The Fans’ Verdict: How you rate the Canucks’ season 2014/15

[Heretic]

From The Province Sports:

Edit: There are graphs but they are not "images" that can be posted here so click on the link to see them: http://blogs.theprovince.com/2015/05/04/the-fans-verdict-how-you-rate-the-canucks-season/

The most significant advantage youth has over age is hope.

And, it seems, Canuck fans are looking for a whole lot more hope in the lineup.

Respondents of The Province’s postseason poll couldn’t get enough of Bo Horvat. Now, they’re looking for more.

Most of the 2,800 or so who responded to a 15-question poll after the Canucks lost to the Calgary Flames appear convinced the Canucks have to get younger.
On that, they’re hardly alone.

But, it seems, fans’ ravenous appetite for more youth goes well beyond getting Adam Clendening, Sven Baertschi and Frank Corrado — all of whom will be waiver-eligible — into the lineup.

The poll’s majority want veterans, notably Kevin Bieksa and Chris Higgins, on their way out while a string of prospects, including Nicklas Jensen, Jake Virtanen and Hunter Shinkaruk, making their way in.

Of course, even if management agrees in principle, this type of change remains unrealistic for a couple of reasons: There are too many no-trade clauses, and the Canucks are bent on trying to make the playoffs again.

That last point remains fascinating, given the poll’s results. Sixty-two per cent of those polled said they did not attend a game this year.

Many believe the Canucks’ fanbase would be eroded if they iced a younger lineup that didn’t make the playoffs for two or three years.

Yet, the message from Canucks fans who participated is pretty clear. It’s play the kids.

It’s understandable. Having a pool of decent prospects after more than a decade of poor drafting will tend to do that to a fan base.

Plus, Vancouver spent the past seven months falling in love with Horvat. Even though he’s a special player who was able to do things in the NHL at 19 which most teenagers can’t, he has altered the view for many on how to best develop prospects.

He may have finished 14th in rookie scoring, but you’d be challenged to find many young players with more fans.

A whopping 57 per cent of respondents said they’d go with Horvat if given a free voucher to buy a jersey. No other Canuck received more than 10 per cent of the vote and only two (Henrik Sedin with eight per cent and Eddie Lack with seven per cent) got more than five.

As if that wasn’t enough, Horvat finished second to Radim Vrbata in polling on the Canucks’ best player this past season.

The favoured prospect to be the next Horvat, among those polled, is Jake Virtanen. He was 2014’s sixth overall pick but just finished an underwhelming post-shoulder-surgery season in which his goals-per-game dropped from 0.63 in his draft year to 0.42.

Interesting that Linden Vey, another rookie, finished with one fewer point than Horvat but was picked as the second-biggest disappointment, trailing only Bieksa.

Not sure what fans were expecting from Bieksa to make him such a disappointment.

More than half the poll’s respondents want to see Vey, Bieksa and Higgins on different teams come October.

The poll’s most substantial surprise appeared to be saved for the net. The respondents’ first choice in picking the tandem for next year was to go back to the way 2014-15 started.

The winning combination was Ryan Miller as the No. 1 and Eddie Lack as the backup. That option received 37 per cent of the vote.

At first, this runs counter to the ongoing narrative that Lack is the crowd-pleaser who has more fans.

However, a closer look at the six options — three of which had Miller as the No. 1 and three offering the starting spot to Lack — shows 56 per cent preferred options with Lack as the starter compared to 44 per cent for Miller.

Fans do remain behind the new management. The majority rated the individual performances of Trevor Linden, Jim Benning and Willie Desjardins a four out of five in their first year.

And, in the exercise’s one slam dunk, 93 per cent of those polled think life is better with Desjardins than it was with John Tortorella.

Not even the disappointing loss to the Flames in the first round deterred respondents. Only 18 per cent said the season did not meet their expectations. Just 25 per cent said they’d have lower expectations for next year.

A few other results from the survey:

twitter.com/botchford

http://blogs.theprovince.com/2015/05/04/the-fans-verdict-how-you-rate-the-canucks-season/

[ken kaniff]

The season was a success. The post season was a huge letdown.

[HC20.0]

The season was a success. The post season was a huge letdown.

Good way to sum up the season. We made the playoffs and were once again an exciting team to watch. I very much enjoyed the season. Really let down in the playoffs however. Calgary is a very beatable team and we iced a much better roster. We should've had no trouble with this series. That was a big let down.

[TimberWolf]

The season was a success. The post season was a huge letdown.

I think the season was a success based on a lowered expectation.

Just make the playoffs? That's what a young rebuilding team strives for.

[CRAZY_4_NAZZY]

A great year spoiled after a underwhelming playoff performance.

Proud of the boys regardless but it sure stings the way we were eliminated

[TimberWolf]

While it's possible the attendance goes down because of a youth movement the reality is that it's already going down with the same faces getting pushed around.

That's why Kassian and Bo got some of the biggest cheers this year. Give us some more of that.

Will we see it? Well WD claims that Burr was the best fit for the Sedins all season so while I do not know that plan I do worry we will get more of the same if he's too dialed in to the old ways.

[Qwags]

The season was a success. The post season was a huge letdown.

Regular season: A+.

Playoffs: C-, could be lower, but no one really expected us to make the playoffs in the first place.

Overall: B. Could have been far worse given the Year of Torts.

