Well, my day was certainly brightened when I heard the news that Dave "No Balls" Nonis was canned as GM (and various other inflated titles) of the Vancouver Canucks.

Finally, some good news around here! The poor Vancouver Giants were knocked out of the WHL playoffs :(

So, Nonis is gone, and now rumours are floating about who will be his replacement ... Brian Burke, Ken Holland, Jim Nill ... basically, a lot of people around here are doing a lot of dreaming.

I just really hope it's not a promotion for Steve "Tamborine", since he's part of the old guard that helped put the Canucks in the muck they are in.

Now, I don’t want to totally kick Nonis while he is down. The man is obviously very bright and was a good soldier for the Canucks for many years.

Nonis was great as an Assistant GM (a position which he is much more suited for) under Brian Burke, negotiating contracts and doing the heavy legal work. If I were hiring an assistant GM, Nonis would be near the top of my list.

Yes, we know Mike Keenan was desperate to get Todd Bertuzzi, but give Nonis props for one of the most lopsided trades in NHL history. Pilfering Luongo out of Florida will always be Nonis' legacy.

Yet, in the end, Nonis could just not get the job done. The team continued to get worse and worse and doesn't exactly have a bright future looming over the horizon.

Everyone and their mother knew the Canucks needed offensive help this off-season, and then he goes out and signs Brad Isbister and Byron Ritchie. WTF?

Marc Chouinard? That's the type of low-skilled player Nonis is notorious for signing, and a big reason why the Canucks are loaded with lots of B-grade talent.

The Canucks have a lot of salary cap room this off-season, which is why now is the perfect time to get a GM who is assertive and has a plan. Nonis was simply too content to stay with the core group that was left to him, and too afraid to make any real changes to the roster, save for the Luongo deal. The new owners could obviously see that Nonis is not the guy you want when big decisions have to be made.

Nonis, to me, is a great business executive, but a poor hockey man. An NHL GM needs to be an astute hockey man, or have staff on hand that are. Nonis doesn't appear to be a wise judge of hockey talent, and lacked the staff on hand to support his weakness. The Canucks' scouting department is definitely below-average, and wasn't giving Nonis enough to work with in terms of talent evaluation. Very few good NHL GM's lack the talent evaluation aspect that Nonis appears to have.

So, today is a good day for Canucks fans, and let us hope that Nonis' replacement will know how to fix this club.

Don't feel too bad for Nonis ... he'll land on his feet. He's got too much knowledge of the business side of things to be unemployed for long.

Wayne's World: Our Southern Correspondent chips in.

The Vancouver 'Nucks fired their GM yesterday; when the hell will Atlanta Spirit get off their collective asses and fire Waddell and McCrimmon...after the Hawks get swept by the Celtics, so that they can get the big broom out and can everybody with both teams???

I've said it before, and I'll say it again, if Waddell comes back as GM, I'm not rooting for the Thrasher next season...

Well, the Thrashees have let it be well known that Waddell's job is safe. I guess Wayne will have to join another bandwagon next season.

Labels: Canucks, Dave Nonis, GM firing

by Jes

The one thing I can say that I have in common with the Vancouver Canucks is that we're both going through a period of mental hockey fatigue. It's the middle of the season, and I'm feeling 'blah'. The Canucks? They look the same way, winning just one of their past eight games, and generally sucking the big one. Injuries are really taking their toll as the Canucks can no longer seem to keep goals from being scored against them at a good pace.

Why is it the Canucks suck against sucky teams, especially Los Angeles? Post-lockout, the Blues, who could barely beat anyone else, whipped the Canucks like Mistress Veronique.

Vs. the Kings
October 19th: 4-2 loss
December 10th: 4-2 loss
January 10th: 3-2 loss

Are the Canucks trying to do Crawford a favor and sucking so that he can keep his job? WTF, eh?

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Wayne, our Southern correspondent, shares some thoughts over the weekend.

Did anyone hear Mike Milbury on NBC call out Jaromir Jagr as being "gloomy" and "moody"? He did everything except call him "Ee-yore"...Trying to think of an "All-Moody" team with Jagr and Marian Hossa; any other nominations?

Chris Pronger is definitely a big whiner, as is Raffi Torres. One more defenseman ... hmm ... Dion "Sour Puss" Phaneuf.

In goal? Can we pull Patrick Roy out of retirement?

And the coach? None other than the Great Whine, Wayne Gretzky

Jagr is truly the league's biggest diva, and both he and the Rangers would be in a great spot if he'd just shut up and story worrying about non-essential stuff. It's not enough for Jagr to be paid well, but he has to have the world revolve around him as well. For that reason, he's never been the guy you can truly build a team around.

I see that Marc Savard will finally make an All-Star Game this Sunday...wonder what kind of reaction he'll get in Atlanta...Me: I'd applaud...

