Management Thread: Weisileaks

[m9]

Essentially they have done nothing since they traded for Miller and signed Ferland with on exception and that was the Toffoli trade.
So Benning really hasn't done anything worth his salary for almost 18+ months.

Mr. Aquilini has done something, he hired/promoted Chris Gear to Assistant GM in charge of finances. If he has the keys to the vault then, like the team being way over the cap, Benning has handcuffed himself, Mr. A. is just honoring JB contract and letting him run the team 100% but with training wheels on now.

Even if they did Fire Benning this season is done, it took Benning 7 years to build this colossus, it will take a master mechanic to refloat the good ship Canucktanic.

But what it would do is signal that REAL improvement could be coming.

It is almost like the final hope is the team gets the number 1 pick overall at the draft and that would save Benning's job.

If I thought I might be a candidate I would start feeling out other teams as to what the market could get me for players on this team and what I could get if I targeted some players.

I can't see Benning being anywhere near a phone come the TDL, the math all but eliminates the Canucks from playoffs very soon, as it is they need to win 29 games

They did trade for Schmidt (on a long-term contract) and sign Holtby to big money. He has been enabled to make big decisions within the last 6 months.

 

[MarkMM]

They did trade for Schmidt (on a long-term contract) and sign Holtby to big money. He has been enabled to make big decisions within the last 6 months.

Yeah, I wonder if since then the outcomes of Benning's decisions have changed any minds in ownership.

 

[tantalum]

It’s been seven years of Benning and the team being very poor. With the access to other teams and sports so easy now, isn’t it very likely the Canucks will lose a lot of younger fans to those other clubs/sports? I’m wondering if there will be a gap in fans, similar to what the BC Lions are experiencing, but (of course) on a smaller scale?

Yep. When kids hit that truly impressionable age where they start to think for themselves and not just cheer for who their parents cheer for or the hometown team, the teams they flock to are the ones that are successful at that time. If you went through the demographics of canuck fandom you will see spike among 8-12 years old kids around 1982, 1994 and 2011 ('82 for me). Every day of suckage is the loss of a lifelong fan/merchandise-ticket purchasers.

 

[4Twenty]

Yeah, I wonder if since then the outcomes of Benning's decisions have changed any minds in ownership.

Schmidt was likely offered to him for the exact return they paid. That would’ve been a quick “what do you think Frankie”? And then sign off imo.

 

[Fatass]

They did trade for Schmidt (on a long-term contract) and sign Holtby to big money. He has been enabled to make big decisions within the last 6 months.

And how have those two moves looked?
Schmidt plus Holtby is almost exactly the same cap dollars as keeping Marky and Tanev.
If the owner isn’t seeing this as a clear bad move (again) by Benning/Brod he must be seriously out to lunch.

 

[SeawaterOnIce]

It’s been seven years of Benning and the team being very poor. With the access to other teams and sports so easy now, isn’t it very likely the Canucks will lose a lot of younger fans to those other clubs/sports? I’m wondering if there will be a gap in fans, similar to what the BC Lions are experiencing, but (of course) on a smaller scale?

I think the sports franchises in this city are seriously screwed. More youth seem to be drawn to gaming and e-sports. Also, you definitely feel that the Vancouver Canucks and BC Lions may be a casualty of a shifting demographic in the region.

The Vancouver Whitecaps FC is the lone club I could see capitalizing off the influx of new immigrants. Football (or soccer) is the only global sport that continues to see major growth and is recognized by all walks of society. It's also easy to set up with minimal barriers.

My experience is purely anecdotal but many of my coworkers that get temporarily placed here from India, China, Australia or the UK seem to just show no interest in hockey. A guy like Mario Baloltelli has more name recognition than Connor McDavid.

 

[m9]

And how have those two moves looked?
Schmidt plus Holtby is almost exactly the same cap dollars as keeping Marky and Tanev.
If the owner isn’t seeing this as a clear bad move (again) by Benning/Brod he must be seriously out to lunch.

I think last season's playoff wins legitimately made ownership believe that management was doing a good job and that those bubble wins weren't outliers. Now ownership is trying to piece everything together to figure out how they got to where they are today.

 

[m9]

Yeah, I wonder if since then the outcomes of Benning's decisions have changed any minds in ownership.