[2SKATES1STICK]

From The Province Sports:

Interesting that Linden Vey, another rookie, finished with one fewer point than Horvat but was picked as the second-biggest disappointment, trailing only Bieksa.

Vey had more ice time and had significant top-unit power play time, and still produced less.

6 fewer even strength points in 7 more GP than a player 4 years younger.

[desiboynux4lifee*******]

The season B+

The playoffs C-

[JamesB]

Vey had more ice time and had significant top-unit power play time, and still produced less.

6 fewer even strength points in 7 more GP than a player 4 years younger.

Glad someone made this point. It is important use data when expressing opinions, but it is also important to use data correctly.

Saying that Vey "scored almost as much as Horvat" is true but very misleading, for the reasons pointed out above.

In addition, Horvat did a lot of other things like contribute to the physical game, win face-offs, play shutdown against top centers in the league in key situations, and, remarkably, even contributed more to the speed game than Vey. These are things that help the team but do not necessarily show up in a player's own scoring numbers.

Also, Bo improved markedly over the year. Vey did not. His production actually declined, although WD claimed he was playing better. (I think WD was just being supportive, as he usually is. By the eye test and by the numbers Vey did not improve over the year.)

And Bo was 19 for most of the year. Vey was 23. That explains why Bo improved a lot and Vey improved very little. Improvement rates are very high at ages 18, 19, and 20, and pretty slow by age 23 as players are not far off peak performance by that age.

For Bo to be as good as he was at age 19 is a huge positive -- the first really good forward prospect the team has had since Kesler broke in, and better than Kesler was at the same age.

So it is pretty obvious why the fans are high on Bo and disappointed with Vey.

[TheLastStandingCloutierFan]

8/10

They did great and were actually fun to watch this year!

[sharnhayre]

I give this year a 7/10.

If we would've made it to the 2nd round of the playoffs, I would've been content and considered this season a success.

We had a great regular season, overcame adversity and injuries and made the playoffs. The players all looked like they wanted to be here and seemed alot happier with the culture of the team compared to last year.

Our playoff performance though was a huge disappointment.

[-AJ-]

Based against my expectations, not objective performance:

Season grade: A

Playoff grade: C+

My playoff grade is higher than most because I expected us to go in 5 or 6 games in the first round. The fact that it was Calgary changed things a bit, as I was then expecting a 7-game series win. Regardless, we did bring it to 6 games, better than we've done in a long time.

[TOMapleLaughs]

The fans are currently at grumpy cat level status now when it comes to this team and the delay of the rebuild.

If things like insane trades happen to delay it further, then the team shouldn't have to worry about the fans, because they may vanish outright.

The thing is fans here are smart. They know what is needed and they're prepared to see it through. If the Canucks don't see it too then wow, I don't know if anything but an extended dark period is ahead.

ps. Merely 'getting younger' isn't a solution either.

[Honky Cat]

I was happy with the regular season..It was a good turnaround when most of the experts had us headed for the basement of the Western Conference....Obviously,playoffs were a letdown..not because of who we lost to..but how we lost.

[TOMapleLaughs]

It's unfortunate that by the time the Sedins' contract is up, Canucks fans are going to be ready to send them off with yesterday's trash. This is what happened with Naslund and Bertuzzi. I think it stems from the notion that regular season accomplishments don't amount to jack squat, and unfortunately all those players listed above have been underwhelming for us in the playoffs. Compare them to Bure and Linden, who are still regarded as gods here, even though Bure torched this team before leaving and Linden's reg. season stats were never all that great.

Maybe in this 'winning culture' we are supposedly developing here, the Sedins will be sent off in a more respectable way. That will likely take an increase in playoff heroics, but we will see. Rest assured their numbers will be retired here regardless as they have been our best players for over a decade.

[Miss Korea Bob.Loblaw]

I think the season was a success based on a lowered expectation.

Just make the playoffs? That's what a young rebuilding team strives for.

Right. Just making the playoffs is absolutely meaningless for veterans in their mid-30s. Guys like the Sedins and Bieksa want the cup, not a couple of playoff games.

[hockeydude474]

my grade = A

- Made the play offs with a 100 point season

- Played an entertaining style

- Not bothered that we lost to Calgary. Honestly, they are a much better team than us.

- Didn't rush rookies into the line up

[desiboynux4lifee*******]

The fans are currently at grumpy cat level status now when it comes to this team and the delay of the rebuild.

If things like insane trades happen to delay it further, then the team shouldn't have to worry about the fans, because they may vanish outright.

ps. Merely 'getting younger' isn't a solution either.

I think getting young is the solution. Me personally, will go to games to see guys like Virtanen, Gaunce, Shinkurak showing something new and special. I think the fans are bored out of their minds from the core. If Benning doesn't start getting rid of the core, I can see empty seats. However, if he brings in young players I can see people still at the games. In short, the fans are sick of the core.

They all had way too many chances and now it's time to clean house.

[TOMapleLaughs]

I think getting young is the solution. Me personally, will go to games to see guys like Virtanen, Gaunce, Shinkurak showing something new and special. I think the fans are bored out of their minds from the core. If Benning doesn't start getting rid of the core, I can see empty seats. However, if he brings in young players I can see people still at the games. In short, the fans are sick of the core.

They all had way too many chances and now it's time to clean house.

People will come and see new guys, but if those new guys aren't getting the job done when it matters most, the urge to see them will fade. ie. Virtanen and Horvat are a start, but there is much more work to be done to honestly build some excitement again around here, let lone a winner.