Message to the Players

[Patel Bure]

On 2/26/2021 at 8:26 PM, DefCon1 said:

Am more worried about who Benning will target after all the "bad contracts" are off the cap. Will he target more washed up or overrated free agents and sign them to an Eriksson contract or has he learned his lesson? I just don't believe he can be the GM we need to build a legit cup contender. I rather have Jim Rutherford who has experience building a cup contender or even Gillis who actually took us to the game 7 of the cup finals. Problem with Benning is he can not identify good NHLers when he signs them to big contracts. We got here because of Benning mistakes, don't forget that. Benning having cap space could also be a bad thing too if he hasn't learned a lesson.

The only reason why we initially overpaid certain players on money and term (Eriksson, Sutter, Beagle, Roussel, etc.,) is because the kids in our system weren’t ready to fulfill those roles.  
 

PTO’s aren’t going to sign with a team if the role isn’t right for them, while cheap vets aren’t going to sign at favorable term and money on downward trending teams in a high tax Canadian market.

 

Hence, the need to overpay on established vets and/or bring in youngish reclamation projects.     
 

It’s a less than ideal situation but it’s still better than throwing your prospects/kids into the fire and watching them crash and burn (as we almost did with McCann and Virtanen).  
 

it’s no coincidence whatsoever that all/most of our bad/transitional contracts will be off the books in this coming off season and next.  It was deliberately designed this way.
 

Getting back to my main point, the main reason why we won’t overpay vets on term and money this time around is because....
 

1) We now have kids in the system that are ready to take on those roles even if there are some growing pains involved.  Hence, the reason why we were able to walk from Toffoli (Hoglander), Markstrom (Demko), and Tanev (soon to be Tryamkin).   It will also likely be the reason why we’ll be able to walk from Pearson (Podkolzin) at the end of this season.   
 

2) We now have a young and promising core in the right positions, and high ticket UFA’s wil see us as an up and coming team.    It’s why I keep harping on the 2022 off-season.   
 

A) ALL of our “bad/transitional” contracts will be off the books with the only possible exception being Myers (which isn’t all that terrible to begin with).

 

B-). Miller, Horvat, and Schmidt will still be on very cap friendly deals.

C) Boeser will be an RFA but will have a very reasonable QO at 7.5 million.

D) Guys like Pettersson, Hughes, Demko, Hoglander, Podkolzin, and Juolevi will all be closer to their peak years.   
 

To add, If the Canucks bomb this year, then there’s even a small chance that our 2021 1st rounder could be a factor in the 22-23 season.

 

UFA’s and their agents aren’t stupid.   They will analyze the above and will see Vancouver as a team with lots of promise.  Hence - we might be able to attract “Marian Hossa” type UFA(s) that would be willing to take on more favorable term and money if they see Vancouver as a team being able to realistically make a deep run.  

Edited February 28, 2021 by DarkIndianRises

[ShawnAntoski]

On 2/26/2021 at 8:27 PM, CanadianRugby said:

 

 

Benning's Canucks are starting to look like Chiarelli's Oilers - Vancouver Is Awesome https://www.vancouverisawesome.com/canucks-hockey/bennings-canucks-are-starting-to-look-like-chiarellis-oilers-3463476

 

This article failed to mention that Chiapet was not really good with his draft picks and his trades were (far worst off) than JBs' were - using hindsight.  I mostly, found the article trying to form a narative that since both Chiapet & JB were in Boston that they are very similar somehow (?) but somehow, when they were together they managed to build a cup winning roster.  My point, is that when trying to make a comparison context matters and the overall team: ownership, coaches and etc will also have to be considered cause things are more complex than they appear to be - rather than what was being presented in this article. I would argue: where does Aquaman or Weisbrod come in when making these comparison but I get it.

 

A teams developmental curve is not a linear path and with so many things going right last year; this shorten season, seems to offer a perfect opportunity to reload for the upcoming years; this is nothing new and most of the elite teams had to go through a very similar trajectory to become elite but the duration can be dissimilar.

 

The Oilers are a two a trick pony (for the most part) and this year (except for the first game against them) I still say we match up well against them and the main differences that affected the results were: they scored on there chances and our goalies were guilty of letting in a few softies during our games with them.  With the Oilers, Holland seems to be taking a very patient approach (imo); he seems to be content (right now) to let things sort itself out and luckily for him this season, they might be a playoff team but the issue of being VERY top heavy team (with a Generational talent) still lingers.  As for the Canucks, I hope Aquaman can perhaps hire a team president that is capable of working with JB cause these next few years contract negotiations will be VERY IMPORTANT to this teams success moving forward.

