RESIGNED TOHIS FATE
Three weeks after the fact, it remains clear that Trevor Linden’s departure from the Canucks was far from amicable
We’re now officially in the dog days of summer, and speaking of dogs, here are the Monday morning musings and meditations on the world of sports.
There is much that remains hazy about Trevor Linden’s sudden departure from the Vancouver Canucks, but three weeks after the fact, one thing is clear.
Linden’s divorce from the hockey club was not amicable. It was, in fact, the opposite of amicable. If you believe the howler the Canucks have tried to spin, you’re either naive, gullible or some combination of both.
Linden, like others who have gone before him, ran afoul of the Aquilini ownership group. The team’s president, the man who was hired largely to rehabilitate the image of a broken franchise, told ownership the Canucks’ rebuild had to be slow and methodical. The Aquilinis — specifically Francesco, the team’s chairman — didn’t want to hear that.
As it happens, GM Jim Benning, who Linden had just helped earn a contract extension, took a position that was more in line with that of ownership, complete with suggesting the Canucks should make an offer to star player John Tavares, who ultimately signed with the Maple Leafs.
And just like that, Linden was gone. He didn’t step down. He didn’t resign. He was fired. And he felt he was betrayed by Benning and the Aquilinis.
The Canucks are now under the control of Benning and his right-hand man John Weisbrod. Who knows? Maybe they’re the men to lead the franchise to a bright new future. Maybe they have the answers and the Aquilinis made the right choice in turning over the organization to them.
It’s just that we’ve seen this movie before, and it usually doesn’t end well.
For the last couple of years, it appeared ownership, Linden and Benning were aligned, all believing in the plan. That, at least, was the public perception. And to a large degree, they had won over the Canucks’ fan base with their vision for the team. But things have changed again. Now, once more, it looks like the Canucks are in disarray.
As for Linden, he now joins Dave Nonis, Mike Gillis, Laurence Gilman, Lorne Henning and others in the ranks of the disappeared, career hockey men who served this organization and left bitter and angry over their treatment by ownership. This is the pattern for this ownership group.
Sadly, it’s not consistent with the manner in which successful franchises conduct their business.
It’s been four years since Eugenie Bouchard climbed to No. 5 in the world ranking for women’s tennis and her precipitous fall since remains mystifying. But whatever else she is, Bouchard has star power in the country, and her inclusion in the field at this week’s Odium Brown is significant for tournament organizers.
She’ll draw interest to the event. She’ll attract the casual tennis fan.
If she offers a glimpse of the talent that made her so captivating in the first place, so much the better.
I was scrolling through the usual vitriol about U.S. President Donald Trump and other happy subjects on Twitter over the weekend and came upon this quote: “We should be dreaming. We grew up as kids having dreams, but now we’re too sophisticated as adults, as a nation. We stopped dreaming. We should always have dreams.”
The speaker was Herb Brooks, coach of the 1980 U.S. Olympic team that pulled off a miracle in Lake Placid. Brooks, who died in a car accident 15 years ago, left us far too early, but he left behind the power of the dream, the belief that miracles can happen.
As legacies go, that’s not a bad one.
I get the fascination with Tiger Woods and his performance at the PGA over the weekend. But, despite what you heard and saw on the broadcast, he wasn’t the only story in St. Louis.
The final major, in fact, served up any number of great storylines from another bravura performance by Brooks Koepka to a gritty effort by Adam Scott to a star-studded leaderboard.
But all were eclipsed by our obsession with Woods. It’s great that he’s competitive again. But that’s all he is, and his performance didn’t merit the saturation coverage it received.
Johnny Manziel couldn’t deliver the goods when the game was on the line on Saturday night, but two games in, the start to his career with the Alouettes is encouraging.
The former Heisman Trophy winner is never going to tear up the CFL, especially with that horrible Als team. But he gives them hope, and if the Als repatriate receiver Duron Carter, as early intel suggests, they will be a team worth watching.
The league needs the Als to be better and they need what Manziel could become. I’d like to see them both get there.
Finally, if you never saw Stan Mikita play, you missed something special. He wasn’t the most dynamic skater but in terms of skills, in terms of creativity, in terms of grace, he’s right there with the greatest centres in the game’s history.
His Chicago teams should have won more than one Stanley Cup. Still, he was a superstar in the Original Six, and he was an innovator and an artist. He’ll be remembered.