Darius

That stadium has always been a loud place, even before they lost the team. Canucks play in a really quiet building. This has little to do with their record this year but I wish that they would play some lively music like they do in Boston, Chicago and even Winnipeg. I also suppose that those who can afford to consistently spend a trillion dollars for their seats tend to be a little more reserved than the blue collar guys that could go to every game in the past.

Thats one lively building, playing old school rock songs. Got to admire the crowd. Contrast that with the yuppie latte sipping crowd at Rogers mausoleum in vancouver and no wonder the team tends to fall asleep sometimes...

Goaltending. Thats about it. But we can take comfort that you build a team from the net out. Id protect kesler, kassian, tanev and maybe bieksa...everyone else is for sale for the right price. At the same time lets not get too negative...you take out two top 6 forwards and two top d on any team and make them play with 5 dmen all game and even they will even make the oilers look good...

January is over - that was a horrible month. What do you guys expect? Two top 6 players out, 2 top defence men out and playing with 5 d and they still pushed the Jets team that is on a roll and playing at home down to the last minute. I am amazed they are still in a playoff spot. Eddie looks like the real deal. This organization has been fortunate with its goaltending situation the past 6 or 7 years. They trade schnieder and eddie is picking up where he left off...lots of teams would kill for that.. Its a frustrating situation. They are sill a playoff team but will not be good enough. When do you pull the trigger? DO you keep the team as is and collect another mid range draft pick? What a #%$#$% mess... .

We have to consider that the Canucks are missing their top player and another top contributor in Santorelli. They havent had their complete roster in the lineup all together yet. Even with everyone in I think they probably are not good enough. Also, lets think back to game 7 vs Chicago in 2011. If Sharp scores on that overtime PP and the Hawks eliminate the Canucks 4-3 after being down 3-0 how different would this team look today? Gillis would have had tremendous pressure to blow it up back then.

Good points. We should probably also mention Bickell who is having a bit of a slow year this year but was a key component to their run last year. When the Hawks got into cap trouble a few years back and had to unload guys like Ladd, Buff, Versteeg etc etc I thought they were done. Their management somehow recovered and they continued to be a dominant team. The other example I like to point out is Anaheim. For a couple of years there they didnt look good at all. They missed the playoffs, made some good draft picks and signed some UFAs and look at them now. Also lets look at SJ. The canucks railroaded them in 2011. Now they cant even buy a win against them. Its the same core, but they managed to add a great supporting cast through the draft and trades. They were not afraid to let guys like Heatley, Douglas Murray, Clowe and Setoguchi go. I hope Gillis can take some notes from teams like Anaheim and SJ. You dont need to go through a generational rebuild like the Alberta teams to keep your team in the upper echelon.

Difference between Chicago and Canucks: MANAGEMENT. Of course they sucked for a while and were able to accumulate guys like Toews and Kane through high draft picks but look at their secondary scoring and supporting cast: Andrew Shaw - 14 goals so far. Selected in the FIFTH ROUND Brandon Saad - 17 goals so far. Selected in the SECOND ROUND #43 overall Ben Smith - 7 goals more than Burrows. Selected in the SIXTH ROUND Brandon Pirri - 6 goals in 26 games. Selected in the SECOND ROUND #59 overall These guys are all young - most of them are big, and all of them can skate. Chicago's core players couldnt be successful without the supporting cast that Chicago management have surrounded them with. Shrewd management, excellent scouting and smart trades will keep these guys a contender for a long time whereas the Canucks are going to be in a nose dive. Does anyone have any faith in Gillis and his scouting staff to make gutsy trades and find gems in the later rounds of the draft?

I have a feeling most of you didnt watch this team for most of the 80s and part of the 90s when this team really sucked. It looks like they are descending to that point again and I have no faith Gillis has the ability to manage this team back to being an elite contender.

Not enough talent, its not like these guys are not trying. Gillis gives us the impression that the thinks he can do it with this core by signing the sedins for 4 years at 7 million yet he trades hodgson and schnieder for project players that may have an impact in 3-5 years. So which is it Mikey? Are you going to try and win now or in the future? The guy has no idea and no clear path. He needs to go. A lot of the problem is the friggen D cant get shots through to the net. No point man on the PP and no ability for the first pass out to a rushing winger...

Oiler fans are the worst. Their team has been an epic failure for almost a decade, they have accumulated all of their talent as a direct result of inept and incompetent management yet their fans act like it is still 1985. As if cup wins from the 80s trumps the fact that their current team has been one of the worst in NHL history if you average out the past 7 years. If their management ever manages to grab some brains they will take the top dman with their top 5 pick. Sooner or later they will have 2 elite d men and an high octane top 6. Even maggie the monkey could build a team of top 10 picks assembled from a decade of failure. The sad part is their fan base will be as arrogant as ever at that point.

NOt sure I would give up Horvat yet....we still have to stock the cupboard with high end youth or we will be like Calgary for the next decade.. I would give up Hamhuis and Edler for Weber. Both have NTC though. Hammer is a solid player, has team Canada prestige and played in Nashville before...Hamhuis and Nashville might go for it. I would then bring in Corrado or unload Booth's contract in the off season to bring in some high calibre UFA that can fill the hole on D. Nashville might be up for unloading weber now that they have Seth Jones on their blue line.

Erhoff's strength was rushing the puck up the ice and getting pucks to the net from the point, I think that Salo was the main cog in the machine. As for Garrison - I think you will be waiting a long time for him to figure this out Bob. I just dont think the guy has it. He might win the canuck skills competition for the hardest shot but I am having doubts that he can deliver in game situations. Ive noticed his one timers are terrible...his accuracy depends on stopping the puck first...this gives the goalie and opposing d time to set up.

