Rumor: Botchford - " Aqualini veto'd a Kesler trade to Pitt "

[elitepete]

Didn’t he veto a Kesler to Anaheim trade at the deadline?

 

[Frankie Blueberries]

Also, that same 2011 draft...Tampa drafted some guy who's now leading the league in scoring and will probably win the MVP in the second round.

"That same 2011 draft"... I didn't bring up the 2011 draft?
Besides, every team passed on Kucherov at least once, with 27 of the 30 teams passing on him twice. Back then the Russian flight risk seemed to be a bigger factor.

 

[EpochLink]

"That same 2011 draft"... I didn't bring up the 2011 draft?
Besides, every team passed on Kucherov at least once, with 27 of the 30 teams passing on him twice. Back then the Russian flight risk seemed to be a bigger factor.

I know, it sucks.

 

[Pastor Of Muppetz]

He was too busy winning President Cups trophies.

With his inherited core..

 

[Pastor Of Muppetz]

Yeah, Gillis did take too long to revamp the scouting department - that's always been his biggest knock. But when he did in 2013, including hiring Judd Brackett, we've looked pretty good since. Benning just stumbled into the job and reaped the benefits, but even then he found a way to screw up easy picks in Virtanen and Juolevi. Pretty much all of our good picks have come from Benning deferring to scouts that existed during the Gillis regime.

Other than Horvat in 2013..the rest of the pucks busted..

 

[Zippgunn]

It's not going to matter who the GM is of this team. Aqualini wont hire anyone that doesnt have the same view as him.

Aqualini will also evidently not allow GMs to have full autonomy of trades and signings without having the power to Veto.

Why would any respected GM want to work under those conditions.

The reputation is out with Aqualini.
So blame Benning all we want but it wont be any different with the next guy.

Aqualini needs to change or sell the team.

This. Watch FAQ fire JB... and hire somebody even worse... Rinse and repeat until the team is sold. Hey, how's that divorce coming along?

 

[me2]

Yeah, Gillis did take too long to revamp the scouting department - that's always been his biggest knock. But when he did in 2013, including hiring Judd Brackett, we've looked pretty good since. Benning just stumbled into the job and reaped the benefits, but even then he found a way to screw up easy picks in Virtanen and Juolevi. Pretty much all of our good picks have come from Benning deferring to scouts that existed during the Gillis regime.

The driving force behind the Boeser pick was a Gillis addition in 2013 I think. That Gillis move paid off handsomely for the Canucks just not in time to save Gillis.

 

[Frankie Blueberries]

Other than Horvat in 2013..the rest of the pucks busted..

Yeah but most of our good picks since Gillis was fired are because of the changes Gillis made. So this argument is kind of dumb.

At least Gillis went 1/1 for his top 10 picks. Benning is what, 2/4? Brutal.

 

[Frankie Blueberries]

With his inherited core..

He still added Ehrhoff, Hamhuis, Malhotra, Torres, Higgins, Lapierre, Tanev, Samuelsson, etc., all while maintaining our core based on shrewd contract extensions. And at least he did something with what he inherited. Instead of Benning, who pissed away all of our assets in Kesler, Hamhuis, etc.

 

[WetcoastOrca]

Aquilini just made it worse for himself. He could have done a proper rebuild earlier and had a competitive team making him playoff money now and drawing bigger crowds.
Not the brightest owner. Just hire good people and let them run the team.

 

[alternate]

He still added Ehrhoff, Hamhuis, Malhotra, Torres, Higgins, Lapierre, Tanev, Samuelsson, etc., all while maintaining our core based on shrewd contract extensions. And at least he did something with what he inherited. Instead of Benning, who pissed away all of our assets in Kesler, Hamhuis, etc.

Shrewd...well Bieksa was all but gone until Salo blew out an Achilles playing ball hockey in the offseason. Doesn't really matter much at this point though Gillis is long gone.

This rumour is why I'm more patient than most with Benning. Pretty clear Aquaman had been trying for one more run from the Sedins.

 

[Pastor Of Muppetz]

He still added Ehrhoff, Hamhuis, Malhotra, Torres, Higgins, Lapierre, Tanev, Samuelsson, etc., all while maintaining our core based on shrewd contract extensions. And at least he did something with what he inherited. Instead of Benning, who pissed away all of our assets in Kesler, Hamhuis, etc.

And then proceeded to ruin it..degenerating it into a comedy show (Torts).

 

[Peter10]

Other than Horvat in 2013..the rest of the pucks busted..

And still the majority of the core players are still left over from Gillis. Benning is responsible for TWO players who are contributing in a significant way. Everyone else from Benning is either still far away from making a mark or (the majority) just placeholders as you call it. Just picking BPA in the first round would have yielded a better team than what Benning is trying to do (and yes I am aware that would probably would mean no Pettersson).

