Articles for Canuck's Fans

Shack's Sunday Canuck Take - Canucks should stop playing favourites - 03/18/12

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

Shacks’ Sunday Canuck Take – The Wall - 03/11/12

Canadians at Canucks – A Running Diary – 03/10/12

Shacks' Sunday Canuck Take: Dissecting the reasons for and the results of the Canuck Deadline Deals – 3/4/12

Canuck fans should be glad other GM’s aren’t paying attention 03/07/12

Shacks Sunday Canuck Take - Top 10 Canuck potential Trade Target - Shacks’ Sunday Canucks Report - 2/26/12

Shacks’ Sunday Canuck Take: All Things Cody 2/19/12

The Sunday Shacks’ Sunday Canuck Take – What to do About Cory? – 2/12/12

Shacks’ Take– Could We Start The Playoffs Already - 02/09/12

Is It Time To Go for Broke - 02/01/12      

41 years and counting.


That’s how long it’s been.  


Not since they last won the cup. Other than visits from hometown boys and presentations to other teams in 1982 & 2011, we haven’t seen the cup in Vancouver since 1915.  Seriously, Victoria (1925) celebrated a Stanley Cup more recently than Vancouver, but for the sake of this article we’ll stick to 41 years.  That’s how long Vancouver’s current pro’s have been vying for the cup we all hold so dear.

Any Canuck fan knows the Nuck’s chances of hoisting the Cup have been few and far between.  Since their inception in 1970, they’ve been to the finals three times. The first two times weren’t because management had built a winner−in both cases the Canucks were blessed with sublime goaltending.  In 1982, they made it because LA upset the young Oilers and the rest of the quality teams were in the east.  Vancouver actually finished the season three games below .500 but somehow managed to play three teams with worse records in the playoffs before getting stomped by the Islanders in the finals four straight.

In 1994, the Canucks were in reality much better than their record. They finished one game over .500, but they had found that perfect mix of goaltending, timely scoring and team swagger to lead them to within one goal post of at least tying game 7. 

Other than those 2 breaks from the mediocre norm, Vancouver management had, until recently, built one team that appeared capable of competing for a Stanley Cup. Unfortunately, Dan Cloutier was not a playoff goalie, and Todd Bertuzzi’s seemingly ‘roid-induced rage destroyed what appeared to be a team poised on the brink of breaking through. 

Which brings us to today.  Through the combined efforts of their last three GM’s, the Canucks have assembled a plethora of talent that is the envy of most teams in the league.  Luongo & Schneider are a minimum top five goaltending tandem.  The Canucks boast a defense with a well-above average top four and depth through the 9^th defender, Chris Tanev, who acquitted himself quite well in last year’s playoffs. Canucks also have an offense that has equal parts size, speed and touch.  In short, this is a well-constructed team, the likes of which Canucks fans have never seen. 

Last season the Canucks were 1^st or 2^nd in almost every offensive, defensive and team stat that mattered: Goals for, goals against, penalty, killing and power play.  They almost ran away with the President’s Trophy for best record in the regular season, beating the next closest total by 10 points.  In the playoffs, the Western Conference offered little opposition to what seemed like the inevitable end to 40 years of futility. 

Only the Blackhawks seemed to push the Canucks−they erased a three game deficit to force game 7, which the Canucks won in overtime.  At the time, everyone in Canuckland thought this was another step in the evolution of the team, an exorcism of sorts. We were finally getting by the big hurdle preventing us from reaching the highest level.  


Really, it was just a pre-cursor to what was to come.    

Having won the Stanley Cup the previous year, to then have their team gutted in the off-season, Chicago seemed to be in a year-long coma.  The Blackhawks snuck into the 2011 playoffs when another team lost on the final day of season. They fell down 3 – 0 to Vancouver and seemed ready to go away quietly, content with their accomplishments from the season previous. But after Raffi Torres almost decapitated Brent Seabrook, Chicago changed. 

Down by three games, Jonathan Toews, known as Captain Serious because he doesn’t joke around, pointed out, “Everyone wants to look at the stats all year and talk about what [the Canucks] do well and how good of a team they are. That’s what’s frustrating. We’re not exposing them for what they really are. I think a lot of people outside this locker room are giving them too much credit. Maybe we are as well. We know that we can be a better team and we just haven’t shown it yet.”  

At the time his criticism was ridiculed.  You’re down three games and you’re saying they’re not that good?  Have you not see the stats, their record? But what he was really trying to say in a somewhat politically correct way was, “Have you seen what happens when you punch these guys in the mouth?  The stats might say they’re great but when the going gets tough these guys will run and hide, starting with their goalie.”

Fortunately for the Canucks, the Blackhawks remembered the formula too late.  Beating any team four straight is hard, beating one as good as the Nucks proved too much for Chicago. They were one overtime goal short of forcing Vancouver into an entire team heart transplant.  Imagine the changes that would have been necessary had the Canucks lost that game? 

Memories are short though and by the time the Canucks rolled through a talent-challenged Nashville squad, and San Jose, a team with even more character flaws, Jonathan Toews’ prescient words were long forgotten.  

Then came the big, bad Bruins.      

Things started out well enough, Vancouver won games 1 & 2 at home and the hockey world all but handed the Stanley Cup to the Canucks.  However. a funny thing happened on the way to the proclaimed title.  The Canucks pissed Boston off. 

Whether it was Rome’s late hit on Horton, Burrows’ finger biting of Bergeron, the seeming arrogance of Vancouver’s players or more likely some combination of all these things, the Bruins decided they’d had enough.  Boston started punching Vancouver in the mouth, both literally and figuratively. Much like the Blackhawks series, things changed. 

