Jim Rutherford on the Canucks season, Elias Pettersson's contract, his future and more

[JeremyCuddles]

Sounds like Petey and Hronek will be done in the offseason, if at all. If that interview is anything to go off of. Management sounds pretty relaxed about it. Will be pretty interesting to see how that goes. Management also said they are planning for a contingency where they may have to trade him. So it's nice that they have things planned out and they're gonna do things the right way. I was a skeptic at first, still am a little bit. But so far it's hard not to love what they've done.

[RomanPer]

6 hours ago, DeltaSwede said:

Whenever I hear Jim speak I get filled with confidence that the organization knows what they are doing and where they are going. 

You could tell there was some real disappointment from the Canucks side with the Bear development. Not so much so losing a specific player, but for having put in the work and not see it materialize. 

Dhali comes off as really harsh and short. Lately it feels like it's most of the time and I'm finding it harder to watch it unfold. Like a really sour grumpy old man. Hope he is doing well outside of work. 

 

You should have listened how he ripped into Drance today. I don’t think I ever heard anyone on the radio yelling so much at another person, calling all the drance bs. “Why can’t you be happy for the team that is finally playing good and winning?”  

[iceman1964]

1 hour ago, RomanPer said:

 

You should have listened how he ripped into Drance today. I don’t think I ever heard anyone on the radio yelling so much at another person, calling all the drance bs. “Why can’t you be happy for the team that is finally playing good and winning?”  

Well I think that's because Drance tries too hard to be the voice of reason and fails miserably, but that's a case of the Vancouver media trying to be any more than bush league and it shows, a case of always negative about every single tiny thing, like if we went over the top and win a few cups, they'd still find something to bitch about it, i kind of think Drance will consider himself to be contraversial and gain more in the clickbait department or something to that affect. 

Nice to hear management put media in it's place here and there to smarten them up or at least shut them up from whining which they're pro's at..

Edited December 14, 2023 by iceman1964

[conquestofbaguettes]

5 hours ago, billydakid said:

the handcuffs they were left by Benning

 

Not exactly. Even Rutherford stated these so-called "handcuffs" were due more to the unforeseeable pandemic and flat cap more than anything. He even went to say he would've made the kind of deals thinking the cap would keep going up and up just the same.

[iceman1964]

7 hours ago, Strawbone said:

Jim strikes me as a really confident and self-assured guy who is not letting outside noise influence his decisions. He's the one that assembled these new management and coaching groups and in my opinion, both groups may be the best in the NHL right now, or certainly right up there. The Canucks have done a pretty incredible job in a flat-cap year of dramatically revamping their roster for the better, and Tocchet has to be in the running for coach of the year.

 

Jim must be pretty pleased with how things are going so far, but you can tell he's eager to get the Canucks a championship to really cement his legacy as one of the greatest hockey executives of all time. He'd be King of Vancouver, that's for sure.

Definitely have to agree with that one, whoever guides us to our first Stanley will certainly go down in canucks lore forever that's for definite, same with Tocchet at a slightly lower level but not by much.

Good post sir! 

Edited December 14, 2023 by iceman1964

[conquestofbaguettes]

6 minutes ago, iceman1964 said:

Well I think that's because Drance tries too hard to be the voice of reason and fails miserably, but that's a case of the Vancouver media trying to be any more than bush league and it shows, a case of always negative about every single tiny thing, like if we went over the top and win a few cups, they'd still find something to bitch about it, i kind of think Drance will consider himself to be contraversial and gain more in the clickbait department or something to that affect. 

Nice to hear management put media in it's place here and there to smarten them up or at least shut them up from whining which they're pro's at..

 

I swear Drance spends more time studying his little excel spreadsheets of advanced stats than he does watching the actual games.  That and laughing at his own stupid jokes.

[Drakrami]

Nice interview. I've been calling for a rebuild since forever, but this season shows I am wrong. Rutherford and Allvin has made this team competitive with their moves. 

