Canucks 2012-2013 Aftermath

Here's my take on the end of the Canucks season.  I've given it a couple of days.  I've digested it.  I've calmed down.  Much like Vancouver Canucks GM Mike Gillis intimated in his end of season media address about not making emotional decisions, I didn't want to write this in the heat of the moment in a heightened emotional state.  You won't read a hysterical rant about the Canucks' terrible play and the absolutely abysmal and game-affecting officiating throughout their 1st round series with the San Jose Sharks.  For that, you can read my twitter feed leading up to and immediately after whatever that was that Kelly Sutherland thought he saw
from a couple of hundred feet away in OVERTIME of an ELIMINATION PLAYOFF GAME. No, you won't get a rant if that's what you're looking for.  I've calmed down.  Yes, the San Jose Sharks were TREATED to a 26-10 advantage in power-plays in FOUR games, but that's not what I'm going to talk about.  But before I get into it, let that sink in for a moment.  TWENTY-SIX to TEN disparity in man advantages in a FOUR GAME PLAYOFF SERIES.  I mean, you have really got to TRY HARD to get it THAT uneven.  There were a whole pile of terrible calls and non-calls and it seemed as though EVERY SINGLE ONE of them went against the Canucks.  I mean, refs make mistakes.  Its human nature.  Its a tough job, granted.  But THAT MANY obvious gaffes and ALL of them go against the SAME TEAM???  REALLY???? You've got Sharks throwing pucks out of their zone with their hands and sweeping pucks out of their own net with their hands with impunity...and people aren't gonna be left to wonder what kind of joke officiating this league is serving up in the playoffs?

But that's not what this blog post is about.  We're going to talk about the end to the Canucks terrible season where they were swept in four games by the 6 seeded San Jose Sharks who better pray they continue to get a 2.6:1 power play ratio against the Blackhawks in the next round if they even stand a chance.
The Canucks got swept.  Yes, the officiating hurt them.  A LOT.  But, really, they weren't playing well enough to win this series.  Even if that bag of hammers behind the bench was smart enough to leave the red-hot Luongo in the line-up instead of putting in an ice-cold, recently injured Cory Schneider and Luongo stood on his head.  If Luongo managed, somehow to pull it out of the bag, they would surely have been destroyed in the 2nd round anyways.

Fact is, this team is not playing up to their potential.  The coach has got to go.

For the record, I think Alain Vigneault is a good coach.   I think it was a good move bringing him in 7 years ago.  I think he was exactly what this team needed at the time.  However, he has showed in recent years that he has peaked.  He has hit a ceiling.  He has constantly been out-coached in the playoffs.  Basically, the Canucks only win when the goalie stands on his head AND the Sedins/Kesler give them 3 or more goals.   If they don't do that, they lose.  they have no back-up plan.  Absolutely no effective adjustments are ever made when the opposition figures them out.

In short, it was basically a wasted season.  Another season of this core's peak playing years wasted.  To put it bluntly it was one, giant clusterfuck of a season.  Everything that could possibly go wrong went wrong.  Injuries galore, goalie controversy, a baffling suspension, a terrible power-play that the coaching staff just couldn't or wouldn't fix, biased refs, and so on and so on.

Best to put this one in the rear-view and focus on next season.  More on that to come,

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