The Greatest General Managers in Canucks History (#3)

[JAK]

This spot is Burke, for now.

If the current core does something special, next time I would be voting for Benning in this spot.

 

[Mr. Canucklehead]

Also; Keenan is dead last on my list. I don’t care what anybody else says, or that he made one trade that was terrific in hindsight. He fractured the relationship with the team and its fans and had the team itself feeling broken and discombobulated as well. The only saving grace is that his tenure was mercifully short.

 

[vadim sharifijanov]

Also; Keenan is dead last on my list. I don’t care what anybody else says, or that he made one trade that was terrific in hindsight. He fractured the relationship with the team and its fans and had the team itself feeling broken and discombobulated as well. The only saving grace is that his tenure was mercifully short.

also that he gave us luongo

but i agree. other than one spectacular trade, which he consummated by later giving us luongo for what was left of bertuzzi, what did he do?

he turned gelinas and mclean into nothing, and shuffled some deck chairs. he didn’t even last long enough to draft anyone.

 

[MS]

I do think Keenan gets a worse reputation than he deserves, not that I liked him or a lot of what he did, but he did bring us some pretty good pieces. I would put him above Jimbo.

Also; Keenan is dead last on my list. I don’t care what anybody else says, or that he made one trade that was terrific in hindsight. He fractured the relationship with the team and its fans and had the team itself feeling broken and discombobulated as well. The only saving grace is that his tenure was mercifully short.

The thing with Keenan is that you have to separate the absolute asshole disaster he was as a coach from the moves he made as GM, which were pretty decent. Especially the Linden trade, which ended up being a heist for us and is probably a top-5 trade in franchise history.

 

[MS]

also that he gave us luongo

but i agree. other than one spectacular trade, which he consummated by later giving us luongo for what was left of bertuzzi, what did he do?

he turned gelinas and mclean into nothing, and shuffled some deck chairs. he didn’t even last long enough to draft anyone.

The Gelinas/McLean deal was Steve Tambellini when he briefly had authority before being usurped by Keenan.

Keenan basically undid that entire trade later in the season.

 

[Frankie Blueberries]

While on the subject of Burke, does the Sedin trade go down as the best trade in franchise history?

Other contenders (might be too early but still) IMO would be Bertuzzi + Allen + Auld for Luongo, Schneider for 9th overall (Horvat), Luongo for Markstrom and Matthias, and maybe even the JT Miller trade depending on how the prospects drafted around our pick develop.

 

[Jyrki21]

While on the subject of Burke, does the Sedin trade go down as the best trade in franchise history?

Other contenders (might be too early but still) IMO would be Bertuzzi + Allen + Auld for Luongo, Schneider for 9th overall (Horvat), Luongo for Markstrom and Matthias, and maybe even the JT Miller trade depending on how the prospects drafted around our pick develop.

Näslund/Stojanov and Ronning/Courtnall/Momesso/Dirk for Butcher/Quinn.

 

[vadim sharifijanov]

The Gelinas/McLean deal was Steve Tambellini when he briefly had authority before being usurped by Keenan.

Keenan basically undid that entire trade later in the season.

oh i didn’t know that.

but actually the point kind of stands.

tambo turned mclean and gelinas into something: sean burke was a legit starter, sanderson would go on to contribute as a top six winger on a cup finalist the next season, then put up two 30 goal seasons.

keenan turned those two into garth snow and brad may

even ciccone was more something than jamie huscroft

 

[Vector]

The Gelinas/McLean deal was Steve Tambellini when he briefly had authority before being usurped by Keenan.

Keenan basically undid that entire trade later in the season.

It became Gelinas & McLean for May, Snow, and Huscroft. Which is also not a good return but he was working with reduced assets at that point.

 

[MS]

oh i didn’t know that.

but actually the point kind of stands.

tambo turned mclean and gelinas into something: sean burke was a legit starter, sanderson would go on to contribute as a top six winger on a cup finalist the next season, then put up two 30 goal seasons.

keenan turned those two into garth snow and brad may

All of the Sean Burke stuff gets a huge asterisk because he had a domestic violence charge going on at the time, wasn't focused, and was playing terribly. Would probably have been cancelled to the KHL in 2020. Don't blame the team for getting rid of him.