Edited February 28, 2021 by ShawnAntoski

[ilduce39]

34 minutes ago, ShawnAntoski said:

This article failed to mention that Chiapet was not really good with his draft picks and his trades were (far worst off) than JBs' were - using hindsight.  I mostly, found the article trying to form a narative that since both Chiapet & JB were in Boston that they are very similar somehow (?) but somehow, when they were together they managed to build a cup winning roster.  My point, is that when trying to make a comparison context matters and the overall team: ownership, coaches and etc will also have to be considered cause things are more complex than they appear to be - rather than what was being presented in this article. I would argue: where does Aquaman or Weisbrod come in when making these comparison but I get it.

 

A teams developmental curve is not a linear path and with so many things going right last year; this shorten season, seems to offer a perfect opportunity to reload for the upcoming years; this is nothing new and most of the elite teams had to go through a very similar trajectory to become elite but the duration can be dissimilar.

 

The Oilers are a two a trick pony (for the most part) and this year (except for the first game against them) I still say we match up well against them and the main differences were that affected the results were: they scored on there chances and our goalies were guilty of letting in a few softies during our games with them.  With the Oilers, Holland seems to be taking a very patient approach (imo) and he seems to be content (right now) to let things sort itself out and luckily for him this season they might be a playoff team.  As for the Canucks, I hope Aquaman can perhaps hire a team president that is capable of working with JB cause these next few years contract negotiations will be very important to this teams success.

Yeah, that’s such a bum take.  
 

The Oilers were a bunch of prima donna 1OAs who paid lip service to “playing the right way” but were content to rack up points and party. 
 

“You had a group of players that talked about how they wanted to make the playoffs, and talked about how sick they were of losing, and then by Game Three after losing 6-1, they’re straight out to the bar to three in the morning, lighting up the night life scene in Edmonton. Like, come on, give me a break. It was to the point where it was ridiculous where the lifestyle was way more important than actually playing the game and making the playoffs. Like I said, talk is cheap.

“Even in practice, I came from a group where you’re practising against guys like (Patrice) Bergeron or (Zdeno) Chara, and you’re going at each other, like game intensity — and that is how you get better. That is how you be a playoff contender. That is how you be a champion. And you try to instil some of those values. We had some other guys who had been on the playoff teams and they had the same frustration. They’d come and practice hard and there was a group of guys there that had like, it was too cool to try hard. Derogatory terms for trying too hard in practice. That’s the culture, right.

 

I don’t think that’s our issue at the moment. I’ve been over it before and this year is like that perfect storm of crap to start the season and now it’s more frustration and second guessing themselves... not that they don’t care.  I still see this as a character group. 
 

 

 On the other hand:

 

It was a combination of problems, Ference said, including hardcore pressure from the fans and media. “That aspect of feeling, uh, like more so scared to make a mistake and be the whipping boy rather than being bold and taking your chances and having that confidence to try the play. I think some guys might get into that role of just being scared to be the whipping boys… You take less risks. Your urge to win and be bold is less than your urge to not be the whipping boy or stand out. I think that is one aspect.

“I think that the quickness that radio or newspaper or fans jump and attack their own guys is horrible. I think that the (lack of) quickness to defend players within the organization. I remember Jeff Petry or Schultz getting raked over the coals and nobody coming to defend them and just trading them after they’ve beaten them down for months, then trading them. It’s like, ‘God.’ It’s not just for those guys but it’s for other guys on the team, you’re looking at it and saying, ‘They don’t have his back. Are they going to have mine when it’s my turn to be the whipping boy?'”

 

I mean, that sounds familiar. Maybe it’s our stupid media and our Twitter fan base going full Oilers.

 

From: 

 

https://www.google.ca/amp/s/edmontonjournal.com/sports/hockey/nhl/cult-of-hockey/andrew-ference-rips-terrible-practice-habits-party-atmosphere-of-2013-15-edmonton-oilers/wcm/ec1f8443-d3c7-476e-a7ee-13e2d48ea08b/amp/

Edited February 28, 2021 by ilduce39

[ShawnAntoski]

2 hours ago, ilduce39 said:

Yeah, that’s such a bum take.  
 

The Oilers were a bunch of prima donna 1OAs who paid lip service to “playing the right way” but were content to rack up points and party. 
 

