Generic Tank Thread - The end is nigh...

[PM]

The race to last place is so incredibly close. If Jimbo would have actually traded Hamhuis we probably have last spot locked up. Just another negative outcome from one of Jim's many blunders.

 

[Dezmoto]

When I also failed to make the pros my family practically disowned me. We still hardly talk. Hockey blood may run in the veins of my family but I suppose empathy is a scarce commodity.

Sounds like you're better off without them anyway.

 

[Dezmoto]

The race to last place is so incredibly close. If Jimbo would have actually traded Hamhuis we probably have last spot locked up. Just another negative outcome from one of Jim's many blunders.

I'm sure tanking was high on his priority list all season.

 

[CanaFan]

A few years? Bro that teams been baaaaad for a while now!

Being bad and rebuilding aren't the same thing, yes?

Team built around Iginla and Kiprisoff =/= tanking.

They've basically been in rebuild mode since 2013 (3 drafts) and have added some hella nice pieces over that time. I'd be very happy if we are able to add a Monahan, Bennett, and Hamilton type pieces in the next couple years ourself.

 

[CanaFan]

I'm sure tanking was high on his priority list all season.

Probably should have been, if he had any grasp on the state of this team.

Lou Lamorello recognized what he had in Toronto at the start of the season and acted accordingly.

Benning watched 60 games of this team stumble and bumble its way to a sub-500 record and still saw "playoffs".

Guess which one of these two is wearing 3 cup rings on his hand?

 

[Donuts]

Must lose all games now. These next 2 games vs ducks and kings , canucks cant afford to gain even a point. I dont trust those fellow tankers cgy and edm when canucks meet them in the final 3 games. I feel canucks will split the games with edmonton.

 

[Hit the post]

Probably should have been, if he had any grasp on the state of this team.

Lou Lamorello recognized what he had in Toronto at the start of the season and acted accordingly.

Benning watched 60 games of this team stumble and bumble its way to a sub-500 record and still saw "playoffs".

Guess which one of these two is wearing 3 cup rings on his hand?

Lou Lamorello = Vito

Benning = Fredo

(Burke = Sonny )

 

[CanaFan]

Must lose all games now. These next 2 games vs ducks and kings , canucks cant afford to gain even a point. I dont trust those fellow tankers cgy and edm when canucks meet them in the final 3 games. I feel canucks will split the games with edmonton.

Agree the next two are absolute 'must' lose. And I think the team will oblige. LA and Anaheim are in a heated race for 1st in the div and the winner gets a waaaaay easier match up in the 1st round which could determine their entire playoffs. SJ was basically locked into 3rd or (at best) 2nd, which ultimately doesn't much matter.

As for the final 3 games against Edm and Cgy, the blessing may be that we tend to get up for bigger name teams but equally sleepwalk through games against the Jets, Columbus, etc. I'm hoping a combination of us checking out early and those teams looking better in loosey-goosey games than they do in hard, tight checking ones. At least that's the hope I guess ...

 

[CanaFan]

Lou Lamorello = Vito

Benning = Fredo

(Burke = Sonny )

Spot on. If only Benning went out in the sequel too.

 

[Chairman Maouth]

wtf? this is absurd

Sounds like you're better off without them anyway.

Well that's pretty much been the way it's been. Dad and I did reconcile in his final years though. But I did make my own bed in the way of poor choices in my late teen years. I was as much concerned with drinking and drugs as I was with playing hockey. I did that to deal with issues I had with my parents but by the time I realized I screwed up and threw away a hell of an opportunity it was too late.

Edit: Just wanted to add - there was no guarantee I would have made the pros even if I didn't mess up. But my chances certainly would have been better.

Anyways - probably said too much. I just wanted to stand up for people on both sides of the tank fence.

 

[Dezmoto]

Probably should have been, if he had any grasp on the state of this team.

Lou Lamorello recognized what he had in Toronto at the start of the season and acted accordingly.

Benning watched 60 games of this team stumble and bumble its way to a sub-500 record and still saw "playoffs".

Guess which one of these two is wearing 3 cup rings on his hand?

Toronto sells out no matter what, mostly because of corporate season ticket holders and Torontonian reality distortion fields.

Vancouver fans are fickle, stop winning and ticket sales plummet. This has huge financial implications for a team and also makes it harder for a team to attract players. Nobody with any pride wants to play in an empty arena.

The only team who successfully turned a franchise around through tanking was the Penguins who did it to draft Lemieux and it still took them and a few trades before they were any good and it wasn't until 90/91 that they actually had a winning record. Is there anyone in this year's draft that is good as Lemieux? I don't think so, and it still took that additions of hall of fame players like Coffee, Francis, Murphy, etc. for them to get over .500, and that year Lemieux only played half the season, so obviously he was not super key to them making the playoffs.

