May 22, 2010
You Say BUHF-linn, We Say Bye-FOOG-lie-in (Revisited)

Okay, it’s nice to see that this clown saves his best for not only us but for playoff opponents in general.  We suppose that playing with Toews and Kane is much like playing with the Sedins - go to the net and it will come. 

The Hawks are clearly on a roll that will seemingly result in a Cup win.  As my five year old remarked during their post game celebrations, “these guys are soooo smart and they know it.”  Not to worry, with that level of succinctness, we will soon be turning the keys to this car over to him. 

As a Canuck fan, you can spin the Hawks continuing success one of two ways either taking solace in our loss by virtue of actually having given them a series or lamenting what could have been had we not decided to hand games 3 and 4 to them.  Here at Critically Canuck, you can guess which way we’re thinking…

10:06am
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Filed under: canucks nhl playoffs dustin byfuglien 
May 20, 2010
So You Think You’re Tough

In the early post mortem, there’s been plenty made of the fact that the Canucks are lacking considerable toughness and, as such, are not a true playoff ready team.  We find that interesting when you consider that the only team in the league with more penalty minutes this season and still in the playoffs are the Philadelphia Flyers.  In fact, in the last 3 regular seasons, the Canucks are among the 3 most penalized teams (along with Anaheim and Philly).  But we don’t think you’d find many teams that consider the Canucks a tough opponent to play against from a physical standpoint, which goes to show you that there is a big difference between being tough and being disciplined; something the Alain Vigneault coached Canucks undoubtedly haven’t figured out.

We don’t doubt that team toughness is a key element to a championship team though both the Penguins and Red Wings might say otherwise.  Bottom line, there are different ways to win a championship, but being undisciplined is not one of them.  Mike Gillis, are you listening?

This got us to thinking about who is the toughest Canuck of all time?  Are there any players on the current roster that might qualify for this title?  What do you mean by toughness anyway?  Well, we’re going to let you, valued reader, decide.  Though from our perspective, it’s not just the tendency to drop the gloves and pound someone.  We’re thinking about that, of course, but also thinking about the ability to effectively play through injury, delivering devastating, but clean hits and going to the hard places on the ice and paying the commensurate price.  And, of course, things like agitating the opposition and sticking up for fallen teammates.  Bottom line, we’re looking for the kind of player that is respected by his teammates and physically feared by the opposition.

Remarkably, in the 40 year history of the Canucks, there have been a fair number of these types of guys.  In fact, you’d find that the unlikely Cup finalist team of ‘82 was filled with these types of guys.  And the ‘94 Cup bridesmaids had plenty more than the current edition.    

Like we said, we’re going to let our dedicated subscribers decide this one.  Here are the rules:

We’ve determined a short list of 16 players (remarkably this was not that easy to do) and we’re going to run a little playdown (via daily poll questions) from 16 to 8 to 4 to 2 to 1 just like Lord Stanley’s marathon to crown the “toughest Canuck”.  If you’re thinking this is a just a lazy way of maintaining readership through the summer hockey doldrums, move to the front of the class.  But rest assured, we’ve got plenty more tricks up our sleeve.

Before we roll out out the list of the 16 finalists and honourable mentions, for your reading pleasure, we present the dishonourable mentions:

  • Todd Bertuzzi - Okay Todd gets some credit for defending the honour of his bestest buddy and our team captain, Markus Naslund.  He also gets our sympathy for the misfortune that turned a stupid, reckless play into the black eye the NHL didn’t need.  But the bottom line was he had the opportunity to be the greatest power forward of his generation, but opted for sulking, floating and getting coaches fired instead.  Not tough, mentally nor physically.
  • Mark Messier - The proclaimed “greatest leader in sport” arrived in Vancouver as the “messiah” and wound up as the “mess”-iah.  We could (and will) deliver a lengthy rant about that gloomy era in Canuck history, but suffice is to say from a toughness standpoint we saw none of the Moose’s feared on-ice intimidation tactics.  Though off the ice, he had little trouble scaring off Martin Gelinas, Kirk McLean, Pavel Bure and Trevor Linden.  And some say Dave Scatchard.
  • Jarkko Ruutu - We had the pleasure of meeting Jarkko and he was as advertised, cockily brandishing his 2006 Olympic Silver Medal and hitting on everything in a skirt.  While he was an endless agitator, there’s nothing tough about biting people.
  • Matt Cooke - If this guy was any kind of fighter, he could have saved two careers - Steve Moore’s and Todd Bertuzzi’s.  In the first period of that infamous match-up, Cooke went after Moore for payback on the Naslund hit and promptly got his clock cleaned.  Like we said, in our world, a component of toughness is respect of your teammates.  We can’t imagine that this guy gets respect from anyone…
  • Willie Mitchell - This selection is bound to rankle a few of you.  For that, we’re sorry.  And don’t get us wrong, Willie was a valuable player here and a great guy in the community.  And as reliable as he often was defensively, Sami Salo or Kevin Bieksa or Mattias Ohlund were much more likely to deliver physically.  And when it came to dropping the gloves, he left that for Bieksa and Shane O’Brien.  A good Canuck, but the on-ice toughness was not as advertised. 

