Mercifully, it乌鸦传媒檚 over.
It had been speculated for weeks that Vancouver Canucks Head Coach Bruce Boudreau would be relieved of his duties and the move finally took place this past Sunday when Rick Tocchet was introduced as the 21st head coach in the franchise乌鸦传媒檚 history during a press conference at Rogers Arena.
For the last fortnight, it was widely reported that Tocchet, the 58-year-old former head coach of the Coyotes and Lightning, would take over in Vancouver.
The whole thing stunk 乌鸦传媒� including the press conference.
The media availability session started off with Canucks General Manager Patrik Allvin setting the tone by stating that 乌鸦传媒渁s of this morning I decided to do a coaching change.乌鸦传媒�
That in itself was comical as everyone knows that it乌鸦传媒檚 team president Jim Rutherford who calls the shots on every major decision in conjunction with the ownership group led by Francesco Aquilini.
It is, however, a concentrated effort by the organization to make Allvin look like the decision-maker but it sure didn乌鸦传媒檛 fool the media, who then directed a barrage of questions towards Rutherford 乌鸦传媒� not Allvin.
Rutherford then took ownership of being too open with some of his comments regarding his team乌鸦传媒檚 play and the lack of structure associated with it. He apologised to Boudreau for being so transparent and even added that he needed to 乌鸦传媒榸ip it乌鸦传媒� when it comes to his comments in the future.
But when pressed on how Boudreau was left to hang in the wind for a couple of weeks, Rutherford took a right turn and indirectly blamed the media for the situation.
乌鸦传媒淚t was played out in way that was out of our control. We can only do our business the way we see fit. We can乌鸦传媒檛 change our business based on speculation. There乌鸦传媒檚 all kind of speculation out there. It乌鸦传媒檚 not any different than most situations in professional sports,乌鸦传媒� explained Rutherford, then using Boudreau乌鸦传媒檚 hiring in Vancouver as an example.
That乌鸦传媒檚 pure garbage.
How did Tocchet乌鸦传媒檚 name surface in the first place?
The media 乌鸦传媒� particularly the so-called insiders 乌鸦传媒� get the vast majority of their information from hockey executives and agents.
Either someone from the Canucks organization leaked that info or Tocchet did so himself.
Jeff Marek of Sportsnet even reported on Saturday that Tocchet would be named head coach on Monday. He was a day late with that call, but again, ask yourself the question - where did he get the information?
Then there was the press conference last Monday that was supposed to be an update on the Tanner Pearson乌鸦传媒檚 medical situation but quickly delved into Boudreau乌鸦传媒檚 status.
When pressed by TSN乌鸦传媒檚 Farhan Lalji on whether or not the organization had spoken to potential replacement candidates, Rutherford responded that 乌鸦传媒淚 have 乌鸦传媒� and I乌鸦传媒檓 not going to get into names乌鸦传媒nd this is even going back a couple of months ago乌鸦传媒hat I have called a few people乌鸦传媒es.乌鸦传媒�
That乌鸦传媒檚 not speculation.
That乌鸦传媒檚 you telling everyone you乌鸦传媒檙e looking for a replacement for Boudreau, so own it.
Sorry Jim but I乌鸦传媒檓 not buying what you乌鸦传媒檙e selling, and if you took a look at social media, I don乌鸦传媒檛 think Canuck fans are either.
What the organization did to Boudreau was classless.
As soon as the 乌鸦传媒榮peculation乌鸦传媒� got to ridiculous levels, the Canucks should have relieved Boudreau of his duties and appointed someone such as assistant coach Mike Yeo to take over the reigns until Tocchet乌鸦传媒檚 alleged commitment to TNT as a studio analyst was observed.
When questioned on why that scenario didn乌鸦传媒檛 play itself out, Rutherford answered by saying that Boudreau was 乌鸦传媒榰nder contract乌鸦传媒� until June 30.
That response was complete rubbish as well.
Boudreau was also under contract when he was dismissed this past Sunday.
Rutherford isn乌鸦传媒檛 stupid.
The Canucks were going through a tough stretch in their schedule with five road games back east and then returning home to face Tampa, Colorado and Edmonton.
They let Boudreau be the fall guy.
Tocchet, meanwhile, takes over the team as it heads into an extremely soft part of their schedule as only four of their next dozen games are against teams that currently qualify for the playoffs.
No one is arguing that Bruce Boudreau乌鸦传媒檚 job should not have been on the line.
Professional sports are about winning and Boudreau乌鸦传媒檚 team wasn乌鸦传媒檛 getting it done this year.
And it is management乌鸦传媒檚 prerogative to make changes but there is a right way and wrong way to do things.
The Canucks embarrassed themselves on this one and no organizational spin can change that.
Veteran B.C. sports personality Bob 乌鸦传媒渢he Moj乌鸦传媒� Marjanovich writes twice weekly for Black Press Media. And check out his weekly podcast every Monday at or your local Black Press Media website.
Like us on and follow us on
