The Canucks are making a concerted effort to connect with their fans in the wake of the iron curtain era of the Mike Gillis regime. Leading the charge are Trevor Linden and Jim Benning, hosting what feel like weekly town hall meetings with season ticket holders. 

Fans are given the floor to ask Canucks management questions and hear their response, in person, on the spot. In theory, it’s a great way to shred the barrier between fan and management. In practice, they’re awkward and a bad look for almost everyone involved.

This, more or less, sums up my feelings on the event. What’re your thoughts? Would you do away with the town hall meetings in their stead? Would you cut down on the amount? Let your voice be heard.

Last week I asked: What level of faith do you have in the Canucks front office?

Since we have no idea what is really going on behind the scenes, since management is under no obligation to justify themselves to the fan base or give us full disclosure on any of their decisions, and since none of us has any experience in managing the day-to-day operations of an NHL team, we as fans need to have a certain degree of blind faith that the management team is making the right decisions. I’m not saying we can’t question what they are doing or voice displeasure when things don’t work out the way we hoped but at the end of the day we don’t have enough information to fully support or completely revolt against the management group.

I would say that my faith in the Canucks management has been severely shaken by the lack of positive movement at the deadline. I am far from an alarmist and don’t have nearly the problem that others seem to with a number of moves. I think the Kesler, Bieksa and Lack trades were good ones. I think Vey and Baertschi were worth 2nd rounders and Larssen is a good bet at a 5th. I think the Sutter trade was a good one even if I think the resigning was an overpay. Like Dorsett and Sbisa I think they are not outrageous though the timing still strikes me as odd. And like the Miller signing I think these are necessary stopgaps to surround rising talent with enough depth that they don’t get swamped and destroyed a la Edmonton. I like the draft choices, including Virtanen over Ehlers and Nylander.

I get all of that. It seems like there’s an actual strategy at work and a slow and careful plan that focuses on player development, including at Utica.

But what’s unfolded in the last weeks cannot be spun away. I simply cannot see the logic in holding onto expiring assets, alienating an already fragile fanbase, and muddling through the last 20 games of the regular season. What exactly is the plan for these games? Is it to develop the young players further? If so what role do Hamhuis and Vrbata play in this? Hamhuis I get as a potential mentor (but then bring up Pedan to accompany Hutton and ditch Weber, Biega and Bartkowski when Edler’s back) but Vrbata has shown little inclination to act in such a capacity.

It’s not just about the trade deadline itself. There should have been a plan in place for months on how to deal with the two of them — including pumping up their value by playing Vrbata with the Sedins and Hamhuis post-injury in more advantageous situations. Let’s not pretend that the Oilers, Flames or especially the Leafs got what they did because of the actual value of the players they relinquished. Toronto got all those picks back because they were willing to eat up bad contracts in the process. The Oilers sold high on the potential of guys like Schultz and the Flames took advantage of the delusions of teams like Dallas. But every one of them seemed to have a plan in place, which included holding some of their assets out of games to shield them from injury and before that running up their value (e.g. showcasing Hudler who is having arguably as off a year as Vrbata).

And beyond the on-ice product, Vancouver is in a dicey situation with its always fickle fan base. Even if Benning got excoriated for taking a 3rd for Hamhuis and a 7th for Vrbata, is it literally better to nothing? Put it another way, what does 2 months of Vrbata and Hamhuis give us — in terms of wins, player development, entertainment value — that is worth more than even two late round draft picks? Last night’s game was actually entertaining and the Canucks were the better team for the most part and unlucky. But Vrbata didn’t even play due to injury and I thought Hamhuis had his worst game since returning, probably out of a sense that he needed to do more.

What incentive do people have for watching the Canucks play out this stretch? Benning and Linden can be as resigned to the hyper-critical nature of the Canucks audience as they (rightly) have been — but they also need to be aware of some of the moves they need to make publicly to at least give the impression of competence that they seem to not care about. It is absolutely bizarre. The only team that looked to me to be as much of a facepalm as the Canucks were the Blue Jackets this deadline. I don’t think you want to be in that company.