So far this summer, the Vancouver Canucks' front office has been a beehive of activity compared to the Toronto Maple Leafs. That changed today.
The Canucks hired Trevor Linden as their new president on April 9. Two days later, the Leafs announced that Brendan Shanahan would assume the same position for their organization.
In the three-plus months since then, Linden has hired a new general manager, new head coach and overseen a big trade and an important draft. The Leafs have mostly spun their wheels, making a couple of small trades and secondary free agent signings while battling to sign their restricted free agents to new contracts.
Today, Toronto made its first major front-office move, firing assistant general manager Claude Loiselle and vice president of hockey operations Dave Poulin and hiring 28-year-old Kyle Dubas, formerly the general manager of the OHL's Soo Greyhounds.
Here's the story from the
Toronto Sun.
The Canucks have made it clear that they'll try to succeed next season with an intuitive approach to the game. By hiring Dubas, the Leafs have taken a bold step away from the old way of thinking, possibly taking a more analytics-based approach to the game going forward.
Shanahan and Linden were contemporaries during their playing days but objectively, Shanahan's resume is a lot more impressive. A year older, Shanny has three Stanley Cups from his time in Detroit. He stayed involved in hockey after his playing days ended and is a member of the Hockey Hall of Fame.
It'll be interesting to see how the two stack up against each other in their new roles as presidents of struggling Canadian franchises. So far, Linden has clearly staked his path along traditional hockey roads. Shanahan's hiring of Dubas is forward-thinking but certainly won't be without its risks. Is this a sign of the different paths that the two teams will take and, if so, which will prove to be the better approach?
For more insight into how the Canucks work these days, Canucks.com has posted a new video that offers a glimpse into Jim Benning's workings at the draft table back in June. The best part is watching his reaction when Garth Snow calls with interest in the 24th pick.
Also on the topic of Benning, Elliotte Friedman gives us a few tidibits in his final "30 Thoughts" before his summer vacation.
Click here to take a look.
Once again, the issue of character arises—this time in the form of a quote from Benning's father Elmer, a long-time scout himself. "Make sure that when you're trying to build teams, do it with high-character players. That's where you're going to win. When you have adversity, they figure out a way to fight through it."
Friedman also talks about how Benning expects to see Daniel and Henrik Sedin deployed—"I want them to get back to worrying about offence"—and his words of praise for Chris Tanev. "I'm a big fan of his, he made big strides last year."
Finally, he teases the idea that the Canucks were interested in Patrick Berglund of the St. Louis Blues. I remember his name coming up as a possible return for Ryan Kesler—maybe that was a deal that the Canucks tried to make, but found themselves thwarted by Kesler's no-trade clause.
I wasn't super-excited by the idea of Berglund at the time. It sounds like, with the sudden departure of Vladimir Sobotka to the KHL, the Blues are now more determined than ever to keep him around.
Vancouver Canucks Blogger • 
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