Vancouver Canucks Faced with Untimely Confusion

Was the Trade Deadline not enough for the Vancouver Canucks?

Amongst the positive fall-outs for the Vancouver Canucks from the NHL Trade Deadline is the fact that there was a firm sense of direction in the organization. Dan Hamhuis is going to be respected, the Canucks will look to signing him soon, and the Garage Sale Seven will now try to make the best of the remaining season as Canucks.

The Canucks are not going to get into the playoffs, nor are they going to “tank” to the bottom-five for the Auston Matthews sweepstakes. The kids are going to get their chances, beginning with none other than former first-round pick two-way centreman Brendan Gaunce. (It feels like the Canucks have a million of them and just one Brock Boeser, eh?)

That sounds pretty concrete to me. In fact, I could live with that for the next twenty games of the season, hoping that no one else gets hurt and the kids start making the team stronger. Of course, I am going cross my fingers and say my prayers that the Edmonton Oilers get on a high streak and the Toronto Maple Leafs too. The future will look brighter for the Canucks if the Oilers don’t end up with Auston Matthews.

Actually, the future of the league will be brighter if Auston Matthews ends up with a team like the Montreal Canadiens for that matter. Hey. You don’t see Montreal in the bottom third of the NHL standings that many times.

So. The future.

That was what the Town Hall meeting was all about on Friday. When Jim Benning and Trevor Linden came directly to the season ticket holders and gave them a transparent view into the trade deadline that has passed us now and the plans to build for the future. But now that future looks uncertain. How so?

Here it is, this week’s edition of the Canucklehead Lament, on how confused all we Canucks fans should be after a behind-the-doors meeting that revealed how confused and out-of-sync the management is.

There may be a few months of sureness left in this season. But after the 82nd game is played, barring a miraculous march into the playoffs, the Canucks management will have a lot of clean-up to do after themselves. What Benning and Trevor have said lately — it sure adds up quickly into a hot mess of confusion and disconnect.

Next: Benning vs. Linden: Did the Canucks have a Chance this Year?