Speculation: Is John Weisbrod Sneaking his Way to Becoming the Head of Hockey Operations in the Summer of 2020

[Hollywood Burrows]

Weisbrod is obviously an inept dumbass, but when you don't criticize him on fair grounds you end up with troll responses like this:

It's funny that after being our AGM for so long, people just point to stuff he did with other teams as reasons for this weird conspiracy stuff.

Of course everyone can, and should, ignore the above post, but in the interest of fostering better discussion among the good-faith posters I think the offersheet stuff should be put to the side

 

[Frankie Blueberries]

It's funny that after being our AGM for so long, people just point to stuff he did with other teams as reasons for this weird conspiracy stuff.

It's almost as if things you do throughout your career have an impact on your present reputation.

 

[Wo Yorfat]

What mistakes? Apparently Weisbrod is being blamed for not getting his boss with the law degree to seek league clarification on CBA matters and at the same time being called incompetent for being part of the management group that sought league guidance.

It all makes sense now. So break it down Trev, fired or quit?

 

[Jay Cee]

It's almost as if things you do throughout your career have an impact on your present reputation.

Is was kind of hoping for something a little more illuminating than "JD Burke said" 2 years ago, given his long career as our AGM, but I guess I'm not surprised. "But Jankowski" for instance hasn't aged well, given our drafting successes and Jankowski's progression.

 

[Melvin]

Is was kind of hoping for something a little more illuminating than "JD Burke said" 2 years ago, given his long career as our AGM, but I guess I'm not surprised. "But Jankowski" for instance hasn't aged well, given our drafting successes and Jankowski's progression.

The only people who ever mention JD Burke on here are you and Hindustan. It's not a good look.

 

[Frankie Blueberries]

Is was kind of hoping for something a little more illuminating than "JD Burke said" 2 years ago, given his long career as our AGM, but I guess I'm not surprised. "But Jankowski" for instance hasn't aged well, given our drafting successes and Jankowski's progression.

He almost gave up a heap of assets on an erroneous attempt at offer sheeting ROR. Jankowski looks to be a decent pick, all things considered, but let's not pretend it was a great pick when Maatta, Skjei, Pearson, etc. were still available.

At the end of the day, I don't think we'll ever really know the true influence Weisbrod has had on the team. For example, who knows if he was the driving force behind the Virtanen/Juolevi picks, the Gudbranson/Sutter trades, etc.

 

[Jay Cee]

The only people who ever mention JD Burke on here are you and Hindustan. It's not a good look.

That simply isn't true. There have been countless threads just simply debating how great of a source he is.

 

[I in the Eye]

For an alleged belligerent and obstinate personality, Weisbrod is the quietest and most publicly unassuming AGM that I remember as a Canuck. The recent ones... Nonis, we know what he did. Gilman, we know what he did. We knew (or had an impression) who they were... and how capable they were.

If trying to figure out what weisbrod did as a canuck AGM, it's basically only his past body of work that can be commented on. I remember seeing a draft video where he was talking about drafting players with the heart of a Canuck (or something like that)... but that's about it.

Is it fair to judge weisbrod on his past work prior to being Canucks AGM? Probably not... as people can change, and details around Weisbrod are always murky.

Is it fair that we can't judge Weisbrod, because he positioned himself so that he can't be judged? I guess so... I guess if Aquilini doesn't have a problem with it, and it works for the regime in operating smoothly and effectively... Fans can't judge him... media can't judge him either. Maybe Aquilini doesn't know what he specifically does, so can't judge... maybe Benning doesn't know either, so can't judge (it seems far fetched that a GM wouldn't know what an AGM specifically does... but it wouldn't be the first time someone who was in a position to know didn't have a clue - yes, this was in the Flames days... I guess it can be seen as not fair to bring it up or remember). But if nobody has a problem with it here in Vancouver (except me), I guess it's fair for Weisbrod to operate in secrecy and I'm perhaps being overly difficult.

I've never known a canuck AGM to be so obscure and secretive. Weisbrod is the Where's Waldo of the Canucks organization.

If he's doing a great job, I'd like to know about it... or I could unfairly be including Weisbrod in the blame for the Canucks being shitty.

