I don't have to say it.
Mikhail Sergachev says it all.
If Henning chose Olli Juolevi over Mikhail Sergachev then his office supplies need to be packed into a box, his personal belongings thrown into a bag, his building's keys removed and everything, including Henning, dumped onto Griffith's Way, never to be seen again.
I'm not saying this Brackett knows nothing about hockey.
I don't know the guy so I shouldn't take a run at him. He's probably a very smart man. I'm guessing he has a degree. He's probably got a great attitude and got great grades in school and is a great guy.
I honestly don't know anything about him. All I can do is judge his drafts.
And they've been shit to be kind.
Sergachev was drafted at 215 pounds. He's playing at 220 pounds.
The Canucks chose a guy who weighed 175 pounds.
Like... for the lack of a better word... W T F ???
Sergachev right now would be the best defenseman on the Vancouver Canucks.
Without question.
Sergachev has propelled the Tampa Bay Lightning from good to Stanley Cup favourites.
While he's not the best Tampa D man, he's easily showing all kinds of steadiness, hitting, offensive prowess... the whole 9 yards. He's everything you would expect for a Top 10 NHL draft pick playing a regular shift 2 years after being drafted.
Yes, I get it, the idiots in Montreal traded him. They were fleeced for Drouin by Steve Yzerman, best NHL GM.
The common thread for Yzerman and Henning - one played in the NHL, one did not.
One didn't even play in the CHL.
If the Canucks had drafted Cody Glass instead of the 150 lb. (I know, you think he's 160lbs... but Jesus, there are girls in grade 10 bigger than that right now studying social studies) -- Elias Pettersson
how much better would they be?
If they Canucks had Sergachev and Cody Glass on the roster RIGHT NOW - learning on the job, moving forward... how much better would they be?
How many more tickets would be sold?
Sergachev has 12 points for Tampa.
The entire Canucks D doesn't have 12 points (I'm guessing but I'm not looking. It's too depressing). Sergachev has 4 goals... the entire Canucks D has 4 goals. And no, I'm not including Chris Tanev's own goal which would put him to three on the year. IT DOESN'T COUNT !!
The Canucks have a PP that's a farce. Their PK is downright farcical.
They are spiraling down into "can't score goals" territory in a hurry.
The Canucks weren't in a position to take chances on 175 pound D men and 150 pound wingers (hope you can move him to centre at some point.)
YOU CAN'T MUFF TOP 5 PICKS !!!
My beef with Pettersson is that he's a winger. I mean he's clearly a winger.
They needed a CENTRE !! Glass on the other hand is clearly a centre and he's closing in on 200 pounds.
They needed a DEFENSEMAN !! They completely whiffed on Juolevi. A swing and a miss from the 5th overall draft position. Sergachev was taken at 9. If you needed a defenseman... why wouldn't you take the one who was 215 pounds? The one who wasn't carried by Laine???
You can argue at some point Pettersson will be a skilled player in the NHL. Go ahead. Dream away.
I do know that Glass will be a skilled centre in the NHL next year.
If the Canucks have missed totally on Juolevi and possibly on Pettersson then there's no question Linden and Benning and Henning are gone.
Juolevi and Pettersson need to be in the NHL making impacts next year.
Period. If they don't - then Linden and Benning need to be elsewhere.
And if you think Juolevi and Pettersson will be on a Travis Green coached team next year... then you really are excited about July, 2018, when you can start huffing in public.
And the last thing this franchise can do is let Henning control another draft. I'm sure he's a very nice guy. But when you see Sergachev... and then you look at Juolevi... I mean, come on folks. One's clearly a NHL D man. One is clearly in the Finnish league.
Somehow this team has fallen in love with 175 pound hockey players in a league clearly dominated by giant teams such as Tampa Bay, Winnipeg Jets, St. Louis Blues, Los Angeles Kings... should I go on?
Anytime a large team leans on the Canucks they fold like a cheap tent. They're way too small to be competitive. Opposing forwards pass through their blueline as if they were mirages (ode to Tony Gallagher).
When was the last time you saw anyone on a Canucks blue line step up and open ice clobber someone?
Mattias Ohlund was the last one I can remember.
A defenseman's job is not to "move the puck" - IT'S TO CLOBBER FORWARDS ! You let the centre bring the puck up the ice.
"Hit the cotton-picking forward and put him on his keester for goodness sakes!"
- Howie Meeker, Calder Trophy winner.
You can point to Cole Lind and say - "Wow! Look at him!"
And I'll say, "Wow! Look at Brendan Gallagher in Montreal not carrying a team!" And Gallagher is a stout little bugger too. Lind is not.
You're dreaming in technicolor if you think players less than 200 pounds can compete in the NHL without a massive NHL star on the ice with them. (Stamkos, Matthews).
Do you see Stamkos on the Canucks roster?
No?
Well who's Lind going to play with then? At 175 pounds?
Are they going to ice the dynamic duo of Lind at 175 pounds and Pettersson at 165 pounds?
Wow.
Drew Doughty is shaking in his boots right now as we speak.
He's literally talking to his agent about getting out of the Western Conference so he can avoid the punishment those two battleships will administer.
Oh, please folks. Doughty may decapitate both on the same shift.
Goals are scored in a 10 foot radius in front of the net. They're not scored from 40 feet out with a wobbly wrist shot.
It's man's league with actual world class athletes and world class talent. It's not the Swedish "elite" league. Men are hurt in the NHL.
THEY PLAY TO WIN THE GAME !
You know, it's a business, it's a competitive business. And it sucks to say, someone needs to be fired. And I guess that goes with the territory for Brackett or for anyone assuming that job.
But if I were in that job I would never, ever, touch anyone under 200 pounds.
You set franchises back years by taking tiny kids and hope and pray they somehow materialize into something. And then there's Vancouver's travel. And Vancouver's competition. And Vancouver's "hated by other teams" and other teams getting up to playing Vancouver because Vancouver is the star of the Western Conference... you just can't, under any circumstances, ice a tiny team.
You just can't go there.
It doesn't sell in the market.
It doesn't score goals.
It doesn't hit people.
In 2011 and 1994 and 1982 Canucks teams were big, bad and menacing.
In all three years.
Think of that beautiful 1994 team.
Think of the grit on that puppy.
When they draft they have to remember - Antoski, getting in on the fore check and pounding bodies.
Nobody screwed with them.
They better get someone in charge who understands the Vancouver market and understands the importance of being a big team. And the importance of making good, solid draft picks.
If you want to take gambles and fliers on teams - then do it in the third round and beyond.
Dave Tippett would be a good start as GM.
Look at how bad Arizona is without him.
Look at the Coyotes with Dave Tippett.
Look at the Coyotes with John Chayka.
Chayka created a team that may not win a game in 2017/18 season. And I mean that sincerely.
They are the worst collection of "athletes" in the history of every sport played on planet Earth including tiddlywinks.
When you have a ??? in charge - you get Arizona.
You venture down that path at your own peril.
If you own an NHL team then experience at every position matters.
Period. Or
Arizona.
"Looks great on paper bob !"
Yeah... it sure does, doesn't it?
http://www.michaelmunro.ca/Hockey_Sucks.html
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