Massive changes coming to Vancouver Canucks coaching staff Monday

[ozzie]

I think most people in this situation would have quit and walked away. But Bruce seems to be above that and won't quit on this team. The NHL should be embarrassed by this, everyone should be. He deserves better and respect. Class act, no matter what you think of him as a coach.

 

[NJDevs26]

I heard that Tocchet’s contract at TNT is the holdup and it takes some time before he can leave, I doubt Bruce is being kept around as a big FU.

I do find it hilarious though how Rutherford didn’t even know Bruce was on a 2 year deal when he took the GM job. Then he bitches about BB’s ability to coach defense when he put together a roster that lacks good defensive players, and now Tocchet needs to come in to ”keep Miller in check” who senile Jim signed to that fat contract.

He’s lucky he inherited that Pens team and won cups. I really don’t like him. Never hear him being accountable for anything.

It is a big FU though, especially now that word's gotten out and he's still coaching while dead man walking. They should have just fired him, had Yeo as the interim/caretaker for four weeks then hired Tocchet and avoided this public mess.

Then why play this charade? Why drag everyone in the organization through the mud. I hope Tocchet realizes just how bad a situation this and it could cost him any future coaching gigs.

Tocchet ain't getting future gigs, the 'demand' for him is basically one fossil he has a connection with (Rutherford).

 

[Mario_is_BACK!!]

As a long time Penguin and Hurricane fan (from Pittsburgh, have lived in the Carolinas since the 90s) my contempt for Jim Rutherford was already pretty high. For decades he’s failed his way to the top, lucking in to three Cups while barely keeping his head above water the rest of the time.

When he went to Vancouver I figured it wouldn’t take long for his fire and brimstone style to burn through the franchise, I didn’t think it would be this quickly and this awful.

The guy really sucks. He has no plan, just goes with what way the wind is blowing that day to dictate the direction of a professional sports franchise. He doesn’t see the people he signs as people, hence signing players to long term deals just to ship them out. He doesn’t know the rules (he traded Carl Hagelin in a rage fit of “shaking up the team” then tried to trade for him later that year to find out he can’t).

This treatment, his treatment, of Bruce is just another extension of this. These are assets, not people. Who cares. I don’t want this so I’ll pout and get my way, damned their feelings. I put together an awful team and made the usual awful mistakes? Doesn’t matter, this isn’t the coach for them so I’m going to make his life miserable. What a shit head.

Can’t manage the cap, can’t deal with people, takes fortunate situations and absolutely destroys them out of sheer incompetence and inability to actually do his job. But the media laps him up because he says shit to them. And I work in the media, so I know it doesn’t have to be like this.

Despite these Cups for the teams I like and love I’ve never liked him and this is just an extension of what a fraud he is. But it’s not shocking considering he quit on the Penguins because he couldn’t trade Letang after being told no by management. He f***ed the Penguins cap and prospect situation so poorly it was his only move out and he was told no, so instead of figuring it out he took his ball and went home as the season was underway.

I’m sorry Canucks fans. You guys deserve better than this fraud. And so does Bruce.

 

[Uncle Scrooge]

So what about the TNT contract? They can fire BB properly instead of this clown show (he is obviously getting fired no matter what, it's a fait accompli). Then, let Yeo hold down the fort for a couple weeks.

What's happening now is pathetic and embarrassing.

I guess yea

 

[Poppy Whoa Sonnet]

I think most people in this situation would have quit and walked away. But Bruce seems to be above that and won't quit on this team. The NHL should be embarrassed by this, everyone should be. He deserves better and respect. Class act, no matter what you think of him as a coach.

I'm guessing there's money at stake if he quits v. gets fired. Enough money that he's willing to suffer the humiliation. But I do agree he does feel some attachment to the players I imagine.

 

[dalewood12]

Is a key reason for why Bruce isn't quitting is that if he quits, as opposed to getting fired, he doesn't earn the rest of his contract?

 

[innitfam]

Is a key reason for why Bruce isn't quitting is that if he quits, as opposed to getting fired, he doesn't earn the rest of his contract?

I'm sure there's a financial aspect. But I think the main thing is that Bruce doesn't want to quit on the players.

 

[Warden of the North]

Canucks own twitter posting that video clip is something else.

Is the social media person aware how it looks?

 

[Ciao]

I dont get it. What does "Bruce, there it is" mean?

 

[KPower]

Jim Rutherford is a disgrace. I don’t care if this is the owners decision to keep trotting poor Bruce out there.

Rutherford should quit if the owner is forcing him to treat Bruce like this.

Hopefully Leafs management brings Bruce home in some capacity after he escapes this hell known as the Vancouver Canucks.

 

[krutovsdonut]

I dont get it. What does "Bruce, there it is" mean?

it's a chant that fans started making whenever a game was won after bb took ove last year. yesterday they chanted it not ironically when we were down 4-1 because they know he's been treated badly this season and has been hung out to dry and is apparently about to be fired. it's basically saying we know it is not your fault. the play by play team also did an extended take praising him.

not your average reaction to a coach with a terrible record about to be fired.

 

[Mr Positive]

I know media types just love openness and transparency but it's not the best thing to do imo. You can have little bits of it but there is such thing as toxic information that is better to be careful with. Even if all this basically leaked out you just say Boudreau is the coach and that's that.