Edmonton has drafted 4 1st overall picks the past 5 years and they're still painfully bad. I think the evidence is against tanking.

 

[Breakers]

Pretty good article on TSN just calling out the Aqualini's as some of the worst owners in the NHL and also says Benning and Linden aren't to good at their jobs either.

http://www.tsn.ca/the-watercooler-who-made-the-worst-deadline-moves-1.462823

 

[Trelane]

You know, the Canucks are a team in recent decline (big time), but the Flames? What's their excuse? They've muddled for years and have already assembled their young talent. They just plain stink of being an Alberta NHL team.

But, but... there are posters here pining for the likes of Treliving/Burkie or Chevy while writhing in agony about our inept management. Not counting you know who, we are in the same place the Jets, Flames, BJs, Sabres and Leafs are. The main difference being we were competing relatively recently while the others never had a sniff.

Whoever becomes a legit contender first, not including the odd playoff appearance and a quicky exit, will be proven to have the best execs, though to be fair we should get a couple years grace on account of our sucking being fairly recent. Kind of obvious but too many get lost in asset management discussions of near negligible impact.


It's almost a given that someone taken 4th or later will be better than one or more in the top 3. Happens every year. If it were me winning the lottery, I'd give serious thought to trading the 1st overall and walking out with a top 5 (Chychrun) and a top 10 (Tkachuk/MacLeod), if the other team (e.g., Arizona) could swing the extra asset. The chief concern would be getting lynched by fans stuck on drafting the newest and shiniest toy in the game.

 

[PM]

I'm sure tanking was high on his priority list all season.

Oh did I say trade Hamhuis at the beginning of the season? Don't think I did. You can go ahead and remove your facepalm then all knowing master of knowledge of wisdom.

 

[Mal Reynolds]

Well that's pretty much been the way it's been. Dad and I did reconcile in his final years though. But I did make my own bed in the way of poor choices in my late teen years. I was as much concerned with drinking and drugs as I was with playing hockey. I did that to deal with issues I had with my parents but by the time I realized I screwed up and threw away a hell of an opportunity it was too late.

Edit: Just wanted to add - there was no guarantee I would have made the pros even if I didn't mess up. But my chances certainly would have been better.

Anyways - probably said too much. I just wanted to stand up for people on both sides of the tank fence.

nah, you didn't say too much, for my part anyways. always good to be reminded that there's a human being - with all their own unique experiences and challenges - behind the keyboard.

besides, addiction issues are prevalent in my family, and honestly, society at large.

edit: totally respect your anti-tank position too. anyone who has stood by this team through some pretty lean years throughout our history has my respect.

 

[Mal Reynolds]

Lou Lamorello = Vito

Benning = Fredo

(Burke = Sonny )

hahaha nice. spot on.

who's michael though?

 

[The Drop]

Pretty good article on TSN just calling out the Aqualini's as some of the worst owners in the NHL and also says Benning and Linden aren't to good at their jobs either.

http://www.tsn.ca/the-watercooler-who-made-the-worst-deadline-moves-1.462823

Out in Vancouver, however, the Canucks have one of the worst teams in hockey, a terrible prospect list and a coaching staff and management team now on the clock.
Not very long ago, the Canucks had an experienced management group and one of the best coaches in the game. Gone are GM Mike Gillis, assistant GMs Laurence Gilman and Lorne Henning, director of player personnel Eric Crawford and head coach Alain Vigneault. All that group did was get the Canucks to Game 7 of the Stanley Cup in 2011, win the President’s Trophy twice and make the playoffs every year for what seemed like forever. The Canucks were a force. Now they’re a riddle.

 

[CanaFan]

Toronto sells out no matter what, mostly because of corporate season ticket holders and Torontonian reality distortion fields.

Vancouver fans are fickle, stop winning and ticket sales plummet. This has huge financial implications for a team and also makes it harder for a team to attract players. Nobody with any pride wants to play in an empty arena.

The only team who successfully turned a franchise around through tanking was the Penguins who did it to draft Lemieux and it still took them and a few trades before they were any good and it wasn't until 90/91 that they actually had a winning record. Is there anyone in this year's draft that is good as Lemieux? I don't think so, and it still took that additions of hall of fame players like Coffee, Francis, Murphy, etc. for them to get over .500, and that year Lemieux only played half the season, so obviously he was not super key to them making the playoffs.

Edmonton has drafted 4 1st overall picks the past 5 years and they're still painfully bad. I think the evidence is against tanking.

Bolded is an over-simplification. No team does well when it sucks. That's simple facts. All the more reason to rebuild quickly around a marketable, exciting young star and get out of the basement. Everyone points to 1998-2000 as evidence that this town won't support a rebuild, which is garbage logic. The 1998-2000 rebuild led to the 2001-2015 stretch of success that made both owners of the team untold millions in profits and increased asset value.

