Rutherford again criticizes Canucks structure: 'Something has to be fixed'

[lmm]

I think instead of throwing more jerseys on the ice, canuck fans should start wearing their jerseys backward to games

until management/ownership is addressed 

[EdgarM]

36 minutes ago, HorvatToBaertschi said:

You have to admit that we look like an absolute hell of a team for 20 minutes every game though. If the fix is one single 2/3 RD (which it legitimately could be, but i might be overselling that), we can stay optimistic right? Because I've watched every single game this season and there are moments, even periods, where we look like contenders. Then we choke. We're not as far off as it seems. 

 

36 minutes ago, BureBurrito said:

This team top to bottom is once again a mess. Someone buy this team and clean house the 8 year stench of a losing culture.

Is there anyone on this team willing to "Take the Bull by the Horns"? Anyone willing to go " Beast Mode"? A lot of "so-so" players but not many I would call Gamers.

The last Preds game we played well until the Preds pushed back and started to get physical. That's when we gave up 2 quick goals and never recovered after that. 

We need a team that can step up when we run into adversity. 

[lmm]

2 minutes ago, EdgarM said:

 

Is there anyone on this team willing to "Take the Bull by the Horns"? Anyone willing to go " Beast Mode"? A lot of "so-so" players but not many I would call Gamers.

The last Preds game we played well until the Preds pushed back and started to get physical. That's when we gave up 2 quick goals and never recovered after that. 

We need a team that can step up when we run into adversity. 

I seem to remember Bo hitting the post

I thought at that moment

there it is, the game just changed- its over

 

but you could also say the Jeannot hit on Bear was THE point of change

[Jaimito]

 

https://theprovince.com/sports/hockey/nhl/vancouver-canucks/bruce-boudreau-fires-back-after-president-jim-rutherford-slams-structure?utm_term=Autofeed&utm_medium=Social&utm_source=Twitter#Echobox=1667935873

 

Then, in an afternoon radio address, Canucks president of hockey operations Jim Rutherford sang a familiar refrain about poor structure, poor training camp, poor 3-6-3 start and poor work ethic. It’s been bugging him for weeks and for the hockey operations boss, it’s been like picking at a scab that won’t heal.

 

“Not enough extra drive and tempo to prepare for a five-game road trip,” Rutherford told Postmedia on Monday. “And have a structure to make it easier for the players to play in all situations.”

 

Canucks president of hockey operations Jim Rutherford (right) and general manager Patrik Allvin in May, 2022.

That falls on Bruce Boudreau and his players, but the coach also defended the efforts Tuesday morning.

 

“We play as hard as we can, we play as well as we can and lay it all out on the line every night,” he started. “It is what it is. I try to keep the noise out of the room as much as I can.

 

“I’m not in the players’ mind, but if we take the positive effect, it angers them to show that everybody is wrong. This is my 47th year in the business and I’ve seen a lot of things. It’s another added to the book that I will never write.

 

“I think every person wants to prove people wrong when they say things. I’m a pretty competitive guy at heart and maybe that’s the message — prove that it’s not a true

statement.”

 

Rutherford has said the Canucks are guilty of “playing loose” and general manager Patrik Allvin dropped an interesting line Oct. 25 when he addressed the Boudreau situation with the club at 0-5-2.

 

Despite the 32-15-10 run when Boudreau supplanted the fired Travis Green as head coach in December, Allvin said the coach “had a tremendous start here and I think teams started to take us light (lightly).

 

“If you look at how we played, we had a tremendous goaltender (Thatcher Demko) and special teams, but the 5-on-5 had to be better in order to be a top team.”

 

Not exactly a ringing endorsement of a lame-duck coach in the option year of a contract because there was no thought of extending somebody with a half-season book of work. And when the players got word Tuesday morning of what was said by their president about structure, they agreed to agree and also disagree.

 

“Obviously, there are different times in the game where we can be better structurally, but I think that’s every team,” said Canucks captain Bo Horvat. “Do I think we’re terrible? No. But there are things we need to clean up and we’ll continue to do that.

 

“We’re focused on what’s going on in this room. We have a lot of belief in ourselves and have enough good hockey to know we have a really good team. It’s good to be challenged and should put more fuel to the fire and we want to prove a lot of people wrong.