Possibly. It's funny that Schmidt/Holtby might be the kill shots for the GM when they are so far down the list of bad moves. I mean, Schmidt might not even be a bad move. Like, not firing this guy after the Gudbranson/Eriksson/Juolevi/awful season and then firing him after trading a 3rd round pick for Nate Schmidt is comically bad process and is a huge red flag in regards to ownership. But at this point, I don't care about the process as long as the result is new management.

 

[SeawaterOnIce]

This team has 14 wins in their last 41 regular season games.

Someone else noticed that that:

 

[Mr. Canucklehead]

This team has 14 wins in their last 41 regular season games.

Someone else noticed that that:

Well that's horrifying.

 

[theguardianII]

They did trade for Schmidt (on a long-term contract) and sign Holtby to big money. He has been enabled to make big decisions within the last 6 months.

They answered the phone about Schmidt, Vegas was scrambling to make room for Pietrangelo as was Tampa, as was Pittsburgh. Benning's big deals are coming through offers from team's desperately needing cap space. Arizona, Columbus, Toronto, Carolina, Ottawa were able to leverage a 1rst round pick out of the desperate team, Vancouver gave up top picks.
IMO it is early to judge Schmidt based on THIS team but he looks like he is the product of being on a really really good team.
I have posted for awhile that I thought that maybe Miller was not so happy, he signs a home town discount, gets traded as far away as possible from his family to a place that costs him extra taxes, a salary cut, around a million per year, to one of the most expensive cities to live in and he didn't want to be traded. So maybe he was not so happy. Maybe he believed if he played really good he would be traded to closer to home. Maybe he was going to sit out and the Covid delay thing was an excuse, that is pure speculation though, but he has not been the same since the word "GO".
If Benning signed Schmidt as a FA, with his record/stats, 29 pts per year average, it might be considered a bad signing, Myers is and he has better numbers.

As far a Holtby, he was needed through the expansion rules, still he is very expensive considering, but he could be a trade asset.

This was always going to be a bad year even if Mr. Aquilini spent another 45 million to buyout the bad contracts, the team would still be at the cap if he had.

The only thing the team can do now is what is good for the franchise, two years of dumpster diving to build up enough top talent for the next decade.

IMO Hughes has to go, he is great to sell tickets but he is no Bobby Orr, he is a one dimensional player and a liability on defence. He is easily brushed off the puck and loses 90% of the puck battles. Any time a player has a huge negative in plus minus then he is on the ice for all the minus number plus ALL his plus numbers, Hughes has been on the ice for 36 goals against.

 

[m9]

They answered the phone about Schmidt, Vegas was scrambling to make room for Pietrangelo as was Tampa, as was Pittsburgh. Benning's big deals are coming through offers from team's desperately needing cap space. Arizona, Columbus, Toronto, Carolina, Ottawa were able to leverage a 1rst round pick out of the desperate team, Vancouver gave up top picks.
IMO it is early to judge Schmidt based on THIS team but he looks like he is the product of being on a really really good team.
I have posted for awhile that I thought that maybe Miller was not so happy, he signs a home town discount, gets traded as far away as possible from his family to a place that costs him extra taxes, a salary cut, around a million per year, to one of the most expensive cities to live in and he didn't want to be traded. So maybe he was not so happy. Maybe he believed if he played really good he would be traded to closer to home. Maybe he was going to sit out and the Covid delay thing was an excuse, that is pure speculation though, but he has not been the same since the word "GO".
If Benning signed Schmidt as a FA, with his record/stats, 29 pts per year average, it might be considered a bad signing, Myers is and he has better numbers.

As far a Holtby, he was needed through the expansion rules, still he is very expensive considering, but he could be a trade asset.

This was always going to be a bad year even if Mr. Aquilini spent another 45 million to buyout the bad contracts, the team would still be at the cap if he had.

The only thing the team can do now is what is good for the franchise, two years of dumpster diving to build up enough top talent for the next decade.

IMO Hughes has to go, he is great to sell tickets but he is no Bobby Orr, he is a one dimensional player and a liability on defence. He is easily brushed off the puck and loses 90% of the puck battles. Any time a player has a huge negative in plus minus then he is on the ice for all the minus number plus ALL his plus numbers, Hughes has been on the ice for 36 goals against.

I agree it's early to judge Schmidt.

