Official Aquilini Thread

[polarbearcub]

Wel see what the mods think but I thought it might be good to have a thread devoted to Canuck ownership. Since we debate about it anyway. What spurred me on to start this thread was this quote I just read from Francesco Aquilini.


To me... Those quotes point towards him almost admitting he was having way too much control over hockey ops.


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With recently anointed president of hockey operations Trevor Linden sitting in the front row, Aquilini won the crowd over when he said: “Winning a Stanley Cup is everything. If you don’t want to win the Stanley Cup, you shouldn’t own a team. I’m learning about the ups and downs of the business and realize the success of the hockey team is not in my control.â€

Without mentioning names, that’s the closest Aquilini has ventured into admitting his contribution to the horror show produced by Mike Gillis and directed by John Tortorella last year.

“We just want Trevor to be what he is and who he is and leave it with him to put the best product possible on the ice,†Aquilini said.

At that point, a sigh of “Amen†seemed to drift through the room.

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http://www.vancouversun.com/touch/story.html?id=10001812

Click to read more...

 

[Verviticus]

he stinks and i hate him as an owner and his brother is a crazy person

 

[TheWanderer]

*****. That is all.

 

[ihaveyuidonttouchme]

make the playoffs or else!

 

[SnapIt]

Far too involved.. Hopefully he has taken a step back. Even if he has to watch beloved Italian players like Santorelli depart.

 

[GCM]

he stinks and i hate him as an owner and his brother is a crazy person

In my opinion:

Let he who would not interfere in the hockey operations of the team that they owned cast the first stone.


Is it annoying that he interfered? Yes. Would I have interfered? Yes. Maybe I'm better at interfering than him, maybe I'm worse, but when it comes right down to it: It's hard to blame him for being human.

 

[DoubleTrouble]

Let me ask you this.. if you are the owner of the Canucks and it was your money that was being thrown around.. Would you want to be hands on?

I can tell you this ... I would.. You hire people to run your business and you hope you have hired the right ones.. But when the teams is failing on the ice and in season ticket sales.. Alarms go off..

The aquo family gave the team to Gillis to run and trusted him with their money.. He made some mistakes and lost his Job

Linden and Company are not going to be able to do whatever they want.. The Aquo family has let them know that this is not a rebuild and the teams is expect to make the playoffs every year..

We have been very lucky to have the Aquilini family owning this team and always spending to the cap and wanting nothing more then the Stanley Cup at all costs.

 

[Verviticus]

In my opinion:

Let he who would not interfere in the hockey operations of the team that they owned cast the first stone.


Is it annoying that he interfered? Yes. Would I have interfered? Yes. Maybe I'm better at interfering than him, maybe I'm worse, but when it comes right down to it: It's hard to blame him for being human.

i can blame him for his actions which were bad actions though. i dont care if hes human, dog or robot

 

[Verviticus]

We have been very luck to have the Aquilini family owning this team and always spending to the cap and wanting nothing more then the Stanley Cup at all costs.

reminds me of those plants that were arguing on the oilers boards about kevin lowe

 

[polarbearcub]

i can blame him for his actions which were bad actions though. i dont care if hes human, dog or robot

Exactly. I understand the temptation to interfere but man if all indications are true and he was behind the torts hiring , he deserves entire blame for what happened last year. The organization became toxic , top to bottom

 

[DoubleTrouble]

Exactly. I understand the temptation to interfere but man if all indications are true and he was behind the torts hiring , he deserves entire blame for what happened last year. The organization became toxic , top to bottom

Even if they were behind it... They are the ones that have to pay out those Contracts...

 

[The Stig]

Ok so I capitalized the title because it was bothering me lol

Either way, yes he can be very interfering, but at the same time, theres at least 20 teams that wish they had an owner who cared like our does. Does anyone remember John McCaw? No argument from me that he should back off, but so far it seems like he has. Aquilini may have his faults, but he pours money into this team. When he took over, the marketing and presentation of this team was increased greatly because he obviously cares. Just look at Rogers Arena. He's done so many upgrades to the building.

McCaw era:

Aquilini era:

 

[Ventana*]

All he wants is his 2 playoff home games a year and he's happy.

 

[DoubleTrouble]

All he wants is his 2 playoff home games a year and he's happy.

You have no idea what he wants.. He wants a Stanley Cup.. He is a hard core Canucks Fan....and has thrown so much money at this team.

I can't believe some of the fans of this team.

 

[ihaveyuidonttouchme]

bleh

 

[Baby Pettersson]

Can we fire him?

