disisdayear Posted July 19, 2012 Share Posted July 19, 2012 The one common theme about Stanley Cup champions year-after-year is that they are able to impose their will on other teams. The Canucks for the most part have never had that collective persona. We seem to be the team that gets shut down, pushed around, and have mental and emotional failings when the chips are down. I'm sure there are lots of reasons for this, including bad run of injuries at the most critical junctions of the season (sorry for this excuse, but even though you would want our team to overcome this, it does provide some degree of explanation for the team's failings). Other observations about the Canucks include a lack of push-back, the inability to roll out one line after another (including a fourth line), and a scary lack of depth that was exposed when Daniel went down. So the questions that arises from this include: (1) Are the Canucks capable of being the team the imposes their will on others? (2) If not, what are the elements of the team that has to improve/enhance so that it can impose its will on others? (3) Is this even possible in the modern day NHL where parity prevails? As much success as the Canucks have had in the past several years during the regular season and as much progress as MG has made in building a team that can be competitive every year, I would suggest that the Canucks faithful (which I'm part of) are and will be disappointed until the Stanley Cup resides at 800 Griffiths Way. I'm sort of at a loss as to why the Canucks are unable to impose their wills on other teams, because I think this inability goes beyond personnel/depth chart/coaching/leadership/etc., so I would love to hear what others have to say about this. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John.Tallhouse Posted July 19, 2012 Share Posted July 19, 2012 I think we need a stronger captain, love Hank but he's almost to calm or too passive at times, I think we need a leader with some grit to set the tone and be vocal for the team, someone to let these other teams know that were not going to be pushed around... Kesler for me has been this guy in the past but I'm not too sure he has all the qualitys we need in a C Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JordanEberle Posted July 19, 2012 Share Posted July 19, 2012 I think you nailed it in the end of your post....Depth/Coaching/Leadership Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
marleau_12 Posted July 19, 2012 Share Posted July 19, 2012 We were in the SCF two seasons ago. Lest we forget. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
UFCanuck Posted July 19, 2012 Share Posted July 19, 2012 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moonshinefe Posted July 19, 2012 Share Posted July 19, 2012 I think we can impose our will on other teams. Having Daniel out and Kesler playing injured was our main problem. We just need a season where the stars align and we don't lose our key players, and I think the cup is ours. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John.Tallhouse Posted July 19, 2012 Share Posted July 19, 2012 We were in the SCF two seasons ago. Lest we forget. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Erik Karlsson Posted July 19, 2012 Share Posted July 19, 2012 We need some more grit and pushback, especially when our first line is the softest line in the league, it's too easy on their d-men in the playoffs, which is why we need Kassian to play with the Sedins. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
winacup Posted July 19, 2012 Share Posted July 19, 2012 We were in the SCF two seasons ago. Lest we forget. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DaMacNamedDre Posted July 19, 2012 Share Posted July 19, 2012 We need at least 4 pieces in the form of a 1- Doan/Ryan/Nash (Powerforward for Twins) Lucic would almost be perfect. 2- A 3rd line center that can fill in for Kesler on the 2nd Line. S.Weiss Florida ? Luongo Trade Center maybe 3- Big nasty 6'5 Defender , sorry Andrew Alberts but that doesnt seem to be you 4- A guy to deal with any of the leagues biggest tough guys. a monster. these are the minimum changes this team needs to make this summer or they won't even make the playoffs next year. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
winacup Posted July 19, 2012 Share Posted July 19, 2012 We need some more grit and pushback, especially when our first line is the softest line in the league, it's too easy on their d-men in the playoffs, which is why we need Kassian to play with the Sedins. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
etsen3 Posted July 19, 2012 Share Posted July 19, 2012 We can often impose our will on other teams, but not all the time. In the NHL, it's impossible for one team to always dominate. You have to remember that every team loses, and out of 30 NHL teams, 29 fail every year. I think the whole toughness issue is a little overrated. Of course you always want to add grit to your team. But it seems like whenever a game gets a little rough, there's a whole bunch of threads on how the Canucks are soft, even if the chippiness was going both ways. People forget the 7 game series against Chicago, where it often looked like the Canucks were the ones pushing the Blackhawks around with our physical play. You could say that was part of the reason why Chicago went after guys like Carcillo in the offseason. The best we can do is try to improve our team as much as possible. Gain more depth and more grit. And then the players just have to execute. You can over-analyze the roster all you want, but in the end the team just has to get it done. The team that wins the Cup isn't always the one that's perfectly assembled, it's the team that comes together at the right time and gets the job done. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dorrcoq Posted July 19, 2012 Share Posted July 19, 2012 Of course you fail to take into account that the other team also tries to "impose their will". You seem to think other teams should just roll over and play dead because we say so. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John.Tallhouse Posted July 19, 2012 Share Posted July 19, 2012 . People forget the 7 game series against Chicago, where it often looked like the Canucks were the ones pushing the Blackhawks around with our physical play. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
keslerian one Posted July 19, 2012 Share Posted July 19, 2012 LOL "impose our will"? I think our "will" is to win. Two President's Trophies say we can impose our will. Unfortunately, playoffs have not been kind to us, but we put up a good fight. People unconsciously use selective memory. But look at the numbers, we often out-hit other teams during the playoffs. No one really fights in the playoffs anyways. Sure it's good to have guys who can "impose their physicality" - i think our team as a collective group can do that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Burnsey Posted July 19, 2012 Share Posted July 19, 2012 first thing I want to see is 2-3 lines that score. Our 3rd line this year for the most part was good (with Hodgson). I'm not saying trading him was a mistake, because it wasn't just saying we need a center like him on our 3rd line, that would provide a lot more depth. Lets forget about the checking 3rd line and focus on scoring...thats what we fail at in the playoffs. Get more depth and maybe better strategies, or different strategies. We tend to do the same thing over and over again. Lets mix it up a bit and make the opposition guessing... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moonshinefe Posted July 19, 2012 Share Posted July 19, 2012 We need at least 4 pieces in the form of a 1- Doan/Ryan/Nash (Powerforward for Twins) Lucic would almost be perfect. 2- A 3rd line center that can fill in for Kesler on the 2nd Line. S.Weiss Florida ? Luongo Trade Center maybe 3- Big nasty 6'5 Defender , sorry Andrew Alberts but that doesnt seem to be you 4- A guy to deal with any of the leagues biggest tough guys. a monster. these are the minimum changes this team needs to make this summer or they won't even make the playoffs next year. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John.Tallhouse Posted July 19, 2012 Share Posted July 19, 2012 We can impose our will on the leafs, that's for sure... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jägermeister Posted July 19, 2012 Share Posted July 19, 2012 We are a skill team, if we win we win by puck movement and a solid PP. We aren't going to win a Stanley Cup by "imposing our will" on anybody with the team we have now. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dorrcoq Posted July 19, 2012 Share Posted July 19, 2012 Oh, yeah...Rypien was a real monster. What a joke. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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