Monkey Number 1 Says

HMM - seems the wheels are beginning to fall of the wagon: In keeping with my 'cut and paste' style of late, I offer this up for your reaction:

Last night’s game was the final straw for me…

Whether you read the paper, watch the highlights, peruse the blogs or keep your ear to the ol’ butter churn people are frustrated with the Canucks early season woes.

Have we reached a tipping point? Are we finally ready to wake up and realize what people have been thinking since last year? Are we ready to become Washington Generals fans? We might as well…

Last year’s team was successful after Christmas and managed to win the division. Was this a product of adept coaching, skilled players, a solid system, etc..? Maybe, but I really think that last years’ team overachieved. On the Rik Ocasek sliding scale of overachievement what the Canucks did last year was nothing short of dating an underwear model.

Well, this year all the flaws, all the tarnished, chinks in the armor have begun to emerge:

1. Skill – Currently, if you go down the rosters of the top 8 teams in each conference the Canucks are woefully lacking in skilled forwards. The Sedins and Naslund would be able to be on the first or second line on most of the top 16 teams but as for the rest of our forwards these guys would only be able to crack the third or fourth lines. Now, it’s great that we have some solid third liners but we need a quality second line. A line that takes the scoring pressure off of Henrik and Daniel and removes the top two checking lines and top two defensive pairings off of the Twins. Too many dummies and not enough ventriloquists. I mean, My God!!! How can we be last in the league in shots on net!!!

2. Mediocre goalie play – Luongo is great. I love Luongo. I really do but he has let in his share of soft goals this year and since The Canucks only score in Olympic like fashion (once every 4 periods) he needs to stop those. Sidenote: I’m so sick of people ragging on Cloutier’s “breakdown” in the Detroit Series where Lidstrom scored from the redline. I think Canucks fans are a wee bit myopic when it comes to this gaff because we lost a series last year when our goalie “forgot” that the play was still going and decided to leave the net to argue with the referee allowing the Ducks to pot a series ender. I’m just saying.


3. The Man – Pepsi, McDonalds, Sony – Every business is dependant on their customer. The company supplies a service/good in exchange for money. The better the product (whether it really is better is debatable) the more product you will sell and therefore the more money you will make. How is this gauged? How does the consumer drive this formula? Simple, if they don’t like the product they stop buying it. Pepsi’s foray into the world of clear soda, McDonald’s ramming of the MCDLT down our throats all suffered quick deaths because the consumer said: “This sucks and my dollars will now go elsewhere.” By hurting the company’s bottom line the consumer was able to effect change in the marketplace. The Canucks are a business putting an inferior product on the ice but instead of showing our displeasure by not going, buying merchandise, etc… we continue to make sure that GM Place is perennially sold out, the PPV events are overflowing with cash and that crappy new jersey is sold in droves. If we want change, if we want a better team we have to show our displeasure by boycotting the product. You know, we can be fans but we don’t have to be fanatics. It’s ok to be critical…. It may lead to a better product.


Finally, some other points…

Is the end goal of a sports franchise to make money or to win the trophy? Ask yourself without any bias whatsoever if the Canucks are cup contenders with their current line up? Do you see them as contenders in the next 3-4 years?

Now, project 2 –3 years in the future. Do we have the players on the farm to supplement our team to make them contenders? Have we drafted well enough?

Will Luongo be willing to wait for us to make these adjustments? There is such a finite window to have your ducks in a row or at least in a good enough spot to make a run and with The Sedins and 2/3 of our D Corps getting older? Will we be able to compete for the Cup with an ever shrinking UFA market because of the cap and our shoddy record of drafting and scouting? Oh, the trade route? Well, what quality players would you give up if you were the GM on another team for some of our pluggers and prospects? Maybe Schenider, Bourdon and Edler?

Mason Raymond – Am I the only one that doesn’t see this guy as an NHL talent? I mean, he’s got 0 points, only a handful of shots on net and he’s way too easily pushed around on the ice. He seems to be a second behind everyone else whether it’s D Zone coverage or fanning on a one timer. Nope, he’s a bust.

Vigneault – Ok, this guy was the Jack Adams winner last year so why is he not able to “coach” us out of this slump? What’s changed? Was his pact with Satan only good for one year? Oh, enough with the line juggling. It’s making me dizzy. Leave, The Sedins with Pyatt and go from there. Raymond, Naslund, etc.. are not as good with them as Pyatt is.