Wait a minute...
So what you're saying is that Burke did not have enough Messier, wanted him back, and that this thread is really How Vancouver Learned to Stop Worrying and Love Their Cancer? I mean, yeah, Messier's the devil and all that jazz, but why would someone buy-out a $6 million team cancer with the plan of turning them into a $4 million team cancer ($3 million salary + $1 million buy-out)? You don't usually see people that eager to hold onto their cancer.
Or am I misreading this thread, and this whole cancer nonsense was an astrology reference all along? Does Messier have crab-like qualities? Was he born between June 22 and July 22?
Not quite.
Removing Keenan and hiring Burke was the best decision the Canucks made during this period, as Burke's iron grip on the team meant Messier could no longer have as much of an influence from a managerial perspective.
The fact that Messier had previously tried to run the team as a de facto manager alongside Keenan, in addition to his behavior during this period, uprooting the whole roster and working with Keenan to plant rumors and
create disunity, were some of the biggest problems with him. With his actions he plunged the team into major financial trouble for a few years by creating an untrustworthy brand. Attendance went back up once he was gone. You can't deny all of the anecdotal evidence from Pat Quinn and other players.
http://www.hockeydb.com/nhl-attendance/att_graph.php?tmi=8756
Average Yearly Attendance (GM Place, 1995-96 to 2001-02):
1995-96: 17,796
1996-97: 17,320
1997-98: 16,957
1998-99: 15,802
1999-00: 14,641
2000-01: 17,026
2001-02: 17,712
Turning over Leafs with quintessential coach FEATURING: Pat Quinn / Toronto boss Ken Dryden was always preaching newness, then he turned to the stogie-smoking, meat-eating embodiment of old-time hockey.
Gare, Joyce. The Globe and Mail [Toronto, Ont] 04 July 1998: A.15.
...
"There were mixed messages . . . an unmanageable situation really," Quinn said. "In the summer of 1996, ownership was pushing me to cut the payroll. Then the push came to sign Wayne Gretzky. When we weren't able to sign Wayne that summer, [Orca Bay] thought that we needed a name. That meant the next summer the push was to sign Mark Messier."
Messier was supposed to fill a leadership void -- at least that's the way it was imagined by marketing types who had only ever ventured into the Canucks' room for autographs. Messier, in fact, created a leadership void, a space previously occupied by the general manager.
"Messier was consulted by ownership on personnel decisions," Quinn said. "When that happens, it's deadly."
"Pavel Bure: The Riddle of the Russian Rocket said:
The Canucks only won one of their next 12 games and players continued to anonymously leak details about angry confrontations between Keenan and his players. On January 30, in a long article in the Vancouver Sun, Gary Mason revealed more details of discord, describing an incident in which Donald Brashear challenged his coach to duke it out on the bench, and a heated verbal exchange between Odjick and Keenan that was sparked when Keenan sarcastically described Odjick as "one of Pat Quinn's boys."
The revelations didn't sit well with Messier, who kept tabs on what the press was saying by having clippings delivered to him daily. Messier sounded off in an interview with Mason, calling the leaks "completely gutless." He disputed that Keenan's tongue-lashing of Linden in St. Louis was extreme. "Sure, it's tough, but you have to be able to accept criticism and accept the truth." He also denied, as some believed, that he was a GM disguised as a captain. "My allegiance has always been toward the players. I have nothing to do with player personnel on this team or who's going where."
Messier's comments rang hollow. Rather than defend his teammates, he had been silent when Keenan began his verbal assaults, and contrary to his claim of noninvolvement in personnel decisions, Messier actually had considerable input on player moves. As early as training camp, he had talked to Renney about players he felt were of no value to the team. As Quinn told Toronto's Globe and Mail in 1998, "Messier was consulted by ownership on personnel decisions. When that happens it's deadly."
In fact, the entire episode was filled with duplicity, as Keenan himself, rather than his players, had actually been the source of some of the leaks. It appeared Keenan was actually attempting to foster a sense of paranoia and mistrust in order to increase his control. The tactic worked. Alarmed by the dissension, Orca Bay gave Keenan a promotion in late January that gave him the power to make trades. He had become the de facto GM.
