Poor Nonis had no talent for...

On Sun, 28 Dec 2008 18:18:12 -0800 (PST), Kenji
wrote:

>On Dec 28, 5:18 pm, kim wrote:
>> On Sat, 27 Dec 2008 21:13:29 -0800 (PST), reno
>> wrote:
>>
>>
>>
>> >evaluating talent.
>>
>> >With a few exceptions, Nonis traded for or signed players who ended
>> >their NHL careers with Vancouver.
>>
>> >Brad Isbister, Jeff Cowan, Jan Bullis, Tommi Santala, Marc Chouinard,
>> >Byron Ritchie, Matt Pettinger, Kris Beech, Aaron Miller…
>>
>> >A few other careers sputtered soon after. (Smolinski played one more
>> >season with Mtl,, Patrick FitzRory played 19 more games with Philly
>> >and Carter scored 11 goals the next year between Carolina and
>> >Columbus.)
>>
>> >Otherwise, Nonis had a pattern of signing guys who really were on
>> >their last NHL tires. Everyone else no longer in Vancouver is in the
>> >AHL, Europe or retired. If I was Pyatt I would be terrified.
>>
>> >Only Willie Mitchell seems to have been a solid acquisition. (I
>> >categorize Luongo for Bert as some sort of freakish fluke, not
>> >dissimilar to Cowan scoring 6 goals in 4 games)
>>
>> Imho Nonis is an accountant.  Absolutely nothing wrong with that, but
>> for a GM it can be problematic.  When he did the contracts for Burke,
>> he was very good at it.  GMs need a little bit of bluster and a little
>> bit of an ability to take risks.  Nonis being an accountant can't do
>> that so he takes the low risk and what turns out to be the low risk
>> reward options.  
>>
>> A good case in point is Bourdon.  This is NOT a slam on Bourdon
>> because he was going to be a star and was a good kid and would have
>> had a good (possibly great) career, but at the time we needed some
>> offense and between the two, all things being equal, Kopitar would
>> have been a better pick for THIS team.  
>>
>> Luongo was a gift.  
>>
>> Mitchell was wanting to sign here.  In some ways another gift.  
>>
>> Kim
>
>I don't think that GMs need bluster. Ken Holland is not blusterier
>than Doug MacLean.

I used it in the sense of having a little bit of a gambler in them.

>What I think GMs really need are good department chiefs. Holland,
>obviously, has built up a terrific organization that is as well
>regarded for drafting and trading as the David Conte-led Devils scout
>staff. The Canucks clearly did not have the pro scouting and
>therefore went on past performance or projected performance under
>Nonis. Someone told him that Santala was a good pickup...and that
>person should be toast. (I do think that Mika Noronen was an
>interesting acquisition by Nonis. Noronen fled when Luongo came to
>town in 2006. Noronen was one of those goalies of the future forever
>hanging around the upper end of the Hockey News prospects annuals,
>with Eric Fehr.

Did someone tell Nonis Santala was a good pickup? I just thought that
it was his usual low risk, extremely low reward action. If so, then
yes they should have been fired, along with Nonis for presenting
Isbister and Ritchie as the answer to the screamingly obvious
offensive need.

Who would be responsible for passing on Kopitar when your team is
screaming out in pain for offence? I do agree that the scouting has
been abysmal. Hopefully that will change with Gillis as he seems to
put a lot of importance into drafting, etc.

>ITA about the Canucks needing offense. I think they almost shy away
>from the highly skilled pick.

Yes. It is a little more riskier, but sometimes it really works out.
Wasn't Zetterberg picked up in something like the fifth round??

Kim