Canucks Young Guns

[Megaterio Llamas]

Former Florida Assistant GM Steve Werier published an article about the Willander situation. He wrote about some of the stumbling blocks in negotiating ELC, college status being one of these. One interesting note is that Todd Diamond also represents one of the other kids in this range, Daniel But, who is also unsigned. Could we have a renegade agent here trying to reset the bar for Schedule A bonuses with the cap increasing, butting heads with an elderly old-school manager? In this case, you can see how egos could easily get in the way of getting something done.

In 1998, two young engineers in California had the idea to start a company that could help people find things online. They started meeting with potential investors and were turned down by the first few because they didn’t have a real business plan yet. One day, they met at a coffee shop with an investor who recognized they were sharp guys he wanted to bet on. So the investor went back to his car and cut them a check for $100,000. The founders asked him “wait, what percentage of the company do we have to give you for your $100K?” (a key issue in startup investing). The investor replied – basically – “whatever, you guys figure that out and get back to me” and drove off. Anyway, it all worked out. The founders were named Larry and Sergei and they called their new company “Google”. The investor made lots of money. I forget how much, but there’s places you can look that up.

The point of the story is that sometimes it makes sense to focus your efforts on making sure you lock down relationships with people you believe are going places, and not get bogged down in details that could derail the relationship before it really begins.

Which brings us to Tom Willander, the Vancouver Canucks, and entry level contract negotiations under the NHL’s CBA.

read on here: https://puckpedia.com/news/when-entry-l ... swede-sour

[Chef Boi RD]

I bet Todd Diamond isn't even his real name

I just finished the book Jack “Legs” Diamond, the New York Irish mobster from the early 20’s. It wasn’t his real last name either. Great book, written by Willam Kennedy who wrote Ironweed, later turned into a movie, starring yours truly Jack Nicholson.

What about local big bucks legend - Jack Diamond? Rags to riches. He bought a butcher shop and later created British Columbia's largest meat packing firm, Pacific Meats. In 1963, Diamond sold Pacific Meats and formed West Coast Reduction, a tallow and feed company. I believe West Coast Reduction was where Hargraves neighbor- Pickton the Pig Farmer sent the remaining parts of his DTES gals. The Diamond family still own West Coast Reduction, today, it’s a license to print money. I wonder if Diamond was Jacks real last name. It’s a Jew name, I think, but I may just be thinking that for the Jews monopoly in the racket. I believe the Jews control De Beers which controls a substantial portion of the global rough diamond market and have a history of managing the distribution and pricing of diamonds.

It’s all a racket, the CC is a racket, like Lever’s racket, he’s a racketeer.

Poor ole Legs eventually got 3 bullets in the back of the head in
1931

IMG_7613.jpeg (35.51 KiB) Viewed 753 times

[Megaterio Llamas]

Tom Willander Caught in Limbo as Contract Dispute with Vancouver Canucks Drags On

https://www.eliteprospects.com/news/nhl ... s-drags-on

Tom Willander is stuck in limbo.

The Vancouver Canucks top prospect left Boston University early, and is currently playing exhibition games with the Swedish national team in hopes of making the roster for the IIHF World Championships in Stockholm.

He could have been in Abbotsford, actively playing in the AHL playoffs. He could have potentially made his NHL debut earlier this month after Boston University's season came to an end in the NCAA Championship game against Western Michigan.

Instead, Willander remains unsure where he'll play next season, stuck in a contract dispute with the Canucks over a standard set of bonuses on his entry-level contract.

Willander said it's been his simple ask, put the bonuses in the entry-level deal. He says he never asked for the Canucks to burn the first year of his entry-level deal or promise NHL playing time immediately.

"No. We didn’t ask for anything like that” Willander said, speaking via phone Friday afternoon.

And at the same time, Willander was honoring one of the Canucks requests, it's why he didn't join the national team until recently as contract negotiations dragged on with Vancouver.

“They asked us earlier in the season. The Canucks didn’t want us to play there," Willander said. "But then as time moved on, it became viable so we decided ‘okay, it could be fun to play games with really good players.’”

The rift between Willander and the Canucks is another exclamation point on a season filled with strife for Vancouver.

This season, too often they were the main character, and not in a good way. A contentious dressing room, and struggling stars dominated much of the focus. Now, a lame-duck coach humming and hawing over an extension, while the captain has a spotlight on him amid fears of a wandering eye for familial fun in Newark, thanks to comments, almost unprompted, from the president of hockey operations.

It’s all been acutely distracting.

Willander, for his part, has done his best to try and stay focused on what he can control.

“It’s been good. I try to be objective with it all. It’s not bothering me too much. I like Vancouver. I like the guys that are around - the development team, as well as the guys on the team and in Abby… the draft picks I’ve met. I like all those guys”

And he's excited about his opportunity with world championships.

“Im hoping (to make the final roster). It would be sick. We’re playing in my home town. But for that same reason, there’s going to be a bunch of guys from the NHL who want to play too. But it’s been a good start.”