Sooner or later those guys were going to depart either because of age (Salo) or because of contract situations (Erhoff). I didnt think Erhoff was worth the money Buffalo game him. Ironic that the only worse pp than Vancouver right now is Buffalo where Erhoff plays. Salo was a key and he needed to be replaced with someone just as competent. Gillis failed. No team, to my knowledge, has won a cup without a D man that can rush the puck, have the ability QB the PP from the point, and play big minutes against the other teams top players. This team will go nowhere without a stud D-man. As much as I like guys like Hamhuis and Tanev and even Garrison, they are not the answer. I thought Edler might morph into that 50+ point stud D man - but he looks like a lost cause right now.

Salo meant a lot to this team. Even when the Canuck offence was rolling in years past there was an obvious difference in their record when he was out of the lineup. Great first past out of the zone, the ability to one time the puck from the point and actually hit the net, and the ability to calm his d partner down. Very under rated around the league at the time. Salo departs the team - a big hole is there. What does Gillis do? He brings in Garrison who is supposed to punish teams from the point. The guy doesnt look right on the PP. He nearly always has to stop the puck before he shoots it and if he doesnt it either doesnt make it through or he misses completely. V hardly used him on the first unit PP and lots of people were critical of that move...now we know why. This team needs a dependable puck moving d man that can run the point on the PP and can play 20 minutes if need be. That should be their first priority, ahead of a top 6 forward and ahead of anything else....

These guys can barely score 2 goals per game and what do they do? They decide to turn the game into a pond hockey game letting the oilers skate up and down at will. Oilers have the worst D in the league. If you constantly pressure them they will cough up the puck....lots. Where was the hitting? How about the rabid forecheck Torts was trying to instill... The top line used to feast on these guys, tonight they made the worst team in the West look like a top 5 team in the conference. But...everything will be ok once the Sedins return to 2011 form, Kesler starts hitting the net with some of those wrist shots that nail the back glass and bounce out of the zone, Burrows gets on a 25 goal pace, Garrison actually replaces some of Salo's defensive and point shot abilities, and Kassian wakes up with the hockey smarts of a veteran...in other words it probably aint gonna happen...

I predict more fireworks : Kassian might have to answer the bell with someone like Gazdic for breaking Gagner's jaw. The oilers had the whole game the last time they played to get back at Kassian but all they did was yell at him at the end of the game...i think zack stirred the pot a bit by seemingly mocking Gagner for wearing the full face maske...i anticipate some kind of retribution...

Wow im sure Bouma really scares everyone. LOL. Hey, shouldnt you be more concerned about the fact that your flames have only made it past the first round once in 25 years and have been stuck in the league basement for the better part of a decade? With the likes of Burke bringing in high quality players like westgarth and trying to turn the team into Boston west with about 1/20th the talent you can bet on lounging in the basement and being used as a doormat for years to come.

Getting O'Reilly would be a great move for this organization. It would be the type of move, if done correctly, that could have a huge impact for this team now and for the future.

He was one of the best players on the ice. He found the open man several times and was playing with lots of speed attacking the O Zone. If Kesler wasnt so greedy with the puck a couple of times he may have even popped one in too. This is exactly the type of player needed in the playoffs...now if he can only do it on a more consistent basis.

Anyone who thinks that Hartley had benign motives starting a RW player with 3 career goals at center for the opening shift should read the following article on how he intimidated Scott Parker into fighting and gooning it up. Hartley is a coward and a liar when he claims he had no intentions. Have a read: http://www.tsn.ca/nhl/story/?id=438011

We might see more of this in Edmonton on Tuesday. With the way that Gazdic and Kassian were yapping at each other because of the Gagner incident there may be more fireworks coming up.

The fact that he had westgarth, with his 3 NHL goals, on the starting line playing out of position and taking the draw shows that Hartley did not have benign motives. In that whole Calgary lineup (even though they are an AHL team on paper) couldnt they find 3 players that gave them a better chance for a good start to the game? Hartley's intentions were obvious - they wouldnt have jumped the sedins but chances are they would have done their best to run them just like LA tries to do every time they play.

I agree that BM would not punch out a Sedin. But I find it hard to believe that a guy like Westgarth, Jones or BM would not try and run one of the Sedins. BM ruined Alberts' season with a cheap high hit- its not like he is an angel. The clear message from Burke when he brought in a guy like Westgarth is that one goon isnt enough to play the style of game he wants his team to play. Why was westgarth, with his 3 NHL goals career total, starting at center when he is a right winger? Hartley is a goon coach and he is getting his direction from Burke. I posted this above ... look what Scott Parker said about Hartley intimidating players into fighting and gooning it up: “He was a junior B goalie trying to tell me how to fight. He was always just degrading me. Not to be a (wimp), but he was a bully,” Parker told the Denver Post. “And he could be because he was in a position of authority. What was I supposed to do as a rookie? Go tell him ‘(expletive) you’?

Some people are forgetting that Hartley is a proven goon coach. Scott Parker came out last year describing how Hartley bullied him into being a goon while he coached the Avalanche. Parker was quoted: In light of this I call bull$hit when Hartley claims there was no alterior motives when he put out an ECHL calibre goon pylon at center (Westgarth), McGratton (who has 7 goals in his whole NHL career) and jones. Westgarth was brought in by Burke for only one reason - its not to score, block shots, use his brains, or back check....

This kid has the potential to be the best overall player on the Canuck roster. Young, tough, has hands, and good defensively. Who are we kidding...when was the last time a Vancouver GM pulled a trade that brought a young impact player here? You want a cup, you have to pull off ballsy moves like this,