It’s the end of Vigneault as we know it (and I feel fine)
Jan 16th, 2009 | By Mike | Category: Canucks = Fail, Incessant Bitching, RantsRight now, nothing he tries is working. But what’s not working most of all is the team, since Sundin’s arrival. It might be coincidence, but I kind of don’t think so.
All I know is, many more stinkers like Thursday, and it could come down to this:
Not Vigneault’s fault, but his responsibility.
It might not be the right answer, but it is an answer.
No no, it IS the right answer. There’s a time to be diplomatic and a time for action.
Management already got to be diplomatic this past summer when Vigneault’s neck was last on the line. We all did; newspapers, blogs, radio shows and countless sideline coaches and hockey moms all got to play the pros/cons game of keeping him around after the team tanked in the final weeks of last March.
A mere five months after he got a pass from Gillis (almost as long as it took Sundin to figure out he wanted to come back and sit in the penalty box as a Canuck) lady luck has shown brightly again: we’re tanking in January instead of March. Maybe that’s a good thing because there is still time and lots that needs to change, such as:
Fact: Six straight losses at home, tying a franchise record they set in the year the team debuted (’70-’71)
Fact: Three points from being out of the playoff hunt
Fact: In two straight they haven’t bothered to show up in the first period, much less the remaining two
Fact: They have zero confidence or flow to their game (you want a particularly sadistic drinking game? Everytime a Canuck misses a pass from a teammate, pound a shot)
Fact: This team has become what the critics wanted them to be in the beginning of the year – a team with no chance in hell of competing.
In an effort to find some semblance of identity in 2008 alone, the Canucks booted their old captain (two if you count Linden’s treatment), shed the vestiges of the past (Morrison) and canned the old GM for not getting it done when he had a chance to make a difference. In their place they took the unorthodox steps of naming an agent their GM and a goalie their captain and actually brought in high priced free agents (in Demitra and Sundin).
New look, same result.
Forget the Jack Adams; anyone who uses that claim isn’t paying attention to (a) how the hell he got that award (re: Luongo) and (b) what the team has done since he got that award. He’s failed to get the best out of the players he’s been given. He can’t juggle lines effectively (Naslund with Isbister? How about Sundin with Hordichuk?) and yet continues to do so. All the while he has consistently coached teams that have been in the bottom of the league in scoring EXCEPT this year. Well that’s great only now they’re not winning anymore. Or scoring. Or playing with a level of confidence your average beer league team would have.
Read this brutal account of last night’s game, just two days after they played their worst game since San Jose a few weeks ago. That sounds like a team not destined for the first round. It sounds like a team waiting for something to get better. Anything.
So what happens now?
1. They keep Vigneault and turn it around when Luongo & Sundin everyone decides to collectively play better. They’ll make the playoffs and we’ll all forget the month of January ever happened.
2. They keep Vigneault and continue to tank. They move everyone possible for picks in March and rebuild (the likes of which we haven’t seen in a long, long time) over the summer.
3. They fire Vigneault out of a cannon, get a new, strong coaching voice in there and try to keep up with the rest of the surging Western conference now. Before it’s too late.
We know #1 isn’t real and #2 is just too infuriating to think about with the season just half over. Unless we really want to challenge the Islanders for the #1 pick in June, we’re left with #3. With apologies to Cole, this IS the right answer.
Denis Savard was fired by the Blackhawks just four games into the season because of a losing streak and a fear offseason expectations weren’t going to be met. And my oh my have the Hawks benefited. Peter Laviolette was canned in December from a team he won the Cup with but was battling “consistency” issues. Melrose – the aslyum nature of Tampa aside – was also losing and not getting the best out of players, at least the few he wasn’t benching.
No more excuses. No more games like last night (or like against the Devils or the Sharks or the Caps). No more. It’s nothing personal Alain. It’s just time.
Pull the trigger Mike.
January 16th, 2009 11:10 am
It’s odd. Last night Nucks d-men were tripping over their own feet, losing their sticks struggling to handle the puck. A loss, or even 5, I can deal with if it’s hard fought good hockey.
What happened the last few games was not good hockey.
