Confirmed with Link: Holtby Bought Out

[xtra]

Just a reminder that demko has only played 72 games which is 30 more than Eddie lack had played in his career when it was determined he wasn’t ready to carry the load.

demko is still very much unproven and a question mark.

 

[Nona Di Giuseppe]

If only some of us could have predicted that Holtby was a bad signing. If only.

Ah well, alas.

I’d love for a team to create a committee of fans to try running it for 3 to 5 years to see what could be done. Potato drafting and all.

 

[Pip]

So I guess Clark doesn’t magically save bad goalies

 

[Nona Di Giuseppe]

This was destined to happen from the instant this moronic contract was signed.

Funny how the people who loved the Holtby singing and thought he would totally rebound here are a nearly identical demographic to those that think OEL is still an excellent defender and will totally rebound here.

the worst part is I think OEL will come out looking decent before settling back down to trash; just enough time for a million “wE toLd yOu hE’d bOuNce BaCk”

 

[garbageteam]

I have a sneaking suspicion the Canucks will actually have a bit of a bounce back year, the usual clamor of JB fans (I've no idea why they exist, I question sometimes are we in our own HF echo chamber, but the 2015-2021 results prove themselves) will come out of the wood work and say this team has turned the corner, the team will, at best, get a second round playoff exit - I'll even grant they may take it to game 7 -, JB is hailed as a savior and FA laps it up and gives him a longer leash and we are staring down a barrel of another 6 years of tank threads afterwards while Benning tries to unload OEL for 3 straight first rounders.

 

[vancityluongo]

francesco aquilini is not the problem in that it's not that he doesn't want to spend money; he's just been duped by an absolute moron who is insanely talented at holding onto his job

i cannot imagine f***ing up this badly at my job even once, let alone many times a year

anyways, feel for holtby, who came across as a genuinely good dude. hope he's remembered as a canuck for that ballsy post-covid game vs the leafs and not for signing a contract that anyone would have signed if offered.

 

[Chimpradamus]

So Benning is doing a classic double down. He tries to burrow all his fantastically miserable mistakes by soothing it over with a big bang of the organization. If it works, I might actually have to give him credit and I'm an avid advisary towards that - as I call him - clown. It's a little bit too much swing and miss in the big things for me to easily be swooning when he passes the street, as to say. As it stands it would be much more of a conversation involving shouting and raised fists. Nothing too aggressive, just to get the point through.

My main concern in the matter is; how the hell did this situation of a healthy squad turn into this kind of explosion to erase all the errors? One big self implosion and then a big explosion. It's a big crater left in the ice, mate! We're talking major bombs. And here we are.

We've complained about so many issues and now the solution is a bu... I can't take this. ONE year for Holtby at that contract, BARELY saving ANY money on the Markström contract? Who the hell would've thought? I thought it was a $500k "I want to stay in the league" deal that Holtby signed. Apparently not. Apparently Benning needs buyouts to sign goalies.

Let's just say I'm just cutting a short slack on his rope. He still has a major hill to climb to become even remotely respectable as a GM - IF this whole mess works out. So far I think I think the GM is a train wreck - and I've only followed this [insert appropriate insult] for 2-3 years.

 

[VanJack]

This was destined to happen from the instant this moronic contract was signed.

Funny how the people who loved the Holtby singing and thought he would totally rebound here are a nearly identical demographic to those that think OEL is still an excellent defender and will totally rebound here.

You make a good point here......once a player hits 30 and the decline begins, there's very rarely a 'bounce-back. It's just a continued, steady decline. Guys like Holtby, Beagle and Eriksson are more typical of the trend, rather than outliers.

Yet here we are with all the Canuck and Benning pom-pom waivers claiming that OEL will bounce back in VanCity. Could happen. But doubtful.

 

[RandV]

You make a good point here......once a player hits 30 and the decline begins, there's very rarely a 'bounce-back. It's just a continued, steady decline. Guys like Holtby, Beagle and Eriksson are more typical of the trend, rather than outliers.

Yet here we are with all the Canuck and Benning pom-pom waivers claiming that OEL will bounce back in VanCity. Could happen. But doubtful.

On OEL I'm going to call it a dead cat bounce. He could very likely be better than last season specifically, but it's the most minuscule of odds that he'll revert back to the calibre of player that earned an $8.25M deal and between injuries/age it's highly likely he's on an overall downward trajectory.

Also kind of the most important question here is 'can he play defense', because that's what the team really needs.

 

[Petey O]

So they didn't re-sign Toffoli (who wanted to be here) because of this contract, right? For the most part, at least.

