Oh I'm not saying you hated him, but I just want to know what drove you mad about him? I mean, I didn't hate Torts, but there were things I HATED about him that drove me up a wall.
He has a system. It's actually a pretty smart system, and he's a very intelligent coach.
The problem though, is that he's bad at adjusting his system. He doesn't make his system work with his team, he tries to make his team work with his system.
For example. Keith Ballard is a high risk/high reward offensive defenseman who plays in the top-4. When he came to Vancouver, he couldn't play in the top-4 because he was behind Hamhuis and Edler on the depth chart for LHD, so he had to play on the third pairing. THe problem was that AV likes his third pairings to play low-event/low-risk hockey, while Keith Ballard is absolutely not suited for that. He has good offensive instincts, fast wheels and a decent shot. He's meant to join the rush, but he wasn't given the green light to do that in Vancouver and instead, had to play a stay-at-home game he wasn't at all suited for. 3 years later, Keith Ballard's story in Vancouver is all too well-known.
Jordan Schroeder is another example. He could do fine as a third line center between Higgins and Hansen and produce some quality offense from that line, but AV would never fully trust him there because he likes his 3rdCs to be big traditional shut-down guys.
He's also not great with young forwards (Kassian, Schroeder), although really good with young defensemen (Tanev, Corrado). he gives young forwards short leashes if they're not amazing defensively, and never lets them stay in a role long enough to develop properly.