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[Diogenes92]

I'm so confused as to why there is so much optimism towards this team (handful of posters) when there has been so little that has gone right since Benning was hired.

It's the same story every off-season. A bunch of roster turnover with more or less the same results.

Can we at least wait to see if the team performs well before @** kissing JB endlessly?

The pessimists on the board have actual tangible evidence as to why we're pessimistic about the franchise.

Maybe the team can sustain some winning seasons while building towards a brighter future... At that point the Benning-Bro's confident words might actually make sense?

 

[BrentSopelsHair]

I'm so confused as to why there is so much optimism towards this team (handful of posters) when there has been so little that has gone right since Benning was hired.

It's the same story every off-season. A bunch of roster turnover with more or less the same results.

Can we at least wait to see if the team performs well before @** kissing JB endlessly?

The pessimists on the board have actual tangible evidence as to why we're pessimistic about the franchise.

Maybe the team can sustain some winning seasons while building towards a brighter future... At that point the Benning-Bro's confident words might actually make sense?

Other people have explained it more effectively, but it really seems like an adolescent mindset where because management work for the Canucks, they are the Canucks, and therefore any criticism of management is criticism of the Canucks, making anyone who isn't blindly optimistic a hater who is overcome with vitriol. No room for nuance or review of past results, only assumptions that the team will be better soon, or else ship out to the Sabres board you commie

 

[m9]

Other people have explained it more effectively, but it really seems like an adolescent mindset where because management work for the Canucks, they are the Canucks, and therefore any criticism of management is criticism of the Canucks, making anyone who isn't blindly optimistic a hater who is overcome with vitriol. No room for nuance or review of past results, only assumptions that the team will be better soon, or else ship out to the Sabres board you commie

Pretty much this - just an appeal to authority.

That said, the team has improved this off-season which gives some optimism for 2021-22 so I'm fine with fans being encouraged.

Unfortunately they did it by mortgaging their future which is extremely troubling for those who want this team to win a Stanley Cup and not just slide into the playoffs and see what happens.

 

[Melvin]

I think there are essentially 3 types of fan in this situation:

- those who have lost interest in the team (might be the largest group)
- those who are able to maintain interest by fuelling themselves with optimism
- those who are able to maintain interest by fuelling themselves with rage.

if you are going to keep investing yourself in this eternal dumpster fire, you need to keep yourself going somehow? you know?

I wouldn’t mind being in the second group. Alas.

 

[mathonwy]

I like to fuel myself with paranoid self-aggrandizing delusions of grandeur but you do you.

 

[F A N]

I'm so confused as to why there is so much optimism towards this team (handful of posters) when there has been so little that has gone right since Benning was hired.

It's the same story every off-season. A bunch of roster turnover with more or less the same results.

Can we at least wait to see if the team performs well before @** kissing JB endlessly?

The pessimists on the board have actual tangible evidence as to why we're pessimistic about the franchise.

Maybe the team can sustain some winning seasons while building towards a brighter future... At that point the Benning-Bro's confident words might actually make sense?

Well everybody has a different personality. Some are more optimistic than others and some are more negative than others. I'm sure most of us know somebody who is almost always optimistic about life and someone who just likes to bitch about things. Most people are probably somewhere in the middle middle. That's just the way it is.

This is a discussion board. There's nothing wrong with having a wait and see attitude. I've seen the Canucks go on hot starts only to collapse and draft in the top 10 enough times that I'm going to hold back my excitement even if the Canucks are leading the division come US Thanksgiving. With that said, there's no point in coming on here and simply saying let's stop all discussion until we see where the team is at at the end of the season (I'm not saying this is what you're saying).

Using the past to evaluate the present isn't very conducive to discussions. If you don't think the team has improved that's one thing,but if your argument is that well little has gone right in the past so how can you be optimistic that adding a good top 6 player in Garland will improve the team's top 6, then that's clearly lacking analysis.

Lost in the optimistic vs pessimist discussion is that it's much easier to be a pessimist and provide actual tangible evidence. A highschool teacher told Penny Oleksiak to focus on school because swimming wouldn't get her anywhere. Of course the comment seems ridiculous today, but that teacher could have easily provided actual tangible evidence supporting why Oleksiak should focus on school instead: the low odds of Oleksiak winning a medal (nevermind becoming the most decorated Canadian Olympian), the life-long career prospects of a swimmer etc. Even today, Canadian athletes get $20,000 per gold medal, $15,000 per silver medal, and $10,000 per bronze medal. You also get very little monetary support if you're not a medal favourite and that support ends as soon as you stop competing.

