Shacks' Canuck Take – How the Canucks can really help the Sedins - 03/16/12

Whenever someone asks me who the greatest player of all time is, my response is always the same, Wayne Gretzky.  

As a hockey player his talent and vision were unmatched. Yet in his entire NHL career he had exactly two fights and not one happened in the last 17 years he played in the league.  

Despite this hair, Gretzky was the Great One.

I watched a lot of games that involved Wayne over his 20 year career and whenever an opponent faced Gretz, their number one task was trying to shut him down by any means possible including intimidating and man-handling him.  I don’t ever recall him ‘snapping and losing it’ on an opponent that tried to take liberties with him. 

Oddly, not once in that time did I hear a sportscaster say ‘Wayne Gretzky needs to stand up for himself, here.  He really needs to respond to this rough play and let teams know he won’t be intimidated.’ Not one single time.

So my question, why do we hear those questions about the Sedins every time they get in a slump or take a punch from an opponent? 

When Gretzky played with Edmonton his line mates for quite some time were Esa Tikkanen and Jari Kurri but when things got rough, suddenly Dave Semenko was riding shotgun.  Once Semenko retired, Marty McSorley became his protector.  If anyone tried to take shots after the whistle at ‘the great one’, the offending player would quickly find themselves on the wrong end of a knuckle sandwich or mouth full of lumber or, if necessary, both. 

Sure the Oilers took a few penalties retaliating to the shenanigans but they were considered acceptable as long as Wayne had the freedom to play his game without fear. 

Gretzky himself realized the essential value of the bodyguard— when he was shipped to Los Angeles he insisted McSorley be a part of the deal to ensure he had someone to keep him safe. 

In fact many of the top point-getters of all time rarely engaged in extra-curricular activities: Sakic, Oates, Kurri, & Selanne all join Gretzky among the top 15 scorers. They’ve combined for five fights between them, yet not once did I hear anyone say these stars needed to fight to prove they couldn’t be intimidated. 

It seems the only star players whose job is to protect themselves are the Sedin twins.

I don’t get it. I mean I see why it’s happened, but it’s completely unnecessary and I don’t get it.

Anyone who’s watched the Canucks knows their philosophy, they play from whistle to whistle, turn the other cheek when the other team starts playing rough and burn them on the power play when they take stupid penalties.

While this is a great idea in concept, it relies on two very important factors; first, you have to capitalize on the chances. If your power play is sputtering, it takes the fear of the consequence away.  Second, the referees have to be willing to call the penalties. 

Good thing Daniel has Henrik's back, I'm not sure management does.

In last year’s finals, the refs didn’t cooperate and the power play disappeared, allowing the Bruins to run roughshod over the Canucks and specifically the Sedins.  All series the Bruins pushed the rules to the limits and the Canucks response was to look at the refs and ask them for protection. 

In other words, the perception of the Sedins as soft players has been created by the style of hockey the Canucks play. The Canuck coaching staff has preached that power play revenge is the best revenge you can get for the last several seasons and the Canucks live by it. 

The problem now is teams know they can take liberties with the Sedins and when they do, the Sedins don’t perform as well.  It’s not a huge surprise the Sedins’ worst slump in years coincided with the league’s sudden decision to stop calling all but the most grievous of infractions. The Sedin’s inability to create when their time and space has been taken away has been their biggest Achilles heel for years.

What confuses me though is the Canuck's absolute refusal to do anything to make the Sedins feel safe and open up space for them.  One of the reasons Gretzky succeeded as he did was the room his enforcers created for him.  If you took a cheap shot against the great one, you did so at your own risk.  Edmonton wasn’t against lining up goons one after the other to ensure the offending player understood the consequences for abusing Wayne. 

This is what happened when someone tried to manhandle Wayne.

It wasn’t an eye for eye; it was an eye for two eyes a leg and an arm.  Touch Wayne and McSorley would fight you, Messier would elbow you, Anderson would hack you and Lumley would spear you.  Sure they took the occasional penalty but it was a small price to pay.