[spook007]

8 hours ago, Alflives said:

IMHAO JR has ( and to my surprise) got autonomy from Aquilini. I thought there was no chance that would happen. But the evidence ndicates otherwise. The owner is held at bay by JR. 

I don't think JR would have ventured into this, had he not been given full control of the entire operation. 
He is doing a great job together with PA. Very impressed with how they have improved the roster in a short space of time. 
A year ago folks were still arguing about whether to tear it all down and start a rebuild, get rid of JT instead of Bo, we had no D outside of Hughes, etc etc...

When JR talks, we listen, cause most of the decisions made by the group assembled by him and Allvin have been on point and very good. 
The real test of course is, if they can sustain this, and how they will navigate the next few years with huges wage increases to several players, while having to deal with the OEL cap penalty. 
But up until now, they've shown how an NHL franchise with decent players should be run. 
Long may it continue...

[spook007]

3 hours ago, iceman1964 said:

Well I think that's because Drance tries too hard to be the voice of reason and fails miserably, but that's a case of the Vancouver media trying to be any more than bush league and it shows, a case of always negative about every single tiny thing, like if we went over the top and win a few cups, they'd still find something to bitch about it, i kind of think Drance will consider himself to be contraversial and gain more in the clickbait department or something to that affect. 

Nice to hear management put media in it's place here and there to smarten them up or at least shut them up from whining which they're pro's at..

Vancouver media has always made negative remarks and comments about Canucks. Even in 2011 they were having a hard time staying positive...

Sometimes wonder if crisis sells more papers...

[spook007]

9 hours ago, Jaimito said:

 

His opinion might change for the better after a deep playoff run in May. 

He's still restricted, ain't going anywhere yet. 

That might just be it...

If he sees, the team is competitive, it may change... Time will tell. 

[IBatch]

12 hours ago, van_can_fan said:

 

All the Pettersson stuff worries me

 

I know everyone is saying 'there's no rush.' But the team clearly wants to get him signed, values him, and it's Petey that's still not wanting to talk..

It's either about more money and he's still betting on himself for more or it's because he doesn't want to be here and is slow playing it to get out

 

However you slice it if he's not signed by the start of camp next year the volume is going to ratchet WAY up and become a major distraction for the team

 

Just sign for Pete's sake 

He's going to sign.   

[iceman1964]

10 hours ago, conquestofbaguettes said:

 

Not exactly. Even Rutherford stated these so-called "handcuffs" were due more to the unforeseeable pandemic and flat cap more than anything. He even went to say he would've made the kind of deals thinking the cap would keep going up and up just the same.

Yeah that's why Toffi isn't here or Markstrom for that matter, we're not the only ones who were hurt by it but where we were at the time we really needed cap badly, not getting it set us back at least a year or two. We did gain some ground with Kuz but still.. ouch! 

[iceman1964]

7 hours ago, spook007 said:

Vancouver media has always made negative remarks and comments about Canucks. Even in 2011 they were having a hard time staying positive...

Sometimes wonder if crisis sells more papers...

Oh I'm sure it does, hence the Ukraine/Russian war took over the headlines and then Israel/Hamas..  

[iceman1964]

7 hours ago, spook007 said:

I don't think JR would have ventured into this, had he not been given full control of the entire operation. 
He is doing a great job together with PA. Very impressed with how they have improved the roster in a short space of time. 
A year ago folks were still arguing about whether to tear it all down and start a rebuild, get rid of JT instead of Bo, we had no D outside of Hughes, etc etc...

When JR talks, we listen, cause most of the decisions made by the group assembled by him and Allvin have been on point and very good. 
The real test of course is, if they can sustain this, and how they will navigate the next few years with huges wage increases to several players, while having to deal with the OEL cap penalty. 
But up until now, they've shown how an NHL franchise with decent players should be run. 
Long may it continue...

Yeah, on one hand you want to have some say over a huge millions investment but on the other, when a seasoned professional takes over you need to back off and let someone do what they were hired for.

