Linden named President of Hockey Ops

[Zedlee]

Agreed UK. The orca with it's Haida-esque styling is good. Of the modern logos, I think it's one of the better ones. While I like the old rink-stick logo, it's mostly for nostalgic reasons. Remember that the team was mocked for years over that thing... it's not clever. It's just old.

The Red Wing, Bruins B and Rangers uniforms are "old" but so what...they are simple and classic and have stood the test of time. The Stick and Rink to me fits in very well with the classic logos and I don't ever recall the stick and rink being mocked. The downhill skate and the yellow/black V was certainly scorned, with good reason.

If anything, Johnny Canuck is more representative of a "canuck" than a whale...a tough, hockey playing logger says "BC" more than any orca ever could. A logo should have a tie in to the team name or sport of hockey...and the orca has nothing to do with either. I will never buy anthing with that piece of crap on it.

[Cornuck]

I guess I'm one of the few that like the orca. I think it's a great symbol of the province. Sure, it has the ties with the old 'Orca Corp' era, but that's gone. I could live without the 'Vancouver' over the logo.

I also like the stick in rink - but I'm really tired of this team changing it's logo every few years. Stay with the orca, and have the stick as an alt.

[BurningBeard]

One concern I do have is being too loyal to long time Canucks scouts and the scouting organization. Clearly, that needs to be turned over, shaken upside down, and re-done as a scouting team. I hope he gets one of these young asst GM's that have strong scouting creds. For once, the Canucks need to be getting this draft and development right, and consistently.

Everyone said the same thing when Gillis was hired - it would be Ron Delorme's last draft. It was not. Clearly he brings something to the table, he's had the job for almost 15 years.

[Hockey Widow]

One thing Trevor said is he owes a lot to Smyl who was one of his mentors and he has nothing but the greatest respect for him. Didn't sound like he was going anywhere. Whether his position-title change is another matter.

I think Trevor will be very loyal to those he knows and likes.

[Meds]

I'm not sold on this. Love Linden, that goes without saying... But if the plan is to make him the Sakic/Neely of the franchise I worry. There's a pretty wide gap between HHOF, universally revered, all-time greats running a franchise vs a player that is special to one franchise's fan base.

It's a sad admission that our franchise has never made it further than a Stanley Cup final. I do think this looks closer to Kevin Lowe than Joe Sakic. Hopefully they go outside the organization for a GM with a proven track record of being a part of managing a Stanley Cup champion.

Are you intentionally trying to regress to the level of a troll? Or are you just a half-wit.....

Lowe has more Cups than either of the guys you mentioned, so arguing the merits of a GM/President based on the number of Stanley Cups he won as a player and then using a player with more cups as an example of front office futility is just a retarded argumentj.....you essentially make your own point invalid.

But for argument sake.....

Neely doesn't even have one as a player.....he does have one in the front office though. Sakic has only been to one more SCF than Linden. He happened to win them both, but the first one was against a laughable Panthers team that was riding a red hot John Vanbiesbrouck..... and I don't think we need to talk about how talented both of those Avalanche teams were. Sakic is definitely a better player than Linden was, but Stanley Cups as players don't always translate to Cups in the front office.

Even suggesting that HHOF inductees who got in based on their merit as players has a direct correlation to their business and team building acumen is retarded. Gretzky is widely regarded as the best player of all time, he has a pretty lousy track record as a coach.

In my opinion Sakic is getting accolades he doesn't necessarily deserve as far as his new role with the Avalanche goes. He inherited a team that was loaded with good young talent, all he did was hire a coach and conspire with said coach to draft Nate McKinnon. Yep, some really tough decisions.

I'm not saying this to knock Sakic at all, I think he's going to be a very good fit in his current position, but I don't think that has anything to do with the fact that he he's in the HHOF.

[Meds]

One concern I do have is being too loyal to long time Canucks scouts and the scouting organization. Clearly, that needs to be turned over, shaken upside down, and re-done as a scouting team. I hope he gets one of these young asst GM's that have strong scouting creds. For once, the Canucks need to be getting this draft and development right, and consistently.

Everyone said the same thing when Gillis was hired - it would be Ron Delorme's last draft. It was not. Clearly he brings something to the table, he's had the job for almost 15 years.

