Joined: Dec. 2017
Posts: 3,205
Likes: 1,077
I agree that what Rutherford has done to Bruce is unprofessional, despicable and unfortunate, but it might have been necessary if he was serious about tanking this year. I refuse to believe that they didn't know signing Miller over Horvat at the start of the year would throw off the team's chemistry; They knew that would happen and did it to cause the kind of turmoil that can sink a team to the bottom of the standings. Going after the coach publicly and making a circus out of this provides two strategical advantages: It undermines the coaches authority leading to more losses and controls the narrative by making this horrible season about coaching and management rather than the players. I'm not condoning what's gone on, the scrum this morning was heartbreaking, but there may be a method to this madness.
Of course, it's also possible that Rutherford has been out of his element in dealing with Vancouver media compared to Carolina and Pittsburgh. He made a comment earlier in the year about how PIttsburgh as other sports teams in the city which absorb some attention whereas in Vancouver it's nothing but the Canucks pretty much. Maybe the heightened media awareness caught him off guard and he used to do things this way in the past and not get called on it.