“I’m a firm believer in taking short steps at a time. I don’t think too far ahead when it comes to this stuff because it really doesn’t do me any good. I’m focused on whatever tomorrow brings”

While he can focus on the short steps now, it's not stopping others from trying to figure where Willander might play next season.

Those who know him best are already speaking about his college career in the past tense.

“I don't think he's coming back (to Boston University),” Sascha Boumedienne, Willander's defensive partner at BU this season, said this week from the Under-18 World Championships in Texas.

And college hockey was good to Willander.

In addition to excelling in two World Junior Championships, he was recognized as a Hockey East All-Star in both his seasons at Boston University. His game has become more polished and is now better suited for professional hockey.

“College hockey is sick. It’s a lot of fun. You’re all the same age and living with each other, just you and the boys having fun every day of the week. It’s a good league, but you can still feel that it isn’t pro yet.”

That sounds like a player that looks at the NCAA as part of his past, not his future. Does he believe he has outgrown what college hockey can provide moving forward?

“Yeah, I do," Willander said. "A little bit, anyway. I don’t think I’m in any way too good for the league. But thinking about optimizing development, I don’t know if that’s what I need. It might not be the perfect spot for me anymore.”

So if it's no longer the perfect spot, and he doesn't have a deal with the Canucks, the simple math might mean Willander returns to the SHL and signs with Rögle, who he originally turned down to play in the NCAA, becoming the first-ever defensemen to move directly from the Swedish junior circuit to the NCAA.

This is where Willander carefully chooses his words.

“The season is still going for me now with the National Program” Willander said. “I haven’t really sat down and thought about it too much.”

And what if Vancouver called today with a sufficient offer. Would he hop on a plane to Abbotsford to join their AHL playoff run, which may or may not end tonight in a first-round series.

“I haven’t even thought about it hypothetically because it’s not close to being a done deal.” Willander said.

For Willander, the big thing he's willing to divulge is his simple mindset here. An approach on the next steps right now, not necessarily the next ones in September or October.

“I don’t think too far ahead when it comes to this stuff because it really doesn’t do me any good," Willander said. “I’m focused on whatever tomorrow brings.”

And right now tomorrow represents a chance to make Team Sweden, to potentially represent his country at the senior level on home soil. The Vancouver Canucks haven't been ruled out, but they are no longer the top of his mind, which in the end only puts both the top prospect and organization deeper into the state of limbo.

[Cousin Strawberry]

Madness.

So is this really Aqualini cheaping out or the old man hating on dirty Dustin diamond?

What is wrong with these fuckwits???

[Carl Yagro]

SMH. You'd think that finally hiring people with pedigree and experience to run things would finally get this franchise to some kind of normalcy and success... but nope.

What? Aqua can't afford the tariff?

[Blob Mckenzie]

I bet Todd Diamond isn't even his real name

I just finished the book Jack “Legs” Diamond, the New York Irish mobster from the early 20’s. It wasn’t his real last name either. Great book, written by Willam Kennedy who wrote Ironweed, later turned into a movie, starring yours truly Jack Nicholson.

What about local big bucks legend - Jack Diamond? Rags to riches. He bought a butcher shop and later created British Columbia's largest meat packing firm, Pacific Meats. In 1963, Diamond sold Pacific Meats and formed West Coast Reduction, a tallow and feed company. I believe West Coast Reduction was where Hargraves neighbor- Pickton the Pig Farmer sent the remaining parts of his DTES gals. The Diamond family still own West Coast Reduction, today, it’s a license to print money. I wonder if Diamond was Jacks real last name. It’s a Jew name, I think, but I may just be thinking that for the Jews monopoly in the racket. I believe the Jews control De Beers which controls a substantial portion of the global rough diamond market and have a history of managing the distribution and pricing of diamonds.

It’s all a racket, the CC is a racket, like Lever’s racket, he’s a racketeer.

Poor ole Legs eventually got 3 bullets in the back of the head in
1931

IMG_7613.jpeg

The Picktons lived at the bottom of Dawes Hill when they began pig farming

[Hockey Widow]

It shocks me that this is the hold up. I did not believe for the longest time that this could possibly be the reason. I bought into the narrative that he wanted to go back to college. It is stunning that this the hill the Canucks want to die on. Willander's potential bonus money is not going to be a reason we have cap trouble, if we do.

[Chef Boi RD]

Something tells me Willander is the asset that gets us that centre, the damage is done, but maybe intentional. A once strong area in the Canuck lineup butchered by Allvin and Ruth in the name of fixing the D. The ole classic - bailing water out of one end of the canoe while drilling holes in the other end of the canoe.

[dangler]

It shocks me that this is the hold up. I did not believe for the longest time that this could possibly be the reason. I bought into the narrative that he wanted to go back to college. It is stunning that this the hill the Canucks want to die on. Willander's potential bonus money is not going to be a reason we have cap trouble, if we do.

Especially when you compare it to the OEL buyout.
It's chump change.