This ended when Burke was hired, and Keenan, of course, got the boot. Messier's poor influence was reduced to his on-ice effort level. Off ice, Messier became less of a distraction; that said, with no other veterans really left on the team Messier could say what he wanted to the kids.
After the 1997-98 debacle, Messier was simply an old, ineffective, lazy player on a bottom-dwelling team that he and Keenan were responsible for creating.
Some players such as Markus Naslund valued Messier's time with the team. By 2000 he had been "tamed" so that he was not barking at the GM or the coach about what he should do. If he would have done the same things that he did under Keenan (and Renney/Quinn), Burke would have sent him packing. Messier was simply a veteran voice by that time, and familiarity with him was something Burke likely valued in terms of maintaining consistency within the leadership group. Clearly the rest of Vancouver was calling for Messier to leave. In that sense, he finally gave Canucks fans what they wanted; at the same time, within the dressing room he had started something and decided not to see it through all the way.
It was also McCaw who
specifically instructed Burke to try to keep Messier.
Burke now in full control: New general manager of the Vancouver Canucks leaves no doubt he is in total control of the hockey operations of the franchise. He's also pleased his head coach is Mike Keenan.: [Final Edition]
MacIntyre, Iain. The Vancouver Sun [Vancouver, B.C] 23 June 1998: F3 / FRONT.
...
Resolute, charismatic and passionate, Burke delivered Monday a manifesto about the new Vancouver Canucks, of whom he was officially named general manager during a downtown press conference.
Mike Keenan will stay with the organization but is strictly the coach. Period.
Captain Mark Messier will play better, and won't be making any trades. Period.
...
Many are expecting titanic clashes between Keenan and the equally strong-minded Burke, although the new general manager made it clear he believes they will co-exist and flourish.
But it is also clear who will go if someone must.
"Much has been written about Mike Keenan," Burke said, voluntarily raising the coach-manager issue. "I want to be crystal clear; I have been given complete authority over the hockey operations. That said, I'm thrilled Mike Keenan is coaching.
"I have no problem with Mike personally or professionally. There will be no buyout of Mike Keenan. He is the coach and will coach the hockey team. It's not something I've been saddled with; it's something I've been blessed with."
Told that Keenan spoke often last season about the merits of the Detroit Red Wings' management structure, which allowed coach Scotty Bowman to control player personnel, Burke said: "That's not our model. I'll accept input from Mike and value it, but I have authority to make decisions.
"I think it's important for Mike and I to make sure everyone knows what the boundaries are. They will be clear."
Those boundaries will be clear in the dressing room, as well, as Burke emphasized that players shall concern themselves only with what happens on the ice.
Last season, Messier was criticized by ex-teammate Gino Odjick for overstepping his role as captain and using his friendship with Keenan to orchestrate the trade of teammates.
...
"I will simplify his life," Burke said of Messier. "All he has to do is play. All Mark Messier is going to be for me is a player, and he is a great player. We need Mark to play better than he did last year. I think he can and will. I don't see any change in his ability as a leader. Maybe his minutes get reduced, but that's up to Mike Keenan. We need Mark to bounce back and have a better year."
...
"Inmates don't run the asylum..."
...
Keenan didn't last very long under Burke.
It's time to end Canucks circus: Keenan, Burke had uneasy trust from the outset: [National Edition]
National Post [Don Mills, Ont] 26 Jan 1999: B17.
The circus must end now. The firing of Canucks coach Mike Keenan and the hiring of Marc Crawford draws to a close one of the sorriest and ugliest chapters in the history of the franchise. It's been a 15-month soap opera that began with the firing of then-GM Pat Quinn in November 1997, and ended this weekend when the relationship between Keenan and current GM Brian Burke was mercifully, terminated. That's enough. Now Burke has the mountainous task of regaining the trust of fans alienated during this period, rebuilding a hockey team that has many flaws and re-establishing respect for a team and organization that has become somewhat of a joke.