I think Miller got a bit duped by the situation here. He seemed genuinely happy last year for the most part. It's possible Tampa winning the Cup without him was the first step, the Canucks downgrading the roster this off-season was the 2nd step, and then the final straw was the team being this bad to start to the year. Maybe he has other things going on off-the-ice but since we aren't privy to that, it's fair to make some assumptions as to why he's acting like he is.

Disagree on Holtby being needed for expansion as there were many ways around expansion that didn't require an overpaid, half-washed vet for that 2nd year. It would be shocking if he was positive trade asset here, aside from maybe next year at the trade deadline.

I can see why some would be frustrated by Hughes. I'm not really ready to have that conversation right now.. but I get it and there are some major issues with him.

 

[Dab]

Yeah, I wonder if since then the outcomes of Benning's decisions have changed any minds in ownership.

As others have said it’s been pretty quiet since the now infamous “we ran out of time” interview.

 

[RandV]

They answered the phone about Schmidt, Vegas was scrambling to make room for Pietrangelo as was Tampa, as was Pittsburgh. Benning's big deals are coming through offers from team's desperately needing cap space. Arizona, Columbus, Toronto, Carolina, Ottawa were able to leverage a 1rst round pick out of the desperate team, Vancouver gave up top picks.
IMO it is early to judge Schmidt based on THIS team but he looks like he is the product of being on a really really good team.
I have posted for awhile that I thought that maybe Miller was not so happy, he signs a home town discount, gets traded as far away as possible from his family to a place that costs him extra taxes, a salary cut, around a million per year, to one of the most expensive cities to live in and he didn't want to be traded. So maybe he was not so happy. Maybe he believed if he played really good he would be traded to closer to home. Maybe he was going to sit out and the Covid delay thing was an excuse, that is pure speculation though, but he has not been the same since the word "GO".
If Benning signed Schmidt as a FA, with his record/stats, 29 pts per year average, it might be considered a bad signing, Myers is and he has better numbers.

As far a Holtby, he was needed through the expansion rules, still he is very expensive considering, but he could be a trade asset.

This was always going to be a bad year even if Mr. Aquilini spent another 45 million to buyout the bad contracts, the team would still be at the cap if he had.

The only thing the team can do now is what is good for the franchise, two years of dumpster diving to build up enough top talent for the next decade.

IMO Hughes has to go, he is great to sell tickets but he is no Bobby Orr, he is a one dimensional player and a liability on defence. He is easily brushed off the puck and loses 90% of the puck battles. Any time a player has a huge negative in plus minus then he is on the ice for all the minus number plus ALL his plus numbers, Hughes has been on the ice for 36 goals against.

As I've been saying no one's taking/acquiring Holtby with that back loaded salary. It's great for Holtby since year 2 will probably see much less escrow, but not so great for the Canucks options. As usual the player agent took Benning to the cleaners.

 

[SeawaterOnIce]

IMO Hughes has to go, he is great to sell tickets but he is no Bobby Orr, he is a one dimensional player and a liability on defence. He is easily brushed off the puck and loses 90% of the puck battles. Any time a player has a huge negative in plus minus then he is on the ice for all the minus number plus ALL his plus numbers, Hughes has been on the ice for 36 goals against.

His development is absolutely f***ed. Quinn Hughes was never going to be a true #1 defensemen. My hope has always been a Brian Rafalski clone. Hughes would be excellent next to a Mitchell or Hamhuis-like defenseman, similar to how sheltered Bieksa was. The problem is we don't have a legitimate top pairing shutdown defenseman.

This is very reminiscent of Brian Rafalksi's early years with the Devils. He would get destroyed physically and 5 v 5 despite putting up PP points. These defensemen alone aren't going to get you many wins. Rafalski was paired with Stevens, but his defensive growth was best under partner Ken Daneyko. Of course, his next move going to Detroit saw him play with Lidstrom but point remains...This team needs a true #1 dman and a shutdown pairing dman.

 

[bossram]

His development is absolutely f***ed. Quinn Hughes was never going to be a true #1 defensemen. My hope has always been a Brian Rafalski clone. Hughes would be excellent next to a Mitchell or Hamhuis-like defenseman, similar to how sheltered Bieksa was. The problem is we don't have a legitimate top pairing shutdown defenseman.

