All in all, it feels as though the Vancouver Canucks have jammed several years worth of bloody, flaming decline into a few short months. The coach who charged Calgary's locker room between periods; the trade of Roberto Luongo; the general manager sniping about the team's playing style; the owner texting a Globe and Mail reporter to call him a 'prick' before sending out libel notices to those who accused him of hiring the coach. In Vancouver, this season, that is truly a grievous charge.
And, finally, the firing of the general manager, and the expected firing of the coach. The Canucks season has been three seasons of Game of Thrones, crammed violently into one.
In that context, Wednesday's hiring of Trevor Linden as president of hockey operations seemed designed to staunch the bleeding. The fans had bayed 'Fire Gillis' the night before Mike Gillis was, in fact, fired; Vancouver's deadline for season-ticket renewals was Wednesday, and amid reports of faltering sales the deadline was extended. Under Gillis, the organization has been accused of arrogance, and finally lacked the team to back it up. Linden, the city's most beloved hockey son, is now in charge.
'We're trying to sell tickets, we're disappointed in the season, just like all our fans,' Canucks owner and enthusiastic texter Francesco Aquilini said. 'Trevor's here now, he's going to put a plan in place, and we'll get our season-ticket holders back believing in this team again, and Trevor's going to be a big part of that.'
Linden, of course, was the captain of the team that lost in Game 7 of the 1994 Stanley Cup final, and he will inherit an organization whose decline really started when they lost Game 7 of the 2011 Stanley Cup final. The Canucks have won one Presidents' Trophy and one playoff game since Game 5 of that series against Boston; they were on a 106-point pace late in December of this season before crashing, hard. Vancouver will miss the playoffs for the first time since 2008 and the third time since 2000, and their owner is talking about how Linden will create 'a winning environment here.' Expectations can be a bear.
Of course, the core is old and limping, and the next wave hasn't arrived, and the city has, in recent memory, had its expectation meter pushed about as high as it can go. This is will be a hard job, and the hiring of Linden feels like it's part public relations, part human shield, and part hope. One reporter just about summed the whole day up when he asked, 'Trevor, we all remember the image of 1994, Game 7; you were down on your knees against the boards, end of the game, tears in your eyes. The emotion and pain of that day, how does that prepare you for the job ahead?'
Linden said he may have had tears in his eyes because his nose had just been broken by Mike Richter's stick, and he was trying to straighten it. He's a lovable guy, that Trevor Linden. He evokes Vancouver's treasured and beautiful sorrow from 1994, and that will buy him some benefit of the doubt. It's just that he has never done anything like this before.
'You know, my experience comes from playing, no question,' Linden said at a news conference in Vancouver. 'I look at some of my colleagues, whether it be Joe Sakic [in Colorado] or Steve Yzerman [in Tampa Bay] or Cam Neely [in Boston], who I've spoken to in the last few days, and I think it's one of those things where you need to surround yourself with good people. It's about building a team not only on the ice, but off the ice.
'And obviously there will be some changes, but I intend to surround myself with good, thoughtful, independent thinkers, and that's how we'll make the right decisions. That's how this organization will make the right decisions.'
It was a fine answer, and it's a worthy goal. But the Canucks have handed autonomy on hockey decisions to a man who has been out of the game for six years, has never held an NHL front-office position, and who will be competing with organizations like San Jose and Los Angeles and Anaheim. Good luck with that.
'Trevor will make all of the decisions on hockey-related personnel, coaches, players, free agents,' Aquilini said. 'Trevor will in be charge of all hockey operations and make all the decisions.'
Maybe Linden is ready for this, and is capable of this. But this is a decision based on hope, and maybe season tickets. Vancouver really does love this man.
'As far as the [expectation of] criticism part, I've kind of been like the backup quarterback the last couple years, right?' Linden said. 'You know, everyone loves the backup quarterback, because he hasn't made any mistakes yet.'
This country can be a dangerous place for NHL executives, unless you are very good, or beloved by whoever is in charge. In Edmonton, Kevin Lowe has survived his stewardship of a remarkable disaster, and in Ottawa, Bryan Murray will probably decide when he wants to walk away. Winnipeg is new, and has satisfied itself with firing a coach.
But Montreal, Toronto, Calgary and now Vancouver have fired general managers in the past two years and 12 days. Meanwhile, in Toronto, TSN's Bob McKenzie reported that Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment CEO Tim Leiweke is talking to NHL executive Brendan Shanahan regarding a hockey operations job that would rank above the general manager position; if so, then both coach Randy Carlyle and general manager Dave Nonis are threatened by Toronto's precipitous and long-predicted collapse. Toronto has made the playoffs once since 2005, but it was last season; expectations can rise precipitously sometimes, and a team can fall so fast.
Vancouver, now, is the latest example. Emails were sent out in Vancouver Wednesday afternoon thanking those who had already renewed season tickets, bearing Trevor Linden's name. Renewal emails will be next, surely. He hasn't offered a plan yet, but he has a reputation. The Canucks, somehow, have nothing else to sell.
Post By http://sports.nationalpost.com/2014/04/09/vancouver-canucks-hiring-of-trevor-linden-designed-to-staunch-the-bleeding-in-tumultuous-season/
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