10:25pm
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(Notes: 1)
  
Filed under: canucks mike gillis todd bertuzzi mark messier alain vigneault matt cooke jarkko ruutu 
May 17, 2010
Should He Stay or Should He Go?

The Canucks have a number of pending free agents; 5 of the restricted variety and 5 that are unrestricted.  We expect that most, if not all, of the restricted guys will be back (even everyone’s favourite party boy, SOB).  As for the unrestricted guys, who knows?  With that our next poll question (anyone that picks Pavol Demitra is banned):

9:09pm
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Filed under: canucks kyle wellwood pavol demitra willie mitchell andrew raycroft ryan johnson 
May 16, 2010
The Case Against Alain Vigneault

At Friday’s season ending press conference, it was clear that GM Mike Gillis is not about to press any panic buttons.  What is unfolding is all seemingly part of his “plan”.  It would seem unequivocally that Alain Vigneault is a partner in that plan.  We find this interesting to say the least. 

What can we say about his four years here as head coach?  Well, the regular season results for the most part speak for themselves with 3 division titles in 4 years including a Coach of the Year award in his first season here.  But to be fair, the ONLY reason he won that award was because he had the good sense to roll out Roberto Loungo for 76 games while Roberto was undoubtedly at the peak of his career.  At any rate, we’re sure that ownership is more than happy with the sellout streak and the guaranteed home playoff dates. 

To his credit, he has shown that he can adapt his coaching style to suit the players he has available to him - succeeding initially with a pop gun offense and a rope-a-dope defense backstopped by Luongo to what we see now, a more uptempo and entertaining team that scored the most goals in the conference.  We certainly like this trend.

We also like that fact that he, for the most part, is frank and fair with his players, banishing those deserving of the doghouse to the press box, but also allowing the same dogs (hello Kyle Wellwood and Shane O’Brien) chances to redeem themselves (unless, of course, they’re named Mathieu Schneider - a move that boggles the mind considering Schneider’s pedigree and our lack of depth at that position).

We’re NOT impressed by his team’s general lack of discipline and their tendency to run hot and cold (the horrible finish to his second season and the massive midseason losing streak in season three that almost got him fired being notable examples).  At an even more micro level, this year’s team won not because they came up with 60 minute efforts, but because they could now outscore the opposition late.  We’re also not impressed by his tendency to frantically juggle lines at the first signs of adversity, but this is likely minor quibbling.

In the end, what we find most troubling is how the seasons have ENDED the last THREE seasons.  Three years ago, the Canucks stumbled horribly down the stretch losing 6 of 7 to barely miss the playoffs.  This collapse, stunning as it was, cost GM Dave Nonis his job; but Coach Vigneault, after lengthy meetings with his new boss, amazingly managed to escape the noose getting a one year contract extension in the process.  Last year, with the Canucks leading the Hawks 2 games to 1 and ahead 1-0 in the third period of the third game, he changed tactics; the Canucks retreating into a defensive shell that enabled the Hawks to win that game and the next 2.  Despite this, Coach V was offered another contract extension - this time for THREE years.  As we know too well, this season against the same opponent, ahead 2-0 in game 2 after easily winning game 1, the Canucks would again became unglued.  So much so that on home ice in games 3 and 4, they could do nothing but take undisciplined penalty after another and that’s ultimately where the series was lost.