It's short sighted to look at the process of the rebuild and say "oh well sales are down, we'd better not do this" when what they should realize is if they do this rebuild RIGHT, they'll have sell outs and massive merch sales again for the next decade.

So spare me the "Vancouver won't support a rebuild" excuse. It's insulting, short-sighted, and simply wrong.

 

[Trelane]

Pretty good article on TSN just calling out the Aqualini's as some of the worst owners in the NHL and also says Benning and Linden aren't to good at their jobs either.

http://www.tsn.ca/the-watercooler-who-made-the-worst-deadline-moves-1.462823

Lawless should stick with reporting on the state of hockey in The Peg. Last I checked all those years of superb drafting, as defined by HFboard consensus/popularity poles stuffing, has resulted in a team... no better than the Nucks.

No question our owners need to ease up on the meddling, if the rumors are to be believed.

 

[opendoor]

Bolded is an over-simplification. No team does well when it sucks. That's simple facts. All the more reason to rebuild quickly around a marketable, exciting young star and get out of the basement. Everyone points to 1998-2000 as evidence that this town won't support a rebuild, which is garbage logic. The 1998-2000 rebuild led to the 2001-2015 stretch of success that made both owners of the team untold millions in profits and increased asset value.

It's short sighted to look at the process of the rebuild and say "oh well sales are down, we'd better not do this" when what they should realize is if they do this rebuild RIGHT, they'll have sell outs and massive merch sales again for the next decade.

So spare me the "Vancouver won't support a rebuild" excuse. It's insulting, short-sighted, and simply wrong.

That line of argument also presumes that the owners can just snap their fingers and have an exciting playoff team again. Whether or not fans will support a rebuild isn't really relevant when the team is likely going to be pretty bad no matter what they do.

STL and TOR would be good examples of this. Both were consistently good teams prior to the 2005 lockout but afterwards neither were successful. STL focused on rebuilding by trading players for picks and thinking long term while Toronto tried to paper over their holes. One team has now been an elite team for the last half decade (playoff failures notwithstanding) while the other is pretty much starting from scratch again after missing the playoffs for 10 of the last 11 years.

 

[Chairman Maouth]

nah, you didn't say too much, for my part anyways. always good to be reminded that there's a human being - with all their own unique experiences and challenges - behind the keyboard.

besides, addiction issues are prevalent in my family, and honestly, society at large.

edit: totally respect your anti-tank position too. anyone who has stood by this team through some pretty lean years throughout our history has my respect.

Thanks Tony. My mission is a success then.

 

[Bad News Benning]

I don't know how anyone can think trying to be a bubble team will somehow win the fans back. This is a city that is starving for a stanley cup....nobody is going to invest in a product with zero potential of contending anytime soon. The first step to fixing this is committing to a rebuild and hiring competent people to do so.

The owners really have two options.

1.)Tear everything down and rebuild this the right way with the proper hockey people put in place. Does it guarantee success? no...but unlike Option 2 it doesn't guarantee failure either.
2.)Continue status quo and watch as all life/hope is sucked out of this fan base.

 

[Just A Bit Outside]

Super glad when we end up picking 6th and taking Tkachuk.

 

[Ho Borvat]

Edmonton has drafted 4 1st overall picks the past 5 years and they're still painfully bad. I think the evidence is against tanking.

Really? Most of the dominant franchises had multiple high draft picks before becoming a top team.

I mean:

Chicago Seabrook/Barker/Skille/Toews/Kane/Beach
Pittsburgh Whitney/Fleury/Malkin/Crosby/Staal
Los Angeles Kopitar/Bernier/Hickey/Doughty/Schenn
Washington Ovechkin/Backstrom/Alzner/Forsberg
Tampa Stamkos/Hedman/Connolly/Koekkoek/Drouin

Not all of the picks panned out (obviously), but these teams were picking in the top end of the draft multiple years in a row before becoming good teams.

All that the Edmonton example shows is, you need good management; which is what makes this "rebuild" so scary for Vancouver.

 

[Samzilla]

Really? Most of the dominant franchises had multiple high draft picks before becoming a top team.

I mean:

Chicago Seabrook/Barker/Skille/Toews/Kane/Beach
Pittsburgh Whitney/Fleury/Malkin/Crosby/Staal
Los Angeles Kopitar/Bernier/Hickey/Doughty/Schenn
Washington Ovechkin/Backstrom/Alzner/Forsberg
Tampa Stamkos/Hedman/Connolly/Koekkoek/Drouin

Not all of the picks panned out (obviously), but these teams were picking in the top end of the draft multiple years in a row before becoming good teams.

All that the Edmonton example shows is, you need good management; which is what makes this "rebuild" so scary for Vancouver.

Exactly. I don't get what's so hard to understand about this.

High picks + good management > high picks + clown show.