Please inform us, what is the intent of an open forum dialogue.
- Makita

Maybe you should step down and I'll tell you what I really think

Oh I agree, however, Gillis was a player agent, zero experience in management. Nonis was young with a few years experience under Burke. Linden zero experience. Benning is the one that puzzles me because he should've been better at his job because he has laid a trail for himself leading up to being a GM.

Perhaps he would've been a good GM back in the day when there wasn't a salary cap and trading was important, like Brian Burke, but it's not like that anymore.
- LeftCoaster

Burke is the best draft-day GM this franchise has ever had, that's just a fact. He is the model of building through the draft around top5picks. He's the best GM this franchise has had to date IMO.

Until 2022, I hope they don't draft anymore from the KHL again
- Makita

5 years works for me, wouldnt high expectations for a 27 year old sophomore adjusting to the NHL by then, so he can walk at that point

I am fine with KHL picks, but the person has to be better understood. Some guys are competitive and want to be against the best, others see the financial part of the sport. NHL is a tough league to make and I am not sure all KHL kids realize that when they start playing pro as teenagers back home

He's at least young enough to return. Sobotka spent 3 years there, Radulov a bunch, and Zaitsev was 25 when he came over. Plenty of time for him to mature, and Canucks will have his NHL rights
- WhiteLie

I agree he is young and has time, but what happens in 3 yrs....will he demand more icetime? If icetime and play situation was the issue then what happens in 3 yrs?

Much like willie to Green, I'd hoped the Canucks learned from Gillis and wouldn't hire another rookie GM after they just had 2. That being said, maybe the Tallon's, Lamarello's and Bowman's of the world simply don't want to work in Vancouver?

Just because Forsling and Tree aren't on Canucks, doesn't make 2014 a bad draft, they still drafted those players people
- neem55

It's more than just picking the player, it's not that simple lol, you have to develop those players and make them into NHL players

To demonstrate behaviours that you would never do if people knew who you were?
- bloatedmosquito

Burke is the best draft-day GM this franchise has ever had, that's just a fact. He is the model of building through the draft around top5picks. He's the best GM this franchise has had to date IMO.
- neem55

What's the criteria? Does one super-super star trump many good players? Is it based on volume of players that have played X number of NHL games?

Burke is the best draft-day GM this franchise has ever had, that's just a fact. He is the model of building through the draft around top5picks. He's the best GM this franchise has had to date IMO.
- neem55

I agree, he was good on the drafting and excellent at bullying other GM's in trades. The teams success in 2011 was largely laid by him. Don't like the guy but that's irrelevant.

Getting to the finals and losing is success, it's just not the pinnacle of success. Being a playoff team for a decade is also a kind of success. The best you can do is build a team that is competitive enough, and then it's on the players in the room. We had that for three maybe four years. I don't get this perspective of Stanley cup or bust, I'd rather build up for ten years of competitive Canucks hockey, then have a one and done run team... hence
#teamtank
#top5pick2018
- neem55

Maybe true of the 1994 team, but not the 2011 team IMO.

Continually hiring people like Dave Nonis, Mike Gillis, Trevor Linden and Jim Benning, that's 14 years worth of time, to do a job without any direct experience is a reason things get prolonged when you're trying to build a franchise.
- LeftCoaster

Under Gillis we were the best team in the NHL for a cpl yrs and Nonis/Burke were partly responsible for that. I don't understand your point.

He is a coward and quit on the team. The Sedin's didn't ask him to leave. For a guy that pretends he is a tough hockey player you sure are taking an unusual stance.
- CanuckDon

He is a coward?

He should have blended in well on this marshmallow team of turn the other cheek and sorry I don't fight roster.

He had the most hits and probably had the most fights with two .

Tramkin is probably taking the 'wait and see' approach. See what coach they hire and where the team is at by the end of next season. If it looks promising he'll probably be back if not he'll piss off. I would ask the posters here though is this the kind of Attitude we want from our players moving forward? To pull out and take off at the first sign of adversity Like Kovalchuk Datsyuk Kesler and a few others did?

Or maybe what we need is players who can deal with the psychological and physical diversity that the NHL requires. If Tramkin is pissing off because he is pouting about the coach or mngt then piss off and git gone.
- LordHumungous

Yes that's my take too with someone who has options. Plus it's $ and Nucks don't seem to be on top of that or in a giving mood.

FA sees rebuild, fan apathy and perhaps is holding the $ for now. I believe management has certain spending authority without needing to go to ownership. Like Hutton's deal was a sign that big $ is off. No new non ELC contracts have been given out. The RFA's seem to be getting low balled. LE must be final straw. Why Linden said during season we are done on signing big money UFA's.

If players have options between contracts they have a right to choose their course. Tree didn't pout like Vrbata and not play hard or try during the season. He gave it his all. So can't take away from that.