Pictures of someone.....

[Puck]

Agreed UK. The orca with it's Haida-esque styling is good. Of the modern logos, I think it's one of the better ones. While I like the old rink-stick logo, it's mostly for nostalgic reasons. Remember that the team was mocked for years over that thing... it's not clever. It's just old.

The Red Wing, Bruins B and Rangers uniforms are "old" but so what...they are simple and classic and have stood the test of time. The Stick and Rink to me fits in very well with the classic logos and I don't ever recall the stick and rink being mocked. The downhill skate and the yellow/black V was certainly scorned, with good reason.

Sorry, I didn't mean to imply that old is bad. It's just that in this case, old looks cool. It's a total nostalgic love. If you rolled out the stick and the rink today as a new design it would not go over well. I'm certain of that. And yes, back in the seventies, it was "bad team, bad logo".

[Meds]

Was it just me, or did anyone else get the impression that, despite the fact that FA's welcome and announcement of Trevor as the new President sounding like a rehashed/rehearsed version of the endorsement he game Gillis 6 years ago, this time it rings true. I just got the sense that since Linden retired in 2008, Aquaman and Co. have been courting Linden all along, and that he had been pegged as the guy that they want at the wheel for a long time to come.

I really do think that this is a day that will be pointed back to as a turning point for the franchise, there is a genuineness to Trevor that nobody can dismiss, and without question I think he brings an instant increase in the level of respect that other league/team officials will have to acknowledge.

Above all else, the one thing I like about Linden being given the reigns here is that he wants to win here. With other GM's and President's the desire to build a winner is driven by personal success and legacy, as well as setting themselves up for potential future positions. Linden has only ever wanted to be involved with the Canucks. He has a vested interest in this team and its fans, this is home. This is not some place he is moving to for a job. That alone makes him the perfect fit. I also think there will be some growing pains in the near future and that he is going to make some tough decisions that are going to be seen as unpopular, both with the fans and with himself. But I think he has it within him to make those decisions.

It will also be refreshing to have that honesty that has been lacking for so long. He's not a smoke and mirrors kind of guy, and that might burn him in the early going, but the fans are going to like that.

Oh and one more thing.....I think this immediately changes the perspective of the media towards this team. It doesn't matter where you are from, Linden is a respected guy. Any media clown, outside of Toronto at any rate, will be seen as highly unpopular if he takes shots at Linden and the Canucks the way so much of the sports media world has done for so long.

[Arachnid]

Tank it Torts!™ So Trevor can get a great draft pick to give his new GM to start the '16 era off and he can fire your sorry ass

[Island Nucklehead]

Are you intentionally trying to regress to the level of a troll? Or are you just a half-wit.....

Lowe has more Cups than either of the guys you mentioned, so arguing the merits of a GM/President based on the number of Stanley Cups he won as a player and then using a player with more cups as an example of front office futility is just a retarded argumentj.....you essentially make your own point invalid.

Not trying to troll.. must be half-wit?

The point was that guys like Neely and Sakic are revered around the league and are considered some of the best to have ever played the sport. Is there a player that defines "Bruins hockey" more than Cam Neely? I doubt it. Guys like Kevin Lowe and Linden are revered in their fan-base (most games played for the team etc.) Kevin Lowe had great fortune to be drafted by the Oilers and being traded to the Rangers, and has been shielding Katz from a majority of the criticism levelled against that franchise. I really hope the Aquamen aren't planning on using Linden as the same windshield for the shit flying at the Canucks.

I have nothing wrong with bringing a guy in that did great things for the franchise to harken back to the glory days, or is pretty much a physical embodiment of the franchise. But the Canucks have never really seen "Glory Days". We're at the tail-end of the best seasons in franchise history. In less than a year we've fired our best coach, GM and goalie the franchise has seen. I see this hiring like a screen for the owners incompetence. "How can the fans criticize us now? We brought back the great Trevor Linden!"

It will be interesting to see where Linden wants to take the franchise going forward, and it's great to see him back in the fold, but I'd prefer if he came in and learned the ropes a little bit instead of being thrown into the breach to clean up what is clearly an ownership-induced dumpster-fire.

