the endless florida-vancouver saga continues

Apparently he isn't a real candidate though.

Seems like it's going to be Willie Desjardins unless he decides to go to the Pens. In that case it might be Mike Johnston.

We need a coach who has a proven track record of developing younger players to the next level.

I hope during the interviews for the position it is made clear this team will be retooling in an attempt to get younger, stronger, and faster.

If management/ownership still believes and/or wants to sell to the public the team is still in playoff contentions it will not matter who is selected as coach.

We need to get a coach on board for the long term... 4-5 years +++ to see through the development of younger players on the roster/system and those I hope we acquire in the future.

We can not afford to have another coach brought in for just one year. This is a long term process, and if handled correctly we can get back to being a competitive team. We just need time to recover from the various poor decisions that were made in years past.

I still have no idea why we hired Torts (who I liked) and then fired him just one year after. Management was well aware of his coaching style, he has all his cards face up. If his coaching style was not the style that was wanted why even go after him in the first place?

I hope our new management team is not stubborn and can admit we need a rebuild, and in admitting that, strive with great effort in finding a like minded coach who has the desire/ability to stay long term and develop our younger talent.

This may just be wishful thinking.... but I know if this is done correctly we can get back on track. Of course that is a big if....

Fingers crossed my fellow Canucks fans.

Gillis didn't want to hire Torts (who I also liked). It was sort of a PR move by the owner and an attempt to light a fire under the players.

Gillis also wanted to rebuild. The owners nixed the Kesler trade at the deadline and then fired Gillis 'cause of the direction he wanted to go. Owners then hired someone (Linden) who believes that this core can still contend.

I don't like Gillis, glad he's fired and Benning is in, but I think he was heading in the right direction in the end and the Owners are meddlesome morons.

This post was edited by LuLer on Jun 20 2014 04:19pm

Yeah, we probably have some of the worst owners in the NHL.

Disagree.
They're great for what they spend on the team outside of salaries, not to mention they're willing to spend to the cap.
The amount of money spent on extra things is pretty ridiculous for the Canucks.
Obviously all of the standard stuff is taken care of, but they also hire specialists to deal with situations that come up.
eg: Hiring specialists to figure out how to best manage the amount of travel the team used to/still has to put up with. (not sure if worst travel schedule in NHL anymore)
There's plenty of other stuff too.

The only downside to them is that they meddle.
Albeit a bit one. I wouldn't say we're anywhere near the worst owners.

This is a very good point that I did not mention. I certainly agree with you that the ownership group is far too involved in making key decisions.

I REALLY hope what you say about Linden is not true. However I think, sadly, much of what you say will end up being true. I saw him as a puppet/business ploy to make more money from the start. Who he hires (as influenced strongly by ownership) for the coaching job will also probably be someone who thinks this is still a playoff team.

I do not want to bash Linden, but lets just say if his name is Trevor Smith he has no chance in hell of getting the job as I am sure others have far better credentials/experience.

As for our ownership I would not go as far to say they are the worst. Their meddling pisses me off a a lot, don't get me wrong, but as said, they are spending to the cap. So I will not complain too much.

I forgot about all the specialists and such that we have. I just can't get over not letting a GM do his job

It's very obvious that Linden is a PR move, as well, but his lack of experience doesn't mean that things can't work out. It's possible he can do a great job. It also seems like he picked the perfect guy in Benning, someone who is a player personnel guy first; all about drafting and developing prospects. They make a nice team 'cause Benning is very quiet and will work hard in the background while Linden will be the public face and voice.

Even though Linden shares the same "win now" vision as the owners, maybe it takes someone as respected as him to gain full autonomy when it comes to hockey decisions. I'd rather have someone with less experience, but is still a "hockey man", making his own decisions instead of someone else taking orders from the owners who probably know as much about the game as the average fan in the stands.

It sucks that they aren't blowing it up, but they are also trying to get younger on the fly. Trading Kesler for a package of prospects and picks instead of an established/older NHLer is a big step in the right direction.

This post was edited by LuLer on Jun 20 2014 06:46pm

Why even hire a Gm if the owners want to do everything? Oh ya, scapegoat. Gotta blame some1 right?