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MacIntyre's three thoughts: It's over for the Canucks, probably over for Desjardins


VanGnome

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WE’RE CALLING THE ELECTION

A lot of people were calling this a lost season for the Canucks even before it began. And the people who didn’t call it then probably knew when Vancouver lost nine straight games after a 4-0 start that that was it. But if we needed a defining game, a moment of finality, to write off this Canucks season it was tonight’s atrocious loss in Carolina.

No team as desperate as the Canucks, without any margin for error left, can afford to blow a three-goal third-period lead on the road and lose 8-6 to a Hurricanes team that is good at home but otherwise screams mediocrity. It’s over.

It’s over in the standings, where a week before Christmas the Canucks are four games under .500 (12-16-2) and four points out of a wildcard playoff spot – a gap that seems smaller than it actually is because the teams they need to catch have played fewer games. It’s over in the dressing room, where the team will be utterly dispirited having finished a 1-4 road trip by allowing four goals in six minutes at the start of the third period to turn a three-goal lead into a one-goal deficit.

It’s just over.

WILLIE OR WON’T HE

It was a loss so bad, the Canucks’ defending so inept when it counted most, we were wondering post-game if Willie Desjardins would be invited on the team charter home.

Since that 0-8-1 dive to the bottom of the NHL, Desjardins has seemed about one awful week away from losing his job. Well, it’s only Tuesday. But this eight-day road trip, taken in its entirety, is as discouraging as any segment this season for the Canucks.

Having clawed back some confidence and at least a little momentum by going 7-4-1 in the four weeks after their nine-game faceplant, the Canucks have matched their nadir by returning to four games under .500.

Maybe with Mattias Ohlund, a good friend of Canuck president Trevor Linden, being honoured Friday when the Tampa Bay Lightning visit Vancouver, management didn’t want the focus to be on a new coach. Maybe, having seen how ham-handed and amateurish the Florida Panthers looked two weeks ago when they fired Gerard Gallant after a road game, Linden and general manager Jim Benning want to let the emotions of Tuesday night settle and before making a calm, measured decision. Or maybe they know this isn’t really Desjardins’ fault, and maybe the coach should have the benefit of at least one of his best two defencemen in the lineup before he is judged.

But this four-game homestand – Tampa, Columbus and Winnipeg twice – could prove every bit as difficult for Vancouver as were the last five games on the road.

It’s impossible to see this ending well for Desjardins or the Canucks.

WHERE ART THOU TANEV, RODIN?

Swedish League MVP Anton Rodin played more than any Canuck in the pre-season before he was pulled out of the lineup with a week to go to rest his sore knee. That was more than two months ago and we haven’t seen him since.

And vital defenceman Chris Tanev sits out three games in October due to an ankle injury, then gets shoved back into the lineup on Nov. 2 in the first half of back-to-back road games, and hasn’t played since. What rehab program are these guys on?

With the Canuck power play and team defence ranked 27th in the NHL, it’s obvious both Tanev and Rodin have been missed. They’d have made a difference.

 

 

 

 

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More of Van's trash media attempting to stir the pot and fuel negativity :bored:

 

Seriously folks, we're rebuilding. They tend to not be pretty all the time. Our top D pair is out and we presently have one of the youngest D cores in the league and people are shocked when they look inconsistent after a long, hard road trip?!?!

 

People need to wake the hell up to reality here :lol:

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The only reason at this point to advocate a coaching change, is to be able to motivate the players, specifically the veterans so they can have some hope at salvaging some value at the trade deadline.

Motivate the young guys so at least they don't stagnate in their development. It's easy to get used to losing.

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Just now, J.R. said:

More of Van's trash media attempting to stir the pot and fuel negativity :bored:

 

Seriously folks, we're rebuilding. They tend to not be pretty all the time. Our top D pair is out and we presently have one of the youngest D cores in the league and people are shocked when they look inconsistent after a long, hard road trip?!?!

 

People need to wake the hell up to reality here :lol:

You say we are rebuilding, but are our owner, President, and GM on board with a rebuild, or is it a retool to them?

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1 minute ago, J.R. said:

More of Van's trash media attempting to stir the pot and fuel negativity :bored:

 

Seriously folks, we're rebuilding. They tend to not be pretty all the time. Our top D pair is out and we presently have one of the youngest D cores in the league and people are shocked when they look inconsistent after a long, hard road trip?!?!

 

People need to wake the hell up to reality here :lol:

 

There's being a young rebuilding team, playing with passion and losing, and then there's this. No one is playing inspired, no one on this team has confidence in WD and it shows in their play.

I don't care if they lose, so long as they play hard. This entire road trip aside from Tampa has been nothing but lethargy. Yes we're rebuilding, it doesn't mean we have to be so monumentally bad, that no one on the team has any value in trades, or the young players learn to not bring their full intensity game in, game out.

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4 minutes ago, King Heffy said:

Bringing in a new coach couldn't possibly hurt.  It's not the losing that bothers me so much as the lineup selection issues and the damage WD did to Virtanen's confidence.

I think it's more about the timing.  Is the guy that they would want as the next coach even available right now?  Or would it be better / no different if they waited until the off-season?

 

Along those lines, would we be worse off with an interim coach?

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2 minutes ago, VanGnome said:

 

There's being a young rebuilding team, playing with passion and losing, and then there's this. No one is playing inspired, no one on this team has confidence in WD and it shows in their play.

I don't care if they lose, so long as they play hard. This entire road trip aside from Tampa has been nothing but lethargy. Yes we're rebuilding, it doesn't mean we have to be so monumentally bad, that no one on the team has any value in trades, or the young players learn to not bring their full intensity game in, game out.

 

There's been what, probably 3-4 stinkers this year? And as far as I can tell, they've all been during or directly after a long road trip.

 

A combination of young, inconsistent players and old, tired vets during or after a long, hard road trip should be surprising literally no one. 

 

The rest of the games, the team has largely played extremely hard for WD. By no means am I stating he's the world's greatest coach and I could pick some nits on certain deployment, lineup etc choices but he's not even close to the team's biggest reason for losing.

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Excellent article by IM.  The Canucks are in serious trouble on and off the ice.  The OWNER needs to come out publicly and say we are rebuilding, and that there will be no half measures.  Then JB needs to start trading off the vets - especially the ones with NTCs and NMCs.  Let EVERYONE know this is a rebuild, and stop the charade.

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6 minutes ago, VanGnome said:

 

There's being a young rebuilding team, playing with passion and losing, and then there's this. No one is playing inspired, no one on this team has confidence in WD and it shows in their play.
 

 

Can you give examples of young teams that always look like they are inspired, confident, and hard working every game?

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12 minutes ago, J.R. said:

More of Van's trash media attempting to stir the pot and fuel negativity :bored:

 

Seriously folks, we're rebuilding. They tend to not be pretty all the time. Our top D pair is out and we presently have one of the youngest D cores in the league and people are shocked when they look inconsistent after a long, hard road trip?!?!

 

People need to wake the hell up to reality here :lol:

Which D-men were looking bad? The rookies or the regulars aka Hutton and Guddy?

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1 minute ago, goalie13 said:

I don't know if you noticed, but they own the team and they haven't applied to relocate it.  Yet.

 

Yeah of course I know, I'm just mentioning the "real" problem with the team, the owners choose the GM, Pres, etc....  get it?

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