Vancouver Canucks fire Willie Desjardins

[KCC]

People saying that the Canucks wouldn't have made the playoffs regardless of coaching and that the management are at fault for icing such a crappy lineup are missing the point. Desjardins is an awful coach regardless of all that and deserved to be fired for it. Hopefully Benning and co. are booted out the door soon too.

True. But you have to feel for him knowing no one higher up has a clue what they're doing. Tough to be in that position knowing what you have to work with is awful. Maybe he wasn't a good coach but at least the players never gave up under willie and he got them to work hard. Now Colorado, that is giving up on a coach

 

[JuniorNelson]

If they are moving Willie for a rebuild, they are typically starting in the wrong place. LOL!

 

[Canucks5551]

True. But you have to feel for him knowing no one higher up has a clue what they're doing. Tough to be in that position knowing what you have to work with is awful. Maybe he wasn't a good coach but at least the players never gave up under willie and he got them to work hard. Now Colorado, that is giving up on a coach

Oh, he definitely seems like a nice guy and got some good effort out of his players. From a tactical standpoint, though, his decisions were mind-bogglingly bad. That playoff series against Calgary was a perfect display of how in over his head he was.

 

[Bounces R Way]

Probably the least surprising coaching move of the season. Other than Capuano maybe.

He did the best with what he had. His best was not good enough and never will be, he's simply a bad coach at the NHL level. His player usage and stubborn mindset of "roll 4 lines no matter what" made that team almost unwatchable. The Canucks had the 2nd least GF this season, sandwiched between the Avs and Devils. Really the only component of that team that performed well was the goaltending, something the HC is likely the furthest removed from.

Getting an NHL team to play a system is not an accomplishment, and should be considered the bare minimum expectation for a HC. This is Benning's sacrificial lamb, I don't think he'll get another.

 

[Zirakzigil]

Terrible roaster, but he's not a good coach.

 

[Pastor Of Muppets]

Should have fired Benning/Linden.

You'll still have the same ownership...makes no difference who the President and GM are if the owners are calling the shots.

Mike Gillis wanted to rebuild the Canucks 4 years ago and was summarily fired on the spot...Ownership had no stomach for a rebuild until they had absolutely no choice but to do so...Unlike the Leafs who did a pre meditated rebuild.

 

[MikeK]

Jim Benning is actually not a bad GM. The direction he received form Linden and ownership is what's wrong with the Canucks.

Should have traded the Sedin 2 seasons ago.

Spoken like a person who doesn't follow the team. One of the dumbest post of the week.

 

[Scygen]

Jim Benning is actually not a bad GM. The direction he received form Linden and ownership is what's wrong with the Canucks.

Should have traded the Sedin 2 seasons ago.

Jim Benning has a been a complete disaster since being GM. His drafting has been very lackluster outside of a few gems in the later rounds. His trading has been almost entirely a failure. Team management went down the drain. His management with the AHL has been horrendous as well.

I think WD will rebound in the NHL. He had very little to work with and that's the GM's fault. He's done his time, he's proven he's a good coach. But he has a lot to learn in the NHL. I think his own stubbornness and unwillingness to adapt is what really did him in. His poor coaching job in the series against Calgary a prime example, as well as his deployment and poor understanding of his own players like Horvat and Vey other examples.

 

[GreatSaveLuongo]

Lets have some fun and just hire a rookie coach, preferbly someone witth experience with NHL 16 EA Sports.

Play the damn kids and lets see what we have.

 

[Jee]

Who's taking the job, Therrien, Crawford, Ruff, Hartley?

 

[crobro]

Marc Crawford hopefully is coming back

 

[M2Beezy]

Who's taking the job, Therrien, Crawford, Ruff, Hartley?

Green or Hitch apparently. Down to those two

 

[Bleedred]

I'm really gonna miss Willie mumbling to himself on the bench behind his mustache every night.

Dude is an awful, awful, awful, awful, head coach at the NHL level. That's even considering the poor roster the Canucks iced.

 

[Dain Bramaged]

Green or Hitch apparently. Down to those two

Why not Sutter?

 

[Dolemite]

Now watch Dallas hire him and then win a cup.

 

[groov2]

Green or Hitch apparently. Down to those two

How do you come up with this stuff?

 

[dss97]

Im just glad I don't have to watch his mind numbingly boring style of play anymore. Good for the Canucks.

 

[Intoewsables]

Jim Benning is actually not a bad GM. The direction he received form Linden and ownership is what's wrong with the Canucks.

Should have traded the Sedin 2 seasons ago.

I really hope this is just a poor attempt at trolling.

 

[lawrence]

they will probably hire someone after the playoffs or something in the manner. They will wait for other heads to roll to see the candidate pool.

WD was a good guy, players had nothing but good things to say about this guy. Too bad it didn't work out.

 

[SK13]

That game the Oilers played against them three weeks ago: RNH line on the ice checking the Sedins, and Desjardins had the Canucks trapping on the first shift of the first game.

They were playing to lose by 1 goal, not to win, when they had already lost their season. Made little sense to me.

I'd honestly like to see Lindy Ruff get the job and the Canucks win the draft Lottery. It'd be cool to see him run with Boeser, Horvat, Patrick, Granlund, Baertschi, etc. There might be a winner there earlier than they expect. At the very least, they'll score more goals.

 

[DudeWhereIsMakar]

Sucks because I thought Desjardins was a good coach for Vancouver. Sure, poor records, but he did manage to get them into the playoffs with basically that same roster.

I see Dallas taking a chance on him because he did coach the Texas Stars to the Calder Cup finals.

I see Travis Green getting promoted to head coach of the Canucks.

 

[David Bruce Banner]

We'll see just how crappy he was when we get to compare how the next coach does with this mess. How many more wins could Babcock have wrung out this pack of kids, has-beens and never-were's? I would say 4 or 5, tops... which, ironically, would have been a worse result for us.

Don't get me wrong, though, I'm glad he's gone. Willie had to go before Benning could go... so that Aquaman could finally either grudgingly embrace a rebuild, or sell the team.

 

[VainGretzky]

Sutter in 3 2 1

 

[Edo]

The fact that people are able to find any positive comments from his time in Vancouver stuns me. He clearly had no idea how to coach in the NHL. Vancouver could've gotten better results from Henrik/Daniel acting as players/coaches.

You could've given him Chicago, or Washington, and they would've struggled.

It's really insane how bad he was, and how he lasted as long as he did. Not a single positive from his time in Vancouver. The 1st season when Vancouver made the playoffs was the worst coached series I have ever seen from Vancouver's end. Who the hell rolls 4 lines from puck drop to the final whistle?

Nothing he did made sense. Normally you would put players in the best positions to succeed and use their strengths when deploying them. He did the complete opposite.

Just blows my mind how anybody thinks he was anything but an absolute trainwreck.

 

[Josepho]

True. But you have to feel for him knowing no one higher up has a clue what they're doing. Tough to be in that position knowing what you have to work with is awful. Maybe he wasn't a good coach but at least the players never gave up under willie and he got them to work hard. Now Colorado, that is giving up on a coach

A) Most players on bad teams are playing for contracts or jobs.
B) They absolutely gave up. They were 7-22-3 after the all star break, 4-14-2 after the deadline and 1-8-0 after they were mathematically eliminated. The team was good at keeping games tight but that had more to do with Miller's efforts than it did with Willie's coaching.

He's a ****ing horrendous coach to have for a young team and it baffles my mind how many people think that he's not remotely at fault for this team's lack of success.