 

[PM]

You have no idea what he wants.. He wants a Stanley Cup.. He is a hard core Canucks Fan....and has thrown so much money at this team.

I can't believe some of the fans of this team.

I think the fact that he is such a fan is what clouds his judgement sometimes. If the rumours are true that he nixed the trade deadline deal that would have sent Kesler to ANA for Etem, 10th overall + are true then fans have a right to be pissed. He also seemed to be way too involved with Luongo.

 

[VanillaCoke]

I'd probably do the same type of thing if I owned a team. It's too much to just watch

 

[RandV]

In my opinion:

Let he who would not interfere in the hockey operations of the team that they owned cast the first stone.


Is it annoying that he interfered? Yes. Would I have interfered? Yes. Maybe I'm better at interfering than him, maybe I'm worse, but when it comes right down to it: It's hard to blame him for being human.

That's about the only saving grace for me here, because I respect him as an owner who's willing to spend but I can't respect him as a fellow fan, where he appears to be both impatient and self entitled.

In a way it's good to have an owner that gets involved, that means he's not just treating the team as just another business.

As things stand now I was a big fan of Gillis, and it just feels like Aquilini was the man behind the current responsible for screwing things up to which Gillis took the fall. I still feel like Gillis left us in a good enough position going forward, and Benning should be a good hockey guy in his own right, so I can only hope Aqulini learned his listen and will let the actual hockey guys do their jobs.

 

[GCM]

I think the fact that he is such a fan is what clouds his judgement sometimes. If the rumours are true that he nixed the trade deadline deal that would have sent Kesler to ANA for Etem, 10th overall + are true then fans have a right to be pissed. He also seemed to be way too involved with Luongo.

I highly doubt that rumor.

I've read that the 10th was never on the table for Kesler.

 

[btdvox]

Wel see what the mods think but I thought it might be good to have a thread devoted to Canuck ownership. Since we debate about it anyway. What spurred me on to start this thread was this quote I just read from Francesco Aquilini.


To me... Those quotes point towards him almost admitting he was having way too much control over hockey ops.


-----

With recently anointed president of hockey operations Trevor Linden sitting in the front row, Aquilini won the crowd over when he said: “Winning a Stanley Cup is everything. If you don’t want to win the Stanley Cup, you shouldn’t own a team. I’m learning about the ups and downs of the business and realize the success of the hockey team is not in my control.”

Without mentioning names, that’s the closest Aquilini has ventured into admitting his contribution to the horror show produced by Mike Gillis and directed by John Tortorella last year.

“We just want Trevor to be what he is and who he is and leave it with him to put the best product possible on the ice,” Aquilini said.

At that point, a sigh of “Amen” seemed to drift through the room.

---------

http://www.vancouversun.com/touch/story.html?id=10001812

Sounds to me like Gillis was a guy he didn't trust. I wouldn't have either. After seeing Gillis simply sell all of the Canucks prospects for an immediate success wasn't truly the right call now was it? Finally 4-5 years later we have a cupboard full of prospects, and it only took Benning one off season, though Gillis started it last draft.

On the other hand looks like Aquamen do trust Linden which is a positive.

 

[LiquidSnake]

You have no idea what he wants.. He wants a Stanley Cup.. He is a hard core Canucks Fan....and has thrown so much money at this team.

I can't believe some of the fans of this team.

You have no idea what he wants either.

 

[btdvox]

I highly doubt that rumor.

I've read that the 10th was never on the table for Kesler.

It wasn't. Supposedly neither was the 24th, that's when things changed.

 

[DoubleTrouble]

I think the fact that he is such a fan is what clouds his judgement sometimes. If the rumours are true that he nixed the trade deadline deal that would have sent Kesler to ANA for Etem, 10th overall + are true then fans have a right to be pissed. He also seemed to be way too involved with Luongo.

I doubt very much he nixed the Kesler Trade.. that sounds a lot like something GMMG did..

 

[VanCanucks53]

All I know is that it could be way worse. These guys at least spend to and above the cap and give every resource possible into this team. I know people hate them after the whole Gillis saga but I'm still thankful that we have owners that care (too much perhaps) and are willing to spend money into this team.

I hope they learned their lesson and won't get involved in the hockey side of things as much. I think it's interesting how there was never a peep about them being overly involved until last year. My theory is that they let Gillis do his thing for years until last year when he began to slip up and the team started declining. That's probably when they started worrying and got too involved. I don't see Gillis as someone who would work for years under a boss that was controlling so I see it as more of a recent issue.