Re-booted SKYO approved pipe dreams and trade ideas

[Chef Boi RD]

Truthfully I haven’t been a fan of “our” GM’s work, all of them, in a long, long, long time. The whole kit and kaboodle. They seemingly all have a massive disconnect with what the people here, the loyal Canuck fans, want which is a patient, well structured, well thought out long term plan. It’s the the whole one step forward two steps backwards that is killing the spirit of its fan base. Just throwing shit at walls hoping something sticks, like chefs posts! It all points to ownership, bottom line, the managers? We are just shooting the messenger.

[Cousin Strawberry]

His trump meltdown was something different than the Benning/gillis/nonis flame wars. That one he was legit enraged over

[Chef Boi RD]

His trump meltdown was something different than the Benning/gillis/nonis flame wars. That one he was legit enraged over

Not my finest hour, Trump Derangement was clearly taking hold, I should’ve just let the Ponzi Grifter and his “yes” men and the dingbat society they represent speak for themselves.

[2Fingers]

My point is Elms was left with a gaggle of cap space, 5 top 4 D men between 24 and 33. Two HHOF forwards who were 33 and tilted the ice, a 19 year old Bo Horvat, a 24 year old Jacob Markstrom.... and pick #6 in the draft as well as a prime trade chip in Ryan Kesler.

Negative.

Kesler held a full NMC and would waive it ONLY for Anaheim. That made trading him for a prime return impossible.

If my memory serves me right I thought he had a broader range of teams originally but only after the Nucks management screwed him did he just pick one team.

[Blob Mckenzie]

Truthfully I haven’t been a fan of “our” GM’s work, all of them, in a long, long, long time. The whole kit and kaboodle. They seemingly all have a massive disconnect with what the people here, the loyal Canuck fans, want which is a patient, well structured, well thought out long term plan. It’s the the whole one step forward two steps backwards that is killing the spirit of its fan base. Just throwing shit at walls hoping something sticks, like chefs posts! It all points to ownership, bottom line, the managers? We are just shooting the messenger.

Dude, I saw a couple of your workers chilling out at the Picktons farm. Are you getting a gig there?

[Hockey Widow]

My point is Elms was left with a gaggle of cap space, 5 top 4 D men between 24 and 33. Two HHOF forwards who were 33 and tilted the ice, a 19 year old Bo Horvat, a 24 year old Jacob Markstrom.... and pick #6 in the draft as well as a prime trade chip in Ryan Kesler.

Negative.

Kesler held a full NMC and would waive it ONLY for Anaheim. That made trading him for a prime return impossible.

If my memory serves me right I thought he had a broader range of teams originally but only after the Nucks management screwed him did he just pick one team.

He has always denied he gave only one team but yes he did say that because the process took so long he narrowed down his teams to just 2 or so. Whatever 2 or so means. In addition, had we traded him at the TDD the Ducks offered 2 1sts plus because their thinking was they would have him for 2 playoff pushes. But because we waited they reduced their offer to the 1 1st plus whatever else was thrown in.

[Chef Boi RD]

Truthfully I haven’t been a fan of “our” GM’s work, all of them, in a long, long, long time. The whole kit and kaboodle. They seemingly all have a massive disconnect with what the people here, the loyal Canuck fans, want which is a patient, well structured, well thought out long term plan. It’s the the whole one step forward two steps backwards that is killing the spirit of its fan base. Just throwing shit at walls hoping something sticks, like chefs posts! It all points to ownership, bottom line, the managers? We are just shooting the messenger.

Dude, I saw a couple of your workers chilling out at the Picktons farm. Are you getting a gig there?

Were they brown?

[Chef Boi RD]

My point is Elms was left with a gaggle of cap space, 5 top 4 D men between 24 and 33. Two HHOF forwards who were 33 and tilted the ice, a 19 year old Bo Horvat, a 24 year old Jacob Markstrom.... and pick #6 in the draft as well as a prime trade chip in Ryan Kesler.

