to speculate too much about the specifics of what may have caused his departure - my take isn't quite the same as the general.

 

If I were going to make a major change - it might be to mend those fences (if possible) and ask him to come back as President.

 

The franchise corrected itself in this sense once before....a nice move by Burke.   Perhaps take a page out of Burke's playbook.

[Ghostsof1915]

2 minutes ago, garthsbutcher said:

Linden will never work for Aqua man ever again and he despises Benning for throwing him under the bus. 

There’s also a possible conflict of interest because Linden has real estate and develops properties. 

[bbllpp]

Linden was brought in to put shine on the turd that MG set up for the Sedins’ declining years.

 

Rebuild from that? Lol.  MG left scorched earth, can’t tear down wasteland with a few worn edifices nearly eroded to nothing anchored in by NTC/NMC.

 

Honestly we actually have something to tear down now, everyone older than Petey worth anything gone, now that’s a tear down rebuild that some how Linden was supposed to deliver.

 

Linden was not president he was Governor General, kiss the babys and the cut the ribbons type bs to distract the fans from the nuclear winter on the ice.  Shows an opinion and the el Presidente Aquaman shows him the door

[bbllpp]

Hypothetically Linden’s plan has a later window than JB’s and proposes Horvat and/or Boeser trades for picks and/or high quality young blue liners.  
 

Very different out look for the team.  currently all our core guys are bunched together in age which will make it difficult to manage cap wise.

 

Anyway all speculation and moot bs at this point but, in my opinion,  JB has set us on a pretenders course, too many holes to be filled via FA and middling finishes aren’t going to give us the players needed through the draft

 

The fact the JB let Marky and Tanev go validates the long plan but the hypothetical Linden plan would’ve traded them for something rather than losing them for nothing  

[danjr]

Thanks for the input and opinions everyone.  Sure would be nice to hear from Linden in the future via some kind of Tell All, but he`s a pretty classy dude.  So odds are he won`t dish any dirt.

Yea it`s pretty shameful that we let some people walk away, yet are stuck with some real anchors.

[dougieL]

18 hours ago, DefCon1 said:

I wish we had Linden

 Could have been our Sakic for this rebuild. Linden was right about how we should not sign big name FAs as we werent ready yet. Linden was also right with regards to allowing our team accumulate picks instead of trading them for mediocre players or players that we dont even sign like Toffoli. They really screwed up the rebuild because with our scouting we would had even more prospects stepping in. Remember the 2nd and Madden that we gave up for 10 games of Toffoli? I mean if Benning knew we wouldnt be able to sign Toffoli why even trade for him? So many bonehead moves that were easily preventable.

Linden had no problem trading picks for Baertschi and Vey, and signing Eriksson to 6x6 while the Sedins were here. It is well-known that he thought it would be unfair to the Sedins to rebuild before they retired (Google if if you don't believe me). Yet when they retired and we had missed the playoffs for 3 straight years, all of a sudden he wants to rebuild and objected to signings of Beagle etc. If he had his way, Pettersson, Hughes, Horvat, Boeser would be on a rebuilding team for years to come with the hopes of becoming a playoff team years down the road. That may in fact be the right path, but the fact that he delayed the rebuild process by 3-4 years to protect the interests of the Sedins should not be forgotten. The signing of Eriksson, and early trading of picks, should be attributed to not just Benning, but Linden as well. I think too many people have overlooked this fact.

[dougieL]

Here's the quote:

 

Canucks president Trevor Linden did a Q-and-A with Sportsnet's Luke Fox where he admitted that his loyalty to the franchise's all-time leading scorers takes priority over a potential rebuild.

 

"We have Daniel and Henrik Sedin here, who are very important to this organization and icons in the city. They're not going anywhere. I don't know how I walk into the room and tell these guys, 'Strip it down.' I'm not sure it's fair to these guys," said Linden. "There's different circumstances, be it in Toronto or Carolina or Vancouver, that require different routes. It's not perfect, but I'm encouraged by the young players we've introduced, and we've got some young prospects."

 

Link to the article: https://www.thescore.com/news/1173594-canucks-linden-a-rebuild-would-be-unfair-to-sedins?fb_comment_id=1175164522578209_1175762465851748/amp

 

[dougieL]

Linden was a great player for us and a franchise icon, but for all those that are blaming Benning, Linden's decision to prioritize the interests of two individual players over the long term health of the franchise cannot be forgotten. Does Benning deserve blame for some bad moves? Yes. All the blame for all the bad moves? Absolutely not.

 

[Honky Cat]

Just now, dougieL said:

Linden was a great player for us and a franchise icon, but for all those that are blaming Benning, Linden's decision to prioritize the interests of two individual players over the long term health of the franchise cannot be forgotten. Does Benning deserve blame for some bad moves? Yes. All the blame for all the bad moves? Absolutely not.

 

This 100%

I'd say we wasted 2 years 'rebuilding on the fly', and 'win with the twins'

Trevor was in charge of the overall franchise direction, so thats on him.

