Oilers Snatch Key Piece to Vancouver's Management Team

The irony of being a hockey fan is that you are at the mercy of managers and owners who can either bring success and championships to your city - or in the case of the Toronto Maple Leafs and now seemingly the Vancouver Canucks, failure and frustration.

The Canucks took another step backwards Thursday losing long time hockey mind Steve Tambellini to the Edmonton Oilers.  Tambellini had been with the organization for 17 years, and was over looked twice for the position of General Manager with Vancouver, causing many hockey pundits across the league to wonder aloud about the decision making process in the Canucks upper echelons - particularly when a hockey executive as respected and well liked around the league as Tambellini was - was pushed aside for the hiring of player agent Mike Gillis who brings zero front office experience and an even worse relationship with GM's around the league.  

It's clear that not is all well in lotus land this summer - and this latest turn of events not only brings to question the direction the Canucks are heading - but will likely have a continued negative effect on the organization that could last for years to come. 

One can't help but wonder how likely coveted free agent Mat Sundin is to sign with the Canucks when the team is losing players and key management personel at an alarming rate.  We would have to assume that Sundin has already talked to extent with Markus Naslund about what is going on behind closed doors in Vancouver and likely isn't in any hurry to go from one gong show on the East coast to another on the West Coast for the sake of money.  It's quite possible that even Sundin himself may be thinking that any organization willing to pay him 10 million a season is one that he wants to stay away from.  

The NHL is a tight knit community, and just as the departure of Chris Pronger hurt Edmonton's reputation as a destination among players, the instability of what is happening in Vancouver is going to have an equally negative effect among players and their agents when considering a new port of call via a trade or free agency.  

The Canucks loss may very well turn out to be a significant gain for their arch rival Oilers who are looking to be copying the front office structure of the Stanley Cup Champion Detroit Redwings.   The Oilers hiring of Tambellini as General Manager means that Oiler GM Kevin Lowe moves up to team President, and Tambellini inherits a team with a significant youth movement, a solid base of veterans and a billionaire owner who is has publicly stated his desire to spend what it takes to bring a championship back to Edmonton. 

In weighing his options, Tambellini likely didn't have much of a decision to make - stay put with an organization that had shown little respect for his ability and is rocketing out of control towards the draft lottery, or join a team on the rise - who outside of biased Calgary and Vancouver fan opinions - is seen around the league as a team with significant assets in place and who will likely will be challenging for conference supremacy in the near future along side the Chicago Blackhawks who have also quietly built an organization poised for great things.  

In contrast to the Hawks and Oilers who have built thier squads around youth and speed, the Canucks have brought in 33 year old Pavol Demitra who they hope to pair with the 40 year old Sundin - and in the process, plan to spend nearly a quarter of their available salary cap on two aging stars who granter were once great players - back in the 90's.

The Oilers can only benefit from the hiring of Tambellini who's respect around the league will serve well to smooth over some ruffled feathers caused by Kevin Lowe over the past 8 years.  He does inherit some questionable contracts - most  notably Sheldon Souray's whopper as well as will have to make some tough decisions regarding Dwayne Roloson's future with the organization, as well as what to do with often injured Ethan Moreau. 

One thing is for certain - Canucks fans across the country have to be shaking their heads once again at the state of their team and only all but the most optimistic fans could see this as anything but another devastating loss for their Vancouver organization.