from Ed Willes of the Vancouver Province,

For the last two years the organization has clung to the illusion they can rebuild their team while staying competitive. This thinking led to signing, in no particular order, Ryan Miller, Radim Vrbata, Loui Eriksson and Philip Larsen. It also led to trades for Brandon Sutter, Derek Dorsett and, lest you forget, Brandon Prust.

And that’s left the team in the worst kind of limbo.

The organization has tried to serve two masters but it hasn’t worked. The only out for this team, in fact, is developing their young players, and that has to be their priority for the next 5 1/2 months.

That means Bo Horvat has to play in a feature role. That means Jake Virtanen has to play in the top nine every night. That means one of Troy Stecher and Nikita Tryamkhin have to be regulars, and it wouldn’t hurt if they’re both in the lineup.

That means Jacob Markstrom gets the bulk of the work in goal.

There will be pain and it won’t be short-lived. But it can’t be as painful as watching the current mishmash of fading stars, ne’er-do-wells and kids. Trevor Linden and Jim Benning were brought in to reform this franchise. Let that process begin.

a bit more plus two more hockey topics...