This does not absolve Benning for some of his bad signings trades at the time.

[wai_lai416]

19 hours ago, khay said:

The thing is, he didn't know that we wouldn't be able to sign Toffoli.

 

I mean, did you know COVID was coming?

lol covid already showed up in vancouver well before feb just none of them gives a f about it and thought oh ya no big deal.

[JeremyCuddles]

The talk around the media front was at the draft Linden was asking around about rebuilds. I am guessing he was heavily looking into a slower rebuild. But we also have to take this with the fact we hadn't seen guys like Petey and Hughes breaking out as quickly as they did. He may have abandoned the slow rebuild to build around them for all we know. But it does sound like he wasn't interested in a sped up rebuild/retool.

[aqua59]

It's hard to disagree with your optics. I think we all saw this last year before the pandemic took hold. Vancouver wasn't playing great.

They had a bubble flash that had many optimistic but proved short lived when this season arrived. 

The subtraction of players may have added to the woes but not the sole reason they are the $hit$. 

 

Everything they say reflects a bad attitude. The same old post game lines. I'm tired of Millers tantrums, grow up along with your teammates. 

 

Most of these players have been playing at high levels all their lives and haven't faced much losing. 

 

The attitude at the bottom of this mess is reflected by the players. From the top down this organization has has a vanilla culture. Reflects Benning's

flat personality. It's flat like the on ice play, it's mono tone hockey reflects Benning's Kermit type voice. there's no contagious excitement from ownership or the GM

regarding this hockey team. It shows on the ice.

 

I've always hoped Benning would pull it off but I think it's evident this is a flop. There's some good evidence of talent but something has to be done before the talent becomes tainted and wants to leave Vancouver. 

 

The relationship between management and players that are coming up for new contract renewal has been grim. Including Green's new contract. 

 

The one thing with Linden he seemed to have an optimistic vision that clashed with Benning and Aqualini. 

 

We'll never really now what went on behind closed doors amongst this group but we know Linden is out and probably not ever coming back.

 

I don't understand how Aqualini can hemorrhage money at the cost of Benning's bad signings and clouded vision.

 

I'd really like to know Linden's plan and full vision as to compare with what has transpired. 

 

I've been following the Canucks from day one and many of us have seen this Canucks pathetic cycle before. It's too bad ownership doesn't get it. 

 

 

 

 

 

[MeanSeanBean]

On 2/25/2021 at 10:40 PM, linden17 said:

We were average. Not good. Not bad. Average. I’m sorry but it’s because we were average that we couldn’t score on a good, not great, performance from Smith. 

Corey Hirsch said Smith was playing out of his mind on the radio and "the best Mike Smith he has seen in 3 or 4 years".

 

But I guess you don't need to take an ex professional goalie and professional colour commentators word.

[linden17]

2 hours ago, shayster007 said:

Corey Hirsch said Smith was playing out of his mind on the radio and "the best Mike Smith he has seen in 3 or 4 years".

 

But I guess you don't need to take an ex professional goalie and professional colour commentators word.

Nope. I absolutely don’t have to take his word and won’t.  

[sockeye]

17 hours ago, dougieL said:

Linden had no problem trading picks for Baertschi and Vey, and signing Eriksson to 6x6 while the Sedins were here. It is well-known that he thought it would be unfair to the Sedins to rebuild before they retired (Google if if you don't believe me). Yet when they retired and we had missed the playoffs for 3 straight years, all of a sudden he wants to rebuild and objected to signings of Beagle etc. If he had his way, Pettersson, Hughes, Horvat, Boeser would be on a rebuilding team for years to come with the hopes of becoming a playoff team years down the road. That may in fact be the right path, but the fact that he delayed the rebuild process by 3-4 years to protect the interests of the Sedins should not be forgotten. The signing of Eriksson, and early trading of picks, should be attributed to not just Benning, but Linden as well. I think too many people have overlooked this fact.

That's true but I wish they would have followed Linden's advice and do a full rebuild 2.5 years ago (Linden left the organization July 2018), assuming Linden wanted the rebuild, because we would be 2.5 years further down the rebuild road and there would be more young players surrounding Petey and Hughes (i.e. more draft picks and young prospects in the pipeline). 

 

I agree that the rebuild could have started before the Sedins retired but that was a diifficult decision; kind of shoulda, coulda, woulda. In hindsight, maybe we should have done the full rebuild earlier.

 

I do think it was respectful of the Sedins to do what was done (by management and ownership) up to when they retired three years ago but I feel we have lost three seasons where we could've had a boat load of draft picks and prospects.  Even if we accumulate draft picks now we have wasted 3 seasons and Petey, Hughes, Boeser, Hoglander and Horvat are going to be that much older before we are a successful franchise again (I'd say, in 2 to 3 years from now).  This is my biggest beef.  Forget the rebuild - go to full rebuild; better late than never.

[oldnews]

If there were any reliable source to give us the fly-on-the-wall information, there may be some substance to go on....