[Chef Boi RD]

It shocks me that this is the hold up. I did not believe for the longest time that this could possibly be the reason. I bought into the narrative that he wanted to go back to college. It is stunning that this the hill the Canucks want to die on. Willander's potential bonus money is not going to be a reason we have cap trouble, if we do.

Especially when you compare it to the OEL buyout.
It's chump change.

The Aqua bros could be penalizing Allvin and Rutherford for a string of poor decisions leading to this dreadful season and no post season which the Aqua bros adore. I imagine the Pettersson contract is the straw that broke the camels back. I’d be curious on the year end financial numbers with the Canucks in the profit/loss column. This might have a lot to do with it. The Whitecaps are losing bundles. The CDN dollar and the naive destabilization of the American economy affecting the world by what’s his nuts, may have changed the game on what the Aquas are open to and not open to.

[Cousin Strawberry]

When is the PNE? They'll get all that lawn parking money then and can hopefully afford more luxuries?

I imagine by this time of year they have holes in their socks and had their furnaces shut off by Feb 15 to save cash. Lots of hamburger helper meals lately

[rikster]

It shocks me that this is the hold up. I did not believe for the longest time that this could possibly be the reason. I bought into the narrative that he wanted to go back to college. It is stunning that this the hill the Canucks want to die on. Willander's potential bonus money is not going to be a reason we have cap trouble, if we do.

Especially when you compare it to the OEL buyout.
It's chump change.

The Aqua bros could be penalizing Allvin and Rutherford for a string of poor decisions leading to this dreadful season and no post season which the Aqua bros adore. I imagine the Pettersson contract is the straw that broke the camels back. I’d be curious on the year end financial numbers with the Canucks in the profit/loss column. This might have a lot to do with it. The Whitecaps are losing bundles. The CDN dollar and the naive destabilization of the American economy affecting the world by what’s his nuts, may have changed the game on what the Aquas are open to and not open to.

So much negativity....

While the general assesment is that the season was a disaster, I look at it in a more positive review...

Given the injuries to key and core players from training camp thru to the end of the season, the lockeroom turmoil, the trading away of the teams best forward, leading the league in overtime losses along with EP having a down year, they somehow ended the season playing .549 hockey and 1 point back of 2 teams in the playoffs....

Had they been able to gain the extra point in just half of their overtime losses they would have jumped ahead of 3 teams in the playoffs and tied with another 2 teams in the playoffs...

The new media contracts the league has and will sign should only continue the upward spiraling of franchise values which will more than offset any losses they may have recorded this season...

Not to mention they can likely use those losses against other company earnings....

The leagues media revenues are in US dollars which is much of what the team uses to pay its bills, and as for the CDN dollar it has gotten stronger as the US dollar weakens...

Even the dreaded lack of depth at the centre position doesn't seem as dire when you look at what most of the teams in the playoffs are icing at the centre position...

btw, doing the comparison it is easy to see why Florida has been to 2 Cup finals and have won 1 Cup in the last 2 years, their centre ice depth is arguably the best in the league by a lot...

They have gone from being a team with a weak blueline and a fan base bemoaning the trading away of Hunter Brzustewicz to one bursting with youth and quality...

And they have another couple of prospects still playing junior hockey who look like they have NHL upside...

As much as you can critisize the team for not paying the extra bonus $ to Willander, if that is indeed the stumbling block, you can just as easily blame the player for holding out over a small amount....

My guess is that the Willander situation will play itself out during the offseason and after the team uses some of its blueline depth to address other roster areas...

While it would be great to see him in Abby for the playoffs, I think its also important for the organization to reward the players on the team for a very good year by letting them play in these playoffs and not lose their roster spot to the new shiny toy....

The NHL team was one of the youngest in the league this season and the AHL team is also one of the youngest teams in their league so maybe near the top of the list of things the team needs is to get older and experience more disappointment as they did this season...

Take care...

[Chef Boi RD]

Rikster, with that post, I imagine Hargraves is going to take you out to lunch on his tab to San Remo’s for the Jimmy Special follwed by a little saunter over to the Bennett for a few rounds of brewskies then capping the night with a flap and a roomful of hookers at the Best Western on Lougheed.

All kidding aside, I agree, a bit too much negativity. That being said, if we see the same shit from Petey next season then we are in trouble, the death knell to all those good vibes of yours. If Boeser and Suter head for greener pastures and not reasonably replaced, then we are for sure Wild Card team hovering over .500. All that aside, it brings us closer to Hughes final year on his current deal. Where he shapes up, how it shapes up, pretty much shapes the organization moving forward. We are not out of the darkness yet my friend. Again, all this depends on a few factors, but there is a good chance we come out on top as well. The book isn’t written, it’s still in first draft and ready for editing.

[Megaterio Llamas]

When is the PNE? They'll get all that lawn parking money then and can hopefully afford more luxuries?

I imagine by this time of year they have holes in their socks and had their furnaces shut off by Feb 15 to save cash. Lots of hamburger helper meals lately

They better hope for good weather. They're going to need 200 K.

[donlever]

$199,980.00

That dude from the Abby game is chipping in $20.00.