[BurningBeard]

Was it just me, or did anyone else get the impression that, despite the fact that FA's welcome and announcement of Trevor as the new President sounding like a rehashed/rehearsed version of the endorsement he game Gillis 6 years ago, this time it rings true. I just got the sense that since Linden retired in 2008, Aquaman and Co. have been courting Linden all along, and that he had been pegged as the guy that they want at the wheel for a long time to come.

Was it because Francesco's mom told Linden he'd have the job for at least 20 years?

[Cornuck]

But the Canucks have never really seen "Glory Days". We're at the tail-end of the best seasons in franchise history. In less than a year we've fired our best coach, GM and goalie the franchise has seen. I see this hiring like a screen for the owners incompetence. "How can the fans criticize us now? We brought back the great Trevor Linden!"

I see your point, but the lack of a Cup in the past is just something we have to deal with. Linden led the team to one of the best finals in Cup history. We all know how well he led the team.

If the owners are truly setting Linden up as PR move, then we'll find out soon enough. In the meantime, I have enough respect for the guy to cut him some slack for now.

[mathonwy]

I have nothing wrong with bringing a guy in that did great things for the franchise to harken back to the glory days, or is pretty much a physical embodiment of the franchise. But the Canucks have never really seen "Glory Days". We're at the tail-end of the best seasons in franchise history. In less than a year we've fired our best coach, GM and goalie the franchise has seen. I see this hiring like a screen for the owners incompetence. "How can the fans criticize us now? We brought back the great Trevor Linden!"

It will be interesting to see where Linden wants to take the franchise going forward, and it's great to see him back in the fold, but I'd prefer if he came in and learned the ropes a little bit instead of being thrown into the breach to clean up what is clearly an ownership-induced dumpster-fire.

Yep, I concur with this very realistic assessment.

I have absolutely no problems with Trevor Linden. I believe that he's a sincere guy with a honest-to-goodness motivation to win a Stanley Cup for Vancouver.

I mean, imagine if Trevor fucking Linden was the president that was able to make it happen. Steve Nash who?

But reality is reality and that reality is the Canucks are in a bad bind right now with no easy solutions. The twins aren't suddenly 5 years younger. Those rumours of Kesler wanting a trade haven't exactly gone away. We still have two rookies in goal. And our team in general has a dearth of 20-25 year old players.

If Trevor Linden had been brought in at the same time as Mike Gillis had been brought in, then I'd say hooray. Mike inherited a team that was on the cusp of greatness and frankly, it would have taken an idiot to really screw up the 2007/08 Canucks. Kesler, Burr, Sedins, Bieksa, Luo, Edler were all already on the team when Gillis took it over so he was primed for success.

Linden, on the other hand, is taking over a team that (as IN politely called it) is an ownership-induced dumpster fire. Linden of the zero years of hockey ops experience with "complete" autonomy. Yes, he's probably pretty good at setting up gyms and selling gym memberships but the gym business is an entirely different business than running a hockey team.

It's sort of like, oh, that guy running the japadog cart at the corner of Granville and Burrard must be good at business. Let's get him to run the Yaletown Earls.

As much I love Linden (and I even have a stick-in-rink jersey with 16 on it), this just reeks of figurehead-ism.

[ukcanuck]

Some people are making it sound like its literally rocket science

Learn the ropes... That there is a joke. The guy spent his entire life in hockey I'm sure he knows wtf..

The hard part in being a manager is making tough decisions with big money... Dudes done that as a NHLPA exec.

I don't think it's a leap to say that he has as much experience as a GM as gillis had, which was none.

He also has respect around the league as a solid player and as a straight shooter.

The Canucks could have done a lot worse today ...

[BurningBeard]

Mike inherited a team that was on the cusp of greatness and frankly, it would have taken an idiot to really screw up the 2007/08 Canucks. Kesler, Burr, Sedins, Bieksa, Luo, Edler were all already on the team when Gillis took it over so he was primed for success.

While I do not disagree with you, it should be pointed out that nobody thought this at the time. Gillis was hired, and shortly thereafter Naslund and Morrison were cut loose, Bourdon got himself killed, and it was expected by many that AV would get the axe as well. Many would say the 2007/08 Canucks were already pretty screwed up, but nobody properly evaluated what they already had on the roster. At that time, there was also a lot of speculation that Gillis would trade the Sedins.