This is very reminiscent of Brian Rafalksi's early years with the Devils. He would get destroyed physically and 5 v 5 despite putting up PP points. These defensemen alone aren't going to get you many wins. Rafalski was paired with Stevens, but his defensive growth was best under partner Ken Daneyko. Of course, his next move going to Detroit saw him play with Lidstrom but point remains...This team needs a true #1 dman and a shutdown pairing dman.

Yah I'm seeing some "trade Hughes" sentiment which is crazy...Is he a true 1D right now? No. Should we trade him? Will we get anyone better? Absolutely not.

He was playing at a very high level next to Tanev last season. It's clear he needs a complementary player to maximize his effectiveness. If we had a right-handed Hamhuis, it would be a terrific pairing. Instead, management and coaching have decided to run Hughes next to Hamonic/Benn...like lol. Those guys should be your 7/8D, not ostensibly paired with your most important defensemen.

 

[Dab]

His development is absolutely f***ed. Quinn Hughes was never going to be a true #1 defensemen. My hope has always been a Brian Rafalski clone. Hughes would be excellent next to a Mitchell or Hamhuis-like defenseman, similar to how sheltered Bieksa was. The problem is we don't have a legitimate top pairing shutdown defenseman.

This is very reminiscent of Brian Rafalksi's early years with the Devils. He would get destroyed physically and 5 v 5 despite putting up PP points. These defensemen alone aren't going to get you many wins. Rafalski was paired with Stevens, but his defensive growth was best under partner Ken Daneyko. Of course, his next move going to Detroit saw him play with Lidstrom but point remains...This team needs a true #1 dman and a shutdown pairing dman.

Hughes has already surpassed Rafalski in terms of offence. Unsure about this comparison.

 

[I am toxic]

This team has 14 wins in their last 41 regular season games.

Someone else noticed that that:

 

[PhilMick]

Yah I'm seeing some "trade Hughes" sentiment which is crazy...Is he a true 1D right now? No. Should we trade him? Will we get anyone better? Absolutely not.

He was playing at a very high level next to Tanev last season. It's clear he needs a complementary player to maximize his effectiveness. If we had a right-handed Hamhuis, it would be a terrific pairing. Instead, management and coaching have decided to run Hughes next to Hamonic/Benn...like lol. Those guys should be your 7/8D, not ostensibly paired with your most important defensemen.

Also we have got to bring in someone on the coaching staff who can coach up the poor kid on positioning and those wily vet tricks. Like not Nolan Baumgartner.

 

[Fatass]

Also we have got to bring in someone on the coaching staff who can coach up the poor kid on positioning and those wily vet tricks. Like not Nolan Baumgartner.

Phil Housley as the assistant coach responsible for D?

 

[NoShowWilly]

I'm going to set a little bit of a low bar for playoffs - 60.5 points.

The Canucks have 32 games remaining... They would need 43 points over 32 games. This would be a 20-9-3 record.

They have remaining # of games against each team:

Toronto - 6 current record 0-3-0
Edmonton - 6 current record 1-3-0
Winnipeg - 6 current record 1-1-1
Montreal - 4 current record 1-4-0
Calgary - 4 current record 2-3-1
Ottawa - 6 current record 3-0-0

Say they go 10-7-1 against those top 3 over the final 18.

They'd still need to go 10-2-2 against the 3 bottom teams over those other 14.

 

[tantalum]

You don’t trade point a game second year D-men no matter the issues he’s currently having in his own zone. That’s how you end up moving future Norris finalist and wondering why you don’t have one of those in your organization.

There is always room for a Brian Leetch or Paul Coffey on a team. And yes those are the comparable given the offensive start to his career.

 

[PhilMick]

Phil Housley as the assistant coach responsible for D?

Wow that's a perfect fit. He might have actually coached Quinn in the past too right? Looks like that's the exact role he's in with the Coyotes though so not sure how they'd be able to poach him.

 

[Fatass]

Wow that's a perfect fit. He might have actually coached Quinn in the past too right? Looks like that's the exact role he's in with the Coyotes though so not sure how they'd be able to poach him.

Oh, I didn’t know he was already on a team’s bench.

 

[xtra]

Who the heck is saying trade Hughes? He’s is a great offensive catalyst. You find ways to work with his short comings. Find a defensive stalwart to play with him and build a different pairing to be your #1 shutdown pairing.
He should be looked at like an (more talented) erhoff for us in terms of his usage.