Farewell Stan!

There probably won't be much of a turnout at the Stan McCammon farewell bash at GM Place. The regular suspects might make an appearance, as well as those with an eye to upward movement in the Canuck organization, but for most hockey fans in Vancouver and BC, his crossing of the border can't happen soon enough. In fact many will bemoan the fact that Stan didn't hit the road before Brian Burke found gainful employment.

Many hold McCammon responsible for the departure of the popular Burke, internal feuding apparently the currency of rumour in the hockey world of Vancouver. Burke who personified the Canucks and the teams relations with the Vancouver sports team took on the task of rebuilding the Anaheim Mighty Ducks earlier this year.

McCammon is returning to Seattle to head up a securities firm in the Emerald City, his days as head hatchet man in Vancouver littered with less than glowing moments from the view of the locals. His departure comes as the Canucks take on a Canadian shareholder who will now share the baggage with John McCaw the rich Seattle guy that owns the team. McCammon's claim to fame will have been to be a superior bean counter who made sure that McCaw got every penny squeezed to his best benefit. It's a job that certainly will have served him well in his next venture but surely didn't make him many friends in the hockey mad locales of Vancouver hockeydom.

The Canucks who prior to the lock out were the toast of the town now find themselves having to battle for fans once again. A distant and occasionally foreign organization that seems to have gone out of its way at times to ostracize the local sports community and media.

The sports shows will be stacked with callers over the next few days and one can hazard a guess that few of the calls will be, jeez why can't he stay a little longer. Instead, Stan may find the tone is more like "here's your coat, sorry you can't stay any longer, don't let the door hit you on the way out".

It may not be a fair comment, but none the less it does seem to be the tone of the city these days as Canuck fans feel a certain disconnect from their long time loves. Part of the re-connection may be with a new face couting the beans and maybe even spending a few of them from time to time!