Benning did the best he could and not a half bad job with the core we have now but hiring someone without experience at GM for years was a huge mistake by FA! I don't blame Benning for what happened, I blame FA instead.

 Anyway, JR was given a much better team than was handed to Benning by miles, the big work was already done when JR arrived but getting the right secondary support for the core was key and we're still not there yet but a lot closer than ever. 

I really hope we keep banking picks and developing our own talent over the next however many years instead of of high priced ufa's so we don't try another one and done, I'd rather have a legit contender every year instead, yes I know that is not and never has been a popular idea in Vancouver since day one of the franchise but there's the reason we don't have a cup.

[billydakid]

13 hours ago, conquestofbaguettes said:

 

Not exactly. Even Rutherford stated these so-called "handcuffs" were due more to the unforeseeable pandemic and flat cap more than anything. He even went to say he would've made the kind of deals thinking the cap would keep going up and up just the same.

So you think trading for OEL and his cap hit, Garland, signing Myers to his cap hit, and a bunch of other underperforming contracts weren't handcuffs?

 

ok

[conquestofbaguettes]

1 hour ago, billydakid said:

So you think trading for OEL and his cap hit, Garland, signing Myers to his cap hit, and a bunch of other underperforming contracts weren't handcuffs?

 

ok

 

You missed what's being said.

 

If they knew a pandemic and flat cap was coming all those years Myers wouldn't have recieved a 6×6 in the first place. The projections change. To blame them for the "handcuffs" is to essentially claim they have foreknowledge of a pandemic.

 

Another example is Toffoli. Had they known the flat cap would continue they likely wouldn't have picked him up in the first place. He wasn't originally supposed to be a rental. But he was a luxury they could no longer afford.

 

And which "unperforming" contracts do you speak of?  I will assume you're talking about the ones they signed while they were rebuilding? If it is,  having to pay extra, give an extra year or so for guys to come to a losing rebuilder. Nothing out of the ordinary.

 

Even Kyle Burroughs just got a 3 year deal in San Jose. He's a 7th/8th man on a good team and would never get a deal like that.  It happens, man.

[DSVII]

21 minutes ago, conquestofbaguettes said:

 

You missed what's being said.

 

If they knew a pandemic and flat cap was coming all those years Myers wouldn't have recieved a 6×6 in the first place. The projections change. To blame them for the "handcuffs" is to essentially claim they have foreknowledge of a pandemic.

 

Another example is Toffoli. Had they known the flat cap would continue they likely wouldn't have picked him up in the first place. He wasn't originally supposed to be a rental. But he was a luxury they could no longer afford.

 

And which "unperforming" contracts do you speak of?  I will assume you're talking about the ones they signed while they were rebuilding? If it is,  having to pay extra, give an extra year or so for guys to come to a losing rebuilder. Nothing out of the ordinary.

 

Even Kyle Burroughs just got a 3 year deal in San Jose. He's a 7th/8th man on a good team and would never get a deal like that.  It happens, man.

 

OEL (buyout), Tucker Poolman ($2.5M dead cap in the offseason), Garland, Jason Dickinson (cost a 2nd to move) Halak ($1.2M dead cap) were all contracts signed after the 2020 squeeze that aged badly. Garland so far at least is looking serviceable but hardly getting any surplus value.

 

Toffoli and Tanev were not a matter of cap space, but managerial choices. They were replaced by Nate Schmidt and Holtby, not to mention Poolman, Virtanen in aggregate on the salary cap next year because Benning failed to prioritize their signings as a GM and chase OEL. It was his misread on a pro-scouting level, and as a manager to delegate that resulted in this mistake, not the flat cap.

 

You can argue the process was right (i.e we needed a starter in Holtby), and sure I'll agree there and we let $9M of players walk and re-invested that $9M in other areas, but end of the day, both Nate Schmidt and Holtby didn't serve out their contracts and didn't provide the value needed to the team. Benning made a mistake there at the pro-scouting level.