When Marchand was rag dolling Daniel Sedin in the finals last year, I must have heard a thousand times ‘what a wimp Sedin is, how can he let that guy do that to him, he should have killed that guy.’    

All I could think was ‘why hasn’t Raffi Torres beat the living shit out of this guy yet?’

Why didn’t one of the defensemen skate in from the blue line and cross check Marchand so hard his head bounces off the cross bar, then stand over him and say, ‘next time you touch Daniel I’ll actually try to hit you hard.’   

Marchand should have been dealt with when he did this to Daniel, 
 long before he rag dolled him. 

I’ll tell you why, because that’s not the Canuck way and the Canucks were afraid if they touched Marchand, Lucic or Chara or McQuaid or Boychuk would smack them around.  That’s right folks, the bottom line was Marchand feels so safe as a Boston Bruin, he knows he can do as he pleases.

If you recall when Marchand ‘clipped’ Salo, Kesler went towards him but Zdeno Chara stepped in front of him and Kesler turned away. I’m not suggesting Kesler should have tried to get through Chara to attack Marchand, I’m saying Marchand feels so secure that no one's going to touch him, he cheap shots people without fear of retribution.

Don’t the Sedins deserve to play offense with that same confidence? 

With all this talk of fighting and retribution you would think I’m suggesting the Canucks change their philosophy, hire a bunch of knuckle draggers and goon their way to the Stanley Cup— in fact nothing could be further from the truth.  

What I’m saying is every once in a while the Canucks need to make players fear the consequences for trying to muscle the Sedins.  Take last Saturday night for example, PK Subban was a man on fire and he was making it his personal mission to get in Henrik Sedin’s face as much as possible. 

Here’s a mean-nothing game against an out-of-conference opponent with no playoff implications whatsoever.  The perfect time to see what new toy Zack Kassian can do as the Sedin’s wingman and send a message.  The Canucks’ response instead?  Look at the referees and beg for penalties.

Wouldn't the threat of this man stop potential problems?

Enough is enough.  Every once in a while Alain Vigneault has to look down his bench, find the meanest player available, put him on the Sedins’ line and say kick the crap out of anyone that even looks cross-eyed at these guys.  Sometimes it doesn’t matter if you take a penalty for the good of the team. Sometimes it’s even okay to lose a game to achieve a higher goal. 

The Canucks haven’t played a really meaningful game in months; their last 12 games lack any real meaning as well.  Wouldn’t the Canucks be better served at this point giving the league a couple of lessons as to why you don’t touch a Sedin?  Would this be a bad thing? Would it really be so terrible for the Sedins to feel safe knowing it wasn’t up to them to defend themselves? Really? There’s no advantage to having the opposition looking over their shoulder before they take that extra shot at a Henrik? To have them think twice before ramming Daniel into the boards or punching him in the head? 

Somehow to the Canuck brass this is a bad thing?  Do they really think it’s better to allow the abuse, and then look at the refs for protection? Really?  Because I couldn’t disagree more.

I get the fact that Mike Gillis has tried to build a team based on speed and skill, but fighting and intimidation are also a part of the NHL.  Until they eliminate that part of the game, the Canucks need to acknowledge it and even occasionally embrace it. 

This was Game 6 of the 1995 playoff series a game St. Louis won 8 - 2. Glen Anderson 
had played the Brad Marchand role all series and Gino finally had enough.  The Canucks won
Game 7, 5 - 3, Anderson was invisible and the Canucks and their fans got a huge boost from Gino's
outburst. 


It doesn’t have to happen often, just enough to let the league know the threat is there.

The Canucks signed Byron Bitz and traded for Zack Kassian for a reason, but at this point, I’m not sure what it is, finesse?  The occasional body check?  Are they going to wait until the playoffs start to show their team toughness?

No, it’s time Vancouver released a little fury on the NHL.  For the good of the team and to the benefit of the Sedins, it’s time to show the league the twins are no longer fair game.

That is, unless the Canuck brass enjoy watching weasels like Brad Marchand abuse their stars, in which case, the Sedins will have to keep looking at the refs and begging for their protection because they know their teammates won't be doing it.