If it's that we don't know if Weisbrod is doing a good or bad job, there is something wrong with that, imho. Fire him for being weird if can't judge him for the job he's doing. Weisbrod is the creepiest AGM in the history of the Canucks, IMHO... where creepiness is an appropriate response to an uncertainty about a threat.

 

[mossey3535]

If you're going to paint Linden with the tar because this team sucks, Weisbrod needs to be painted with it too. There's plenty of incompetence to go around with specifying who was responsible for exactly which incompetence. Which we will never know anyways.

If we can't point to exactly what he was responsible for in his time here, to me that's a fair indication he wasn't responsible for much. If so, why is he necessary?

If he is an english major, versus lawyers, why is he employed? Is it because of his past effectiveness as a hockey executive? No, because his past work was for an incompetent regime. Well what about his general sports leadership? Well now that leads us to talk about the NBA>

Jumping back to now. He doesn't seem to do much. He is not credited with anything besides putting in good words for players he previously drafted. That too is a 50% failure. In four years there are scant details as to what he actually does. Why would we give him credit for Hughes? He knows the family personally. And as for actually getting Hughes, well the team had to stink in order to be in a position to draft him. Is that something Weisbrod was responsible for? Maybe or maybe not, but he was part of a management group that is widely known to be out of their depth.

 

[Melvin]

That simply isn't true. There have been countless threads just simply debating how great of a source he is.

The obsession you and McHindu have with this individual (whoever he is) is not healthy and you should seek help.

 

[Jay Cee]

The obsession you and McHindu have with this individual (whoever he is) is not healthy and you should seek help.

I don't follow at all.

 

[Siludin]

Weisbrod has amazing stats in EHM TBL rosters so obviously he has paid someone a lot of money

 

[Jay Cee]

If you're going to paint Linden with the tar because this team sucks, Weisbrod needs to be painted with it too. There's plenty of incompetence to go around with specifying who was responsible for exactly which incompetence. Which we will never know anyways.

If we can't point to exactly what he was responsible for in his time here, to me that's a fair indication he wasn't responsible for much. If so, why is he necessary?

If he is an english major, versus lawyers, why is he employed? Is it because of his past effectiveness as a hockey executive? No, because his past work was for an incompetent regime. Well what about his general sports leadership? Well now that leads us to talk about the NBA>

Jumping back to now. He doesn't seem to do much. He is not credited with anything besides putting in good words for players he previously drafted. That too is a 50% failure. In four years there are scant details as to what he actually does. Why would we give him credit for Hughes? He knows the family personally. And as for actually getting Hughes, well the team had to stink in order to be in a position to draft him. Is that something Weisbrod was responsible for? Maybe or maybe not, but he was part of a management group that is widely known to be out of their depth.

At the end of the day, no argument.

The house should be cleaned and we should hire an actual hockey person and business professional to run our team. We should keep the bar very high and never have a lightweight combo of Benning and Linden running our team.

 

[moog35]

An incorrect interpretation of the rule that led to the flames exposed to lose a 1st, 2nd, and 3rd for a nothing return did happen.

It was such a non story that it was all over the sports news. It was such a non-story that it had Calgary on edge. It was clear incompetence.

You don't have to keep going over it... You are free to not go over it. What weisbrod has learned from his death threat days is to stay out of the light. If you think this line of thinking is pathetic, that's great. You don't have to participate. You can **** off and stick to discussions you feel are worthy of your posts.

Easy tough guy. Weisbrod was just taking orders from his boss.

 

[me2]

My impression of Weisbrod is that he thinks he's the smartest guy and is good at convincing people dumber than he is that he is a smart guy. When he backs up their ideas it makes them feel better "If John's backing me up on this I feel good about it.". I've no doubt Aquilini would have asked for Weisbrod's opinion on Linden vs Benning, that's a pretty reasonable thing to do.

We know so little about his role here, it is hard to say he's pulling any string or doing anything useful or harmful. He does seem involved in the drafting, more so than Benning, and that is going OK atm. I feel he's only as good as his GM, but he doesn't seem to be a problem either.

 

[I in the Eye]

Easy tough guy. Weisbrod was just taking orders from his boss.

