Vancouver Canucks Keep Making Moves

The Vancouver Canucks have had a busy offseason and it keep on moving in that direction. Not only have the Canucks locked up Brandon Sutter to a five-year $21.875 million deal they have just made John Weisbrod their assistant GM a job he held for three years with the Flames. On the surface this may look like nothing more than a basic offseason, but the Vancouver Canucks are in the middle of big changes on and off the ice. It would seem they are sick of being just another team and want to make a mark in the NHL.

Everything could be falling into place in Vancouver, but this all feels odd to me. Last month I said the Vancouver Canucks are acting like they are new at this, and in some ways it looks like they still are.

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These changes often happen over the course of a few years, but Vancouver is burning down the house all at once. I also said that if the Vancouver Canucks are going to rebuild then do it already. Well, I guess that’s happening only it’s more of a front office shake up than an on ice reboot.

That is in part due to a lack of top level talent and the Canucks have already moved their best goalie. There’s an outline on Pro Hockey Talk that lists the front office changes that have been made. “The Hockey Operations department also named Chris Gear Vice President and General Counsel, Vancouver Canucks and Canucks Sports & Entertainment (CS&E). Judd Brackett was named Director of Amateur Scouting, Ryan Johnson was named Assistant Director Player Development and Mike Addesa joins the club as an Amateur Scout. The Human Performance department named Rick Celebrini Director, Rehabilitation and Jon Sanderson as Head Athletic Therapist.”

I’m at a loss for word here. How is it a team feels changing everything in the front office is going to get more out of the current players? This has to all be part of a gradual rebuild; I know tanking is a bad word in today’s NHL but between all of these moves and the current rosters talent level if it looks like a duck and quacks like a duck…

The Vancouver Canucks as a franchise has not been a joke. They have had runs and have had some very solid seasons despite not always have a lot of elite talent on the roster. But, there comes a time when the writing is on the wall, and it seems Vancouver understands that their current window is about to slam shut. All you can do is hope when the dust settles fans of the Vancouver Canucks will be able to hold their head up high and get the chance to have a contender.

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