And going by your talk in the other thread, there was never a rebuild. So now there is? And again, if there ever was one, it was unintentional, by virtue of holding that 1st pick and not adding more than what the league allocates to your team, meaning the pain was prolonged more than it needed to be. Rebuilding teams don't trade away most of their draft capital and cap out. And the stated goal of the franchise in 2014-2021 was to make the playoffs. The management moves reflected that. 

 

The team tried and failed to be competitive. And it incurred the costs of being competitive (Bottom of standings + empty prospect pool + capped out) without the benefits of a rebuild (Cap space/flexibility + excess Draft picks)

 

 

Edited December 14, 2023 by DSVII

[spook007]

3 hours ago, iceman1964 said:

Yeah, on one hand you want to have some say over a huge millions investment but on the other, when a seasoned professional takes over you need to back off and let someone do what they were hired for.

Benning did the best he could and not a half bad job with the core we have now but hiring someone without experience at GM for years was a huge mistake by FA! I don't blame Benning for what happened, I blame FA instead.

 Anyway, JR was given a much better team than was handed to Benning by miles, the big work was already done when JR arrived but getting the right secondary support for the core was key and we're still not there yet but a lot closer than ever. 

I really hope we keep banking picks and developing our own talent over the next however many years instead of of high priced ufa's so we don't try another one and done, I'd rather have a legit contender every year instead, yes I know that is not and never has been a popular idea in Vancouver since day one of the franchise but there's the reason we don't have a cup.

Agree, and have been saying the same...

Benning made some big mistakes that cost him. Making the OEL deal and the Eriksson deal were bad decisions... It can be debated why and how, but in the end the GM makes the deals and stand and falls with them...

But he did get us JTM, and drafted fabulously bar OJ and JV... he drafted a top line C, Top pairing D, Top Goalie and a top scoring winger... despite his misses on the two previous players that is decent return for his drafting...

 

Now, where Benning needed help, was from a wily old fox like JR, who could have tempered his panic buys, or definitely have help him...

JR/PA walked into a team on the brink. It needed some good contracts and some smart deals to support the team.

Started quickly with Mika, and then signed JT to a great deal. How long it'll be a good deal remains to be seen, but he easily outperforming it just now. 

Kuz got signed for free... let that sink in. Then Soucy and Cole got signed and he also got Laffy for a later pick.

Then the traded Bo and used the return to get Hronek, our missing top pairing RHD, and with the rest of the return (Beau), he swung two trades, which gave us a big monster D, that we have been needing like forever. etc etc etc

 

JR/PA has done the team building in next to no time, with the only concern being how we will cope once OEL cap penalty bites the hardest...

Amazing job by them, but yes the ground work had already been done under Benning. Whether Benn ing would have been able to swings trades like this we'll never know, and to be frank, who cares... We are finally playing hockey that could lead to proper success... keep it rolling.

[iceman1964]

48 minutes ago, spook007 said:

Agree, and have been saying the same...

Benning made some big mistakes that cost him. Making the OEL deal and the Eriksson deal were bad decisions... It can be debated why and how, but in the end the GM makes the deals and stand and falls with them...

But he did get us JTM, and drafted fabulously bar OJ and JV... he drafted a top line C, Top pairing D, Top Goalie and a top scoring winger... despite his misses on the two previous players that is decent return for his drafting...

 

Now, where Benning needed help, was from a wily old fox like JR, who could have tempered his panic buys, or definitely have help him...

JR/PA walked into a team on the brink. It needed some good contracts and some smart deals to support the team.

Started quickly with Mika, and then signed JT to a great deal. How long it'll be a good deal remains to be seen, but he easily outperforming it just now. 

Kuz got signed for free... let that sink in. Then Soucy and Cole got signed and he also got Laffy for a later pick.

Then the traded Bo and used the return to get Hronek, our missing top pairing RHD, and with the rest of the return (Beau), he swung two trades, which gave us a big monster D, that we have been needing like forever. etc etc etc

 

JR/PA has done the team building in next to no time, with the only concern being how we will cope once OEL cap penalty bites the hardest...