Why all these late season collapses?  Is he being outcoached?  Probably.  Winning only one game on home ice in six tries against the Hawks the last 2 playoff seasons would indicate he is.  Does he not have the right personnel?  Well, regular season results would indicate he does.  Have his teams been consecutively seriously wounded at the wrong times?  Is this just all bad luck?  Well, injuries are part of the game especially at playoff time and significantly all of the core players were healthy at these times.  Does he not know how to win the big games?  Probably not.  Before arriving in Vancouver, Vigneault had coached 9 seasons (4 as an assistant and 5 as head coach) at the pro level.  In those 9 seasons, his teams made the playoffs TWICE (and only once at the NHL level), losing in round 2 both times.  To borrow from baseball lexicon, that kind of batting average is below the Mendoza line.

So here we stand with Coach Vigneault on the hook for another 3 years.  So what gives?  Why is Mike Gillis so in love with Alain Vigneault?  He’s a Dave Nonis holdover.  He’s not a proven winner.  And his teams have a tendency to be undisciplined so much so that they crap the bed when the going gets tough.  Does Vigneault have the same pictures of Mike Gillis that Rick Ley had of Pat Quinn?  In all seriousness though, when Gillis arrived here he promised “bold” moves.  He told us there would be “out of the box” thinking.  Well, with the Luongo captaincy, the $20 million dollar offer to Mats Sundin and seemingly unwarranted long term coaching extensions, he is doing just that.  But make no mistake, Mike Gillis is a smart man.  He’s done the math.  With all these damn sellouts and 11 playoff home games in the last 2 years, he can roll the dice on Alain Vigneault for one more year before he has to pull that trigger to save his own job.

9:37pm
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Filed under: canucks alain vigneault mike gillis 
May 15, 2010
The World According to Gillis

Canuck GM Mike Gillis made his attempt at a predictably composed post mortem yesterday.  Our comments:

  • We like that he acknowledged the massive loss of focus and discipline and the undertaking to get to the bottom of it.  Does this include a review of the coaching staff?  Ultimately that’s where the accountability for focus and discipline rests.  With Coach Vigneault at his side, none of the media in attendance dared broach this subject.
  • When addressing the Luongo captaincy issue, he was complimentary of Roberto’s leadership abilities, but it clearly seems the door is open for a change.  He could have rebuffed the whole issue, but did not.
  • The comment regarding keeping Luongo fresh by playing less games was interesting.  In the past, Coach Vigneault has let Roberto decide how often he plays - we agree wholeheartedly that he needs to play less, but that’s a dramatic departure from the modus operandi.  When the tail stops wagging the dog, we’ll believe it.
  • The issue of Willie Mitchell was tiptoed around.  Seriously though, the fact that he was not re-signed before or during the season speaks volumes.  With his now prominent health issues, there is NO way he’ll be back unless there are no other takers and he can be had for very, very little. 
  • He commented on the fact that they’ve had little contribution from up and coming players.  We agree and like this honest appraisal.  Of course, this answer is a very effective way of buying himself more time to execute “his plan”.
  • If the “plan” calls for more contribution from young players, does this mean we’ll finally see Cory Schneider get some significant NHL action?  Does this mean that Cody Hodgson and the Canucks are getting along?  We didn’t hear these intriguing questions asked nor answered.

That’s it.  In the end, nothing of great significance was disclosed.  Gillis wants time to evaluate what went wrong and more time to execute his plan.  Two years into the job, we suppose that’s only fair.  Though that’s doesn’t mean he’s free from judgement.  We’re going to take some time to offer up our evaluations of both Gillis and Coach Alain Vigneault in the coming days.  Stay tuned.

10:00am
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(Notes: 1)
  
Filed under: canucks mike gillis alain vigneault 
May 13, 2010
What to Do with Bobby Lou?

Unlike last season, you can’t point the finger exclusively at Roberto Luongo for another dashed playoff opportunity.  In this series, he played fantastically well on the road (allowing only 5 goals in 3 games on 100 shots - a sparkling 95% save percentage), but was as fantastically brutal at home (allowing 17 goals in 3 games on 104 shots - a remarkably inept 84% save percentage).  In the end, there were mitigating factors, but he needs to be much better.

Some will say that at the age of 31, that he is now in decline.  And they may be on to something.  Certainly, his playoff stats would indicate precisely that; his save percentages dropping from .941 to .914 to an unacceptable .895 this year.  But the fact that he was able to steal some games for us this playoff run would indicate that he’s still got “it”.  What he doesn’t have is any consistency - so much so that for much of this year he was just as likely to crap the bed as stand on his head.  And that is what must be most troubling to all concerned.  It seems Roberto is a head case, plain and simple.  Not that there is anything simple about being a head case.

