Goodbye Peter Griffin

I may just be a lowly guy with a lowly blog, whose readership includes his mother-- and not much else.

So I know I have no right to question TSN’s Bob McKenzie or ESPN’s E.J. Hradek, but in the case of former Vancouver GM Dave Nonis, I have to.

The Canucks let Nonis go this week after missing the playoffs, and this space couldn’t think of a better move (other than not hiring him in the first place). Now it’s no secret I’m no fan of Nonis, but that’s mostly because he hasn’t done much of anything to warrant a fan.

He took over Brian Burke’s Canucks team, and has left the team basically intact. Eight regulars, plus Matt Cooke, who was traded at this season’s trading deadline, remain. The Sedins were probably worth keeping, since it’s almost impossible to judge fair value in a return package. The Canucks can’t give away captain Markus Naslund or Brendan Morrison, both of whom are mere shadows of their former selves. Ryan Kesler is the only forward that has improved since Nonis took over the team. Trevor Linden was given a three-season goodbye lap, and as much as I’m a fan of Mattias Ohlund and Sami Salo, you’ve eventually gotta cut ties with players that can’t stay in the lineup-- especially when those players are 30 and 32, respectively.

As for the guys that have come in since Nonis took over, obviously Roberto Luongo has been spectacular. And Nonis was a big winner in that trade. Luongo and Lukas Krajicek have been much more important to the Canucks than Alex Auld (now with Boston), Todd Bertuzzi (now with Anaheim) and Bryan Allen have been the Panthers. Though Nonis loses points for failing to acquire a viable backup goalie to give Luongo a rest every now and then.

At a $1.6 million cap hit, Taylor Pyatt hasn’t been a horrible signing, but 37 points this season (and last) is hardly something to write home about. Jeff Cowan is another of Nonis’ guys. In 88 games in two seasons, his eight goals and four assists are un-paralleled. But it’s OK because Brad Isbister was able to turn in a serious contract-year performance of six goals and five assists in his 55 games. With 11 points in 71 games, was Byron Ritchie really the most reliable of the Canucks’ recent free-agent signings?

Admittedly, Alexandre Burrows had a pretty good season, and carved out a really nice niche for himself as the pest the Canucks haven’t had since Jarkko Ruutu. Of course, he was signed as a free agent by Bukre, not Nonis.

Alex Edler, Luc Bourdon, Kevin Bieksa, they’ve all become young stalwarts on the Canucks’ blue line. Of the three, only Bourdon was drafted by Nonis, 10th overall in the 2005 draft, which turned out a pretty impressive top-10.

From his three drafts, Nonis has exactly two players in the lineup regularly, and that’s if we’re generous and call Mason Raymond’s 49 games this season “regularly appearing.” Montreal and Columbus each boast three regulars from the 2005 draft alone. And sure, there are 10 teams that haven’t had a single player from those drafts appear regularly, but that’s hardly a good measuring stick, and the Canucks aren’t exactly overflowing with prospects.

What’s better, instead of trading older, veteran, oft-injured guys for decent prospects and picks, the Canucks are saddled with limited resources in the system, loads of cap room in 2008-09, but face the free agency of the Sedins, Pyatt, Krajicek, Edler and Burrows in 2009-10, and probably new deals for Naslund and Morrison this summer, eating up any cap space they had.

So in short, Nonis doesn’t draft well, doesn’t manage the cap well, and doesn’t know when to move his assets while they still have value. Sounds like a man that should be out of a job. And, in this very space, it was written about Nonis, “you won’t even get a chance to be a hypocrite when all is said and done because you’ll be out of a job before Sidney Crosby is an unrestricted free agent.” Another point for Steve. At least I never called him “Ted” this time…

Tomorrow we take on the Senators.