The problems I didn't like!

[TheWheeler]

Because I invested ~250 hours of my life watching this team play on television, spending my money at pubs, buying a jersey, and following this team so very closely, I get to add my opinion amongst all the other ones on this forum. And it will be long, and it would be great to have some good discussion about it if people actually read it.

I am not all doom and gloom, there are aspects of this year I really did enjoy. But today, I complain. Tomorrow, maybe I'll praise.

My first beef - What is this, an gentlemans club? There is something wrong when I can see a player take 6 punches to the face and he (along with his teammates) dont do ANYTHING about it. Grow a pair. Yes, Daniel and Henrik, you guys are family men. You donate money to the Children's Hospital. You are very respectable guys. You are, however, not going to hurt the children if you stick up for yourself or actually do something physical. But if you are not going to stand up for yourselves, I EXPECT one of your teammates to do this. And I'm looking at Torres, Glass, Oreskovich who were all virtually invisible against a team that absolutely manhandled our guys. What happened to the Torres from earlier series? Sure would have been great if you actually did something. If thats how you guys play in a Stanley Cup Final I sure will be glad not to have you back next year.

This series was an absolute embarrassment. Not only did we get humiliated in Boston, you can't say we really dominated in our wins. 1-0, 3-2, 1-0... I don't call those statement wins, I call those barely scraping out wins.

Second Beef - If this team is trying to have a "mature" mentality, why are clowns like Lapierre and Burrows here. I bit my tongue saying this because I absolutely love Burrows, and how clutch he has been. But you two make Vancouver a laughing stock in the NHL. Burrows, smarten up. I was surprised to see Gillis bring in a player like Lapierre when he preaches integrity and intelligence. And yes the guy played alright, I REALLY do not like how he painted Vancouver to other teams. I think you can go as well.

Third Beef - Coach! Jack Adams nominee, best team in franchise history, Stanley Cup Final in 17 years, developed Kes and Burrows. Who REALLY coaches this team? Do you AV? Or do the Sedin's? What exactly do you do? I have alot of questions regarding your choice of players, and your decisions for this series. You won 3 rounds with Hodgson playing then you bench him for Glass who is invisible. Ballard helps you win Series 3 against San Jose in a gruelling double OT game and then you bench him. Luongo absolutely craps the bed in game 3 and you dont have the balls to pull him, so you "ask" him if he wants to come out?

So I ask again, what exactly do you do? It was painfully obvious in many games of this last series our guys are getting dominated and look frustrated. Isn't that where you come in? Make a statement? Fire them up? Or did you leave that to the Sedin's as well...

Yeah there are going to be a lot of people who like AV and feel its not his fault. And I realize that this team played ~100 games together this year and maybe the coaches role is diminished a bit come stanley cup finals time. But I still feel the COACH is the captain leading the ship.

Fourth Beef - Players I feel played extremely sub-par...

a) Ehrhoff - Downright awful these playoffs. I am in total favor of having a much grittier Ballard in over you next year. If your shoulder was bothering you that much, you should have stayed the hell away. Especially from such a physical Boston team.

Raymond - Really sucks you got injured, and I hope you recover fully and fast. But you showed me you would be a great third liner, or even a good second liner, on another team. Hansen is better, and there is going to be a better 2nd line option. You are fast, had one or two dangles, but honestly its just not good enough for a Cup contender. However there are going to be fans that love you no matter what...

c) Torres - Wow... you were brought in to be a physical presence and you did NOTHING against Boston.

d) Glass - I thought you had a good season but a dreadful playoffs. Sorry, but the team needs playoff performers.

e) Luongo - Obviously you were horrid. But you are here, and you aren't going anywhere. People can fantasy trade you away all they want, but your contract says otherwise, your NMC says otherwise, and management will say otherwise. You are their guy, and while you did play quite bad in games that mattered, I don't hate you for it.

Fifth Beef - I feel that Vancouver extremely inflated Tim Thomas' save percentage this series. A couple of the games Vancouver had a really good first ten minutes and actually made Thomas work to make saves. But I would say 3/4 of the saves he had to make, your average joe could make. The team needs to hammer the puck at him, but instead they hammer it with their purses. I have noticed this for a while now, that Vancouver doesn't like taking the big shot from the point very often. I feel its as if the team doesn't approve of it because they might hit one of their players and injure them, I dunno. But Thomas didn't really have to work that hard this series.

And if its because his team played well defensively in front of him, well, our team should have adapted. And if its a case of that, then our players who take direction from the coaches weren't getting quality instructions.

Sixth Beef - That friggin rat Marchand. I really hate showboating and it really irked me when he was dusting his hands after taking down Ehrhoff and Sedin. I won't condone violence, but NOONE stepped up on him. His clock should have been cleaned a couple times this series.

Anyways, still pretty exciting Vancouver made it to the Final. But I hope Gillis takes a good hard look (which he will obviously do) and make appropriate decisions for next year. Stanley Cup Finals are an entirely different beast than regular season, or even first round playoffs. It requires certain qualities from players, and while Vancouver has some, they could use more if they are finally going to win the real prize. I could care less we won the Presidents Trophy, I want the Stanley Cup. I bet Boston isn't disappointed one bit they didn't win the President's Trophy...