Amazing job by them, but yes the ground work had already been done under Benning. Whether Benn ing would have been able to swings trades like this we'll never know, and to be frank, who cares... We are finally playing hockey that could lead to proper success... keep it rolling.

Yes definitely, I still don't know what happened to LE, maybe that first goal he sent back to a Dman that had moved and ended up in our net did something to him but he didn't seem to be the same guy we signed after that

 At first, everyone and even the media, after watching him with the Twins at the world's, seemed to be a great fit, although, (I wanted someone tougher with a edge to watch over the Twins so to speak) he seemed to sink like a stone with the exception of playing like a monster with last game with the Twins, i thought he'd turned the corner back to himself but then continued his disappearing trick after that, omfg i was livid, to this day i hate him with a passion! 

 OEL, yeah that was another gamble to shore up our horrible D which again I thought would work out because anyone in his shoes playing with a terrible yotes team going nowhere would have a re-birth with a semi better team, but again yet another player without his heart in it really made things from bad to worse.

 Another reason why most of the time I wonder if the curse we seem to have around the neck of the franchise since 1970 is a real thing.. 

 I'm still not convinced that we won't trade away more picks and prospects for our famous regular season teams without depth that have disappointed us year after year, I'm almost afraid to even hope that will stop and we'll become legit for more than a single year so I still sit here cautiously, VERY cautiously optimistic but we'll definitely find out in the next two years especially but here's hoping it won't go back to that and actually we build a team instead of signing $$$$ FA's 

Not holding my breath no matter how well we do this year.. until I see it, I'm certainly not going to believe it. 

Edited December 14, 2023 by iceman1964

[spook007]

2 hours ago, billydakid said:

So you think trading for OEL and his cap hit, Garland, signing Myers to his cap hit, and a bunch of other underperforming contracts weren't handcuffs?

 

ok

Ultimately the GM makes the decisions and either gets the credits or pays the piper... 

Its far easier to be a fan with hindsight, as we can always say, I got that wrong, or I didn't see that coming.

 

In saying this Myers was at the time of the signing expected to cost 7M/year, and as such considered a great bit of business, by just about everyone. 

The last 5 years has shown it was anything but, but I won't hound Benning over that one...

However the LE and OEL were players known to have been average at best OEL definitely not playing to his contract, and those were on Benning. 

I thought, at the time, that OEL would be a good signing, bearing in mind we got rid of 3 unwanted contracts, but in hindsight that was a horrible deal... I guess, I was just sick of seeing doing nothing and these less than average players continue playing on our team, and anything would be better... How wrong was I....

 

Anyway Benning did give us JT, Brock, Petey, Demko and Hughes.... and you can only wonder, if he had waited 1 more year, instead of signing OEL, if he could have swung a similar deal to PAs Hronek deal, would he still have been in a job... (doubtful).

 

Who cares, we are good now, with a competent management team... But it would have been good not having the OEL cap penalty coming on...

The Bobby Lu one was annoying enough....

[conquestofbaguettes]

On 12/14/2023 at 2:04 PM, DSVII said:

OEL (buyout), Tucker Poolman ($2.5M dead cap in the offseason), Garland, Jason Dickinson (cost a 2nd to move) Halak ($1.2M dead cap) were all contracts signed after the 2020 squeeze that aged badly. Garland so far at least is looking serviceable but hardly getting any surplus value.

OEL - good player but hampered them from making moves they wanted to do due to the continued flat cap. Rutherford stated it himself recently. Hell, they originally could have and would have kept him if the cap kept going up like it was supposed to.

 

Poolman- the fact you even list him here is joke.  Benning was supposed to foresee all those concussions? Get real. Plus he's on LTIR now anyway. Doesn't count towards the cap. More low hanging fruit.

 

Dickinson  - the cost to move money during a flat cap. Once again low hanging fruit and failure to account for context of the situation.

 

Halak - which would have been an Ian Clark selection too btw. He "handled all things goalies" afterall. You gonna rag on him for picking Halak? They wanted a vet to help carry the load with Demmers. He sucked ass and they moved on. Shit happens.

