Canucks Looks To Maintain Image, While New Coach Tortorella Not A Fan Of Twitter

The Canucks "guard their brand as jealously as the IOC protects its Olympic rings," but there are signs the team's brand "has started to show cracks," according to Gordon McIntyre of the Vancouver PROVINCE. There is "all sorts of anecdotal evidence suggesting the Canucks have become more aggressive over the past three or four years in that brand production, turning off some fans." Then there is the "early playoff exits the past two seasons, the ongoing Roberto Luongo soap opera and the fact that" Fs Daniel and Henrik Sedin "aren't getting any younger." Univ. of British Columbia Sauder School of Business professor Jim Brander said that "there's a lot of uncertainty." He added that the divorce of co-Owner & Chair Francesco Aquilini "didn't help advance the Canucks' brand either." Brander said, "A big part of marketing a team is marketing a big-name player. Luongo has been honest about not being crazy about being here, and that's fine. But it's a big negative for the fans' relationship. He is not going to be the face of the team." McIntyre noted events like a "memorial on the anniversary of Ric Rypien's depression-related suicide have been ordered off the Rogers Arena Grounds," and it "causes some fans to scoff at the team's slogan, 'We are all Canucks'" (Vancouver PROVINCE, 9/12).

TORT LAW: In Vancouver, Brad Ziemer noted new head coach John Tortorella "absolutely despises Twitter and would prefer his players not use it." He said, "I think it's the most narcissistic thing I have ever seen." Tortorella added that he "won’t ban Twitter, but has warned his players they had better not be tweeting anything from inside the dressing room." He said, "I am not going to handcuff them and treat them like little kids. There better be no information [coming] out of the locker-room with that damn Twitter. It’s nothing but trouble to me.” Tortorella: “I also respect that social media and all that stuff that we talk about, it’s part of that and I need to respect that and I am going to try and respect that. Our locker-room is our locker-room and I believe our guys understand that" (VANCOUVER SUN, 9/13).