A Thorough House Cleaning

All remaining Canuck management needs to be shown the door as well-Zimmerman, Tambellini and everyone they work with, (in addition to the sorry excuse for a coach) need to be shown the door.

Let's sell some beer and trucks!

Nothing is fluffier than the antics of rich athletes. Three children dead in Merritt and their killer on the loose is news. Dave Nonis gets fired. Not news... or at least it shouldn't be on this site IMO, when every other mass media outlet in town is dumbing us down with this nonsense.

Money, money and money

So Nonis got fired. Somebody had to. However, the Canucks are succeeding exactly where it counts; money. They make scads of it. Their clonebot fans are conditioned buy whatever Canuck schlock that is presented to them.

Is anyone else going to get fired? Heck, no! The Canucks don't have to win hockey games, all they have to do is make money. And they make lots of it.

Like the Romans said :Panem

Like the Romans said :Panem et circenses.

Bread and circuses to dope the public and divert attention from the facts of life.

The Canucks don't represent Vancouver, or BC.
They're overpaid, hired hands, here today, gone tomorrow to other teams they were beating up on yesterday.

So, who the hell cares who gets hired, or fired, any more than in any other showbiz racket?

Ed Deak.

Boring Hockey

The elephant in the room that no one wants to point out is that ever since Nonis has retooled the team around our starting goaltender, the Canucks have been playing a boring style of hockey. A style that is often tough to watch.

While I can accept boring hockey with some playoff success, I can't accept boring hockey without any playoffs. There were so many things that Nonis could have done, but he sat on his hands. We'll probably never know if he was handcuffed by ownership or not, but clearly, Nonis didn't get the players on the ice that would make Vancouver a playoff bound hockey team. For that he must go.

who cares?

Glad to see that some other people have trouble worrying about skaters. I used to watch my uncle play hockey and once he retired I lost all interest. The sports industry offends me. Obviously there are a lot of people out there imagining that it matters whether the Siamese brothers score a ghoal
If you actually "grow up" you leave childhood pastimes behind.
Sports has no place in serious reporting.
Stillitoe (Loneliness and the Long Distance Runner) states that is training for war.

Where it hurts

I know many people could care less about the Canucks, and I agree that they are overpaid underachievers. Although over payment for sports stars, celebrities, and CEOs is an unfortunate fact of life in our society.

The unfortunate thing from my point of view is the effect not having the Canucks in playoffs will have on the hospitality industry. Many of my friends, who also happen to be students, work as servers and bartenders. Those are among the few jobs students can have that pay a decent income, largely due to tips. Sure, none of them are likely to starve, but the extra income from the far greater crowds out during the playoffs would always be welcome. Many of my friends struggle to cover their costs due to the high cost of living and tuition in Vancouver.

HOSPITALITY

The playoffs aren't necessarily a boon for the entertainment and hospitality industries. Sure, some folks go out to watch the games, but far more stay home... and the thousands buying GM Place's expensive hockey tickets, beer, and burgers just mean that disposable income is going to Orca Bay rather than a local company.

The economic benefits of a run to the playoffs are overstated AFAIK.

Bread and circuses are good!

Everyone likes bread. Circuses are entertaining. Everything in moderation, right? It's not like we're a bunch of pious, holier-than-thou losers.

Now onto this article. Burgess, you're a dab hand with quips but clearly no Canucks watcher. Nonis's team is small, slow, no threat to score, dispirited, and devoid of blue-chip prospects. The stench of the Bourdon-over-Kopitar pick hangs heavy over this group.

I doubt it "feels good" to Aquilini to actually make the GM responsible for his (in)actions, because it would be cheaper to let the man play out his contract. But as a responsible businessman and steward of the Canucks, it was as good call.

Luongo

I hope I'm not talking about Roberto Luongo, who will surely recover from a mediocre stretch drive.

Don't hold your breath.

Luongo has a career W-L record of 197-219-33-24 with a ga avg of 2.60 and a SV% of .919, which is actually less than mediocre.

In 05-06 he was 35-30, 2.97 (29th in the league), .914 (T9) with Florida. For these mediocre numbers he thought he should get 8 mil a year. Keenan wisely declined and traded him to Vancouver who gave him a 4 year, 28 million contract.

In 06-07 he was a better than mediocre 47-22-0-6 2.29 (T6) .914 (4).

In 07-08 he was 35-29-0-9 2.38(13) .917 (14). The epitome of mediocrity.

In the last 8 games this year (the stretch drive), when the Canucks went 1-7 and missed the playoffs by 3 points he had a ga avg. of 3.96 and a SV% of .864.** Not mediocre- Horrible. And the reason the Canucks didn't make the playoffs and Nonis lost his job.