 

And what do you mean "after the squeeze." The squeeze STILL hasn't completely lifted even now. Which once again is mostly a product of circumstance rather than "they just bad at job."

 

On 12/14/2023 at 2:04 PM, DSVII said:

Toffoli and Tanev were not a matter of cap space, but managerial choices. They were replaced by Nate Schmidt and Holtby, not to mention Poolman, Virtanen in aggregate on the salary cap next year because Benning failed to prioritize their signings as a GM and chase OEL. It was his misread on a pro-scouting level, and as a manager to delegate that resulted in this mistake, not the flat cap.

Toffoli was absolutely a matter of cap space. He wasn't originally supposed to be a rental but that's what he ended up becoming due to flat cap. A luxury winger they could no longer afford.

 

Tanev - He confirmed on 32 thoughts he was offered a two deal by the Canucks. But he turned it down for more term in Calgary. He did not disclose the amount offered.  He could have chosen to stay in Van. He did not.

 

If Tanev had stayed on the two year deal offered, would they have the space for Schmidt and require his services? Likely not.

 

Holtby - once again an Ian Clark stamp of approval. Wanting a vet to help carry the load with Demmers. Holtby also sucked. But shit happens.

 

Virtanen- if the rumors are true he was pretty buddy buddy with Francesco? Virtanen didn't cost much in terms of cap space but there was a fair bit of sunk cost on that one.  Even I thought he would be gone after his lack luster playoff performance.

 

You can spin it to be all the GMs fault all you want.  Doesn't make it true though. Context matters. And circumstances, especially during a pandemic with a flat cap, dictated a great deal of what we saw. There's simply no way around it.

 

On 12/14/2023 at 2:04 PM, DSVII said:

And going by your talk in the other thread, there was never a rebuild. So now there is?

What?  Of course they rebuilt. I never said they didn't. The question is HOW they decided to do it.

 

There is more than one way to rebuild a team. Just because "they no tank" doesn't mean they didn't rebuild. They absolutely did.

 

On 12/14/2023 at 2:04 PM, DSVII said:

the pain was prolonged more than it needed to be

 

And that's exactly what I said in the other thread.  in THEORY that would be the correct takeaway, but there are no guarantees. Yes, the pain was prolonged. But not all because of the big bad Benning but because of the type of rebuild ownership decided to go with in the first place.

 

On 12/14/2023 at 2:04 PM, DSVII said:

Rebuilding teams don't trade away most of their draft capital and cap out. And the stated goal of the franchise in 2014-2021 was to make the playoffs. The management moves reflected that. 

 

Once again there are many different ways to rebuild a team.

 

Just because they didn't take this intentional tank approach to rebuild doesn't mean they didn't rebuild. Of course they did.   This is 100% different team than when Benning took over. The last remnants of the Gillis regime is finally gone as well.

 

The stated goal to make the playoffs, yes. But that does not mean it was ever some "make the playoffs or else" mandate. Former Canucks AGM Chris Gear stated exactly that. Capping out to ice a competitive product to keep asses in seats while slowly rebuilding over time was the plan. And that's exactly what they did.

 

On 12/14/2023 at 2:04 PM, DSVII said:

The team tried and failed to be competitive.

 

But what does "be competitive" here really mean. I'm saying it's to ice a product to keep more asses in seats than it would in a hard tank situation.  NHL hockey is a business, afterall. To quote Gear once again:

 

"...[in 2018]... the organization want[ed] to be competitive. And competitive doesn't mean you have to get into the playoffs or else, but it means we want a winning environment. We want fans to see competitive hockey; We don't want to get shelled 6-1 every night. So that's the environment you're trying to navigate."

 

Seems pretty cut and dry to me.

 

On 12/14/2023 at 2:04 PM, DSVII said:

And it incurred the costs of being competitive (Bottom of standings + empty prospect pool + capped out) without the benefits of a rebuild (Cap space/flexibility + excess Draft picks)

 

And that's the rub. Partially a product of the type of rebuild ownership chose and partially a product of the unforeseeable pandemic flat cap.