Whether it’s the burden of the captaincy, the distraction of the crease crashers, the inability of his defense to consistently clear rebounds, the frequent idiocy of the fanatical home crowd, or the weight of a franchise starved for its first Cup win, something is up inside that greasy head.

Let’s face it, the idea to make him the captain was a farce.  At the time, it was clearly a ploy by Gillis and company to make Luongo feel important, to make him want to stay.  Okay, that worked.  But otherwise, it has been a mistake.  Luongo is not a good spokesman for the team, as a captain must be.  It’s not easy for the goalie to call out teammates, whether they deserve it or not, for fear of looking like a whiner.  And too many of his post game comments this post season seemed to be aimed at covering his own exposed ass than supporting his teammates.  Clearly, this is not what we want from our captain.  It would seem that this is a simple win/win move.  Luongo feels unburdened, plays better and our playoff chances are greatly enhanced.

But will this be enough to re-engage him?  Is there more to his troubles than that?  Possibly.  In fact, probably.  But a more radical move is not in the cards even if we wanted to.  With his 12 year deal, we are stuck with him.  And while $10 million for next season sounds like lunacy; it’s irrelevant.  The cap hit of just over $5 million is reasonable, despite his up and down play of the last season.

In the end, the decision to build your franchise around a supposed elite (and expensive goalie) is outdated.  Take a look at the goalies of the Stanley Cup finalists in the salary cap era.  There is not a highly paid elite goalie among them - Cam Ward, Dwayne Roloson, J.S. Giguere, Ray Emery (good lord), Chris Osgood, and Marc Andre Fleury.  And look at this playoff year - Antti freakin’ Niemi, Evgeni Nabokov, Jaroslav Halak, Tuuka Rask and whatever rent-a-goalie the Flyers are currently burning through. 

In Vancouver, however, to quote a very smart man “it is what it is”.  Roberto isn’t going anywhere so we best do whatever we can to manage his magnificent ego.

8:28pm
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Filed under: canucks nhl roberto luongo 
May 13, 2010
All of the Above

So says “Jan Bulis”.  And can you blame him?  Certainly not.  But a poll with 100% of the respondents picking the same thing wouldn’t be too much fun. 

Thanks for all your responses.  Yesterday set a new high water mark for hits and visits at our blog proving once again that in Canuckistan we are seemingly happiest when wallowing in our own misery.

In the coming days and weeks we will investigate each of our “goats” in more detail.  The fact that there are so many proves how badly this team came off the rails.

You will notice that we didn’t include in our list of goats the much talked about banged up defense.  Frankly, if we hear another person rail on about that, we’re going to go Gino Odjick on them.  Four years ago with Roberto Luongo at the peak of his powers, we fizzled out again in the second round because of an incredibly lame pop gun offense.  The restless natives yearned for the days of the West Coast Express.  This year we had the highest scoring team in the conference and a gold medal winning goalie and all the focus is on the defense.  But here’s the deal.  In the salary cap era, you cannot have it all.  Unless by some miracle you get all-star performances from a couple of rookies or a cheap goalie gets hot for 8 weeks in May and June.  That’s it.  As it was, the Canucks were able to ice 5 of their top 6 defensemen.  Missing Willie Mitchell sucked, but he’s just one guy.  And a one dimensional guy at that.  So much so that the Canucks had no interest in him for next year.  He looked like a pylon last year against the Hawks - would this year have been any different?  The defending champion Penguins made it to the Finals two years in a row with a below average defense and would have again this year had they not run into the aforementioned cheap goalie in the run of the decade.

Make no mistake, we are absolutely irate about the early exit, but we’d prefer what we saw this year as opposed to the rope-a-dope team of ‘06-07.

10:59am
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Filed under: canucks willie mitchell roberto luongo gino odjick 
May 12, 2010
Round Two, Game Six Notes

As much as we want to get the knives out and carve this team a new one, we’ll focus for now on last night’s debacle:

