Slump likely didn’t help Linden
Team president shown door amid whispers about rough relationship with owner
Life in the NHL isn’t supposed to move this fast in late July.
But the Vancouver Canucks just got turned upside down.
The team’s most recognizable icon, Trevor Linden, is out as the Vancouver Canucks’ president after four years working under super fan turned-owner Francesco Aquilini.
The news will shock many around the league, but this development has been grist in Vancouver’s back channel rumour mills for at least two years and has been building. Linden is far too classy to ever say anything negative about his working relationship with Canucks’ ownership, but those around the team have said it was not a smooth one.
That shouldn’t surprise anyone because it wasn’t easy for the last regime either and they experienced the Canucks’ halcyon days that included a trip to the Stanley Cup Final and a tripling in the value of the team.
Linden’s Canucks didn’t quite have that same success. In his four seasons as president only four teams had fewer points and only four scored fewer goals.
That, of course, doesn’t include the expansion Vegas Golden Knights.
And the Canucks’ value has flatlined, which isn’t surprising considering the team has missed the playoffs in three of the past four seasons.
There were signs along the way that something had changed this year. When Linden’s heir apparent, Canucks’ GM Jim Benning, signed a twoyear extension in February it was decided then he would be reporting to ownership.
And when Benning was negotiating a contract number for a player during the July 1 free agency kick off, the player’s agent was told Benning would have to first check in with Canucks’ ownership.
That was a hint things were different because in the years after Linden was hired he became increasingly involved in the day-to-day hockey operations.
In fact, it would be Linden on trade calls and making big hockey decisions. There were times when people in the organization would say “Linden is running this team.”
At the time, it came as a surprise for some who thought Linden was originally hired to be more of a figurehead.
Still, it’s a big leap from “Benning is reporting directly to the ownership” to where the team is now.
When Linden took the job the joke making the rounds was that the Aquilinis hired someone they couldn’t fire. Linden is beloved in this province and the Aquilinis less so.
It’s why there wasn’t any backlash when the Canucks hired Linden, someone who had no front-office experience and was not yet qualified for a job like this. Linden in turn set the table where the Canucks then hired a first-time GM and a first-time head coach.
Maybe if the group had included more experience in the front office, things would have gone down differently.
If this split was at all acrimonious many in Vancouver are going to side with Linden even if his teams didn’t have much on-ice success. The owners have been accused before of being reactive and also micro-managing.
It is interesting that mixed messaging has long been viewed as one of the biggest criticisms of Linden’s regime because that was one area people were sure he’d nail when he was hired.
There are rumours something happened in recent days between Linden and ownership. It’s been described as a final straw-like event that led directly to Wednesday’s announcement. It’s unclear how heated the event got, but some are describing it as a final blowout about the direction of the team and the rebuild.
Whatever Linden’s vision was, ownership didn’t see it his way. And Linden was heading into the final year of his contract.
The split leaves the Canucks looking fragile and thin on front-office personnel. At some point, the Canucks will look to replace Linden but are primed now to give it a go with Benning in charge.
One name to watch for in the future is Chris Pronger who is on a Brendan Shanahan-like fast track to a prominent front-office job in the NHL. In January 2017, he took the first step when he took over as the league’s head of player safety. That led to a senior adviser role with the Florida Panthers.
Aquilinis love big names and buzz and Pronger would provide that without really being a threat to Benning because Pronger has little experience in doing the type of work Benning has on his resume.
It’s not obvious how this shakeup leaves Benning. On one hand, he has more power and influence. On the other, he’s pretty exposed and will be dealing often with owners who have become more involved again after three consecutive seasons where the Canucks finished near the bottom of the league.
If the Canucks finish this year as a bottom-five team and Elias Pettersson isn’t one of the league’s super rookies, there will be speculation that Benning will be next out the door.