In the end, McLean -> Snow was an upgrade and I don't know if you can do too deep a dive into Burke or rating the Burke trades because of the off-ice stuff.

The Sanderson-May trade is hard to evaluate because Sanderson was playing terribly at that juncture of his career, and would for several years afterward, and only rebounded when he went to an expansion team in Columbus. We got a 3rd rounder with May, both players scored 20-30 goals for their new teams in 2.5 years, and then we got a pick for May and Buffalo got nothing for Sanderson. Short term results are even, maybe a slight edge to us when you factor in the picks. The big loss was Gelinas -> Sanderson which Tambellini made ... but it was made because Keenan the coach had forced Gelinas out. So hard to figure out how much to blame Keenan for that one.

 

[4Twenty]

Also; Keenan is dead last on my list. I don’t care what anybody else says, or that he made one trade that was terrific in hindsight. He fractured the relationship with the team and its fans and had the team itself feeling broken and discombobulated as well. The only saving grace is that his tenure was mercifully short.

But we got Luongo out of it.

 

[Mr. Canucklehead]

But we got Luongo out of it.

And for the same reason I'm not declaring Nonis the best GM ever for acquiring Luongo, or Burke for drafting the Sedins, or Benning drafting Pettersson or Hughes, I'm still voting Keenan dead last on my own personal list because of what an incredible POS he was. One good (great in hindsight) trade doesn't undo that. IMO.

 

[y2kcanucks]

And for the same reason I'm not declaring Nonis the best GM ever for acquiring Luongo, or Burke for drafting the Sedins, or Benning drafting Pettersson or Hughes, I'm still voting Keenan dead last on my own personal list because of what an incredible POS he was. One good (great in hindsight) trade doesn't undo that. IMO.

No one is declaring Keenan the best GM in team history though. He's behind Milford, and possibly behind Nonis as well due to his short tenure. But I would probably have him in the conversation with Nonis, or immediately after.

Also Benning didn't draft Pettersson. That pick should be attributed to Linden/Brackett.

 

[M2Beezy]

Laycoe

 

[I am toxic]

While on the subject of Burke, does the Sedin trade go down as the best trade in franchise history?

Other contenders (might be too early but still) IMO would be Bertuzzi + Allen + Auld for Luongo, Schneider for 9th overall (Horvat), Luongo for Markstrom and Matthias, and maybe even the JT Miller trade depending on how the prospects drafted around our pick develop.

Also STL trade that netted us Ronning et al

 

[I am toxic]

Who was it that shafted Zezel? Was that Burke? If so, I have to rearrange the rankings, I am having difficulties imagining anything any Canucks GM did that was as reprehensible as that.

 

[RobertKron]

Who was it that shafted Zezel? Was that Burke? If so, I have to rearrange the rankings, I am having difficulties imagining anything any Canucks GM did that was as reprehensible as that.

yeah, that was Burke as far as I remember.

Hate the weird Bruce-Allen-crossed-with-Don-Cherry persona that Burke built himself while he was here, but he’s still #3.

 

[xtra]

This might be controversial but I think Nonis has to be considered for 4 for 2 reasons:

1: the lui trade which might be the best trade in our history

2: the no on the bras Richards deal which basically stopped a short term gain for the long term correct move. Even if it got him fired.

 

[PM]

I only know of Milford from books and posts on here but getting the Canucks to the finals in the 80’s is worthy of fourth alone. And it sounds like he made some good moves overall outside the Vaive trade. And it’s not like Williams was completely useless at all, especially in an era where you could basically beat the shit out of an opposing player for scoring on you.

I’m legitimately considering Keenan for 5th based on the Linden trade alone. That’s up there for the most dividends paid from a big trade by any GM in Canucks history. McCabe, Bertuzzi, Sedin, Luongo, Markstrom all from one trade tree is insane. Yeah those weren’t all his trade but the assets from the original trade were amazing and the following GMs did a great job capitalizing on them, until Benning.