 

Circumstance dictates. Some things you have control over, and others not so much.  As again Gear stated,

 

"...there were those of us that didn't agree with a lot of those decisions that fans didn't like either; some of them I supported some of them I didn't but regardless when a decision was made, whether it was the guy above me or two or three above me I supported it."

 

I ask who sits two or three above the AGM in the organizational chart?

Gear continues...

 

"I've always been a supporter of trying to accumulate picks and young players, but you're also limited by what instructions you're given and the dynamics you have to work with."

 

Edited December 16, 2023 by conquestofbaguettes

[conquestofbaguettes]

1 hour ago, spook007 said:

I thought, at the time, that OEL would be a good signing, bearing in mind we got rid of 3 unwanted contracts, but in hindsight that was a horrible deal.

The kicker is the org was planning on keeping him too.  His exit interviews were good. They were expecting him back and thought he could bounce back. (Which as we see he has.)

 

Even Rutherford said OEL is a good player in an interview yesterday. But the flat cap limited them from making the other changes they wanted as you mentioned. OEL was the obvious choice to go.  Not saying he ever going to play up to that 7+ million they were paying him mind you, but had they been able to move a guy like Beauvillier earlier as well as Garland..?  OEL would still be here right now.

[van_can_fan]

11 hours ago, IBatch said:

He's going to sign.   

 

Awesome

[IBatch]

13 hours ago, conquestofbaguettes said:

The kicker is the org was planning on keeping him too.  His exit interviews were good. They were expecting him back and thought he could bounce back. (Which as we see he has.)

 

Even Rutherford said OEL is a good player in an interview yesterday. But the flat cap limited them from making the other changes they wanted as you mentioned. OEL was the obvious choice to go.  Not saying he ever going to play up to that 7+ million they were paying him mind you, but had they been able to move a guy like Beauvillier earlier as well as Garland..?  OEL would still be here right now.

Things worked out great.  Garland is anchoring a line right now that's helping us win games.   Beau did get traded, and we basically traded Beau for Zadarov and a 3rd.   Have another year of low cap hit, then we basically lose the cap that's rising for a couple seasons.   That's going to mean we lose something, but it's also timed with Willander and Lettermaki, maybe Raty or someone else in the woodwork like what's happening right now with Juulsen.    Allvins follow up on moves (Horvat for Hronek), is working.   And working well so far.     The cost to move Beau and or Garland, was simply too high.  Buyouts were their final option, but I do have some suspicions that the writing was on the wall as soon as Tochett came in.   OEL was placed on the LTIR.    They had some stuff in ARI before.    Could also be that they just couldn't see OEL playing the system he wanted to bring in. 

Edited December 15, 2023 by IBatch

[conquestofbaguettes]

12 hours ago, IBatch said:

do have some suspicions that the writing was on the wall as soon as Tochett came in.   OEL was placed on the LTIR.    They had some stuff in ARI before.    Could also be that they just couldn't see OEL playing the system he wanted to bring in. 

Tocchet stated all the "stuff" between them was vastly overblown.  Secondly, OEL was playing with a broken foot last year, did you know that? That's the biggest reason he looked so sluggish.  They finally shut him down to let him heal.  And like I said they all thought he'd bounce back and that he would be back. Tocchet said as much as well. All parties said the exit interviews were good and management even stated they did not plan on using buyouts in the offseason. And I don't know about you but I think our management and coaching squad are pretty honest about basically everything since they got here. So, I have no problem believing them.

 

OEL buyout was never planned; there was no bad blood; the buyout was morseo a neccesary evil given they couldn't make space elsewhere to make changes in other areas that they wanted as per Rutherfords recent comments.

 

But I'm with you. It's worked out for all parties... including OEL whom was in need of a fresh start (and without that giant contract hanging over his head and skewing people to hate him for it.) Dead cap sure sucks but... what team doesn't have dead cap. Very few.