If you were Jeff Bezos best friend when he was thinking of leaving his high paying investment firm job before he received his bonus, would you encourage him to do just that? You probably have a ton more actual tangible evidence as to why it is a bad idea.

 

[m9]

I think there are essentially 3 types of fan in this situation:

- those who have lost interest in the team (might be the largest group)
- those who are able to maintain interest by fuelling themselves with optimism
- those who are able to maintain interest by fuelling themselves with rage.

if you are going to keep investing yourself in this eternal dumpster fire, you need to keep yourself going somehow? you know?

I wouldn’t mind being in the second group. Alas.

I've definitely lost some interest in the team over the last decade, but the optimism was always that there would be a new direction that was left with enough of a blank slate to turn things around quickly. This off-season has been frustrating because moves were made to save jobs and fix mistakes instead of building a long-term contender.

 

[MS]

I've definitely lost some interest in the team over the last decade, but the optimism was always that there would be a new direction that was left with enough of a blank slate to turn things around quickly. This off-season has been frustrating because moves were made to save jobs and fix mistakes instead of building a long-term contender.

It's doubly frustrating because we saw *literally this exact movie* previously in the summer of 2019. Bad contracts and short-term moves to try and squeeze into the playoffs to save jobs. And Fake Stanley Cup Playoffs 2020 briefly sort-of worked before the all-too-predictable step backward the following year and a 24th place finish. And people - including most of the media apparently - literally learned nothing from this and are rushing to get fooled by a 17th place finish all over again.

 

[Melvin]

I've definitely lost some interest in the team over the last decade, but the optimism was always that there would be a new direction that was left with enough of a blank slate to turn things around quickly. This off-season has been frustrating because moves were made to save jobs and fix mistakes instead of building a long-term contender.

That's fair yeah.

I mean I was joking mostly but it is incredibly difficult to stay interested when the team is run by fools and nothing seems like it's ever going to change. I went through a bit of a hate-watch phase where I enjoyed seeing the dumb things these morons do blow up in their faces over and over again but when it just keeps happening and they never seem to learn it isn't even enjoyable on that level, it's just sad? Lately I've been more interested in trying to follow the league as a whole as there are more interesting things going on in the NHL than just watching the same bullshit in Vancouver every year. Now that I'm in the eastern time zone I doubt I'll watch more than 20 Canucks games this season honestly.

 

[AwesomeInTheory]

I think there are essentially 3 types of fan in this situation:

- those who have lost interest in the team (might be the largest group)
- those who are able to maintain interest by fuelling themselves with optimism
- those who are able to maintain interest by fuelling themselves with rage.

if you are going to keep investing yourself in this eternal dumpster fire, you need to keep yourself going somehow? you know?

I wouldn’t mind being in the second group. Alas.

I just go off of amusement. It's entertaining seeing the strange things our management is doing, while enjoying the young players that are on the team.

I joke and riff, but I wouldn't say it's 'rage fuelled.'

 

[Diogenes92]

Well everybody has a different personality. Some are more optimistic than others and some are more negative than others. I'm sure most of us know somebody who is almost always optimistic about life and someone who just likes to bitch about things. Most people are probably somewhere in the middle middle. That's just the way it is.

This is a discussion board. There's nothing wrong with having a wait and see attitude. I've seen the Canucks go on hot starts only to collapse and draft in the top 10 enough times that I'm going to hold back my excitement even if the Canucks are leading the division come US Thanksgiving. With that said, there's no point in coming on here and simply saying let's stop all discussion until we see where the team is at at the end of the season (I'm not saying this is what you're saying).

Using the past to evaluate the present isn't very conducive to discussions. If you don't think the team has improved that's one thing,but if your argument is that well little has gone right in the past so how can you be optimistic that adding a good top 6 player in Garland will improve the team's top 6, then that's clearly lacking analysis.

Lost in the optimistic vs pessimist discussion is that it's much easier to be a pessimist and provide actual tangible evidence. A highschool teacher told Penny Oleksiak to focus on school because swimming wouldn't get her anywhere. Of course the comment seems ridiculous today, but that teacher could have easily provided actual tangible evidence supporting why Oleksiak should focus on school instead: the low odds of Oleksiak winning a medal (nevermind becoming the most decorated Canadian Olympian), the life-long career prospects of a swimmer etc. Even today, Canadian athletes get $20,000 per gold medal, $15,000 per silver medal, and $10,000 per bronze medal. You also get very little monetary support if you're not a medal favourite and that support ends as soon as you stop competing.

If you were Jeff Bezos best friend when he was thinking of leaving his high paying investment firm job before he received his bonus, would you encourage him to do just that? You probably have a ton more actual tangible evidence as to why it is a bad idea.