...
Most troubling is how the situation got to this point. It was clear from the outset there was an uneasy trust between the two. Burke did not like or respect Keenan before he took over as GM. Questions will also remain about how effective Keenan was in Vancouver.
...
In the end, his firing didn't have as much to do with the job he was doing behind the bench as the tangible mistrust between him and Burke, who was not going to make progress with this organization until he had a coach he felt comfortable with. It's too bad that three-quarters of a season was essentially wasted before this inevitable conclusion was reached.
When you add this latest controversy to what the Canuck fan has had to endure the last two years it is mind-boggling. And Orca Bay owner John McCaw must assume full responsibility.
...
More bizarre was the notion of a coach changing a hockey team while a search for a general manager was under way. You had the prospect of a coach handing over a team to someone else after radically changing it in his likeness. What if the new GM had a different vision? Which, to an extent, is what happened.
Keenan's goals were more short term, win now, while Burke clearly was in favour of building a Cup contender for the future.
The search for a GM was another sideshow, as Orca Bay courted the likes of Glen Sather and others. Eventually, the job was given to Burke, who arrived with a refreshing, no-nonsense attitude and a promise that he would bring stability to an organization in shambles.
...
Which led, ultimately, to the next spectacle: Burke's much- maligned travelling roadshow to try and drum up interest in his precious, if slightly flawed, commodity. Meantime, the season began with more empty seats than people had seen in ages.
...
Keenan speaks out after firing, defends record with Canucks
The Globe and Mail [Toronto, Ont] 03 Feb 1999: S.2.
Vancouver -- Mike Keenan "just can't understand" why he was fired as the Vancouver Canucks' coach just two games after Pavel Bure was traded and wishes his ousting "had been handled better" by the National Hockey League club.
Keenan, writing in his weekly column in The Sporting News, defended his record with the struggling team and said he had no problems working with Canucks general manager Brian Burke.
"But in many ways, it appears Burke had his mind made up right from the beginning," Keenan said in his first public comments about his Jan. 24 firing.
Keenan was replaced by Marc Crawford in a messy departure that dragged through the weekend. Rumours began to swirl on radio talk shows Friday night, and a local newspaper said the coach was gone Saturday. But Burke didn't officially tell Keenan he was fired until Sunday afternoon.
"It's unfortunate how this all came down. I wish this had been handled better," Keenan said.
In announcing his decision, Burke voiced harsh criticism of Keenan, calling the season "an unmitigated disaster" since Christmas and saying he had "issues with the way our hockey club has been coached."
...
The scary thing to think about is that the gutting of the team in 1997-98 might have been an attempt for Keenan to win
short term. By all accounts, reports are that the practices under Keenan were pathetic. The team lacked defensive structure. It's quite possible that all of the moves Keenan was doing (with Messier's advice) were not for the sake of a rebuild and that he really had no idea what he was doing.
Here are all of the transactions pre-Burke:
http://www.nucksmisconduct.com/2011/7/11/2269136/history-of-canucks-trades-and-signings-1970-present
January 1998: To Vancouver: Sean Burke, Geoff Sanderson and Enrico Ciccone
To Carolina: Martin Gelinas and Kirk McLean.
February 1998: To Buffalo: Geoff Sanderson
To Vancouver: Brad May and a 3rd round pick in 1999 (Rene Vydareny).
To Philadelphia: Mike Sillinger
To Vancouver: 5th round pick in 1998 Draft (Garret Prosofsky)
To Vancouver: Peter Zezel
To New Jersey: 2nd round pick in 1998 (Anton But)
To Islanders: Trevor Linden
To Vancouver: Todd Bertuzzi, Bryan McCabe, and a 3rd round pick in 1998 (Jarko Ruutu)
March 1998: To Boston: Grant Ledyard
To Vancouver: 8th round pick in 1998 (Curtis Valentine)
To Philadelphia: Sean Burke
To Vancouver: Garth Snow
To Toronto: Lonny Bohonos
To Vancouver: Brandon Convery
To Islanders: Gino Odjick
To Canucks: Jason Strudwick
To Philly: Dave Babych
To Vancouver: 5th round pick in 1998 (Justin Morrison)
Keenan and Messier didn't really do anything useful aside from the Linden trade. All of the other trades were lateral moves. Trading the 2nd round pick that year away to New Jersey for Peter Zezel is
not a rebuilding move.