Lessons here on what to watch for in developing our youth. Raises questions such as what's going on from players in the locker room, coaching and management to develop asssets?

Maybe tells you that a Krueger is needed to lead operations and give structure for this team.

It's more than just picking the player, it's not that simple lol, you have to develop those players and make them into NHL players
- LeftCoaster

Sure, but it is also drafting them. Tree is an NHL caliber player, as is Forsling. Just because Chicago knows how to develop players (they actually leave their young players in the AHL, I know it's crazy guys but bare with me) doesn't make it a bust pick. It's like the coach/player argument, for sure you need a good coach but the players need to have motivation, skill and whatever other number of things that a coach doesn't give you to succeed.

Statement from Canucks:

“We are disappointed Nikita chose to sign in the KHL, but also recognize from what he told us in our exit meetings that this was a family decision first," said general manager Jim Benning in the statement. "He has a chance to be an impact player in the NHL and we offered him a two-year extension. But for now he is home and we will move ahead with building this team with other young players.”

plenty of room on the "fire benning/linden" bandwagon


That being said, I think there's more to this than the coaching staff, Willie and Lidster are gone so even if he didn't like them, it's weird that he'd still leave.


Could be family issues, maybe he doesn't like management, or feels like an outsider in the locker room, etc.

To demonstrate behaviours that you would never do if people knew who you were?
- bloatedmosquito

exactly....you can voice your opinion on a forum more vehemently than you can debate in person. But the sole intent isn't to sit around singing kumbaya, it's to engage, disagree, agree, to a point where someone might change your thought process or you might change theirs, or you might just agree to disagree.

This is not a reason for everyone to sit around and get along....go to therapy for that.

Under Gillis we were the best team in the NHL for a cpl yrs and Nonis/Burke were partly responsible for that. I don't understand your point.
- Kaynine

Look deeper...

Much like willie to Green, I'd hoped the Canucks learned from Gillis and wouldn't hire another rookie GM after they just had 2. That being said, maybe the Tallon's, Lamarello's and Bowman's of the world simply don't want to work in Vancouver?

Just because Forsling and Tree aren't on Canucks, doesn't make 2014 a bad draft, they still drafted those players people
- neem55

Well, it kindof does.
What good are those selections if they're no longer with the team and more importantly, brought back dead assets or none at all?

I agree he is young and has time, but what happens in 3 yrs....will he demand more icetime? If icetime and play situation was the issue then what happens in 3 yrs?
- Kaynine

I think it depends on the situation. Some teams, like Nashville a few years ago, are desperate for what they can offer and promise things. Others, like St Louis, can be patient and wait for a more humble return. Vancouver IMO can definitely afford to be patient, they are years away from significant improvement and can use that spot to develop other players

It's more than just picking the player, it's not that simple lol, you have to develop those players and make them into NHL players
- LeftCoaster

The red flags should have been there when you had to convince him to come over to play in the best league in the world. He shouldn't have needed to be convinced. And that's something that should needs to be clarified before drafting.

Statement from Canucks:
- WhiteLie

Honestly if he plans on coming back to Vancouver in the future this could provide us immediate help in terms of being able to give ice time to other guys to help development. We had such a massive logjam this year for 5/6/7/8 Dmen.

Who knows we might get to see Subban next year

Waking up to this was a kick in the nuts.


He was a bright spot going forward despite his flaws. It has basically now become a wasted draft year again , aside from Demko.

I imagine the language barrier for him and his new wife made him feel like an island so I can see the going back to the KHL.

This BS country club to single him out is for the birds. A core that is suppose to mentor has chased away JV TRYamkin and McCann but thank god they did save Megna and Chaput.

Management should be let go they are just wasting years of our rebuild. They can't even say the fricken word. We will go waste another year while we kiss Sedin/Edler ass and watch them eat our cap space delay our rebuild and eat up time that prospects should have.

Bad

Under Gillis we were the best team in the NHL for a cpl yrs and Nonis/Burke were partly responsible for that. I don't understand your point.
- Kaynine

Gillis, 2011 Draft, 150th overall, Frank Corrado.

*drops mic*

Gillis, 2011 Draft, 150th overall, Frank Corrado.

*drops mic*
- bloatedmosquito

The red flags should have been there when you had to convince him to come over to play in the best league in the world. He shouldn't have needed to be convinced. And that's something that should needs to be clarified before drafting.
- Kaynine

Agree....It goes back to making good informed decisions. When you pick a Russian, this is always a possibility. He's a young guy living in a different culture not knowing the language and probably getting frustrated because he doesn't understand why he's not playing.

For me it's not why it happened but rather that it did happen, which is again my stance that it's just another blunder in the Benning tenure.