Then he's a buyout candidate after 1 season.

That's rough.

 

[82Ninety42011]

Now that Holtby is gone I really hope they concentrate on signing EP and Hughes before anything else other than moving Schmidt to open up more cap space. A backup goalie can be added last in my opinion.

 

[CherryToke]

"We live day to day" aka we make things up as we go, aka we fly by the seat of our pants

 

[David Bruce Banner]

I’d love for a team to create a committee of fans to try running it for 3 to 5 years to see what could be done. Potato drafting and all.

Didn't Chicago try that for a game back in the 60's?

 

[Dab]

It wouldn't surprise me if Benning was told to bring in vets, especially with a Cup-winning pedigree to mentor the kids, in spite of cap implications - Beagle, Sutter. It also wouldn't surprise me if Benning was told to bring in 'name' players to excite the fans - Eriksson, Ferland, Myers, Holtby and now OEL. As for Virtanen, who knows?

But if that was the directive from above, it's pretty hard to blame Benning when it was your idea all along. And hence, the money thrown in to bury all of the mistakes of your own making.

I would hope that it was a costly lesson learned, but yet here we are with Oliver Ekman-Larsson as the next savior for our blueline.

So your argument is that the owner said something generic like “get some vets” and thus takes all the blame from Benning who decided on who to peruse? My god.

my boss told me to hose down the counter so I peed all over it- it’s his fault!

 

[Oliewud]

Just a reminder that demko has only played 72 games which is 30 more than Eddie lack had played in his career when it was determined he wasn’t ready to carry the load.

demko is still very much unproven and a question mark.

.911 % in 72 games playing on the worst defensive team in the league

small sample size so I get what you're saying but I think were good lol

 

[F A N]

Just a reminder that demko has only played 72 games which is 30 more than Eddie lack had played in his career when it was determined he wasn’t ready to carry the load.

You left out the part that the time Lack had only played in 1 NHL season. Demko obviously showed the type of progression that gives a team confidence that he can be the main guy between the pipes. On another note, I would think that many of those posters who felt Lack wasn't ready was in favour of insulating Demko with a good backup.

Regardless, it is fair to say that Demko has not proven that he can handle a starter's work load (50-55 games) over an 82 game season.

 

[m9]

1 year of Holtby = 6.7 million in cap space

Not good

 

[maroon 6]

1 year of Holtby = 6.7 million in cap space

Not good

And costed us Tanev/Toffoli

 

[Diversification]

So your argument is that the owner said something generic like “get some vets” and thus takes all the blame from Benning who decided on who to peruse? My god.

my boss told me to hose down the counter so I peed all over it- it’s his fault!

Paying for past performance is about the worst thing you can do in a capped league. Whether that's chasing after prior Cup winners and paying a premium for their next contract or inking a player who was elite 4 years ago, I think we both can agree that that's a bad idea, right?

That's what I'm suggesting are the orders from above. That's not letting Benning off the hook. The way he implemented those orders was abbhorent. But it doesn't change the fact that the orders themselves were prima facie bad orders. And with AQ and Benning having regular meetings about this, I can't help but think that there was more than just a bit of meddling going on that exacerbated Benning's demonstrable incompetence. A force multiplier if you will.

 

[Reverend Mayhem]

The optics. Noted shill IMac before the draft: "They have better deals than giving him to Seattle." Then it comes out that suitors want him retained. LOL. Can someone explain to me why this is a better option over retaining salary in a trade for 1 year anyway?

 

[MS]

The optics. Noted shill IMac before the draft: "They have better deals than giving him to Seattle." Then it comes out that suitors want him retained. LOL. Can someone explain to me why this is a better option over retaining salary in a trade for 1 year anyway?

Because we would have had to add a pick to end up cutting as much salary as a buyout would.

I suspect this is why 8 teams were sniffing around on Holtby. Other teams know Benning is stupid and doesn’t understand the CBA and you could potentially get a big win by getting Vancouver to retain (and paying a pick to get rid of him) and then buying the contract out.

 

[Reverend Mayhem]

Because we would have had to add a pick to end up cutting as much salary as a buyout would.

I suspect this is why 8 teams were sniffing around on Holtby. Other teams know Benning is stupid and doesn’t understand the CBA and you could potentially get a big win by getting Vancouver to retain and then buying the contract out.

That was my suspicion, except for the reporting IMac did kind of lead me off the case.

 

[Ottobot]

Those turtles ever get through customs… oh well.

 

[Slapshot_11]

FA must love burning money

 

[lawrence]

demko is still very much unproven and a question mark

All number 1 goalies start as a starter “unproven”.