Canucks Fire Nonis

CBC reported earlier this week that the Vancouver Canucks fired their general manager Dave Nonis after missing the play-offs for the second time in his three years with Nonis at the helm.

Are they crazy? Nonis brought them all-star goalie Roberto Luongo, and a franchise record of 105 points last season, I guess the phrase ” what have you done for me lately” applies here. I think that the Nucks were a little harsh with Nonis, here are some interesting facts that perhaps Canucks owners did not factor into that equation.

The Canucks never had their top 6 defenseman on the ice at the same time all year, how does one expect a team to prosper like that, but they still only missed the post season by a couple of points. Also, Brendan Morrison was absent most of the season do to the fact that early in the season he had to have wrist surgery, and when he came back, he went out again with another injury. The 6 million dollar man Markus Naslund hasn’t helped either lately, not playing at all for his 6 million dollars.

What about the emergence of Alex Burrows, and Ryan Kesler this year? These two players played really well for the Canucks this year, well enough for Nonis to trade pending unrestricted free agent Matt Cooke to the Washington Capitals. But I guess that the Nucks failed to see those things, or maybe the fact that Luc Burdon should be ready next season doesn’t inspire the owners either!

Dave Nonis tried to get someone for the play-off push during the trade deadline, but the asking price was too high. With players like Naslund, and Morrison being UFA’s next season, the Canucks will have even more money to work with, as the cap is also expected to rise. If Naslund, and Morrison want to stay in Vancouver, it will be at a dramatic decrease in salary, so Nonis could have worked something there to make the team better, and I’m sure the injury riddled defensive core will not be as injury prone next season either.

I guess the owners said thanks for Luongo, and a franchise record of 105 points last year, and it doesn’t matter why you didn’t make the play-offs, you didn’t and that’s that so good-bye. The next gm of the Nucks is inheriting Luongo, not a bad start for a gm, as anyone knows, the way to build a team is from the goalie out, which is what Nonis was doing, perhaps the owners just ran out of patience. They said that this year the fans didn’t get the team that they deserve, ya right, it’s more the fact that the owners couldn’t line their pockets with play-off money!

Good luck Dave, I hope someone else gives you a shot, you started something which the next gm will be happy with. Even Brian Burke didn’t get a Luongo, some say with the team Burke built in Vancouver, all they were missing was a Luongo to go far, not anymore, now they’re missing a smart gm, they had one, but I guess the owners aren’t as smart as the gm was, or perhaps they don’t care who’s on the team, as long as they make the play-offs!