IMHO good offense starts from the defence. The Canucks defence lately have been handling the puck like a hot potato. Passing laterally lots, passing back lots. This makes it hard for the forwards to generate speed and flow. But….of course….I’m no expert.
January 16th, 2009 11:53 am
Laker – I hear ya. It’s not like these are all bad bounce losses. The team isn’t even there. When the break down is as obvious as they’re flubbing passes in their own zone, falling down in the neutral zone and disappearing in their zone, who do you blame for that?
I’m no expert either but I think it starts at the coaching level. This team has the talent, it just needs the direction.
January 16th, 2009 12:28 pm
being a canuck fan living in alberta, i was watching the flames v sharks last night. i flipped over to nhl tv now and then trying to catch a live look-in of the canucks and the contrast between those two games was unbelievable. i couldn’t help but think that the next time vancouver plays a good team they’ll lose a million to nothing
January 16th, 2009 1:56 pm
Option 3 is the right answer indeed. I haven’t seen their confidence this low since the end of last season. I think that if they beat Columbus in Sunday they’ll be alright. If they don’t: bye-bye AV.
January 16th, 2009 5:34 pm
philb – ironcially, fearthefin.com predicted the last vancouver/san jose game to be like 18,486 – 0. Wasn’t terribly far off.
Zandberg – If Gillis is really patient, I’d imagine they’ll let him slide through San Jose. If they tank the next two, that’s six straight games. He’d have to be a dead man walking after that.
January 16th, 2009 10:41 pm
I think you’re wrong about firing Vigneault. This team was fantastic in November, and was fantastic in the second half of 06-07. They’ve been terrible since Christmas, and were terrible in the second half of 07-08. Same coach the whole time. I just don’t buy the argument that it’s the coach’s fault.
I think there’s three kinds of hockey teams: the great, the awful, and everyone else. This year it’s Detroit and San Jose and Boston that are great, Ottawa and Tampa that are awful. Everyone else is streaky: they have good runs, and bad runs. Vancouver just happens to be on a bad run. It’ll turn around–this team actually IS too talented to play like this for the rest of the season.
Part of the problem with sports analysis (and part of the problem with economic analysis, for that matter) is that it’s too easy for people to draw straight line projections from what’s happening RIGHT NOW.
“Vancouver housing market going up right now? Then it will always go up!”
“Stock market going down right now? Omigod it’s the Great Depression!”
I think Canuck nation should take a collective deep breath. This team is going to be fine. We’ll make the playoffs. We’ll even make the second round. Sooner or later, talent will win out. We’re fine.
In short: don’t just do something… stand there!
January 17th, 2009 8:45 am
Canuckfan – In all honesty, the last thing I am doing is looking at the past 7-10 games and making this argument. I have consistently – since last year if you want to look – said I think AV is the wrong guy for this team. He’s had three different Vancouver teams (though the first two were quite similar) and he’s got one good and one bad season under his belt. The lone difference was the first season where Luongo and the Sedins helped propel this team (a feat I’d argue they likely would have done no matter who was coach, short of Keenan). If Vigneault didn’t have Luongo, he’d have no Jack Adams and this team would be looking at the possibility of three years straight with no post season.
“We’ll make the playoffs. We’ll even make the second round.”
Yeah, I heard that last year. And when Crawford was coaching the WCE for that matter. Since when is the playoffs a sure bet for anyone, be it Tampa or Vancouver?
I’m not saying Vigneault is a bad coach. I am saying this team, which does have a great deal of talent, isn’t playing like a team that cares. There’s lots of blame to go around, but with all the changes from the back office to the ice in the last three years, the coach is the only piece left untouched. Several NHL coaches have lost their jobs for far less and it goes without saying (but I’ll say it anyway) that we know coaches in the NHL get a raw deal and don’t last long. Them’s the breaks.
They’ve played the most games of any team in the conference and are two points from being out of the top 8. No way this team makes the playoffs at this rate. And if/when they turn it around and begin fighting for every single point, remember January when they pissed away 14 of them.
January 17th, 2009 12:10 pm
The team is playing to fire the coach. Just like they did down the
stretch last year.
Fire him, or wave goodbye to the playoffs this year too.
July 13th, 2011 12:30 pm
after all that, i’m glad we’re doing ok now.
August 4th, 2011 7:51 pm
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