Ya he's been great this season. Im surprised.
- SMBDragon

He was stellar last year too right up to the injury. He surely does not get enough credit. A true number one goalie in my mind.

He was stellar last year too right up to the injury. He surely does not get enough credit. A true number one goalie in my mind.
- joegreif17

Look at all the backups traded this year n see who is doing great.

R any even noteworthy?

Agreed.
Just taking the piss out of the baseless 'Benning sucks' crowd.
The declaring the Sutter trade as a step backwards before he even played a game was head exploding as was the freak out over trading an immature back-up goalie.
- Marwood

All bang on. I didn't mind speculating or doubting the moves would work, but it was relentless and absolute that these were big mistakes. Even if the current success of these moves regress slightly I'd say they were wins for Van

I don't see any cap problems here at all or in the future.
He hired WD who handled Bo great n doing more of the same with BHutt n JV n JM.
Miller was a solid stop gap signing n did fine helping us make the playoffs n looks solid again this year. Tough to see Lack go but thats JB's call.
Vrbata n Hambuis r up after this season n either/both can get traded or get reduced contracts here or maybe more as UFA's. Vrbata proved a good signing n we made the playoffs when many gave us lil chance. Cap space to come next year.
Many don't like Sbisa's deal but JB backed up his Kesler deal with faith in him.
That deal looking a lot better now after so many ppl n not me thought otherwise.
Sutter has played well n the deal was cuz we lacked players in his age group.
There were no UFA's worth signing this year.
Boeser looks to be a great pick to add to future plans.
Next draft we also look solidly positioned to build up the cupboard even more.

All the pundits said all the Pacific improved n we did not but look where we stand now.

I'd really like more than someone with an unsubsantiated hate-on for JB to state a detailed case other than a vague complaint.
- Nighthawk

There were many detailed complaints backed up with reasoning, some people decided to ignore that and call it chicken little, sky is falling vague complaining.

Some of the concerns voiced have not looked valid so far this season, that doesn't mean they weren't valid at the time though.

I'll take a crack at it:

I think the main complaint is the lack of commiting to a full rebuild, while it's great that we're still competitive and all and getting contributions from Horvat, JV, McCann and Hutton, we don't have a clear blue-chip #1 center prospect who's floor is minimum 1C and who's ceiling is elite 1C.

We also lack a blue chip D prospect that can be a potential #1 D-man that can eat up 30+ minutes a game like Keith, Doughty, Karlsson, Subban etc. Hutton may become that player, but it's not guaranteed.

It also doesn't help that we're only 4 years removed from a Game 7 loss in the SCF that still stings and there's still several players left over from that run that remain with the team and are on the back-end of their careers.

I think JB's inability to be savvy enough to speak to the media and make his thought process clear in the deals his make has hurt him. He's not a good interview and his news conferences are usually awkward and make him seem slow or weak when it's clear public speaking isn't his strong suit. It doesn't help that he sometimes seems intimidated when reporters ask him questions that he's not quite prepared for and blurts out the first thing that comes to mind.

It also doesn't help that Trevor Linden ends up doing most of the press nowadays, while he's much better with the media than JB, it makes JB look weaker and less capable of handling the GM duties.

That's my take at least, but I'm actually a JB supporter, because I can see the logic of all he's done. It might not all work out, but the team is different and a new direction was needed at the time he was hired and we haven't suffered since.
- DariusKnight

I'm with you.

It is funny with the full on rebuild, MG came in and talked about the Twins not being first line players and JB comes in and many wanted the full tank, sell off assets for picks and rebuild. Kind of like throwing out the baby with the bath water.

It is hard to put all the pieces together, and even if you get all the pieces together, it is even harder to keep those pieces together.

We have a pretty good forward group and have had some solid goaltending from Miller. Defense remains the biggest question in my eyes. whoever folks want to give credit to for the turnaround, doesn't matter to me, just happy with the direction.

I figured it would have to be Baertschi coming out for Higgins tonight. Just a numbers thing - if I was Willie I'd tell Sven not to take it personally.

Here's the new blog, with some stuff on Sutter and Bonino, a look at that coveted Russian free-agent defenseman and Jim Benning's schedule during he upcoming road trip.

http://www.hockeybuzz.com...uins-Higgins-In/194/72252

There were many detailed complaints backed up with reasoning, some people decided to ignore that and call it chicken little, sky is falling vague complaining.

Some of the concerns voiced have not looked valid so far this season, that doesn't mean they weren't valid at the time though.
- belcherbd

You are right

The complaints brought forward valid concerns, but the basis, "

many detailed complaints backed up with reasoning

of the complaints did not make the complaints or their results any more factual, just possibly predictable.

Much of the complaint argument over the Sutter- Bonino transaction were like, you can't think this is a good move, the numbers don't lie Sutter is an anchor to the team and linemates, it was a bad move by JB. The Canucks have gotten worse.

Benning sucks. Willie isn't a playoff coach and hates youth
- CanuckDon

Then next

I don't see any cap problems here at all or in the future.
He hired WD who handled Bo great n doing more of the same with BHutt n JV n JM.
Miller was a solid stop gap signing n did fine helping us make the playoffs n looks solid again this year. Tough to see Lack go but thats JB's call.
Vrbata n Hambuis r up after this season n either/both can get traded or get reduced contracts here or maybe more as UFA's. Vrbata proved a good signing n we made the playoffs when many gave us lil chance. Cap space to come next year.
Many don't like Sbisa's deal but JB backed up his Kesler deal with faith in him.
That deal looking a lot better now after so many ppl n not me thought otherwise.
Sutter has played well n the deal was cuz we lacked players in his age group.
There were no UFA's worth signing this year.
Boeser looks to be a great pick to add to future plans.
Next draft we also look solidly positioned to build up the cupboard even more.

All the pundits said all the Pacific improved n we did not but look where we stand now.

I'd really like more than someone with an unsubsantiated hate-on for JB to state a detailed case other than a vague complaint.
- Nighthawk

This post started my page 6 post of the JB era n the other Ops added comment was added to this Low effort n no substance quote from above.