As would I

As I type this, the Maple Laffs just fired their GM; what took them so long? Well, Don Waddell has an opening when Atlanta Spirit fires his ass this coming May.

I covered this over at NHL FanHouse. Until the Leafs change their management structure (ie. Too many cooks, not enough brains), it doesn't matter which GM they hire. The Leafs' ownership cares only about profits, and has too many people who want a say in the affairs of the club. For this reason, no GM can truly make their stamp on the team as they'll have many other people to go through.

It's a testament to Pat Quinn's GM skills that he did as well as he did during his tenure there, demotion and all.

Labels: Canucks, GM firing, Jaromir Jagr, JFJ, Leafs Suck, Maple Leafs

by Jes


So, Tom Hicks couldn't hold his wad and fired Doug Armstrong as GM of the Stars. The Stars were .500, but a case could be made for canning Armstrong, given how cruddy the Stars' future looks.

His replacements? Les Jackson and ... BRETT HULL?!?

WOT?!!

Dallas Stars Chairman of the Board and Owner Thomas O. Hicks announced this afternoon that Brett Hull and Les Jackson have been named Interim Co-General Managers to run the Stars’ Hockey Operations for the remainder of the season. Earlier today Hicks announced that he relieved Doug Armstrong from his duties as General Manager of the hockey club.

“Brett Hull and Les Jackson are both people that I know and trust to do a great job and run our hockey club for the remainder of the season,” said Hicks. “They are very good hockey people and know the business well. They have complementary skill sets and successful hockey leadership records.

“It’s early in the season and I am convinced they are the right people to provide direction, vision, management and guidance that get this team positioned to win another division crown.”

Brett Hull has been out of hockey for just a couple of years, and is suddenly qualified to be co-GM of a hockey club? aye, aye aye. Hicks' stupidity knows no bounds. I mean, this is the guy who did give Alex Rodridguez enough money to buy the Mir space station.

This should be interesting to say the least. I wonder just how much power and sway Hull will have in the operations of the hockey club.

Labels: Brett Hull, dallas stars, GM firing, Les Jackson, Tom Hicks

by Jes

The Blue Jackets, about 3 years too late, fired President/GM Doug MacLean and have made the first step to not sucking. I just hope they don't hire away Steve Tambellini from the Canucks.

As always, you can find more details and analysis over at The Fanhouse.

While I'll always hold a special place in my heart for MacLean, who coached the Florida Panthers (my old favourite non-Canucks team), he is, without a doube, one of the worst executives in NHL history.

I guess the only ones who are sad at this news, outside of the MacLean family, are the NHL agents, who managed to soak the Jackets out of millions for their overpaid clients. Was there an easier rube than MacLean, other than Neil Smith during his tenure at GM of the Rangers?

Labels: blue jackets, Doug MacLean, GM firing

by Jes

According to TSN.ca, the Phoenix Coyotes have already begun the process of gutting their management team and starting from scratch (again) after a woeful season which saw the Coyotes finish dead last in the Western Conference with 67 points.

General manager Mike Barnett, assistant general manager Laurence Gilman, and Senior Executive and Vice President of Hockey Operations, Cliff Fletcher have been let go.

Barnett joined the Coyotes as Vice President and GM in 2001, leaving behind a successful career as a player agent with Wayne Gretzky as his marquee client.

Although not many will be surprised at the front-office shakeup, it's hard to imagine that Wayne Gretzky, who is unfailingly loyal, will simply kick good buddies Barnett and Fletcher out the door altogether ... at least not without a cushy payout pillow to fall on.

Under the management of Gretzky and Friends (or "Friends of Wayne", as Mirtle might call them), the Coyotes have made a number of bad decisions that have left the club with dim prospects for the present and future. Signing over-the-hill veterans such as Curtis Joseph, Jeremy Roenick, and Owen Nolan only blocked the younger players from getting more ice time while eating a large chunk of salary cap space at the same time.

The Gretzky Era has seen The Great One hire good friends for important positions, rather than hire based on merit. Claude Lemieux, Paul Coffey, Ulf Samuelsson, Grant Fuhr, Keith Gretzky, and Tom Kurvers were all brought on board because they just happened to be part of Wayne's nice entourage.

The scouting staff, in turn, made a pile of questionable picks (Hello, Blake Wheeler) that have left the Coyotes with a fairly meager pool of prospects from which to draw from. With poor attendance and a weak market, the Coyotes' franchise is going to need somebody with some exceptional talent to turn that club into a success. Will Gretzky finally do the right thing and hire the best candidate, even if he's not a good friend?

(Cross-posted at The Fanhouse)

Labels: Coyotes, front office mayhem, GM firing, Gretzky, Mike Barnett, Phoenix