Congratulations to Alain Vigneault

No, I'm not expecting a Congratulations call from Mike. Why? 

It's hard to believe that it's been 20 years since the New York Rangers have been in the Stanley Cup Finals. It's been so long hardly anyone remembers what happened way back in 1994. Except this.

And now they are heading back there, having replaced hard-nosed, awesome-goatee'd John Tortorella with all-time winningest Canucks coach Alain Vigneault, so you can bet this guy feels like a bit of a douche.

The NHL media can only milk Marty St.Louis' mother's death for so long and the amazing commitment to the Cup it symbolizes. Now prepare to be inundated with images and reflections of twenty years ago as a litany of players who played for the NHL's largest US North American market (per capita) magically materialize out of where ever former NHL players go after they retire.

From the Canucks Dumpster Diving Team...

FROM THE DESK OF
VANCOUVER CANUCKS GENERAL MANAGER
MIKE GILLIS
JIM BENNING

TO DO;

Build Team Morale by 'wear your old jersey to work day' promotion.

Find old jersey    never mind. I was a lot smaller then. 

Get rid of current drafting system.

Find out if there is a current drafting system.

Hide my 2011 Stanley Cup ring in a safe place.

Ask custodial staff to remove the TSN bugs from Trevor's office.  

Ask them to remove Mike's motivational mirrors from my office.

Call Buffalo re; Cody. No takebacksies?

Find out who this Eddie Lack kid is. he's the goalie!! What happened there?

Inquire as to Jonas Gustavson (sp)? Free Agent?

Find out what NTC means besides all these players names.

Try not to mention Vigneault, Roberto, Cory, or Torts.

Buy a lot of umbrellas. Prob some gum boots as well.

Find new coach

what about a former player/coach (next Pat Roy)? 

Av?  still busy. 
Stan? 'not a fucking chance' so ... no.

Marcus? - not accepting calls ... probably a no.

Harold? - still have moustache? Unable to understand on phone.... would make for good press conferences. Will follow up.

Barry Trotz - still available? May be hard to see in dressing room

Kirk Muller - Pro; past Captain. Cup Winner. Can relate to Trev re; being traded.
Con; coached the Hurricanes. Not used to high scoring teams.
Adam Oates - Pro; has some experience dealing with superstars, likes to score. Not given good chance in Wash. Con; has some experience dealing with superstars.  
Peter Laviolette - Pro; been to Cup Finals Con; with Pronger-led Philadelphia team. Weird hair. 

Mike Keenan - be a good joke on Trevor. 

Messier - probably too far. 

Tom Renney - apparently been here already

Wayne? 3rd time's the charm!?

House of Canuckles

I started working on this awhile ago but seeing as how Mike Gillis has been fired, it seems more relevant today.

TL;DR - I tried to present the Canuck organization is in a classic circular dysfunctional relationship. Gillis hired Tortorella to bring a defensive toughness to a team that relied on offensive skill to win. It was bound to fail as Torts brought a Joe Lunchbox mentality to a Brand built on Star Power. Meanwhile Vigneault's style would work great in NY, as they have the star power to become Brand Power. Watch for the Rangers to go deep in the playoffs now that the players are used to AV's way of doing things, as he brings the 'fun' back in Rangers hockey.  


Once upon a time in a land far to the west, there was a family called the Canuckles.  This is their story.

Theirs was what appeared to be a happy marriage; Mike Gillis, the father figure; aloof and controlling of the bank account. He liked to watch Mad Men and believed in pin-up calendars where the women still covered their private parts. The mother was played by Alain Vigneault, from a foreign land, a touch of exotic to his knowing smirk and winning ways. Together they had 20+ kids; confident, talented, every one of them proud to be in the Canuckle family and they were the pride of the entire neighbourhood. If you were a Canuckle, you were the talk of the town, even if most didn't know exactly which one you were.

I saw the guy on the left at Toys R' Us. Or it could have been the one on the right.

Then something happened. A favourite son was designated. Daddy thought he was the answer to everything and the parents treated him as such and treated him well. He got all the C's; The Family car, the Company Credit Card, the Captaincy. It was all his. And all Daddy Canuckle and the entire neighbourhood asked of him was to stop every motherfucking puck that was motherfucking shot at him. Mother Canuckle knew that a careful balance was needed to keep all of the family happy. Those nice quiet ones that nobody paid attention to, the ones that needed a little attention or would wind up in jail one day, the youngest ones that clamored for Daddy Canuckle's attention. The first round picks playing on the third line.

Fan Reactions to various Recent events via Goat.

How I will feel if Detroit beats Chicago;




How that logical Vancouver hockey fan feels about Alain Vigneault's firing;





How most every Canadian male felt when they heard Jay Onrait and Dan O'Toole were leaving TSN to go work for Fox Sports in the US;