Mercifully, it鈥檚 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鈥檚 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 鈥� including the press conference.
The media availability session started off with Canucks General Manager Patrik Allvin setting the tone by stating that 鈥渁s of this morning I decided to do a coaching change.鈥�
That in itself was comical as everyone knows that it鈥檚 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鈥檛 fool the media, who then directed a barrage of questions towards Rutherford 鈥� not Allvin.
Rutherford then took ownership of being too open with some of his comments regarding his team鈥檚 play and the lack of structure associated with it. He apologised to Boudreau for being so transparent and even added that he needed to 鈥榸ip it鈥� 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.
鈥淚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鈥檛 change our business based on speculation. There鈥檚 all kind of speculation out there. It鈥檚 not any different than most situations in professional sports,鈥� explained Rutherford, then using Boudreau鈥檚 hiring in Vancouver as an example.
That鈥檚 pure garbage.
How did Tocchet鈥檚 name surface in the first place?
The media 鈥� particularly the so-called insiders 鈥� 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鈥檚 medical situation but quickly delved into Boudreau鈥檚 status.
When pressed by TSN鈥檚 Farhan Lalji on whether or not the organization had spoken to potential replacement candidates, Rutherford responded that 鈥淚 have 鈥� and I鈥檓 not going to get into names鈥nd this is even going back a couple of months ago鈥hat I have called a few people鈥es.鈥�
That鈥檚 not speculation.
That鈥檚 you telling everyone you鈥檙e looking for a replacement for Boudreau, so own it.
Sorry Jim but I鈥檓 not buying what you鈥檙e selling, and if you took a look at social media, I don鈥檛 think Canuck fans are either.
What the organization did to Boudreau was classless.
As soon as the 鈥榮peculation鈥� 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鈥檚 alleged commitment to TNT as a studio analyst was observed.
When questioned on why that scenario didn鈥檛 play itself out, Rutherford answered by saying that Boudreau was 鈥榰nder contract鈥� until June 30.
That response was complete rubbish as well.
Boudreau was also under contract when he was dismissed this past Sunday.
Rutherford isn鈥檛 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鈥檚 job should not have been on the line.
Professional sports are about winning and Boudreau鈥檚 team wasn鈥檛 getting it done this year.
And it is management鈥檚 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 鈥渢he Moj鈥� 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