 

“Because it (message) has been repetitive, it’s kind of on us. We have to execute.”

 

J.T. Miller has challenged a good power play to be even better, so a directive from the president that not all is right with the Canucks isn’t going to faze him. Probably motivate him.

 

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Bruce Boudreau fires back as Canucks president slams structure, slow start

Canucks coach Bruce Boudreau defended his team's efforts after president Jim Rutherford criticized their poor structure and work ethic.

Author of the article:

Ben Kuzma

Publishing date:

Nov 08, 2022  •  1 hour ago  •  4 minute read  •   Join the conversation

 

Canucks coach Bruce Boudreau, who has a lot on his mind, now has the club president questioning structure and a slow start. PHOTO BY BOB FRID /USA TODAY Sports

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KANATA, Ont. — This is not a happy place.

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First came manic Monday. Then came tension Tuesday.

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Rival coaches of two struggling NHL clubs have been in the crosshairs of concern and everybody is waiting for somebody to pull a trigger.

 

The uneasiness started Monday morning when Ottawa Senators general manager Pierre Dorion had to quell the clamour for change from a 4-7-0 record by supporting — but not giving a vote of confidence — to bench boss D.J. Smith.

 

“I’m happy with the job D.J. and the staff have done,” he said. “I’m not giving votes of confidence or anything — I think that’s foolish. D.J. is our coach, he’s going to be our coach. I have faith in how this team plays under D.J.”

 

Then, in an afternoon radio address, Canucks president of hockey operations Jim Rutherford sang a familiar refrain about poor structure, poor training camp, poor 3-6-3 start and poor work ethic. It’s been bugging him for weeks and for the hockey operations boss, it’s been like picking at a scab that won’t heal.

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“Not enough extra drive and tempo to prepare for a five-game road trip,” Rutherford told Postmedia on Monday. “And have a structure to make it easier for the players to play in all situations.”

 

 

Canucks president of hockey operations Jim Rutherford (right) and general manager Patrik Allvin in May, 2022. PHOTO BY NICK PROCAYLO /PNG

That falls on Bruce Boudreau and his players, but the coach also defended the efforts Tuesday morning.

 

“We play as hard as we can, we play as well as we can and lay it all out on the line every night,” he started. “It is what it is. I try to keep the noise out of the room as much as I can.

 

“I’m not in the players’ mind, but if we take the positive effect, it angers them to show that everybody is wrong. This is my 47th year in the business and I’ve seen a lot of things. It’s another added to the book that I will never write.

 

“I think every person wants to prove people wrong when they say things. I’m a pretty competitive guy at heart and maybe that’s the message — prove that it’s not a true statement.”

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Rutherford has said the Canucks are guilty of “playing loose” and general manager Patrik Allvin dropped an interesting line Oct. 25 when he addressed the Boudreau situation with the club at 0-5-2.

 

Despite the 32-15-10 run when Boudreau supplanted the fired Travis Green as head coach in December, Allvin said the coach “had a tremendous start here and I think teams started to take us light (lightly).

 

“If you look at how we played, we had a tremendous goaltender (Thatcher Demko) and special teams, but the 5-on-5 had to be better in order to be a top team.”

 

Not exactly a ringing endorsement of a lame-duck coach in the option year of a contract because there was no thought of extending somebody with a half-season book of work. And when the players got word Tuesday morning of what was said by their president about structure, they agreed to agree and also disagree.

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“Obviously, there are different times in the game where we can be better structurally, but I think that’s every team,” said Canucks captain Bo Horvat. “Do I think we’re terrible? No. But there are things we need to clean up and we’ll continue to do that.

 

“We’re focused on what’s going on in this room. We have a lot of belief in ourselves and have enough good hockey to know we have a really good team. It’s good to be challenged and should put more fuel to the fire and we want to prove a lot of people wrong.

 

“Because it (message) has been repetitive, it’s kind of on us. We have to execute.”

 

J.T. Miller has challenged a good power play to be even better, so a directive from the president that not all is right with the Canucks isn’t going to faze him. Probably motivate him.

