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Vancouver Canucks Goalie Coach Rollie Melanson Likely Leaving, Miller Too?
April 12, 2016, 2:38 PM ET [420 Comments]
Carol Schram
Vancouver Canucks Blogger • RSS • Archive • CONTACT
We hear from the players on Monday. Today, Jim Benning and Willie Desjardins are holding their final press conference of the 2015-16 season with the local media.

Trevor Linden also addressed the media after Benning and Desjardins were finished.

Key points:

Willie sounds like he's acknowledging that, despite an earlier vote of confidence from management, his job security may still be an issue.




Probably hard not to think like that on the day that the Ottawa Senators cleaned house, but Trevor is having none of it:




It's also now pretty-much official that Rollie Melanson will be leaving his role as the Canucks' goaltending coach. Iain MacIntyre had that story yesterday in the Vancouver Sun, talking about Melanson's desire to be home in New Brunswick with his ailing mother and spending time in Montreal with his fiancee.

Today, Benning is holding out hope that Melanson may continue in a part-time role.




MacIntyre's skeptical that such an arrangement would work. Here's what Rollie has to say:

“I’ve always said, doing these jobs, if I’m going to do my job well, I need to be connected to my guys. These jobs aren’t part-time jobs.

“As you know about Trevor … how much respect we have for that man and what he’s trying to do here. (But) really, you’re married to the job. And it’s harder with these jobs to go through the growing pains this team is going to go through the next couple of years. But you still have to do your job well.”


Melanson is one of few holdovers left from the Mike Gillis era. He has been with the Canucks for six years and has done great work—first with Roberto Luongo and Cory Schneider, then with Eddie Lack, Ryan Miller and Jacob Markstrom.

The most interesting piece I saw come out of Monday's player interviews is this one, which also came from MacIntyre. He suggests that, with one year left on his contract, the clock is also ticking for Ryan Miller as a member of the Canucks.

"The two sides no longer fit," writes MacIntyre. "Miller is a grand piano bought for a mansion. Now, the Canucks are living in a garage until the new house is built."

MacIntyre states that the Canucks were willing to listen to trade possibilities for Miller at the March deadline—but no calls came. That may change after the first round, when eight teams that are currently feeling pretty good about themselves are going to be joining the Canucks on the golf course. Chances are, at least a couple of them will be looking for upgrades in net, which could open up some options for the Canucks and Miller.

For his part, the goaltender has not said that he's packing his bags and is not completely resigned to the Canucks' demise—though it sounds like he's voting in favour of bringing in more veterans over the summer if he does stick around. From Miller:

As you could see, it didn’t take a lot (going wrong) to change direction. So it may not take a lot to get us back where we want to be. It’s just a matter of how they’re going to do that. You would think if they let a few more veterans go, it’s going to get harder because of the learning curve. So it’s really a question of how things shake out around the draft and what opportunities Jim gets to shape the team.


Also on the goalie front, Benning remains confident that the Canucks will get Thatcher Demko signed in the next couple of weeks. And look, a metaphor!




One other idea that has been bandied about over the past few weeks is the possibility that the Canucks might be well-served by adding another member to their management team—someone who would function in between Trevor Linden and Benning on the hierarchy and could give Benning more time to focus on scouting.

Elliotte Friedman floated the possibility of George McPhee joining the Canucks in last week's 30 Thoughts. He also said "I was told I have an overactive imagination, so forget that," but if there's nothing here, why bring it up at all?

McPhee, of course, is another throwback to the Pat Quinn era. He served as Quinn's assistant general manager and vice president of hockey operations from 1992 to 1996—the glory years!—before moving on to become the general manager of the Washington Capitals in 1997.

He didn't win a Stanley Cup, and will forever be remembered as the man who traded Filip Forsberg for Martin Erat, but overall, McPhee has a solid track record—and a good relationship with Trevor Linden. I wouldn't be surprised if there's something to this rumour.

McPhee is currently working as co-general manager of Team Canada for the World Championships, so his name will be in the news quite a bit over the next couple of months.

Monday's firing of general manager Don Maloney in Arizona presents another strong candidate.




Maloney is widely regarded as having worked miracles with the Coyotes franchise under very tough circumstances. The Canucks' organizational issues would probably seem like molehills to him!

Though Benning was cagey about offseason roster moves, Linden comes out a bit stronger, in favour of the veterans.




Sounds like Burrows and Hamhuis got some love from the kids at yesterday's exit interviews.

I've said it before: I want Burrows to play out his contract next season, especially if the Canucks aren't dealing with salary-cap pressure. He showed a ton of character through the last month of the year and rather than buying him out and spreading his remaining cap hit over two seasons, why not just let him play and get him off the books at the end of 2016-17?

The Hamhuis situation is more complex. That'll come down to money, term, and the possibility of other offers. I need to know more before I can offer a definite opinion either way.

A couple more quick things before I wrap up today.

First, I think we just found out why Henrik Sedin was terrible at faceoffs for part of the season:




And finally—sources say that the Canucks are among the finalists for the chance to sign Brock Boeser's linemate Drake Caggiula.




But—nothing is imminent:




We should also find out much sooner whether North Dakota defenseman Troy Stecher chooses the Canucks.


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