Abbotsford Canucks | Season Starting

[RobertKron]

Lekkerimaki does too much Lekkerimaking out

 

[shottasasa]

I always wonder about this. I know some Comets fans hate him and see him as an absentee GM. Somehow he's been getting promotion after promotion from management past and present. I suspect that he's a good talker.

Generally being a good talker can get you by for a couple of years, but eventually results on KPIs need to be there. Hockey is no different. The trouble is we do t know what their KPIs are. How is team success measured? Cup or bust, make the playoffs regularly, or something else. Then there will be business/financial KPIs we really have no idea about as these are private orgs we have very little insight into. Then there are questions about order of priority.

So my only solid takeaway from Johnson not only staying employed, but also consistently getting promotions is that he is at least meeting or exceeding his KPIs, whatever they may be.

It’s also hard to know from the outside what successes and failures are really down to him other than tidbits that the hockey media occasionally bring up. Ie. Signing Joshua.

For the record, I also don’t really have a problem with the job he’s done.

 

[F A N]

Juulsen arrived as a 24 year old NHL depth option and is now a 27 year old NHL depth option. I'm sure his time in Abbotsford was useful, but I'm not sure I'd be citing as some kind of big developmental success story a guy who I'm not sure his career has necessarily even got back to where he was when he was a 18-20min guy asa 20-22yo in Montreal before he ran into injury problems.

I definitely wouldn't call Juulen a big developmental success story. But if Tocchet and the coaching staff can get credit for making Myers better then I think our player development (general umbrella) staff deserves some credit here.

Generally being a good talker can get you by for a couple of years, but eventually results on KPIs need to be there. Hockey is no different. The trouble is we do t know what their KPIs are. How is team success measured? Cup or bust, make the playoffs regularly, or something else. Then there will be business/financial KPIs we really have no idea about as these are private orgs we have very little insight into. Then there are questions about order of priority.

So my only solid takeaway from Johnson not only staying employed, but also consistently getting promotions is that he is at least meeting or exceeding his KPIs, whatever they may be.

It’s also hard to know from the outside what successes and failures are really down to him other than tidbits that the hockey media occasionally bring up. Ie. Signing Joshua.

For the record, I also don’t really have a problem with the job he’s done.

Johnson has added responsibilities over time but his primary role is leading player development staff. It sounds like the Canucks have done a good job of following up with the our prospects (only heard good things) but in terms of actually developing players we've seen very little success. Of course it could be due to our AHL coaching. His other job is that of an AHL GM which involves more of the day to day (singing ECHL guys etc.). I give him the benefit of the doubt there as I think Allvin plays a greater role in terms of team succes but certainly I would expect Johnson to be influential particularly when it comes to recommending players to call up.

We can talk about KPIs all we want but there are certainly hockey people who manage to keep their jobs for a long time. Take Chibisov. He was with the team since 1994 but we fired him (not sure if there is a greater story here). He was immediately picked up by Dallas (a competent organization). Was he suddenly not meeting KPIs? Our scouting of Russian prospects has been largely a failure but how much of that is his fault?

 

[RobertKron]

I definitely wouldn't call Juulen a big developmental success story. But if Tocchet and the coaching staff can get credit for making Myers better then I think our player development (general umbrella) staff deserves some credit here.

Myers is a whole other ball of yarn for a whole other thread.

I’m not saying they’ve done poorly by him or whatever, just that if him and DiGiuseppe are two of the first names someone is listing in their evidence of how well Johnson is doing developing players in Abbotsford, then they’re not really talking up Johnson as much as they might think they are.

 

[F A N]

Myers is a whole other ball of yarn for a whole other thread.

I’m not saying they’ve done poorly by him or whatever, just that if him and DiGiuseppe are two of the first names someone is listing in their evidence of how well Johnson is doing developing players in Abbotsford, then they’re not really talking up Johnson as much as they might think they are.

Oh completely agree. Player development has been an issue for a long time here.

 

[MS]

AHL GM has to be one of the most absentee jobs there is. As far as managing a sports team goes anyway. Like how the f*** do we know if RJ is any good when virtually all the players, and most of the roster decisions are made by the parent club? I guess he could've went out and got a vet goon type like Orcatown is always barking about. But so could have Allvin, and whole lot easier too i would think. If we need one so bad, RJ can't sign guys to NHL money, Allvin can.

