Well Known Canuck Critic Tony Gallagher Approves of Brandon Sutter Trade

You know it’s an odd day when sports columnist Tony Gallagher of the Province (newspaper based out of Vancouver) is saluting general manager Jim Benning of the Vancouver Canucks for a trade that sent Nick Bonino, Adam Clendening, and a second rounder to the Pittsburgh Penguins in exchange for Brandon Sutter…and a third round pick.

Don’t believe me? Enjoy, Vancouverites and fellow Canuck fans:

http://www.theprovince.com/sports/hockey/canucks-hockey/Gallagher+Sutter+deal+best+recent+Canucks/11255655/story.html?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=twitter

I have had a few days to settle down after this trade. It shocked me at first. If it was honestly just Nick Bonino for Brandon Sutter straight up, I may have taken the time to take a more in depth look at things. Instead, in typical Vancouver fashion, I was a bit upset at the trade.

Adam Clendening did not seem that bad at all of a prospect to me. He has a ways to go in terms of skating but when he was called up to play for the Canucks, he did his job. He had flashes of decency. This is my honest opinion. I was bummed when I heard he was gone. The Canucks back end does not look great outside of Tanev, Edler, and Sbisa (if he actually plays consistently well for an entire season which is doubtful). Hamhuis is most likely gone by the end of next year which is why I refused to mention him. Seriously, who do we have outside of those three then after the season ends? Bartkowski may turn out to be alright. Yannick Weber sucked in the playoffs. Hence my disappointment in losing Clendening.

Nick Bonino meanwhile started off hot and looked promising but then went cold. In the postseason he was cold. We simply can’t have a guy like that in Vancouver playing on the second line. If he was a third liner, okay. Which is why the trade is great on the Pittsburgh side of things.

Enter in Brandon Sutter. I have done research on this kid, “flat Stanley” as they call him in Pittsburgh:

The first thing people have said about flat Stanley is:

He’s a great penalty killer. One of the best in the league.

That was probably the only thing Nick Bonino was good at when he was cold and the Canucks have great penalty killing as is. It was near the top of the league last year.

We need goals, offense, and speed that Bonino failed to provide when he went cold. Sutter looks like he does bring the speed.

Twenty goals last year on the third line in Pittsburgh is also a positive sign. Flat Stanley is entering the prime of his career at age 27 or so next year. I hope he can become maybe a 50 point or so guy that can play a great two way game.

He’s also said to be a good leader and that’s one of Benning’s main focuses right now for the Canucks hockey team.

I really don’t know about this move as of now as well as the talks about Benning extending Flat Stanley to 4 years at close to 18 or so million (4.4 million a year).

Jim Benning scares the hell out of me. I still contend that his trade of plug Zack Kassian and a fifth round pick to Brandon Prust was a good move. It’s just he didn’t have to add in the fifth round pick. No one in the league wanted Kassian which is why he had to do it.

The Eddie Lack trade looks like his most ill-advised as of yet. But he is gambling on Jakob Markstrom being a better goalie than Lack. I support him one hundred percent there. I am a believer in Markstrom if he keeps excelling under goalkeeping coach of the Canucks, Melanson.

Jim Benning is either ahead of the curve, or he’s the worst general manager in the league like everyone is claiming.

Hey, I don’t think he deserves that honour yet. What worst general manager took the sixth worst team in the league and turned them into a playoff team in a year? I’ll reserve my judgement.

Tim Murray of the Buffalo Sabres is the worst general manager in the league after his move for Ryan O’ Reilly and whining on television about missing on the first overall pick in the NHL draft.

How the San Antonio Spurs Won the NBA Offseason

Ladies and gentleman. I present to you the most well run organization in pro sports.

San Antonio is no big market. Yet since Gregg Popovich has taken over, the Spurs just win championships or contend every year. They never go under.

The fans thought after they demolished the Miami Heat in 2014 that their time was coming to an end. Tim Duncan, Manu Ginobili, and Tony Parker were all getting old.

Kawhi Leonard is one of the few bright spots. I’d say he’s the most valuable player on the team now and reminds me of a young Scottie Pippen. He can defend and he can win games.

But one guy can not win it all for a team. The Los Angeles Clippers who took them out in seven games this year in the quarter finals were just flat out better as a squad.

So what did the Spurs do?

They won the offseason and became an even bigger contender next year.

David West took a one million a year contract in an attempt to win it all. He will be behind top five NBA player of all time Tim Duncan holding it down.

But who else did they get?

Lamarcus Aldridge. This guy just single handily changed the Spurs franchise around and will have them as big time contenders for years with Kawhi Leonard.

Wow. Not only is he damn good, is there a better big man player besides Anthony Davis hat can light it up outside the paint like Aldridge can?

He will fit Popovich’s system so well it’s not even funny. He can pass, he can shoot. He can even play inside and dominate.

He also came to San Antonio to just win.

Oklahoma City is a wild card and always a contender if Kevin Durant is healthy. Billy Donovan is a wild card as new head coach of the Thunder as well. I’m not quite sure I’d place money on them winning it all. Especially when they didn’t make the playoffs this year even with Durant on the sidelines.

Then you have Golden State who play the same style of game San Antonio does. I like to think the Spurs have heir number though in the games I’ve seen both teams play each other in. The Spurs would aim to shut the back court of Curry and Thompson down which leads Golden State ineffective. They could absolutely do it. I simply don’t see Golden State repeating again for those reasons. They will be a good team however.

And then there’s queen Lebron James and the rat pack in Cleveland. Whoever wins in the west will have a field day with that team. Like stated before, watching James lose in the NBA finals is a great past time for many. He simply won’t do it this year.

I’d like to throw in the Pelicans as a wild card. Anthony Davis may become the best player in the league soon.

So with these teams considered, I think the Spurs have a great shot at winning it all. Duncan thereafter will ride into the sunset with his six rings that put many players to shame and also the media who has never appreciated him. Yet they appreciate the losing culture on every Lebron James team.

To each his own.

Carmelo Anthony Ain’t A Winner

So all ESPN and local sports stations are talking about is how Carmelo Anthony re-signed with the New York Knicks and how he wants to stay in New York.

People can’t get it twisted. This guy is not a winner. He has never won anything, much less been on a team that has been dominant. At least recently. I can’t recall when this guy was a contender to win a ring.

Tim Duncan and Kobe Bryant are two players who have taken over big games. The only time I’ve seen Carmelo in a “big” (he’s never come close to the championship finals) game he shot 30 times and his team lost. He doesn’t have the ability to take over games and be dominant.

Phil Jackson should have passed on him and gone another way. Having this guy as the face of the New York Knicks franchise deems them to be losers for the next while. The truth hurts.