Should they tank next season for John Tavares?

[gordphish]

Pretty straight forward question. Let Morrison and Naslund walk, bring in a bunch of scrubs from the Moose and let them decide who stays and who goes over the next few seasons, and tank the year for a shot at Tavares.

So, should they do it? Could you live with another year of no playoffs to finally get a crack at that young franchise centre? Can the Canucks afford a season like that, knowing they risk alienating their franchise goalie?

[AtLossForWords]

They won't do it, but they should do it. I talked about the possibility of doing something like this in one of our GM threads, but Tabasco reminded me of how in Vancouver you have to try to win every year and management wants to win every chance they get.

Think about it, Nonis was canned for missing the playoffs. How's Aquaman going to look if he asks his successor to tank next season. Nonis could've done that.

What the Canucks should do is trade what they need to away in an effort to get that pick. That's not to say the other team is going to listen though.

[gordphish]

They won't do it, but they should do it. I talked about the possibility of doing something like this in one of our GM threads, but Tabasco reminded me of how in Vancouver you have to try to win every year and management wants to win every chance they get.

Think about it, Nonis was canned for missing the playoffs. How's Aquaman going to look if he asks his successor to tank next season. Nonis could've done that.

What the Canucks should do is trade what they need to away in an effort to get that pick. That's not to say the other team is going to listen though.

That's an interesting possibilty. Maybe if Columbus or Nashville are in last next deadline you give them the Sedins for the pick?

Myself, if they had a GM that came in here and said "look, we're going to clean the dead weight off this team, go with our younger players for the next three years and position ourselves to get our hands on the best talent through the draft", I'd live with it. It would be a tough three to five years, but at least there would be a purpose to missing the playoffs. I think taking the mentality that Tabasco is talking about every year is a dangerous road to travel. In the end, you just end up spinning your wheels like the Leafs.

This is why I'm so pissed at Nonis. He had a team that was very close to getting there when he took over and he allowed it to erode. If you aren't going to rebuild with top 5 draft picks, then you have to retool using free agency and the trade market. He had all sorts of opportunities to do that and he passed them over. And as a result, he's left this team in a position where rebuilding is now its best option, with yet again nothing to show for it but one lousy division title.