Looking forward

[L'Orange]

At this point, the playoffs are finished for the Canucks. They have not, in the last three seasons ever come back from this kind of deficit. They have let other teams back in, but haven't themselves.

The game tonight proved was a watershed moment. It truly proved what many have thought. This team, as it stands now, can't get it done. They lack the collective guts and balls to follow through.

The core that has been in place now for six to seven years is not championship calibre.

Some are.

Roberto Luongo is a world class goalie who has suffered behind a woefully inadequate and physically pathetic defense. He has stolen games when lesser goalies would have disappeared. He posted two shutouts in the Stanley Cup Finals against the Bruins, when the offense disappeared, and defense wilted. The fact that we are trading such an all star is truly a testament to Mike Gillis' complete ineptitude as a general manager and Alain Vigneault's abject failure as a coach. What other coach would leave his star netminder in to get ventilated as much as Vigneault?

Ryan Kesler is a warrior. He bleeds for this team and after taking a stick to the throat from Patrick Marleau (who in my opinion is one of the, if not the most cowardly players in the history of the sport) got back up to play. He has dominated games and series in ways only truly great players do. He is the heart and soul of this team. He must be made captain.

Alex Burrows has done what has been needed of him when times have called upon him. He saved the team from defeat against the Blackhawks for a third time in 2011. In turn, he helped shape the run they went on. He has stepped up and challenged players like Milan Lucic, Shea Weber, and other behemoths whom men of the stature of Burrows would have ran away from.

The remainder of that core is nearing their collective expiry date.

The Sedins, while being a marvel in the regular season, lack the strength or the fortitude to go to war in the post season. They can be easily marginalized and snuffed out when the going get tough. They have zero killer instinct. And really, when the playoffs start, where do they go? Into a shell, kept to the perimeter, fighting hopelessly against men far stronger than they could ever hope to be.

Kevin Bieksa is truly, as he said so himself, a plug defenseman. He has no great skill. He has proven over and over again, that he is merely an average defenseman playing on a good team. He has little vision and is a liability in his own end. Tonight again he was on the ice as the Sharks rushed the zone. He should have been traded far before being given his new and bloated contract.

Speaking of bloated contracts...........Alex Edler. The most inconsistent player year in and year out for this team. He has been called the Norris candidate of the future but has shown that his only constant trait in his game is his inconsistency. He, just like the Sedins, disappears during the playoffs. To rely on him to anchor our defense for years to come, is to bet the farm on a lark. Edler is an average defenseman at best.

But really, the blame lies on the shoulders of Gillis and Vigneault. They have tried to make a sow's ear a silk purse and now that the cloud has lifted, we see the truth. Gillis is an agent in general manager's clothing. He has zero vision for the future and has mortgaged it all to make weak cup runs the last two years. Booth? Ballard?

Alain Vigneault is the most predictable coach in the league and the most gutless. He has criticized his own players numerous times during his tenure and has embarrassed this team beyond repair. He is the kind of coach that leaves his goalie out to dry. He is a cancer on this team and a first round exit hopefully allows him to be summarily fired.

Hopefully the Aquilinis have the gumption to see that what has been in place hasn't worked. It's up to them now.

[The Magician]

HOW DARE YOU!!!!! We aren't done yet. One last push to force game 7. IT WILL HAPPEN.

[L'Orange]

HOW DARE YOU!!!!! We aren't done yet. One last push to force game 7. IT WILL HAPPEN.

[jimi]

HOW DARE YOU!!!!! We aren't done yet. One last push to force game 7. IT WILL HAPPEN.

[CANUCK-EXPRESS]

HOW DARE YOU!!!!! We aren't done yet. One last push to force game 7. IT WILL HAPPEN.

[Rypien37]

I'm just happy after all these years of ragging on him, people are starting to share my sentiments about Bieksa.

[L'Orange]

lol no

but OP, bieksa isn't normally a liability in his own end, you're wrong about that. not great in this series, but I wouldn't say he's earned that reputation yet. edler has, though.

you're also one of those utterly retarded luongo ballhuggers that blames luongo's meltdowns entirely on the defense, and talks about him as though he's some hero goalie who constantly plays well, and every single bad goal he lets in was because of defensive errors. sorry, no. he's a choker. when he chokes, he lets in soft goals, and those goals are not results of defensive errors.

aside from that, you're right.