New Direction For Canucks

Is one season enough for any Coach even tho he inherits a team that was built by previous individuals that had their sights in another direction?

Tortorella was brought into the Canucks organization at the start of last season in hopes of reaching a much higher success than the Canucks previous coach Alain Vigneault, who had a good tenure for the Canucks, but failed to produce a Stanley Cup.

Tortorella is a winning coach that has won a Stanley Cup, who had a tough season and for the most part was backed up by Mike Gillis, but realistically a new chapter in the history of the Canucks.

Linden was the one that conducted all the player exit meetings and apparent that no player “threw anyone under the bus” and had last season had a different approach to the success of the team.

Linden is looking at a path that will work for the Canucks and has a lot of players that have a “no trade” contract, and he stated that “he will have to have a look this in the off-season.”

He is looking for an individual that will be involved in the team in various areas as well as have an open communication with the fans and the media to excite the fans in the area.

Several players had a “down season” and it’s interesting to note that the  team is built in a certain way, but for Tortorella to change that would have meant player moves and possibly Gillis wasn’t prepared to make this move, so now both are gone!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AVSJ0xr5cC0

Gillis and his move out, I for one am not surprised at, but somewhat shocked at the move with Tortorella, only due to the length of his contract and that equates to dollars and cents for ownership.

Tortorella, who was in the first year of a five-year, $10 million contract, joined the Canucks after being fired as head coach of the New York Rangers last season.

Tortorella missed six games this season due to suspension after confronting the Calgary Flames after a line brawl in their January 18th and was suspended 15 days and barred from contacting the Canucks’ team before, during or after games after trying to enter the Flames’ dressing room.

During that time the Canucks went 2-4 over that six game stretch and were fourth in the Pacific Division and held the first Western Conference wild card playoff berth at the time of the incident.

Linden did state that he did not hear from ownership in regards to any decision on Tortorella or money that it will cost them to play him out.

Linden also stated that he’ll “start conducting interviews next week” and one can only think this might be a long process, but no one came away knowing who the potential candidates might be.

For those living on the West Coast, it’s hoped that Linden can be the savour of the club that so many fans have supported from the inception dating back to 1970 when they entered the league.

Torts at times was his own worst enemy, given some of his rants, but this season he was far more mellow that we have seen him in the past, which was a nice treat for the media.

The chapter on Tortorella is closed, so let’s see if everyone can move forward here on in.