Negative.

Kesler held a full NMC and would waive it ONLY for Anaheim. That made trading him for a prime return impossible.

If my memory serves me right I thought he had a broader range of teams originally but only after the Nucks management screwed him did he just pick one team.

He has always denied he gave only one team but yes he did say that because the process took so long he narrowed down his teams to just 2 or so. Whatever 2 or so means. In addition, had we traded him at the TDD the Ducks offered 2 1sts plus because their thinking was they would have him for 2 playoff pushes. But because we waited they reduced their offer to the 1 1st plus whatever else was thrown in.

Didn’t Gillis have a deal on the table with Pittsburgh near the end of his tenure with Sutter and Pouliot on the table?

[Chef Boi RD]

My point is Elms was left with a gaggle of cap space, 5 top 4 D men between 24 and 33. Two HHOF forwards who were 33 and tilted the ice, a 19 year old Bo Horvat, a 24 year old Jacob Markstrom.... and pick #6 in the draft as well as a prime trade chip in Ryan Kesler.

Negative.

Kesler held a full NMC and would waive it ONLY for Anaheim. That made trading him for a prime return impossible.

If my memory serves me right I thought he had a broader range of teams originally but only after the Nucks management screwed him did he just pick one team.

Chicago, apparently was the other team Kesler would waive too but they were only mildly interested, that being, they were cap constrained, or something like that.

People need to take in account that Ansheim re-upped a new contract for a Kesler, a huge one may I add in which Kesler collected on a few years after he could no longer play. The Canucks got rid of a future financial headache, he was damaged goods, a has been when they traded him, his hip was going and it went gone in Anaheim not to longer after he signed the contract.

[Ronning's Ghost]

Truthfully I haven’t been a fan of “our” GM’s work, all of them, in a long, long, long time. The whole kit and kaboodle. They seemingly all have a massive disconnect with what the people here, the loyal Canuck fans, want which is a patient, well structured, well thought out long term plan. It’s the the whole one step forward two steps backwards that is killing the spirit of its fan base. Just throwing shit at walls hoping something sticks, like chefs posts! It all points to ownership, bottom line, the managers? We are just shooting the messenger.

It seemed to me at the time like Burke, and later Nonis, were attempting that, but I wasn't paying much attention to the management side of things at that time. I sit ready to stand corrected by waves of evidence to the contrary.

Gillis probably got more of a free hand because he told the Little Eagles that their competitive window was now, so all of the moves to maximize short-term success (which is logically what you want to do if you believe that your competitive window is now) fit with their vision of how to run a hockey club, anyway. Once he told them anything else, he was gone (the fans may have had a vote).

Chef's analysis fits well with what might have been a decent hockey man trying to manoeuvre around or through impossible orders. I think that whatever hockey management skills Benning brought to the table, he was in over his head in the GM role, but that might well have been by design, because the Little Eagles just wanted a yes-man to execute their hare-brained "strategy". (Which would also explain why Linden didn't last long. His only intended role was to put a credible and well-like face to a bad plan, not to steer them towards reason.)

JimBro Benning inherited a disaster.

No he didn't

I would characterize what Benning inherited as a team in need of a re-build (not a re-tool, which is extremely hard to execute), but with pieces in place that would have made it possible to execute a strong one within 5 years. But I will concede the extra difficulty of attempting such a feat on the sly, if that's what Benning was trying to do.

Since then, it seems to me as though Rutherford and Allvin have been pursuing a more measured, calculated plan -- on the whole, anyway. I have heard a couple of hockey executives say that managing ownership is an important part of the job, and it may well be that it is in that function that decades of experience, credibility (and survivorship bias) have given Rutherford an edge in a sphere in which his predecessors were less proficient. Or it could be that, having done the experiment, the Little Eagles were willing to take the lesson that they were, in fact, shitty hockey managers, and they decided to step back somewhat.