And now the new general manager will be saddled with Luongo's 7 million contract next year and 7.5 million the year after that. In a salary cap- zero sum world, every dollar you overspend on goaltending is dollar you aren't able to spend on goal scorers.

None of the sixteen teams in this year's playoffs spent as much for their playoff starting goaltenders as as the Canucks did on Luongo.

**Luongo is not the first NHL player whose wife gave birth during an NHL season, although you might not know that if your only source of information was the Vancover media.

ba-boons

"The playoffs aren't necessarily a boon for the entertainment and hospitality industries. "

Actually stump they are a boon to the hospitality industry. There's a reason why so many restaurants and bars have big flat-screen TVs scattered around their establishments. They help keep people in their seats buying drinks. And those screens are certainly a draw for people who can't afford to go to a playoff game, but want to get out in a crowd to enjoy it. I should caveat this with the fact that I oppose tax payer subsidy of pro sports, which is commonplace in the US, and ever more so here. The economic costs to benefits just don't justify the expense considering all the other things taxes could be much better spent on.

I do love to party, although it's the socializing aspects I enjoy. At my local, I'd like to assume it's my "sparkling" personality that makes up for my lack of excessive consumption. I find pro sports do provide people with a common touchstone for starting a conversation, but the intense commodification sports, not to mention its overexposure in the media, really does make it difficult for me to enjoy any of it.

As for Nonis, I could argue he perhaps deserved another season. If the Senators are swept out of the playoffs by the Penguins, then there will be some ripe potential for some serious trading with Ottawa. On the other hand, given Luongo's stats, wstander may have a point. I was disgusted by Luongo's, not to mention the whole team's, play in the last seven or eight games, even though I only watched little bits of them. So many teams lack grit, and despite what Don Cherry might say, it doesn't seem to matter what nationality the pampered lot of them hail from.

As for the Canucks in general, I believe an article in east Vancouver's Republic newspaper pointed out that over their existence the Canucks are the least winning pro sport franchise in history. There are shorter lived franchises, like the Grizzlies, that have a lower win percentage, but none that have done as badly as the Canucks for the length of time they've existed. That would be an interesting fact to try and verify, if you don't mind wasting time on trivia. What would be more interesting is why that's the case. What is it about Vancouver? Fans support a losing franchise. Voters support a scandal ridden criminal government. Is there something in the water? It isn't fluoridated. Maybe that's the problem.

Least winning franchise

I don't know how the Canucks rate comparatively, to other NHL franchises, or to other sports franchises, but I do know the following.

In their 37 year NHL history the Canucks records is:

1154Wins 1325Losses 391Ties 49 OTLosses

In 2000 the Swede Naslund became captain and the Swedish Sedin twins became regular players. Since 2000 the Canucks record is:

296Wins 196Losses 41Ties 41OTLosses.

Whatever the problem has been over the years, which have obviously been rectified since 2000, it is not due to the presence of Swedes on the team.

hospitality switcheroo

Hi James:

I think a detailed analysis of post-season economic benefits tend to show that more money isn't being spent, it's just being spent differently.

The person who'd be eating at a local restaurant that doesn't have big screen tv is instead at the pub watching the game for example.

least winning #2

I see Iain McIntyre on the Sun web site Sun did a little research on recent as opposed to ancient history. He reports that:

In the last four seasons, the Canucks have been champions of the tough Northwest Division twice and won more games than the Calgary Flames, Colorado Avalanche, Minnesota Wild or Edmonton Oilers.

economic benefit

Well I'm not talking about broad economic benefit. I'm talking specifically about benefit to the hospitality industry for the aforementioned reasons, and particularly for students who tend to be overwhelmingly represented in that industry in comparison to others. I already said I didn't think subsidizing pro sports with any tax dollars is worth the investment.

Yes, it's a transfer of dollars from a larger segment of the public that otherwise stays home. I doubt it generates significant return to the overall economy other than to help fill the coffers of students to help them a little more to pay bills and tuition. How significant the long term impact would be to economic growth would be exceptionally difficult to calculate given the complexities involved in the measurements. What I can say is that there is a significant difference in the amount of money people make in hospitality during the period the Canucks are in the playoffs compared to when they miss them.

uni change

Well, maybe its time once again to change the uniforms. How about large red skates and a pink polka dot motif..think of the entertainment value..line changes..too many "men" on the ice..working hard in "the corners" lots of great "Guys in the Room" and real leaders "out there" and " in the room".
The penalty killers a sinister menacing looking bunch...

tasertown

Really the Canucks are a perfect match for Vancouver. They merely reflect the shallowness of the place. After the uniform change how about a name change to "The Tasers"?
mascot Lil Tony Taser
Surprise jolts through the seats for fans who are being too exuberant or not being worshipful enough to our heroes in Gucci pads.