Are we ever going to be good? [Not a cynical post, genuine curiosity]

The short answer? Absolutely. No doubt whatsoever.

Why?

Let's start from the top of the chain of command. The Aquilini brothers and their inability to notice Gillis' incompetency. A firing that should have occurred at the end of the 2011-2012 season, occured far too late and as a result Gillis' poor choices continued to effect the team.

Now we come to the GM. Our decline post 2010-2011 was due in large part to Gillis' inability to plan for the future. He was not a visionary and painfully very near sighted. Sure he played a smart hand in acquiring Bieksa and Burrows but the good he did, is far outweighed by the damaging decisions (most infamously his handling of the goalie situation). He signed big deals with the current players and never gave a seconds thought to prospects and draft picks. The result of which became catastrophically clear in the years to come. The core aged, and there was no one on our back end to replace the stars we have/had. And finally, the one mistake to rule them all..firing AV. I may be in the minority here but I personally think AV was never the problem. He was simply a coach that was trying to make the best of the shit hands that were being dealt to him.

Now we come to the coaching. Again, Vigneault was good for this team. He made Stanley cup contenders of a team that frankly looked tired and each year was consistently good. Sure, towards the end of his time here in Vancouver, the team was kept failing to make it past the first round, but at the very least they were still making the playoffs. Then comes the disastrous Tortorella hire and while it looked like a fantastic decision at first, it became pretty evident, pretty fast that his coaching style was not sitting well with the team. A team that has always relied more on finesse and skill was being forced to play a "dump and chase" game and the numbers on the scoreboard speak for themselves about well that turned out. The Sedins hit an all time career low and the heart was pretty much gone from the team.

Finally we come to the on ice drama and the players. What. A. Fucking. Shitshow. There was the issue with Schneider and Luongo, Kesler wanting out, the lack of prospects, a tired and aging core and just a general "I don't give a slimy rat's ass" attitude about the team which was clear from the games. Slow, sluggish movements, lack of scoring, a non-existent defence (which is still pretty shoddy tbh) and voila! You have the 2013-2014 Cancuks. The last few years have been a train wreck that you just can't look away from.

And now we come to the current day situation. The key players in the management have been changed. Benning and Linden make a great team. Linden being a former player for this team knows exactly what the team needs to get back to being on top of the pack. Yes, it's going to take time. You can't expect years worth of damage to be undone overnight. The duo acknowledging that younger players are needed was the first step in the right direction. I sincerely doubt that any of our top prospects or draft picks are going to be traded away any time soon. They need to be honed. They have the skills as has been consistently demonstrated (Bo Horvat being on the top of that list obviously). What they need is tutelage from our veterans and I am god-damned sure that in a couple of years, we will have a new, younger, better core on our hands. I still don't know how I feel about Desjardins but so far he's been great and perhaps he'll find a way to make this a playoff team. Benning is a smart man and the visionary the team needs and it will be interesting to see how he handles the acquisition of Evander Kane because in my eyes, this is his first real test. I guess now it's just a matter of sitting and waiting to see where the franchise goes.

Ofcourse I could be wrong about all of this, and we are just going to go down in a flaming pile of nothing a la Oilers. But as a kid who grew up watching the Canucks, I really really don't think that's going to happen.

/r/canucks Thread