Elliotte Friedman on Ian Clark’s future with the Canucks (segment starts at 22:10)
Friedman is reporting the Canucks' situation with Clark has soured, speculates New Jersey as a potential new home, mentions the Canucks won't stand in his way to pursue other opportunities
Reading between the lines I’m wondering if management is blaming Clark for the Demko injury mishandling?
ShadowSlothMan
Interesting that Elliotte mentions that the relationship may have soured between the two. I know it was a different management, but Clarke did almost leave before he signed his current contract. Or maybe the current management team doesn’t see much value in having him if he can’t be on the ice as much anymore?
Ian Clark came to Vancouver to wind down his career. He finally pushed the Canucks to let him get a less stressful role. This is a known fact. It’s not punishment, or a falling out.
CoedNakedHockey
Interesting but not terribly surprising given how turbulent our goaltending situation has been since the end of last year. We will likely never know what soured the relationship but at the end of the day; I believe in talent over everything else, which Demko and Silovs certainly have.
Gilberto_Bobongo
It would be a shame to lose a brilliant hockey mind like Ian Clark. His ability to identify untapped potential is impressive. It sucked that he’s taken a step back but I at least had peace of mind that he’d continue to scout goalies for the Canucks. To lose him completely would be a huge loss.
At the very least I hope he doesn’t go to another Pacific division team…
softheadedone
Meh. All things come to an end.
KPDF81
I heard Ian Clark is the one who bought Silovs “the shirt”. It created such a divide that Clark got fired
g0kartmozart
Clark had full autonomy on the entire goalie file under the previous management regime. He was the goalie scout, development coach, pro coach, and manager. They gave him a pick every 2 years and whatever goalie he wanted is who they took.
That has been taken away from him under Rutherford and Allvin.
Unfortunate because by all accounts he is fantastic at all aspects of goalie development, from scouting to coaching, but I can understand why Rutherford and Allvin might not want to fully relinquish goalie control like Benning did.
ImAnAfricanCanuck
One thing I will say is that Clarke himself has struck out on several backup goalies that he’s had a hand in picking & working with pretty close. Holtby, Halak, Martin, DiPietro..
I think Clark is great at what he does, but he is not without his flaws
Apprehensive-Tea4881
I don’t need this energy right now.
NerdPunch
I wonder if this may be budget related as well. Do they want to pay that money for a Head Of Goaltending, if he can’t also be the on-ice guy?
Do they maybe want to have Marko grow into that “Head Of Goaltending” Role as Clarkes successor?
Probably a scenario where it’s tough to give Clarke a bunch of money, plus a ton of autonomy when he’s not able to perform all the duties the role entails.
rajde1
His contract length is tied to demko’s contract. Until it happens then I’ll believe it.
CrayonOlympics
I do think there was probably some bitter feelings on both ends with the Canucks management I think blaming Clark a bit for Demko injury issue.
I do think it was telling when the media asked Demko when he had his availability last week more or less point blank how he felt about Ian Clark’s role change and if he felt that the training regimen he was on contributed to his issue he didn’t really go to bat for Clark and just kinda said maybe it did and he was looking forward to working with Marko. Compare that to how aggressively pro Clark he was when they re-signed him initially and to me at least it did feel like there was some trust lost there in that relationship.
The other thing you can’t ignore is the simple fact that Clark is one of the last remaining hold outs from the previous regime and there’s clearly been a preference from this management group (as there is with most tbf) to have their own guys.
Heelsbythebridge
This is worrying.
arazamatazguy
I don’t really care either way but its pretty weird that leaks and speculation are happening about a front office employee.
This_Tip717
Seems like he wants a higher off ice position than the organization offered. Or maybe he wanted to stick closer to home and not be on the road scouting.
Given that he’s not expected to work directly on ice anymore, I don’t think It’s that big a loss. But will probably turn out he takes a on ice goalie position elsewhere because he probably doesn’t have the leverage to get an exec position with another team.
cac
Clark has done wonders here so this kinda sucks but at the same time I feel like this management group has earned enough trust that whatever happened is the right direction
Dwellonthis
Cancel the parade, the season is over.
demi_blanche
I heard he slept with Bedard’s Mom… Just sayin…
AkivaAvraham
Its all speculation. It could literally just be, exactly what the management said.