Relax. Calm down. You do not know that. Not one person can assign blame to any particular individual in that fiasco. Yes, it ultimately falls on Feaster (being the GM), but Feaster is clear in his press release that it was his hockey operations department that was the culprit. One person does not make an entire department. The smoking gun lies in that hockey operations department, which definitely includes (but doesn't single out) Feaster. No matter how good you feel your deductive reasoning skills are, you are making it up... you are creating a narrative just like everybody else... because you weren't there, and nobody from that management team has ever come out to throw anyone under the bus about who was the driving force behind that offer sheet. You want to give Weisbrod the benefit of the doubt? Go ahead. I think Weisbrod isn't blameless (he was the next in line chain of authority, AGM, in that Hockey Operations Department), and played a role (at least the role of not the blocker of an error... to stop the GM from doing something stupid... which used to be a part of the AGM role here, the past GM has said).

Weisbrod was not the janitor. He was the Assisstant... General... Manager. I am not looking to place blame on the maintenance crew. That AGM job title may or may not mean something here these days (Nobody seems to know what the AGM does here, sure, there are guesses) but it meant something back in the day, in Calgary, like it used to mean something here. Feaster has said that Weisbrod was very smart and a very important member of his management team. Sure, Burke said that he didn't even know what Weisbrod did, or where Weisbrod was. But Linden said that Weisbrod was so important in Calgary that he played a role in turning the Flames around. Wow. Calm down, but that was high praise. That is someone who seems an important part of the loop. Did Weisbrod even know about the offer sheet? Was Weisbrod even in town? So many stories, like yours... but we may never know.

 

[kanuck87]

No chance Weisbrod becomes President. The backlash would be of epic proportions. It's already bad enough with the rumblings about Linden being backstabbed by Benning/Weisbrod. If Weisbrod gets promoted to President, all hell would break loose.

The only option is to clean house.

 

[VanJack]

Well, if ownership isn't going outside the organization to find a new president, then the only option is to fill it internally. My guess is Weisbrod becomes the president or VP of business operations and Benning is appointed VP and GM to oversee the player personnel side of the business. I might be the worst executive combo in the entire league, but brace for it.

 

[mathonwy]

Well, if ownership isn't going outside the organization to find a new president, then the only option is to fill it internally. My guess is Weisbrod becomes the president or VP of business operations and Benning is appointed VP and GM to oversee the player personnel side of the business. I might be the worst executive combo in the entire league, but brace for it.

It's time for Steamer to step up to the plate.

 

[canuckfan75]

Steve Simmons on last night with Sekerus and Price confirming Benning and Weisbrod took out Linden
https://www.tsn.ca/radio/vancouver-1040/simmons-multiple-sources-confirm-canucks-mutiny-1.1151259

 

[Hemty]

Steve Simmons on last night with Sekerus and Price confirming Benning and Weisbrod took out Linden
https://www.tsn.ca/radio/vancouver-1040/simmons-multiple-sources-confirm-canucks-mutiny-1.1151259

Man, listening to it just makes me so effing uneasy. What the **** has this organization become?

 

[DomY]

I mean based on his experience with the Orlando Magic, I think he was hired explicitly to be the fall guy for a rebuild. He fired the coach, traded star player Tracy McGrady along with most of the rest of the team, won the lottery, drafted future HOFer Dwight Howard, then resigned to pursue hockey again.

He sounds like the perfect guy for this team right now. Tank 5 star general

 

[Archangel]

He should have stayed with the NBA

 

[Seattle Totems]

I mean based on his experience with the Orlando Magic, I think he was hired explicitly to be the fall guy for a rebuild. He fired the coach, traded star player Tracy McGrady along with most of the rest of the team, won the lottery, drafted future HOFer Dwight Howard, then resigned to pursue hockey again.

He sounds like the perfect guy for this team right now. Tank 5 star general

Uh how many star players are left to trade on the Canucks that fans would really care about? Do we really need a fall guy to fire Benning? Unless Aquilini suddenly gets smart and decides to cut out the dead weight alumni on this team there is no need for a fall guy.

 

[Shareefruck]

A guy who has a storied history of awfulness doesn't get a free pass when new awful things happen just because it's ambiguous what percentage of the awful decisions made between him and Benning since coming here were strictly his responsibility.

He's earned not being given the benefit of the doubt until signs point to a more favorable perception being true.