As far as the on ice development of the prospects we do have. RJ has even less control there. He doesn't sign the coaches, or any of the development/training guys. How does a gm have more impact on young players than coaches? Might as well blame the Sedins at that point, but they're not an easy target are they?
Maybe some of this fan base was ruined by Heisinger days in Manitoba. But really he just found Burrows. RJ hasn't found his own Burrows for the same reason no other AHL gm's have found one. There was only one Burrows.

This is basically my take also. It’s a small job that people make out to be a huge thing.

90% of the roster in Abbotsford is determined by the Rutherford/Allvin and the NHL team. The coaches are hired by the Rutherford/Allvin and the NHL team.

The majority of the job of the AHL GM in terms of player personnel is signing a couple depth players to fill out the roster and then finding ECHLers to give PTOs to when there’s an injury crunch. Ryan Johnson’s job is tied up in dealing with guys like Chad Nychuk and Yushiroh Hirano, not Lekkerimakis and EP2s.

As for whether he’s doing a good job, I don’t really know and I don’t really know if it’s very easy to know or figure that out. The team is generally competitive and drama-free so that speaks reasonably well in his favour.

One thing I do agree with orcatown on is the lack of toughness and the awful Loewen signing last year to replace Arseneau. That would be Johnson and that was a problem. But other than that … meh. He’s not impacting much one way or another.

 

[VanJack]

This is basically my take also. It’s a small job that people make out to be a huge thing.

90% of the roster in Abbotsford is determined by the Rutherford/Allvin and the NHL team. The coaches are hired by the Rutherford/Allvin and the NHL team.

The majority of the job of the AHL GM in terms of player personnel is signing a couple depth players to fill out the roster and then finding ECHLers to give PTOs to when there’s an injury crunch. Ryan Johnson’s job is tied up in dealing with guys like Chad Nychuk and Yushiroh Hirano, not Lekkerimakis and EP2s.

As for whether he’s doing a good job, I don’t really know and I don’t really know if it’s very easy to know or figure that out. The team is generally competitive and drama-free so that speaks reasonably well in his favour.

One thing I do agree with orcatown on is the lack of toughness and the awful Loewen signing last year to replace Arseneau. That would be Johnson and that was a problem. But other than that … meh. He’s not impacting much one way or another.

I'm assuming that the GM's role, even at the AHL-level, involves a lot more than just player personnel.

I imagine he's responsible or all aspects of the hockey club, including things like marketing, promotions and ticket sales. So leaving aside the back-and-forth of the player personnel decision, it seems to me he's done a decent job off the ice and in the community.

But I could be wrong about that. Maybe somebody who lives in the Valley and follows the Abbotsford Canucks more closely than I do, can offer a comment.

 

[God]

We have Ryan Johnson to thank for finding Dakota Joshua, right?

 

[RobertKron]

I'm assuming that the GM's role, even at the AHL-level, involves a lot more than just player personnel.

I imagine he's responsible or all aspects of the hockey club, including things like marketing, promotions and ticket sales. So leaving aside the back-and-forth of the player personnel decision, it seems to me he's done a decent job off the ice and in the community.

But I could be wrong about that. Maybe somebody who lives in the Valley and follows the Abbotsford Canucks more closely than I do, can offer a comment.

The Canucks had a COO and were hiring for one in September to replace them. Their director of ticket sales and service reports to them, as does the communications and team services manager, and presumably marketing would as well.

I don’t know why one would assume that Johnson’s role would be to oversee strictly business ops stuff like that. Yes, it’s the farm team, but away from the hockey ops stuff this is still a pretty big business in which they’ve invested shitloads of money.

 

[Vector]

We have Ryan Johnson to thank for finding Dakota Joshua, right?

Listen, me and you are the only people who seem to know this.

 

[God]

Listen, me and you are the only people who seem to know this.

Yes! Well,

Deep diving into the detailed game Dakota Joshua brings to the Canucks

Dakota Joshua brings size, speed, and details to the Vancouver Canucks.

www.vancouverisawesome.com

Allvin talked about how impressed Ryan Johnson and Trent Cull were with Joshua when he briefly played for the Utica Comets during the 2020-21 season when the Blues and Canucks were sharing an AHL affiliate. They believe he has a lot to bring at the NHL level, including on the penalty kill.

 

[Vector]

Yes! Well,

Deep diving into the detailed game Dakota Joshua brings to the Canucks

Dakota Joshua brings size, speed, and details to the Vancouver Canucks.

www.vancouverisawesome.com

I meant on this forum ya dingus!