Bringing in Garland doesn't change much for me. Bringing in OEL's contract worries me.

The forward group has slightly improved, but the defense is a tire fire waiting to happen.

Last off-season really did me in. Losing Tanev/Toffoli for nothing was clearly much more detrimental to the franchise than some will admit.

Benning bleeds assets. Trying to patch up past mistakes with more mistakes and short-term solutions. 9th overall picks, 2nd round picks, top prospects, losing valuable trade chips for nothing at the deadline...

Being optimistic at this point doesn't really make a lot of sense to me, as I have been given no reason to be.

Benning fired? That would start the optimism train on this board without a doubt.

Maybe this team gets off to a fantastic start. There will surely be more optimism then.

But looking at the roster... I just don't see what's so shiny about it and I think the team has a lot to prove to change the majority's mind.

 

[Melvin]

I just go off of amusement. It's entertaining seeing the strange things our management is doing, while enjoying the young players that are on the team.

I joke and riff, but I wouldn't say it's 'rage fuelled.'

Yeah, that's where I was at in 2017-18. I don't find it that entertaining anymore. I think the combination of the hope earlier this year in an actual management change being Lucy footballed away from us combined with these dipshits trading the #1 pick yet again for another attempt at a quick fix just made me sad more than anything. At first it's funny watching the dumbass touch the bug zapper and get shocked, but when he just keeps doing it, at some point it's like ... this isn't fun anymore.

 

[Rick Rocket]

Is it worth taking on OEL's contract in hopes he will perform to that expectation? Of course not.

 

[F A N]

Bringing in Garland doesn't change much for me. Bringing in OEL's contract worries me.

The forward group has slightly improved, but the defense is a tire fire waiting to happen.

Last off-season really did me in. Losing Tanev/Toffoli for nothing was clearly much more detrimental to the franchise than some will admit.

Benning bleeds assets. Trying to patch up past mistakes with more mistakes and short-term solutions. 9th overall picks, 2nd round picks, top prospects, losing valuable trade chips for nothing at the deadline...

Being optimistic at this point doesn't really make a lot of sense to me, as I have been given no reason to be.

Benning fired? That would start the optimism train on this board without a doubt.

Maybe this team gets off to a fantastic start. There will surely be more optimism then.

But looking at the roster... I just don't see what's so shiny about it and I think the team has a lot to prove to change the majority's mind.

That's all fine. I am not here to change your mind. You said you were confused so I figure I try and clear things up for you.

 

[rypper]

I've been feeling pretty checked out the last few years. There was a blip of excitement during the bubble playoffs, and then in this off season when it looked like Jim was going to be fired, Aquilini shuffled to a different portfolio etc.

Strangely Pettersson's comments about wanting to win gave my interest level a real boost. I want to see what he's able to do this season, because I expect him to blow up this year (ppg/datsyuk like 2 way prowess, within reason.)

But we moved recently and haven't bothered to get cable so I'll have to find a way to watch.

 

[SeawaterOnIce]

I've been feeling pretty checked out the last few years. There was a blip of excitement during the bubble playoffs, and then in this off season when it looked like Jim was going to be fired, Aquilini shuffled to a different portfolio etc.

Strangely Pettersson's comments about wanting to win gave my interest level a real boost. I want to see what he's able to do this season, because I expect him to blow up this year (ppg/datsyuk like 2 way prowess, within reason.)

But we moved recently and haven't bothered to get cable so I'll have to find a way to watch.

The fear I have is that many hardcore followers seem to be taking Petterssons comments out of context and are siding with Benning. Even observed a few posts on other platforms suggesting he should be traded.

 

[rypper]

The fear I have is that many hardcore followers seem to be taking Petterssons comments out of context and are siding with Benning. Even observed a few posts on other platforms suggesting he should be traded.

Oh yeah it's baffling.

I get a kick out of this twitter account because it allows you a view into that kind of thinking without having to go all the way in, you know? https://twitter.com/rslashcanucks

There's a rumor floating around twitter (most likely untrue) that EP/QH are pushing ownership to make a management change before they'll sign, to see some fans reactions to that would be very interesting.

 

[MS]

The fear I have is that many hardcore followers seem to be taking Petterssons comments out of context and are siding with Benning. Even observed a few posts on other platforms suggesting he should be traded.

The insanity of turning on your best player for saying he wants the team to be good, in order to keep defending the hopelessly incompetent GM who has made the team bad for 7 years is frankly astonishing. If you ever needed evidence that certain people are Benning Fans more than Canuck Fans, there is your proof.

