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Vancouver Canucks Blogger •
We're 20 games in and things are not going according to plan. Injuries are the obvious excuse but are they a valid excuse? Perhaps not.
If I had to pin point to major areas of concern I would choose the anemic offense and the over hyped defense. However, there seems to be a third factor that is creeping into the identity of the Canucks, a lack of effort.
Since the start of the season the 3rd and 4th lines have been atrocious: slow on the forecheck, soft on the body and limited offensive awareness let alone output. Guys such as Wellwood, Hordichuk, and Johnson have been underperforming at near career high levels. Im not so sure Wellwood even knows how to shoot the puck anymore. Johnson is winning less faceoffs than he did with a mangles finger last season and Hordichuk skates like Tie Domi on Battle of the Blades.
The 4th liners are not the sole reason this team is where it is though- a position of barely treading water. The defense has been woefully soft on the opposition. There is almost no presence in front of the net to prevent opposition forwards from taking position- watch the other end of the ice and the contrast is even more glaring when you see how easy it is for opposition defense to clear Vancouver forwards. We'll get to that one later.
The only defender I would give a high mark to is Ehrhoff and even he is far from a 'poster child
of good examples. If he is our best defender, arguable I know, then this team has slipped.
The forwards have been slow too despite having a decent power play they have struggled to find any reliable chemistry- yes injuries are a factor but injuries do not affect the system. Raymond, Kesler and Samuelsson have been bright spots and Henrik as well but after that it gets ugly. Even with Daniel back in the line up his addition will not bolster this line up to something markedly better. The problems go deeper than addition or subtraction of personnel.
The sessions of past Vancouver successes under coach Alain Vigneault are a dedication to a system and playing 'your role'. In 2007 the team came from below .500 to play a tight cohesive puck control system and won the division. In 2009 after the Luongo injury and Sundin addition and huge slump the team played a dedicated system and went on a 2nd half tear. Is that possible again?
I think it is but I'm wary of making that prediction. Since 2004 this team's trend is to win the division than miss the post season the following year. It's not looking so promising now is it?
I think the bigger question in relation to the above trend is why the elevator like performances from this club with relatively little player turnover from season to season? There could be a whole host of reasons but the one which I keep coming back to is AV's system. Is it designed to work at the cost of player burnout? Is it too demanding for the current roster? Are some players not prepared to do what is necessary under this system?
Time will tell and certainly a healthy roster could shed some light on the true identity of the club. If the team still falters perhaps it's time to look a little harder at who or what is not working but we are not there yet. The time may come though and ownership could put the screws to Gillis to make something happen. I may be looking for things that don't exist but trends are interesting things to watch and once again we might be right in the middle of one and not even know it.
Enjoy the game!
If I had to pin point to major areas of concern I would choose the anemic offense and the over hyped defense. However, there seems to be a third factor that is creeping into the identity of the Canucks, a lack of effort.
Since the start of the season the 3rd and 4th lines have been atrocious: slow on the forecheck, soft on the body and limited offensive awareness let alone output. Guys such as Wellwood, Hordichuk, and Johnson have been underperforming at near career high levels. Im not so sure Wellwood even knows how to shoot the puck anymore. Johnson is winning less faceoffs than he did with a mangles finger last season and Hordichuk skates like Tie Domi on Battle of the Blades.
The 4th liners are not the sole reason this team is where it is though- a position of barely treading water. The defense has been woefully soft on the opposition. There is almost no presence in front of the net to prevent opposition forwards from taking position- watch the other end of the ice and the contrast is even more glaring when you see how easy it is for opposition defense to clear Vancouver forwards. We'll get to that one later.
The only defender I would give a high mark to is Ehrhoff and even he is far from a 'poster child
of good examples. If he is our best defender, arguable I know, then this team has slipped.
The forwards have been slow too despite having a decent power play they have struggled to find any reliable chemistry- yes injuries are a factor but injuries do not affect the system. Raymond, Kesler and Samuelsson have been bright spots and Henrik as well but after that it gets ugly. Even with Daniel back in the line up his addition will not bolster this line up to something markedly better. The problems go deeper than addition or subtraction of personnel.
The sessions of past Vancouver successes under coach Alain Vigneault are a dedication to a system and playing 'your role'. In 2007 the team came from below .500 to play a tight cohesive puck control system and won the division. In 2009 after the Luongo injury and Sundin addition and huge slump the team played a dedicated system and went on a 2nd half tear. Is that possible again?
I think it is but I'm wary of making that prediction. Since 2004 this team's trend is to win the division than miss the post season the following year. It's not looking so promising now is it?
I think the bigger question in relation to the above trend is why the elevator like performances from this club with relatively little player turnover from season to season? There could be a whole host of reasons but the one which I keep coming back to is AV's system. Is it designed to work at the cost of player burnout? Is it too demanding for the current roster? Are some players not prepared to do what is necessary under this system?
Time will tell and certainly a healthy roster could shed some light on the true identity of the club. If the team still falters perhaps it's time to look a little harder at who or what is not working but we are not there yet. The time may come though and ownership could put the screws to Gillis to make something happen. I may be looking for things that don't exist but trends are interesting things to watch and once again we might be right in the middle of one and not even know it.
Enjoy the game!
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