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Sep 29, 2022. Vancouver Canucks forward J.T. Miller (9) skates during warm up prior to a game against the Seattle Kraken at Rogers Arena. Bob Frid-USA TODAY Sports PHOTO BY BOB FRID /USA TODAY Sports

“He sees every game from up top, so I guess he has a point of view,” said Miller. “I don’t really have an opinion. I have a job to have a good game and we have a lot going on. We’ve had a chance in every game we’ve played.

 

“We need to be hard to play against. We have a lot of skill in this room.”

 

The optics of the owner first hiring Boudreau and then Rutherford were never good. Rutherford brought in his protege Allvin from Pittsburgh and that’s the guy who usually hires the coach.

 

Allvin and Canucks assistant coach Mike Yeo have a connection that dates back to working with the Penguins and that could be a replacement option, if the owner has an appetite to fire Boudreau and pay another coach for not coaching.

 

Add it all up and this might be a defining road trip for the coach and maybe some of his players.

 

Rutherford hinted at roster change, but sorting out the salary cap could hamper a trade. Waivers are also an option to get the attention of the room.

 

“We have to make players more accountable,” Rutherford said during his Sportsnet 650 interview Monday. “We’ll have to take the necessary steps to try and get the players’ attention.”

 

bkuzma@postmedia.com
twitter.com/@benkuzma

[aGENT]

1 hour ago, JM_ said:

 

all its going to take is the best 4-5 series of trades in Canucks history to fix. 

 

That's hyperbolic.

 

Do we need to make some good moves, gets some decent pieces, pick high this year and make more smart decisions as we move forward? Yes.

 

Does every move need to be better than Naslund for Stojanov, McCabe + picks for the Sedins, Ronning/Courtnall/Dirk/Momesso for Quinn and Butcher, Linden for Bertuzzi and Luongo for Bertuzzi? No (though yippee ki ya if they are!).

[JM_]

4 minutes ago, aGENT said:

That's hyperbolic.

 

Do we need to make some good moves, gets some decent pieces, pick high this year and make more smart decisions as we move forward? Yes.

 

Does every move need to be better than Naslund for Stojanov, McCabe + picks for the Sedins, Ronning/Courtnall/Dirk/Momesso for Quinn and Butcher, Linden for Bertuzzi and Luongo for Bertuzzi? No (though yippee ki ya if they are!).

sure, particularly that move for a 1RHD should be easy street. 

[Nucker 67]

Heard the Honey Badger on 650 and I thought he said something along the lines of: Management should start by pulling Hughes and Demko aside and telling them the plan is to rebuild around them. Let them know there could be 3-4 years of hard times ahead, but it will be worth it (Cup contenders/champions, basically). Then add other players they'd also like to keep around (e.g. Pettersson, Rathbone, Bear, etc.). Start making trades (e.g. Miller, Horvat, Boeser, Pearson, Myers, etc.).

 

It would really be sad to go another 3-4 years of no playoffs, bottom of the standings. We've waited long enough, but..it would also mean Top 5 Draft picks (high end players that could step in the following season), maybe a franchise RD prospect, etc. Added picks as well, possibly two 1sts, recoup the 2nd.

 

Eventually Lekkerimaki, EP2, Johansson, Karlsson and possibly Klimovich will join the team over the next couple of years as well.

 

Anyway, I agree with Hansen. This team is broken, with some bad contracts.  

[JM_]

11 minutes ago, Jaimito said:

Concert Review: 5 things to know about Lizzo at Rogers Arena

• 

•  

this is all I saw from your post 

[EdgarM]

12 minutes ago, lmm said:

I seem to remember Bo hitting the post

I thought at that moment

there it is, the game just changed- its over

 

but you could also say the Jeannot hit on Bear was THE point of change

Thats just it though, so many close calls, but no result, just like the shootout. 

Maybe they were afraid of what would happen after the book was thrown at Myers for sure, but I would say that we can't have the ref dictate how we play the game. It hasn't helped us in the past.

[EdgarM]

2 minutes ago, NUCKER67 said:

Heard the Honey Badger on 650 and I thought he said something along the lines of: Management should start by pulling Hughes and Demko aside and telling them the plan is to rebuild around them. Let them know there could be 3-4 years of hard times ahead, but it will be worth it (Cup contenders/champions, basically). Then add other players they'd also like to keep around (e.g. Pettersson, Rathbone, Bear, etc.). Start making trades (e.g. Miller, Horvat, Boeser, Pearson, Myers, etc.).

