Vancouver Canucks fans might be having a flashback of a bad episode of "The Apprentice" today when they learned General Manager Dave Nonis was canned after a sub-par season by the Canucks.
The Canucks failed to make the playoffs two out of the last three seasons, and when they did they had an early second round exit at the hands of last year's Stanley Cup champions, the Anaheim Ducks.
Nonis did not address their lack of offense in the offseason, with signings such as Brad Isbister and Byron Richie who played most of the season as either a healthy scratch or a fourth liner.
I can't really blame Nonis for not pulling the trigger at the Trade Deadline, when big names like Hossa, Richards, and Ollie Jokinen were thrown around. Those aces came at a high price.
The question now is, who is next??
Rumors out of Anaheim have ex-Canucks' GM and current Ducks' GM, Brian Burke, wanting to head back to Vancouver, and also ex-Head Coach Pat Quinn as a possibility.
Seeing Vancouver's track record, they like to hire inside guys—Nonis was Burke's right hand man for many years in Vancouver before finally getting the big chair—so others think Director of Player Personal, Steve Tambellini, might also be a fit.
It's no secret Vancouver struggled this year in the scoring department. They had a lackluster defensive performance due to an injury-riddled blue line and a rough go at the later stages of the season by average All-Star goaltender Roberto Luongo, possibly due to his wife's complications during child birth.
Expect Vancouver to hammer out a couple of deals this summer to vastly improve offense. Rumors has it that Fabian Brunnstrom, the Swedish Sniper out of the Swedish Elite League, said he wants to play in Vancouver. He would be a low risk signing, as he would only cost cash and not a draft pick.
Vancouver also has the 10th overall pick in a draft, one of the deepest in recent years.
With Canucks' Captain Markus Naslunds' contract ending this season, he will either take a pay cut or take a hike, which would also free up some cap-space, giving Vancouver some extra spending cash to fill two to three holes on offense.
It's your call fans. Who do you think Vancouver will bring in as GM, and what kind of summer deals will they be mulling around to improve this team?
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6 months ago
From MIKE:
Nonis was hampered by factors beyond his control. His top-six blueline corps missed 174 man-games and were not together as a unit for a single game this season.
The spillover from previous regimes extended into this season. Nonis has never been totally free to be his own GM. Next season would have been his first, and now he won't get his chance. I think the franchise would have been better served by allowing Nonis to work his final year and to let him make the drastic changes that are necessary. He did have a plan, and now we'll never know what changes he might have wrought.
Does Aquilini know something we don't about how well Nonis fits in with the "old boys club" of NHL GMs? If he didn't fit in well, maybe the other GMs pulled back from Nonis during the critical trade period in February. Anybody out there have any opinions or inside knowledge on this?
And what about all those damned injuries? Are the Canucks training properly to play an 82-game schedule plus 16 playoff games? Perhaps the players too stiff, lifting too many weights and not doing enough stretching. Groin injuries, in particular, are suspicious.
I don't think enough attention is paid to injury prevention, and it would be interesting to read thoughts on this topic.
6 months ago
Nonis is old news, we need new blood. We need new trainers, new player development staff, new scouts, new everything. This team has been a horrible organization given the assets (fan base) Vancouver had. The poor ownership from afar post Griffiths and even during can be argued and I'm glad to see the Aquilini's do something right away.
Whatever Nonis presented as his plan was either too slow, too lame or too boring for the big boss. I'm sure that's what he had to position when the new boss come on board. What is "THE PLAN". So now, we look for a new GM, because at this point a new PLAN is probably,,, no rather, definitely,,, better than whatever the old plan happened to be.
Canucks fans will have to be patient though, because our touchy feely goalie situation will be interesting over the next few years depending on how fast we "right the ship" and in my mind, I'm prepared for a few years of wind sucking.
Look at the West. Arguably injuries prevented EDM, PHX, CHI from excelling. And how can you say the predators are going away? Next season, we'll be down in the bottom with Los Angeles at the moment. Big changes better come, but that's only the beginning. Somewhere new stars, chemistry, scouts, prospects all need to be acquired, developed and re-tooled before our franchise can experience true success.
Luck is where preparation meets opportunity. I hope everyone understands that...
6 months ago
Thanks for the input Mike and Myles, Mike I really like the angle you are going at there, that would be interesting to find out, It very well could be a training regime that just seems to be overworking certain guys' muscles, I mean, some guys could be used to circuit training, and as soon as you throw them in a crossfit program doing low reps high weight..that could damage muscle tissue in the short run because it's rebuilding, then you have to go out and play a hockey game the next day.
I would also love to hear more about that kind of stuff!
Thanks again, fellas
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