Then there's Messier complaining that the "bad ice" is the reason for the poor play of the Canucks...
Memo to Messier: Just shut up: [Final Edition]
Taylor, Don. The Province [Vancouver, B.C] 31 Mar 1998: A33.
I've compiled a list of five things I'm getting sick and tired of hearing from pro athletes. I call it the "Just-shut-your-mouth-go-out-and-play-your-little- game-and-collect- your-big-paycheck-and-while-you're-at-it-learn- the-meaning-of-the-wo rd-`considerate'-list". The "Shut-your-mouth- list" for short. Before I go further, let me say I admire pro athletes. Heck, I'm almost 40 years old and I still dream of being one. Pro athletes get to be rich and famous. They're real-life heroes. Kids love them. So do members of the opposite sex -- which, probably more than anything else, explains why I still dream of being a pro athlete.
But, all too often lately, something will come out of an athlete's mouth that makes me think only people with the intelligence of a sofa get paid in sports.
They come up with comments that make me want to go up to some multi-millionaire superstar and say "Just shut your mouth, go out and play your little game and collect your big paycheck. And while you're at it, learn the meaning of the word `considerate.' See how easy it is to come up with a name for a list?
I put together the "Shut-your-mouth" list after hearing what Mark Messier had to say last Tuesday after Vancouver Canucks' game against the New York Islanders. That's when Messier, who played horribly that night, complained about the ice at GM Place. "We have the worst ice in the league," Messier said. "We've got guys who excel on great ice. There isn't any excuse for it and it's got to be fixed. Yeah, we've gone to management about it."
So that's what's wrong with the Canucks! Bad ice. Their nightmare season can be blamed on the GM Place maintenance crew. Not John McCaw, Mike Keenan or Pat Quinn. And certainly not Messier. No, the problem has to do with some guy making eight bucks an hour holding a rubber hose.
Memo to Mark: Sure the ice at GM Place is bad. But guess what? The Canucks aren't the only team that has to play on it.
Messier's weak comment falls into the No. 1 category on the "Shut- your-mouth" list: Athletes who complain about playing conditions after a poor performance. Here are the others:
1. Players who use the word "insulted" in response to a contract offer that would make the Sultan of Brunei jealous. Do you know what I'm insulted by? Spoiled brats.
3. Players who say, "I'm tired of losing. I want to be traded to a contender." My response: "If you're tired of losing, why don't you stay positive, work harder and turn the team you're with into a contender. Or would that take too much patience and class?"
4. An NBA favorite: Players who say the tax situation in Canada sucks. I'll tell you what sucks. Not knowing what it's like to be taxed on a seven-figure income.
5. Players who thank God for helping their team win. So, what did God do for the team you beat?
Well, that's it. I hope you enjoyed the "shut-your-mouth" list. If you didn't, please keep in mind I wrote it down while skating at GM Place. Damn crappy ice.
Ice leaves Mess cold: Now captain's blaming the rink for Canucks play: [Final Edition]
Chapman, Paul. The Province [Vancouver, B.C] 26 Mar 1998: A80 / FRONT.
The worst in the league. ...
Harsh words from Mark Messier.
But make no mistake, the Vancouver captain isn't stating the obvious about the standings-challenged Canucks.
He's pointing the finger at the GM Place ice. Messier slammed the ice, saying their million-dollar talent is suffering on a dime- store surface. But the man in charge of the ice says Messier is offside.
"I didn't like his comments," said Mark Wohl, Supervisor of Plant Operations. "The ice is not the worst in the league. We've had our problems, but it's no worse than the ice in Philly or Chicago, New York or any of the other places where they have multiple events.
...
"When Messier says things like that it brings down the whole crew. We're trying to get the best sheet of ice for them, too."