Unlike the Blackhawk series, the Bruins didn’t have to win four in a row.  They could afford the inevitable single victory the Canucks could manage in the final five games.   Once the dust had settled, the bigger, meaner Bruins beat the Canucks on the ice and in the alley, as well as exposing Luongo’s tendency to come up small when the pressure became too great.  By the end it appeared Vancouver was so intimidated that if a Bruin player came to a Canuck’s house, he could walk in and make love to the Canuck’s wife in the living room while the Canuck was in the kitchen making them appetizers.  

It was embarrassing. 

Do I think a healthy Hamhuis, Raymond, Kesler, Samuelsson & Edler would have made a difference.  Absolutely, with a couple of big buts… First, excuses mean nothing in the long run.  The B’s were without Horton & Savard. I’m sure they were beat up too. You have to play the cards you’re dealt and those were the cards.  Second and more important, would Vancouver have won three games against Boston or the series against Chicago had these teams got in Vancouver’s grill in game 1 instead of game 3 or 4?

So after our short history lesson where does this leave us? After 40 years of futility interrupted by a couple of mercurial moments, the Canucks have finally put together a roster which is as good or better than any other team in the league.  Unfortunately they may have a fatal flaw. 

The Canucks are definitely talented enough to win but two things may stand in their way: their ability to stand up to a talented team of bullies and the mental strength of their number 1 goalie. 

So the question today is:  Are they good enough to win it all and how long is their window?  If you ask Mike Gillis I’m sure he’d say they are good enough to win now and they have the depth to compete for at least the next few years and he could be right.  Unfortunately I’m not sure that’s true.  The present problem of whether Vancouver can take on a talented team that plays just left of dirty will likely be answered in these playoffs.    The long-term elephant in the room is whether Mr. Bobby Lou can keep his head together through 4 series to allow the Canucks to win.

In my mind the Luongo problem puts more pressure on the here and now than the toughness issue. 

Mike Gillis saw everything we saw in the Stanley Cup playoffs and the only major subtractions/additions he felt necessary so far was trading in an older oft-injured Mikael Samuelsson for a younger, faster oft-injured David Booth, giving Cody Hodgson a more full-time role, and Dale Weiss.   Basically, keeping the status quo.  They were one game short last year, better health and a little extra talent should be all we need to finally get over the hump is what he seems to be saying.  He maintains a policy of patience, he won’t give up the future to try and win now. 

Well, I don’t quite share his optimism and the reason lies between the pipes.  Look, Gillis could be right, he could have the perfect blend of skill, speed, strength and goal-tending right now but what if they don’t?  What if Luongo just can’t get over the mental hurdle?  Vancouver has the skill, depth and resources to alter every aspect of this team except goaltender. 

If Vancouver meets Chicago this playoffs and they lose because Chicago bullies them, the Canucks can easily change a couple of their assets for tougher, meaner guys to counter this strategy.  In terms of being a playoff team and competing at the highest level, Vancouver has what it takes and then some, but this is about winning a Stanley Cup.  After 41 years, nothing else matters. 

So what if Vancouver plays Chicago again and it’s Luongo that chokes the series away.  Or even worse, what if it’s like last year all over again, where the combination of the other teams toughness and Luongo’s lack of mental resilience kills Vancouver’s chances.  

There needs to be a greater sense of urgency at the management level.  Right now Vancouver has the ultimate insurance policy against a goaltender like Luongo in Cory Schneider.  This year, if Lui starts having his annual mental lapse, Coach Vigneault has a more than adequate standby sitting at the end of the bench.  Cory Schneider has proven over the last couple of years to be ready for a prime time role and if Lui struggles this year in the playoffs his leash will be short. 

That’s all fine and dandy but what if Lui struggles and they don’t win, what about next year?  Well Luongo’s no-trade contract makes him impossible to trade and Schneider’s up-coming contract will make him impossible to keep.  He’ll command a salary well above $3 mill, which is far too pricey for the Canucks to afford in the salary cap era.  Eddie Lack has been apprenticing in the minors and seems ready for a call up but there’s no way to tell if he’s even an NHL goalie, let alone one capable of winning in the playoffs. 

   

So what do you do if you’re the Canucks’ GM?  Can you afford to be patient, knowing your fan-base is so desperate to win a cup they’ll burn down the city if they don’t get one?   Knowing that you have exactly one year left of the best goaltending tandem this city has ever seen and likely will ever see?  Knowing the guy you have to keep may not be the guy you want to keep?  Knowing the one weakness you have today – the lack of a goal scorer and a depth defenseman with any kind of mean streak are your only true weak links - may cost you more than you’re willing to give up? What do you do?

If Vancouver had won even a single championship in their existence everything would be different.  That one precious cup would have given the present management team all the time they needed to sort through these issues.  Unfortunately for Mike Gillis and his team, the Canucks haven’t managed a Stanley Cup.  If this current edition doesn’t win the cup there’s the possibility generations of Canuck fans will die without ever seeing their local heroes hoist the Holy Grail of hockey. 

Mr. Gillis has tied the hopes of the franchise to a $7.5 million goalie with a 50 cent psyche for the next 5 years.  He needs to act now.  If he’s right, with the talent currently assembled, the Canucks will have several more years at the top of the league and several more chances to win.  If he’s wrong, this is our last chance until 2017.  If he needs to trade our entire draft for the next 2 years along with any player not named Sedin, Kesler, or Hamhuis in order to get the missing ingredient, he owes it to this fan base to do so.      

Canuck fans need a cup.  Let them die in peace.