 

[BobCole]

I think the lion's share of the blame for this falls on Rutherford.

Nothing he says is "calculated" or part of any coherent strategy. He's just a loose-lipped, aging old man with no filter. He probably doesn't even understand just how poorly he's handled this situation. The media characterize it as "throwing Bruce under the bus," but it's a lot worse than that. Yes, it's disrespectful to the coach, but it's also tarnishing the organization as a whole. It's insane that this 73 year-old troglodyte probably makes seven figures despite being manifestly incompetent at his job.

And yes, the owners also bear some responsibility for employing him. Like attracts like, and it's no surprise to me that the Aquilinis and JR found one another. The fish rots from the head.

 

[Ciao]

Jim Rutherford is a disgrace. I don’t care if this is the owners decision to keep trotting poor Bruce out there.

Rutherford should quit if the owner is forcing him to treat Bruce like this.

Hopefully Leafs management brings Bruce home in some capacity after he escapes this hell known as the Vancouver Canucks.

I love Bruce Boudreau and all that he represents, but he belongs in the Leafs' alumni lounge, not on the coaching staff.

If the Leafs could bring him into the fold and put him on the payroll that would be great, but not in hockey ops. He would be in the way of the younger generations now running the show.

Maybe an ambassador of sorts -- like some retired Habs. Outreach to minor hockey or something in keeping with his humble personality, love of the Leafs and respected position in the Leafs' community.

 

[HEAVY DUTY]

I love Bruce Boudreau and all that he represents, but he belongs in the Leafs' alumni lounge, not on the coaching staff.

If the Leafs could bring him into the fold and put him on the payroll that would be great, but not in hockey ops. He would be in the way of the younger generations now running the show.

Maybe an ambassador of sorts -- like some retired Habs. Outreach to minor hockey or something in keeping with his humble personality, love of the Leafs and respected position in the Leafs' community.

I wouldn't mind if the Leafs brought in BB as a special coaching advisor to Keefe. He could fill the same role Paul McLean had with us. He'd be in the press box watching the games and in the stands watching the practices and give input to Keefe when needed. Eyes in the sky coaching position.

 

[krutovsdonut]

I know media types just love openness and transparency but it's not the best thing to do imo. You can have little bits of it but there is such thing as toxic information that is better to be careful with. Even if all this basically leaked out you just say Boudreau is the coach and that's that.

it's one of the most basic rules in sports management that you stand behind your coach right up to the day you fire him so he can do his job and retain his dignity inside and outside the room.

not sure who with any options would take a coaching job with rutherford after how he has treated boudreau, starting back in october when after a rocky start he whined to the media that it was misrepresented to him before he was hired that he'd be able to get rid of boudreau after last season. even if that is true, it was not boudreau's fault, but boudreau is the one immediately thrown under the bus credibility wise with the team and media by a gm saying he wanted to fire him in the summer but could not. he's the guy trying to coach the whole season under an increasingly loud death watch while the media reports the only reason he's still coaching is the owner refuses to pay three coaches at once.

i am also waiting for rutherford to take accountability for empowering miller and lame ducking horvat last summer by extending miller for no reason leaving not enough cap to extend horvat. given the obvious changes in play with both players this season it's hard to lay this season's turmoil on boudreau, especially when he had the team united and playing together the season before. the only big changes over the summer were an unnecessary extension of miller and snubbing of the captain.

 

[Honour Over Glory]

What that ownership and JR have done to Bruce is a master class of how to treat someone like shit and draw the ire of the entire sports world and have players from other teams also be pissed at the treatment.

Way to go. At least they’re number 1 at that. Makes what VGK did to Fleury and what Florida did to GG seem like nothing.

 

[MMC]

 

[MCR74]

Boudreau is all class. If the Canucks believe things will improve with another coach behind the bench, have at it.

They've already hired someone to babysit JT Miller. Maybe it's best to leave Bruce alone.

 

[57special]

Bruce, and Vancouver fans, deserve better. They lucked out into some really nice young talent, then Benning and the idiots who followed him made a series of dumb moves, trading for, and overpaying for, overrated or past their due date talent.

 

[GhostfaceWu]

Hey let's turn this into a circus and then hire a far far worse coach.

 

[kevsh]

If you're Tocchet, are you that desperate to get an NHL coaching gig that you'd walk in there after seeing how the organization treats its current bench boss? Never mind the team is a mess with the captain most likely walking at the end of the season.

 

[MVP of West Hollywd]

Why not just hire Bylsma, on the topic of former Penguins? Him and Rutherford didn't overlap, so they cool.

 

[Muffin]

I think most people in this situation would have quit and walked away. But Bruce seems to be above that and won't quit on this team. The NHL should be embarrassed by this, everyone should be. He deserves better and respect. Class act, no matter what you think of him as a coach.

Pretty sure he doesn't get paid the rest of his contract if he quits. If they fire him he still gets the money.

 

[MCR74]

Pretty sure he doesn't get paid the rest of his contract if he quits. If they fire him he still gets the money.

This. Boudreau knows he's on the way out, so may as well stick around and collect what's due, rather than give Rutherford the satisfaction of having run him off the team.