Messier lambasted the GM Place ice as the NHL's shoddiest after Tuesday's game against the New York Islanders, warning the problem "has to be addressed."
What drew Messier's wrath was that the ice for Tuesday's game had been covered by tons of wood, chairs and a mammoth stage for two weeks due to Sunday's Juno Awards.
"We have 250 events in here a year," he said. "When the floor is covered and you have forklifts going in and out it takes its toll.
...
Here are all of the acquisitions and trades that
Burke orchestrated between July 1998 and June 2000.
July 1998: Canucks sign UFA Murray Baron.
October 1998: To Vancouver: Trent Klatt
To Philadelphia: 6th round pick in 2000 (Roman Cechmanek?).
December 1998: Vancouver claimed Harry York off waivers from Pittsburgh.
January 1999: Vancouver traded Pavel Bure, Bret Hedican, Brad Ference and Canucks' 3rd round pick in 1999 or 2000 (2000, Robert Fried) to Florida for Ed Jovanovski, Dave Gagner, Mike Brown, Kevin Weekes, and Florida's 1st round pick in the 1999 or 2000 Draft (2000, Nathan Smith).
February 1999: Vancouver traded Chris McAllister to Toronto for Darby Hendrickson.
Vancouver claimed Steve Washburn off waivers from Florida.
March 1999: Vancouver traded Jamie Hushcroft to Phoenix for future considerations.
June 1999: Vancouver signed Alfie Michaud as a FA.
Vancouver traded Bryan McCabe and a 1st round pick in either 2000 or 2001 (2000, Pavel Vorobiev) to Chicago for a 1st round pick in 1999.
July 1999: Canucks sign UFA Andrew Cassels.
August 1999: Canucks sign free agents Doug Bodger and Martin Gendron.
September 1999: Vancouver claimed Chris Joseph off waivers from Ottawa.
October 1999: (Detroit claimed Manny Legace off waivers from Vancouver.)
Atlanta traded Corey Schwab to Vancouver for a cond. pick in 2000 (Round 2, Libor Ustrnal).
December 1999: Islanders traded Felix Potvin and 2nd and 3rd round (Thatcher Bell) picks in 2000 to Vancouver for Bill Muckalt, Kevin Weekes and Dave Scatchard.
January 2000: New Jersey traded Vadim Sharifjanov to Vancouver for conditional draft picks.
(Phoenix claimed Chris Joseph off waivers from Vancouver.)
March 2000: Vancouver traded Alexander Mogilny to New Jersey for Denis Pederson and Brendan Morrison.
Works Cited
Chapman, Paul. "Ice Leaves Mess Cold: Now Captain's Blaming the Rink for Canucks Play." The Province: A80 / FRONT. Mar 26 1998. ProQuest. Web. 7 July 2015 .
Gare, Joyce. "Turning Over Leafs with Quintessential Coach FEATURING: Pat Quinn / Toronto Boss Ken Dryden was always Preaching Newness, then He Turned to the Stogie-Smoking, Meat-Eating Embodiment of Old-Time Hockey." The Globe and Mail: 0. Jul 04 1998. ProQuest. Web. 7 Nov. 2014 .
"It's Time to End Canucks Circus: Keenan, Burke had Uneasy Trust from the Outset." National Post: B17. Jan 26 1999. ProQuest. Web. 7 July 2015 .
"Keenan Speaks Out After Firing, Defends Record with Canucks." The Globe and MailFeb 03 1999. ProQuest. Web. 7 July 2015 .
MacIntyre, Iain. "Burke Now in Full Control: New General Manager of the Vancouver Canucks Leaves no Doubt He is in Total Control of the Hockey Operations of the Franchise. He's also Pleased His Head Coach is Mike Keenan." The Vancouver Sun: F3 / FRONT. Jun 23 1998. ProQuest. Web. 7 July 2015 .
Taylor, Don. "Memo to Messier: Just Shut Up." The Province: A33. Mar 31 1998. ProQuest. Web. 7 July 2015 .