Take any dude from the street and tell him pick BPA according to hockeyprospect.com Black Book in the first round:

2014: Nikolaj Ehlers
2015: Nick Merkley
2016: Matthew Tkachuk
2017: Elias Pettersson
2018: Noah Dobson

but Benning DRAFT GOD!!!!!

 

[DarrenX]

Given the stupidity of ownership it makes it that much more important to have a competent GM in place. I could live with a GM who holds the same view as ownership provided they know how to negotiate contracts and manage assets. At least that guy isn't crippling the team moving forward.

Alas, a competent GM would recognize that they have a stupid/meddling owner, and will likely want to seek better opportunities.

 

[tantalum]

Alas, a competent GM would recognize that they have a stupid/meddling owner, and will likely want to seek better opportunities.

Not necessarily. There are only so many jobs to go around. I agree an experienced GM may wait for the right opportunity. But competence isn't dependent on experience. It's more of a crap shoot to be sure.

That said, I'm really hoping the rumour that ownership is looking for a president is a good thing.

This rumour is why I'm more patient than most with Benning. Pretty clear Aquaman had been trying for one more run from the Sedins.

Even if ownership was pushing stupid expectations, and I agree they have been, the guy hired fully bought in and made brutal moves. What they wanted WAS achievable when Linden and Benning were brought in. It would have required pinpoint precision but a quick re-tool was possible. So even if there was ownership interference it doesn't excuse agreeing with them every step of the way (including after the point a retool was out of the question) and doesn't excuse the execution of whatever plan they had.

You can throw out all the external pressures and not even know what the strategy is/was and make the assessment that this is just a bad GM. The team direction from ownership isn't why this GM fails to get value for the assets he has because this isn't a question of what type of equal value is better for the team (established players vs picks/prospects), but rather an issue of not getting equal (or better) value period.

If you had a GM able to extract value from his transactions, able to consistently make shrewd signings etc you likely have a playoff team. Even if it's not a true contender it would be a playoff team and I'd wager the depth and prospect pool (with fixed scouting) certainly wouldn't be worse.

 

[Frankie Blueberries]

And then proceeded to ruin it..degenerating it into a comedy show (Torts).

Benning has done the Torts season 4/5 of his seasons here.

 

[Pastor Of Muppetz]

Benning has done the Torts season 4/5 of his seasons here.

Hardly..all most of the media talk about is the promising future for the young players on the team..

 

[Peter10]

Hardly..all most of the media talk about is the promising future for the young players on the team..

You should read / listen to others than shills like iMac and the whole Sportsnet crew.

 

[Ryp37]

Hardly..all most of the media talk about is the promising future for the young players on the team..

Lmao

 

[Pastor Of Muppetz]

And still the majority of the core players are still left over from Gillis. Benning is responsible for TWO players who are contributing in a significant way. Everyone else from Benning is either still far away from making a mark or (the majority) just placeholders as you call it. Just picking BPA in the first round would have yielded a better team than what Benning is trying to do (and yes I am aware that would probably would mean no Pettersson).

Take any dude from the street and tell him pick BPA according to hockeyprospect.com Black Book in the first round:

2014: Nikolaj Ehlers
2015: Nick Merkley
2016: Matthew Tkachuk
2017: Elias Pettersson
2018: Noah Dobson

but Benning DRAFT GOD!!!!!

Pettersson was not BPA..in fact he was rated 9th here by the experts on HF Canucks..Take EP out of that list you made up,and that does not look like a core you would build a team around..

Horvat and Hutton are a sad showing for 37 picks and 6 years of drafting.

 

[Pastor Of Muppetz]

You should read / listen to others than shills like iMac and the whole Sportsnet crew.

Like Botch..Don’t tell me..He doesn’t have a source for this rumour ..just like the last one..and the one before that..It’s called click bait..with readers like you in mind.

 

[Frankie Blueberries]

Hardly..all most of the media talk about is the promising future for the young players on the team..

We’ve been one of the worst teams in the league for 4 straight seasons. Any idiot could put together a decent prospect pool with that abysmal record.

 

[Pip]

You should read / listen to others than shills like iMac and the whole Sportsnet crew.

He should read the numerous posts proving his idiotic arguments wrong.

 

[4Twenty]

And then proceeded to ruin it..degenerating it into a comedy show (Torts).

And 5 years later the team is going to finish with less points than that comedy show season for the 4th year in a row.

 

[Pastor Of Muppetz]

And 5 years later the team is going to finish with less points than that comedy show season for the 4th year in a row.

Maybe so ..but on the backs of young exciting players..Not on a slow ‘stale’ core