According to reports, the Vancouver Canucks front office is growing frustrated with the negative media coverage and harsh outcries from fans. Here are three reasons why the Canuck faithful are in the right in growing impatient.
The Vancouver Canucks are easily going through their most frustrating stretch in the franchise’s near-50 year history. This team will miss the playoffs for a third-consecutive season, which has only happened twice — and not since 1998-99.
Fans aren’t only rattled because of the fact this team has been among the very worst in the last five years, but also the direction of the team. General manager Jim Benning and president Trevor Linden were hired in 2014 to erase the mess that predecessor Mike Gillis left behind. Amazingly, the mess has gotten messier.
And according to Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet, the Canucks front office is not hiring all of the harsh criticism and coverage well:
Elliotte Friedman : "The way it's going there in Vancouver, it just seems so edgy and so nasty every day that it just affects the ways things get done there. Canadian markets are tough. It is bad there right now." #Canucks
— Rick Dhaliwal (@DhaliwalSports) February 28, 2018
Jim Benning looked beaten down. Trevor Linden like a boxer against the ropes. #Canucks
— Sportsnet 650 (@Sportsnet650) February 28, 2018
"I see your market right now and I think it's a really brutal place to be. Those guys feel like they are under siege," says @FriedgeHNIC.
Listen: https://t.co/TVAzS4b221 pic.twitter.com/hurhXESvxy
We can only envision the amount of pressure that Linden, Benning and the rest of the front office are feeling. But at the end of the day, being involved in professional sports comes with being criticized. If you’re not performing at a high level, fans and media will have negative things to say. That’s how it is.
And unfortunately for Benning and Linden, this regime has not performed up to standards. The franchise is five years behind in a rebuild, and their failure at this year’s trade deadline only proves that. For example, why extend Erik Gudbranson to a multi-year deal when you could have dealt him for draft picks?
Tyler Motte and Jussi Jokinen were all you could salvage for Thomas Vanek? Probably better off keeping ‘Tommy Gun’ and look at extending him. For the second time in three years, Benning didn’t secure the “rebuilding” Canucks with enough assets at the deadline.
So with all due respect to Benning and Linden, the criticism hasn’t ended for three key reasons. Let’s take a look at those reasons.