  • The first period was fantastic playoff hockey.  The referees let the players play (conspiracy theorists will have to take a back seat today) and we got great chances and brilliant net minding at both ends.
  • It was clearly too much to expect empty headed Kevin Bieksa to have two consecutive good games.  You’d think that a simple guy could keep it simple.
  • We had the pleasure of watching the game with noted contributor “Sandlak”.  With just over a minute remaining in the second period, the Canucks got a much needed power play opportunity.  “Sandlak” says “call a timeout and get the first power play unit out there.  The second unit has been costing us this series.”  Stone faced Coach Vigneault, as if mesmerized by his own inadequacies, does nothing and predictably rolls out the lame second unit.  Seconds later, Pavol Demitra (in his last shift as a Canuck) turns the puck over at the blue line and the Hawks score short handed.  Again.  Make no mistake, this was THE turning point.
  • At what point did noted whipping boy (though beloved around here) Kyle Wellwood become our number one centre?  He led, save Alex Burrows, all forwards in ice time.  If Hank Sedin and Ryan Kesler are that incapacitated, why not play a healthy body in their place?  You cannot tell us that Rick Rypien could be any less effective that the suddenly incredibly lame Ryan Kesler.  Going out on your sword is notable and all that, but we’re trying to win a bloody hockey game.
  • Canuck fans once again showed their general lack of hockey knowledge and poor etiquette.  The bipolar fan base can go from “Louuuuing” Luongo for routine saves to giving him the old raspberry for failing to stop 2 consecutive breakaways.  Say what you will about his big game capabilities and lousy leadership abilities, last night’s loss cannot be hung entirely on him.
  • By virtue of winning games handily, the Hawks were the “better” team, but that is not to say we could not have won.  Another early playoff exit is not acceptable.  We are owed more.  And should demand more.

Here at Critically Canuck, we’re still nursing our hangover (the upside to a demoralizing playoff loss is no line at the Shark Club), but you can expect a most critical carving over the coming days and weeks and months.  Thanks for coming.  Come again, we’re only getting started…

10:09am
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(Notes: 2)
  
Filed under: canucks black hawks nhl playoffs sedin luongo vigneault 
May 11, 2010
Game Day Notes and Poll

We’re not going to spin ourselves in circles analyzing all the keys for success in tonight’s game.  Some are obvious - stay out of the penalty box and hope that Luongo is on tonight.  In retrospect, it is somewhat surprising that the Canucks were able to win two games on the road despite any significant offensive contributions from their top scorers (the Sedins, Kesler and Burrows).  That tells you what good goaltending can do for you.  Does that mean that any chance for success tonight rests entirely on Luongo?  Well, probably.  But not necessarily.  The Canucks won plenty of games this year when he struggled, but our scorers simply outscored theirs.  We haven’t seen that happen yet this series.  We’re just saying that there’s more than one way to skin these Hawks.

With that done, here’s today’s poll question:

7:59am
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Filed under: canucks black hawks nhl playoffs luongo sedins 
May 10, 2010
Round Two, Game Five Notes

That was a nice example of role reversal.  And according to the poll, you all saw it coming (yes, there was more than one vote).

  • It was great to see the Hawks taking all the bonehead penalties tonight, particularly that Byfuglien fellow.  We’ll have to save our conspiracy theory rant for a little later.
  • As is always the case, success starts from the goalie out and Luongo was brilliant early and often, his Jekyll and Hyde playoff persona still intact.
  • Party boy Shane O’Brien proved that there is something in that noggin - a whole lot of blood.  Kudos to the medical team for getting him back out there in record time.
  • This just in - Sami Salo did NOT rupture a testicle.  That’s a good thing - “one nut” is not much of a nickname.  Seriously though, this poor guy is just cursed.  That puck it him where you never want it to just as the period was expiring.  A matter of seconds or inches and the poor guy might have had a chance to throw out his groin while scoring a goal.
  • One of our favourite whipping boys, Pavol Demitra, was back in the line-up.  Again.  We’ve lost count on how many lives this guy has got…
  • Michael Grabner, despite often leaving the puck behind, looked dangerous.  As we’ve said before, we hope he sticks in the line-up.
  • Our man Kyle Wellwood continues to impress.  Who would have ever thought he’d be a guy you’d have on the ice in the dying seconds protecting a lead?  Though as Don Cherry aptly noted, when he’s your best player, you’re in trouble.
  • Ryan Kesler looked a little better tonight, but his complete absence from the scoresheet is troubling.  Some say he’s hurt.  Some say he hates Canada.  We say whatever.  This isn’t worth $5 million per.

We hope you’re enjoying the lighthearted tone of this post as opposed to the ranting and raving of 48 hours ago.  We hope it continues.  But given what we’ve seen so far in the series, we really have no idea…

1:16am
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Filed under: canucks black hawks nhl playoffs byfuglien luongo salo