Fearless Fan

I don't dislike Travis Green. Like most Canuck fans I gave him a pass for the first few years he coached the team, because they were rebuilding. But the fact is even with the great young talent they have now, they're struggling mightily without Markstrom and Tanev. The team has been badly outshot every year Green has coached, and Markstrom hid how bad they were with Vezina-like performances the last couple years. But without him now, the team is badly exposed. Part of it is the poor depth of the defence, and there's no question Benning had a terrible free agency and made some major mistakes, choosing to chasing OEL instead of signing Tanev and Taffoli, and adding some "D" depth. But they still have terrific talent in the forward group,, and Hughes, Schmidt, Edler, and Myers on the backend. There is no way they should be getting obliterated by the Habs and Leafs. And that is where it comes down to systems play and Travis Green. I don't see the team playing a system that has the players in sync, and forwards and defence working together. What we see consistently is very little puck support, poor reads, and bad gap control. And that comes down to a lack of effective systems implemented by the coach. That's why I think Gerard Gallant would be extremely effective for this team. He created the whole style that made Vegas such a terrific transition and forechecking team, using a modified trap system with all 5 players moving as a unit for tight gap control, and pressuring in the neutral zone for quick turnovers. Then BAM the play's in the offensive zone and in the net. We saw that in the playoffs last year against Vegas, and it was only the brilliance of markstrom and Demko that kept the canucks in a series they were outshot 2 -1 or more on each night. I think that's the kind of system the Canucks need, and I think they need a strategic mind like Gallant to implement it, along with his fiery and tough love for the young players to inspire them again. Because Green has clearly lost the team and the room, and firing Benning won't fix that. The team and the Aquilinis can wait till the end of the season to make the decision on Benning. He's certainly been a mess on the trade, salary cap, and free agent front, and left the team weaker this year. But the bigger problem now is with the coach. And I think Gallant is the answer. So we should hire him before Seattle does.