 

[M2Beezy]

This offseason is DEFINITELY one of Bennings top three or four!

So stoked! Haterz gonna hate

 

[logan5]

I'm so confused as to why there is so much optimism towards this team (handful of posters) when there has been so little that has gone right since Benning was hired.

It's the same story every off-season. A bunch of roster turnover with more or less the same results.

Can we at least wait to see if the team performs well before @** kissing JB endlessly?

The pessimists on the board have actual tangible evidence as to why we're pessimistic about the franchise.

Maybe the team can sustain some winning seasons while building towards a brighter future... At that point the Benning-Bro's confident words might actually make sense?

The one part that has gone very right (imo) is drafting, and that's the most important thing you want to go right.

Drafting in this current management era (Benning), did not start out well - Virtanen in 2014 then Juolevi in 2016, and my interest in the team was really waning. I posted very little in HF Boards. Then the drafting started to get a lot better (I didn't know it at the time of course), and Boeser came on to the scene and made things a bit interesting as he went on to be a Calder finalist. At the same time Boeser was having a stellar rookie year, our 2017 1st round draft pick was dominating in the SHL, and my interest in the team really picked up.

The next season after Pettersson's Calder win, Quinn Hughes comes in and is a Calder finalist, then Hoglander has a fantastic rookie season 0 4th best on the Canucks in 5 on 5 production, now we have Podkolzin and Rathbone coming in, along with Garland. This team is deep at forward now. Much better than 19/20 imo.

This is the 1st season (since being on this board) I've felt really compelled to defend some aspects of what the management group has done, and felt compelled to defend the young group, which a lot of people like to downplay ie "every team has young pkayers".

I haven't posted really frequently up until now, because I haven't felt this optimistic in a while. This is a good team that is greatly improved over the 19/20 team, and will easily make the play-offs.

 

[BrentSopelsHair]

The one part that has gone very right (imo) is drafting, and that's the most important thing you want to go right.

Drafting in this current management era (Benning), did not start out well - Virtanen in 2014 then Juolevi in 2016, and my interest in the team was really waning. I posted very little in HF Boards. Then the drafting started to get a lot better (I didn't know it at the time of course), and Boeser came on to the scene and made things a bit interesting as he went on to be a Calder finalist. At the same time Boeser was having a stellar rookie year, our 2017 1st round draft pick was dominating in the SHL, and my interest in the team really picked up.

The next season after Pettersson's Calder win, Quinn Hughes comes in and is a Calder finalist, then Hoglander has a fantastic rookie season 0 4th best on the Canucks in 5 on 5 production, now we have Podkolzin and Rathbone coming in, along with Garland. This team is deep at forward now. Much better than 19/20 imo.

This is the 1st season (since being on this board) I've felt really compelled to defend some aspects of what the management group has done, and felt compelled to defend the young group, which a lot of people like to downplay ie "every team has young pkayers".

I haven't posted really frequently up until now, because I haven't felt this optimistic in a while. This is a good team that is greatly improved over the 19/20 team, and will easily make the play-offs.

The unfortunate thing is at this point, you can't even really look at Benning's drafting as an absolute home run. He has been in charge of 8 drafts, and in that time he has come out with basically Boeser, EP, Hughes, Demko, Hoglander (not including Rathbone/Podz due to not counting chickens etc, but they look good). While the top level results are good and he has brought undeniably the best players on the team into the lineup, I really think it's a stretch to say that this is a stretch of drafting that would not be equaled or improved on by anyone else if given the same high picks over the course of 8 drafts. Thus far it is less than a player per draft meaningfully contributing to winning, and if he was the guru he's made out to be I would just expect more

 

[rypper]

That disaster 2016 draft really takes the shine off of the teams drafting under Jim Benning.

 

[Melvin]

Oh yeah it's baffling.

I get a kick out of this twitter account because it allows you a view into that kind of thinking without having to go all the way in, you know? https://twitter.com/rslashcanucks

There's a rumor floating around twitter (most likely untrue) that EP/QH are pushing ownership to make a management change before they'll sign, to see some fans reactions to that would be very interesting.

that sounds more like fantasy than rumour

 

[MS]

That disaster 2016 draft really takes the shine off of the teams drafting under Jim Benning.

2017 would be just as bad if Benning would have gotten his way on Glass.

 

[VanillaCoke]

But drafting and but 4 straight calder finalists are both pathetic and simplistic.

While simultaneously ignoring that we have no prospects. We could have Toffoli and Guenther right now very easily, instead we have pearson and oel.
Guenther is exactly what we’re going to need on an elc in 2 years.