Canucks News N Notes 26-27

[Megaterio Llamas]

I'm looking forward to seeing how they fill out the Abby coaching staff and the scouting staff in this regard. The savings must be enormous.

By promoting ECHL to the A ?

I hadn't considered that Corn. Interesting possibility.

[donlever]

Rumour has it Kitchener Rangers and Memorial Cup winning coach Jussi Ahokas was interviewed, offered and declined the position.

He is highly regarded as a prime up and coming HC candidate and is expected to end up somewhere in the A this year.

Must be related to Evan Gold.

Shane O'Brien.

Not Sean.

Can be watched/heard on the aptly tagged Missin' Curfew Pod with Scottie Upshall.

[BoS]

Matthias Ohlund?

[donlever]

Let's keep an eye out for that one BoS.

[BoS]

Eddy wasn’t a surprise. It leaked last month that he’d make an appearance at the rink.

I would have no trouble with Burrows or (if he decided to make the jump) Bieksa among the group. Call me a homer, but these guys bring an infectious attitude and energy that would be plus.

[Meds]

The Alumni Staff…..

CoPoHO: Hank n’ Dank
GM: RJ
Head Coach: Manny
Asst Coach: Bieksa
Asst Coach: Burrows
Asst Coach: Bert
Video Coach: Schneider (the narratives would be amazing)

Player Development Coaches
Goaltending Coach: Edler
Fighting Coach: Cloutier
Skills Coach: Mogilny
Skating Coach: Bure

[Picker of Cherries]

Burrows or Bieksa as Abby HC would be fine by me, but I suspect they aren’t interested.

[Todd Bersnoozi]

Burrows or Bieksa as Abby HC would be fine by me, but I suspect they aren’t interested.

Yah, I think Bieksa would be a great coach. If I were the Nucks, I would recruit him and groom him for next Head Coach like what the Canes did with Rod the Bod Brind'amour. Let him start as an Assistant for a few years, maybe coach Abby for a couple, then hopefully the Nuck's Head Coach. I guess Manny basically went this route and I do like him as well, so we'll see how he does the next couple years.

I think the only thing that may have hindered Juice from joining the Nucks or any NHL club in a coaching capacity is because he has a young family in the Cali area, so moving to work in another city might be a tough sell on him. He also seems to enjoy doing the HNIC and has some charisma, so it's a good fit for him there right now.

[UWSaint]

The Alumni Staff…..

CoPoHO: Hank n’ Dank
GM: RJ
Head Coach: Manny

[and speculation]

The retread thing suggests, I think, that this management group has a limited network. And it also suggests that the management group places great value in familiarity and past personal experience showing these individuals are good people to be around, have the right orientation, etc. And finally, it suggests that there is in an intention to connect the club with its better days, not only in terms of on ice success, but also in terms of what the culture of those teams were.

Given the recent shitshow of the past, both managerially and culturally, and the huge turnover of the recent roster (many of who were very peripheral to or had limited engagement with the decline) and the relative youth (lack of NHL experience coloring perceptions of how things should be), you can do a lot worse to build a culture than by connecting it to a past. It is *something* to connect to. And while it would be better if the network was deeper (since the hires are coming from the network and the larger the potential pool, the greater the chance the most competent of that group would be a good candidate in other pools), at the end of the day, there's always quite a bit of turnover in coaching and development and management. If you reestablish a culture, the outsiders you ultimately bring in will have something to assimilate into. And then the challenge is breaking up the boys club when its job is done and it is not the optimal group to make the next step....

[Lancer]

The Alumni Staff…..

CoPoHO: Hank n’ Dank
GM: RJ
Head Coach: Manny

[and speculation]

The retread thing suggests, I think, that this management group has a limited network. And it also suggests that the management group places great value in familiarity and past personal experience showing these individuals are good people to be around, have the right orientation, etc. And finally, it suggests that there is in an intention to connect the club with its better days, not only in terms of on ice success, but also in terms of what the culture of those teams were.

Given the recent shitshow of the past, both managerially and culturally, and the huge turnover of the recent roster (many of who were very peripheral to or had limited engagement with the decline) and the relative youth (lack of NHL experience coloring perceptions of how things should be), you can do a lot worse to build a culture than by connecting it to a past. It is *something* to connect to. And while it would be better if the network was deeper (since the hires are coming from the network and the larger the potential pool, the greater the chance the most competent of that group would be a good candidate in other pools), at the end of the day, there's always quite a bit of turnover in coaching and development and management. If you reestablish a culture, the outsiders you ultimately bring in will have something to assimilate into. And then the challenge is breaking up the boys club when its job is done and it is not the optimal group to make the next step....

I think there's the allure of the familiar happening there, but it may also have something to do with 'alignment' among the staff.

Here's a take: What if the Twins and RJ sold management on a recreation of the team, culture and dynamics associated with the last Cup run? If they did, they likely want to bring in people who know what that was like and what made them click so they, at least, all have a common reference-point. From that perspective, adding folks like Edler and Samuelsson makes sense. They all know where the Twins want to go with the team and what that looks like. Much easier to achieve 'alignment' in the organization.

It would be intriguing if that was what the Twins sold to ownership. Moreso than the '94 Canucks, the Canucks during the Twins' prime was arguably the best squad they ever had top-to-bottom. Even with the Toronto media painting them as arrogant pussies, they had a swagger about them on and off the ice which we only rarely saw during the height of the WCE days. It's not a bad model to follow, if this was the case.

[Cornuck]

The retread thing suggests, I think, that this management group has a limited network.

As suggested, there's a few reasons why they put the band back together - I hope it's for one of these reasons, and not just showing a lack of imagination.

We'll know by the end of this season if the plan is working; we should see some steps made that show the fans and the media that these new fuckin' guys™ know what they're doing. With the very small sample size, we can say that they haven't fucked up yet - but my fear is that all of this familiarity will lead to everyone just agreeing with each other, and no dissenting voices will be heard (for better or worse)

[donlever]

Screenshot_20260717-172848_Instagram.jpg (66.96 KiB) Viewed 109 times

[Megaterio Llamas]

Rumour has it Kitchener Rangers and Memorial Cup winning coach Jussi Ahokas was interviewed, offered and declined the position.

He is highly regarded as a prime up and coming HC candidate and is expected to end up somewhere in the A this year.

Must be related to Evan Gold.

Shane O'Brien.

Not Sean.

Can be watched/heard on the aptly tagged Missin' Curfew Pod with Scottie Upshall.

Patrik Johnston writes in the Province today that the Canucks offered Ahokas less money to coach in Abby than he was getting paid in Kitchener to coach juniors. Allegedly. I can easily see Mr Aquilini getting down there myself.

[donlever]

Yes....

...no need to invest in and fill your coaching/management stable with quality people to assist/teach/train our on ice product to achieve higher levels.

Whats the point of that?

Allegedly.

[Megaterio Llamas]

We haven't really seen Mr Aquilini go full el cheapo before now.

How low can he go?