 

It would really be sad to go another 3-4 years of no playoffs, bottom of the standings. We've waited long enough, but..it would also mean Top 5 Draft picks (high end players that could step in the following season), maybe a franchise RD prospect, etc. Added picks as well, possibly two 1sts, recoup the 2nd.

 

Eventually Lekkerimaki, EP2, Johansson, Karlsson and possibly Klimovich will join the team over the next couple of years as well.

 

Anyway, I agree with Hansen. This team is broken, with some bad contracts.  

That would mean having an actual PLAN? He is right, there needs to be cohesion and chemistry and that is not there and hasn't been there for a long time. I think our core players and the fans would be on board with that idea for sure.

[grandmaster]

JR gave these guys a chance. That 57 game season under BB was full of promise. It still might be here. We have guys struggling and injured, more so than last years start of the season.
 

We are only 12 games in with 3 games below 500. It’s not time to go nuclear. He is just reminding the players and coach they are on notice. Folks calling JR being basically pathetic need to chill the hell out. 

Edited November 8, 2022 by grandmaster

[EP Phone Home]

15 hours ago, van_ws said:

Well then maybe you and Alvin the chipmunk should do something and fucking fix it then you old fool. This management group hasn't done anything yet so it's not like they are any better than Benning. Nothing is going to change until the Aquilinis sell the team.

So much blame going around the organization yet it must be projected to the right place. It’s his team but it’s his mess and we are getting tired of this movie. 

[aGENT]

6 minutes ago, JM_ said:

sure, particularly that move for a 1RHD should be easy street. 

We may not get or "need" a #1 RHD (though again, yippee ki yay if we do). We didn't have a "#1D (L or R) in 2010/2011. We just had a REALLY well built, complementary, deep group.

 

Right now a couple of #2-#3 RHD who actually complement their left side counterparts would do WONDERS.

 

They don't also need to come via trade. So again, tone down the doom and gloom hyperbole. This is "mission hard", not "mission impossible".

[garthsbutcher]

BB will be fired if they have a poor road trip

[JM_]

4 minutes ago, aGENT said:

We may not get or "need" a #1 RHD (though again, yippee ki yay if we do). We didn't have a "#1D (L or R) in 2010/2011. We just had a REALLY well built, complementary, deep group.

 

Right now a couple of #2-#3 RHD who actually complement their left side counterparts would do WONDERS.

 

They don't also need to come via trade. So again, tone down the doom and gloom hyperbole. This is "mission hard", not "mission impossible".

tone down yourself. 

 

You see it as hyperbole, etc. I see it as reality. Your path is extremely unlikely imo, based on the fact that we're never seen a series of trades go down in team history like you are suggesting. 

[aGENT]

34 minutes ago, JM_ said:

tone down yourself. 

 

You see it as hyperbole, etc. I see it as reality. Your path is extremely unlikely imo, based on the fact that we're never seen a series of trades go down in team history like you are suggesting. 

Sure we have. I just outlined probably the top 5 of them. They may not have happened often for us, but they have happened (and on other teams as well). This is literally what FA hired these guys to do, is it not?

 

And we don't need 5 trades like that. Again, that's hyperbole. We need one or two "big" trades and a series of smart depth moves, good drafting/scouting, smart acquisitions etc. It's hardly like trying to survive flying in to the sun there Eeyore. They just need to actually manage the team well and stop this constant flailing in mediocrity trying to rush things.

Edited November 8, 2022 by aGENT

[Harold Drunken]

17 hours ago, PetterssonOrPeterson said:

then fix it.

[Harold Drunken]

23 minutes ago, EP Phone Home said:

So much blame going around the organization yet it must be projected to the right place. It’s his team but it’s his mess and we are getting tired of this movie. 

[Goal:thecup]

2 hours ago, aGENT said:

Anybody paying attention could still see the roster issues, succession issues, cap issues, over reliance on Demko saving the day, lack of structure etc, etc.

Anybody not bowing down to the Great aGent is not paying attention; thanks for that.

[cripplereh]

Need a bid shake up and maybe over pay for a d partner for QH which would suck but would make us a lot better.No picks unless 4th or lower.