But when you speak of being handed a disaster, I think that Rutherford was handed a team in worse shape than the one Benning got. Having muffed the re-build (first failing to admit it needed a rebuild, and then failing to husband assets with which to surround the successful draft choices), the Canucks were structured to peak too early (Miller) and too low.

If everything (posters have enumerated the "everythings" elsewhere) breaks the right way, I think Demko has a shot at an impressive swan song, which could include a deep playoff run. But unless one of goalies in the pipeline is at least as good, and you are confident that you can re-sign Hughes, I think the best shot at an eventual Cup is to start the pump 'n' dump as an overture to a planned and rationally structured re-build. And selling the Little Eagles on that could be too much even for Rutherford's ownership management skills.

[Chef Boi RD]

Nonis recently talked about “rebuilds” on 650 and said that a GM or President cannot execute a “rebuild” without first presenting that plan (your case) to ownership, then once presented you await for ownerships approval “or” not to go forth on a rebuild program. He continued with saying you have to provide timelines, blah, blah, blah, etc. He said he did just that while a GM in Toronto.

My sense; if memory serves, is a rebuild has only been approved under the Aqualini’s in that short window from 2017-2018, then switching directions when we signed Beagle, Roussel and Schaller in the summer of 2018. It was only a couple weeks after those signings where we saw Linden stepping down or was asked to step down from his post over him not agreeing with the new direction. Just prior to his leaving there were strong rumours as reported by Freidman of Linden seeking advice from other teams who had went through succesful rebuilds wanting to do the same. Seems the Aqua boys had a new plan that summer and “yes man” Benning was their stooge (front boss) to puppet the new plan.

Linden was right, and yes, Benning was out of his league in his position. Lasting as long as he did due to his obedience. With Benning I just felt bad for him, he was just trying to survive a difficult environment with meddlesome owners.

[Hockey Widow]

It may go a little deeper than Bending just being a puppet. In the end he failed to back Linden. Linden wanted a slower approach, a 5 year plan, to rebuild with patience through the draft. Benning did the yes man thing to the Aquas and left Linden out to dry. Had they presented a united approach who knows we may have had the rebuild. But Benning was seen as putting the knife in Linden's back and told the Aquas what they wanted to hear. Unfortunately for Benning Linden was right.

We could be on the verge of the same thing happening again. I too like the slower approach of Alvin. At least when he telegraphs what he wants to do he has shown a little patience in trying to do it. His big mistake imho was in the Lindholm trade. Almost everyone knew it was a waste of assets. But what are you going to do. 5 Allstars, leading in the Pacific, they got caught in the headlights.

[Chef Boi RD]

The buck stops with ownership, blaming Benning for Linden stepping down is cute, blaming Benning for Benning wanting to keep his job is cute. If Benning had aligned with Linden he would’ve been walking out of that office with Trevor to the unemployment line, don’t kid yourself, it’s the Aqualini’s. Aqua’s turn to Jim, “Jim can you do what we want, if Trevor doesn’t?” Jim, “well golly gee I think I can.” Aqua’s “good answer, now go back to your office, while I talk to Trevor”

Yes, I agree Trevor was right, but blaming Benning for our Mickey Mouse ownership over that incident is complete bullshit. We can blame Benning for not having the nads to standby Trevor, sure. But all that mess is on the Aqualini’s bottom line, the ownership put Jim in a bad spot because that is how those scumbags operate and it was the owners who didn’t want to do what Trevor wanted, the only wrong Benning did was towing the company line and wanting to stay employed. Big fucks

[Blob Mckenzie]

Benning knifed Linden.

[Chef Boi RD]

Benning knifed Linden.

Benning was a mere pawn to a Logan Roy (Succession). Don’t shoot the messenger, go to the real problem, to those who write the cheques, where the buck stops. It seems to me that the Aqua boys are given a get out of jail free card here by “some”. The heart of the problem was the Aqualini’s not respecting “their” President’s advice to begin with, heeding. They have always been the problem.