The REAL problem with this team.

[Darius]

Erhoff and Salo were huge pieces of the 2011 puzzle. People under rate Salo's abilities. He was reliable, had an excellent first pass out of the zone, and had a cannon from the point. Does anyone recall what the canucks record without Salo in the lineup was? It certainly was not as good as with him in the lineup.

Erhoff was at least as good offensively. He could get the puck out of the zone with speed. His passing was superb and he was a great qb on the powerplay.

The other error that Gillis has made was thinking that he was going to face the 2011 Boston Bruins in the playoffs every year. The team was humiliated by Boston from a physical perspective so he thought he had to sacrifice talent to beef up.

Kassian may be a good move in retrospect 5 years from now, but with the makeup of the team he should have known better than to trade Hodgson, a player that could help the team with its limited window now, for Kassian who may pan out to be a good power forward 3 -5 years from now.

The scary part is that the NW division teams are acquiring high end talent year after year with their high draft picks. Unless something drastic is done it wont be long until Vancouver is the division doormat.

[mbal23]

I'd say Torres is a bigger factor than Hoff. He could change a series with a single hit or fight

[Hockey Fever]

He definitely had his best years with us so far in his career. The only problem is if they would have paid him the money he wanted we probably would have lost a couple good players, as well as the fact that he may not have continued at the same level of production? I mean look at him with the high flying Sabers and he's still no were near what he accomplished here, you just never know?

Would have he went down hill with us after a big contract, or would the chemistry have continued ? One never knows but with the Canucks luck and after watching other recently signed big contract players here, they usually don't perform well.

[canucksnihilist]

real problem is that the TEAM IS NOT READY TO PLAY to begin ANY PLAYOFF SERIES

period.

[Bodee]

We have one(a better one imo) in Ballard............but until Ballard gets plastic surgery to look like Ebbett he won't get a chance.

[Zuongo]

Sorry I disagree.

[Edlerberry]

Manny+Torres+Ehrhoff+Salo+Samuelsson>>>> Kassian+Ebbett+Weise+Garrison+Corrado

[cdubuya]

The real problem with this team is our secondary players haven't been clutch when we needed them to. We don't seem to bury the breakaways or 2 on 1s like other teams seem to do routinely. How many times have we seen Higgins or Hansen (2 good players for us usually) flub a breakaway or 2 on 1. I love Hansen, but if he buried that empty netter from past half way we woulda tied the series. In tight games like this sometimes you only get one shot. Our first 3 home games against Boston seemed even tighter than these first two but guys like Burrows, lappy and Torres delivered when they had to to get us 3 wins.

[Tearloch7]

I'd say Torres is a bigger factor than Hoff. He could change a series with a single hit or fight

[spliced]

Nope. Other than the SJ series the Sedins weren't very good in the 2011 playoffs either.

[nuck nit]

But Ehrhoff was certainly better at making the break out pass and getting a cycle going on the PP.

[rkoshack]

I like Ehrhoff and I'll admit he had an offensive impact with the Sedins but he's not the problem. They had Ehrhoff the entire 2011 playoffs and they were one of the lowest scoring teams in the playoffs that year

[Systemaddict]

The real problem with this team is our secondary players haven't been clutch when we needed them to. We don't seem to bury the breakaways or 2 on 1s like other teams seem to do routinely. How many times have we seen Higgins or Hansen (2 good players for us usually) flub a breakaway or 2 on 1. I love Hansen, but if he buried that empty netter from past half way we woulda tied the series. In tight games like this sometimes you only get one shot. Our first 3 home games against Boston seemed even tighter than these first two but guys like Burrows, lappy and Torres delivered when they had to to get us 3 wins.

[Deets]

Personally, since the 2011 defeat I've always thought we still needed another pure goal scorer. Canadian, possible captain material.

[Ghostsof1915]

The team looks better on paper than on the ice. That's the problem.

[AllEyezOnMe]

Garrison > Ehrhoff

[AllEyezOnMe]

I like Ehrhoff and I'll admit he had an offensive impact with the Sedins but he's not the problem. They had Ehrhoff the entire 2011 playoffs and they were one of the lowest scoring teams in the playoffs that year

[nuck nit]

Personally, since the 2011 defeat I've always thought we still needed another pure goal scorer. Canadian, possible captain material.

[Smashian Kassian]

Garrison can barely move with the puck and isn't the best skater. I think they're about even though both have different skill sets for certain types of situations imo.

[nuck nit]

I like Ehrhoff and I'll admit he had an offensive impact with the Sedins but he's not the problem. They had Ehrhoff the entire 2011 playoffs and they were one of the lowest scoring teams in the playoffs that year