“You had a group of players that talked about how they wanted to make the playoffs, and talked about how sick they were of losing, and then by Game Three after losing 6-1, they’re straight out to the bar to three in the morning, lighting up the night life scene in Edmonton. Like, come on, give me a break. It was to the point where it was ridiculous where the lifestyle was way more important than actually playing the game and making the playoffs. Like I said, talk is cheap.

“Even in practice, I came from a group where you’re practising against guys like (Patrice) Bergeron or (Zdeno) Chara, and you’re going at each other, like game intensity — and that is how you get better. That is how you be a playoff contender. That is how you be a champion. And you try to instil some of those values. We had some other guys who had been on the playoff teams and they had the same frustration. They’d come and practice hard and there was a group of guys there that had like, it was too cool to try hard. Derogatory terms for trying too hard in practice. That’s the culture, right.

 

I don’t think that’s our issue at the moment. I’ve been over it before and this year is like that perfect storm of crap to start the season and now it’s more frustration and second guessing themselves... not that they don’t care.  I still see this as a character group. 
 

 

 On the other hand:

 

It was a combination of problems, Ference said, including hardcore pressure from the fans and media. “That aspect of feeling, uh, like more so scared to make a mistake and be the whipping boy rather than being bold and taking your chances and having that confidence to try the play. I think some guys might get into that role of just being scared to be the whipping boys… You take less risks. Your urge to win and be bold is less than your urge to not be the whipping boy or stand out. I think that is one aspect.

“I think that the quickness that radio or newspaper or fans jump and attack their own guys is horrible. I think that the (lack of) quickness to defend players within the organization. I remember Jeff Petry or Schultz getting raked over the coals and nobody coming to defend them and just trading them after they’ve beaten them down for months, then trading them. It’s like, ‘God.’ It’s not just for those guys but it’s for other guys on the team, you’re looking at it and saying, ‘They don’t have his back. Are they going to have mine when it’s my turn to be the whipping boy?'”

 

I mean, that sounds familiar. Maybe it’s our stupid media and our Twitter fan base going full Oilers.

I agree, that the article was meant to be a click bait at most.  Also, having a generational talent in McD in the roster and there record during his tenure is just atrocious (Hollands' leadership might change this or maybe not but he is being very patient - right now). 

 

As a Canuck fan, I am fine watching the Oilers remain in mediocrity limbo during the McD era and they can tank there way to another handful of 1st overalls.  I wonder if he finishes that contract with them; imo, he is a generational talent but not a leader that can lead a team to a championship (ie: in the memorial cup he was mostly shut down by a lesser known player and they lost - Cole Cassels 15 mins of fame).

Edited February 28, 2021 by ShawnAntoski

[DIBdaQUIB]

On 2/26/2021 at 7:27 AM, PhillipBlunt said:

What will pass?

 

The lackadaisical play, and complete lack of killer instinct? Or the inability to close out a game?

 

What about Olli, Thatcher, and Zack? 

 

This won't pass until changes are made. Until coaches have a better game plan than a chimp throwing $&!# against a wall hoping something sticks. 

 

I'm sorry, but coddling these underachievers won't solve a single thing. 

The Vancouver Kumbayas. 

[DIBdaQUIB]

On 2/26/2021 at 1:31 PM, Timråfan said:

If I were anyone of those players I would bite Benning in the neck and squeese out every dollar I can get.

I would be very surprised if anyone of them takes a team friendly contract when Benning just fecks them afterwards.

Agreed. Why take a hometown discount only to have JB throw the savings into a big contract for some washed up FA? 

[oldnews]

On 2/26/2021 at 7:27 PM, CanadianRugby said:

 

 

Benning's Canucks are starting to look like Chiarelli's Oilers - Vancouver Is Awesome https://www.vancouverisawesome.com/canucks-hockey/bennings-canucks-are-starting-to-look-like-chiarellis-oilers-3463476

 

It's a cool story - but trying too hard to fake the facts.

 

"They moved on from players that made them successful, like Sekera?"

 

Sekera was there for two more years following -  that one playoff round victory in 2016/17.

They didn't 'move on' from Sekera until 19/20 when Dallas signed him.

 

The Canucks didn't realize how good Markstrom was?  Another cool story.

The author has evidently never heard of an expansion draft.

 

Anyhow, the parallels with the pond hockey lottery champions - is some ironing for sure - coming from tank nation no less,.