23 Comments
Give Ian Clark all the money he wants
Ruh oh – i really, don’t like this.
Reading between the lines I’m wondering if management is blaming Clark for the Demko injury mishandling?
Interesting that Elliotte mentions that the relationship may have soured between the two. I know it was a different management, but Clarke did almost leave before he signed his current contract. Or maybe the current management team doesn’t see much value in having him if he can’t be on the ice as much anymore?
Hopefully whatever happens doesn’t hurt our excellent goalie development.
In Marko we trust
Seriously….who cares !!??
Ian Clark came to Vancouver to wind down his career. He finally pushed the Canucks to let him get a less stressful role. This is a known fact. It’s not punishment, or a falling out.
Interesting but not terribly surprising given how turbulent our goaltending situation has been since the end of last year. We will likely never know what soured the relationship but at the end of the day; I believe in talent over everything else, which Demko and Silovs certainly have.
It would be a shame to lose a brilliant hockey mind like Ian Clark. His ability to identify untapped potential is impressive. It sucked that he’s taken a step back but I at least had peace of mind that he’d continue to scout goalies for the Canucks. To lose him completely would be a huge loss.
At the very least I hope he doesn’t go to another Pacific division team…
Meh. All things come to an end.
I heard Ian Clark is the one who bought Silovs “the shirt”. It created such a divide that Clark got fired
Clark had full autonomy on the entire goalie file under the previous management regime. He was the goalie scout, development coach, pro coach, and manager. They gave him a pick every 2 years and whatever goalie he wanted is who they took.
That has been taken away from him under Rutherford and Allvin.
Unfortunate because by all accounts he is fantastic at all aspects of goalie development, from scouting to coaching, but I can understand why Rutherford and Allvin might not want to fully relinquish goalie control like Benning did.
One thing I will say is that Clarke himself has struck out on several backup goalies that he’s had a hand in picking & working with pretty close. Holtby, Halak, Martin, DiPietro..
I think Clark is great at what he does, but he is not without his flaws
I don’t need this energy right now.
I wonder if this may be budget related as well. Do they want to pay that money for a Head Of Goaltending, if he can’t also be the on-ice guy?
Do they maybe want to have Marko grow into that “Head Of Goaltending” Role as Clarkes successor?
Probably a scenario where it’s tough to give Clarke a bunch of money, plus a ton of autonomy when he’s not able to perform all the duties the role entails.
His contract length is tied to demko’s contract. Until it happens then I’ll believe it.
I do think there was probably some bitter feelings on both ends with the Canucks management I think blaming Clark a bit for Demko injury issue.
I do think it was telling when the media asked Demko when he had his availability last week more or less point blank how he felt about Ian Clark’s role change and if he felt that the training regimen he was on contributed to his issue he didn’t really go to bat for Clark and just kinda said maybe it did and he was looking forward to working with Marko. Compare that to how aggressively pro Clark he was when they re-signed him initially and to me at least it did feel like there was some trust lost there in that relationship.
The other thing you can’t ignore is the simple fact that Clark is one of the last remaining hold outs from the previous regime and there’s clearly been a preference from this management group (as there is with most tbf) to have their own guys.
This is worrying.
I don’t really care either way but its pretty weird that leaks and speculation are happening about a front office employee.
Seems like he wants a higher off ice position than the organization offered.
Or maybe he wanted to stick closer to home and not be on the road scouting.
Given that he’s not expected to work directly on ice anymore, I don’t think It’s that big a loss.
But will probably turn out he takes a on ice goalie position elsewhere because he probably doesn’t have the leverage to get an exec position with another team.
Clark has done wonders here so this kinda sucks but at the same time I feel like this management group has earned enough trust that whatever happened is the right direction
Cancel the parade, the season is over.
I heard he slept with Bedard’s Mom… Just sayin…
Its all speculation.
It could literally just be, exactly what the management said.