sports@theotherpress.ca

 

Garth McLennan

  

  

 

Division. While goals have still been hard to come by, Luongo has been playing better
than any other goalie in the league. He already has five shutouts, which at the quarter
mark of the year is pretty remarkable. The injury news only got worse when it was
revealed that winger Steve Bernier will be sidelined for a significant period of time with
shoulder and toe problems. Meanwhile, shot blocking expert Ryan Johnson is also hurt.
He’s suffered a broken finger and is expected to miss at least a month of action.

While Luongo being out certainly isn’t good for the Canucks’ immediate fortunes,
it does present an otherwise difficult to attain opportunity for Vancouver. With their
first round draft pick in 2004, Vancouver selected goalie Cory Schneider, who had a
distinguished college career at Boston College, and since then he has been touted as
a can’t miss NHL prospect who has been honing his game steadily with Vancouver’s
American Hockey League affiliate club, the Manitoba Moose. Schneider was recalled
from the farm when Luongo went down.

So, with Luongo’s injury and a hectic road schedule, it is more than reasonable
to assume that Schneider will get his first serious look at prime time NHL action with
the Canucks. This should be a good indication for both the franchise and its fans as to
how their top prospect is progressing. It’s only a good thing for Vancouver if Schneider
shines. It is unlikely that he will ever be a permanent starter in Vancouver with Roberto
Luongo entrenched in the position and playing upwards of 70 games per year, so a few
star performances from Schneider would make things a lot easier for general manager

What Canucks fans should remember is that making the NHL as a goaltender is
much harder to do than it is as a forward or defenseman. There are only sixty goalies in
the league at any given time, so all of them are extremely talented and capable. So far,
Sanford has done a solid job of battening down the hatch and while he won’t do it nearly
as well as Luongo can, Vancouver can rest assured that the fortunes of their team are in
good hands.

 

a Mike Gillis when he opts to dangle Schneider as trade bait.

 

 

 

 

Whe re are they Mow sy cscs scrcsn. spose

 

 

   

=

Marc Crawford

On April 26", 2006, the Vancouver
Canucks fired head coach, Mare Crawford,
after the team failed to progress past

the second round of the playoffs. After
leaving Vancouver, where he had helmed
the squad for seven years, it didn’t take
Crawford long to get himself hired by
another NHL club, the Los Angeles Kings.

During his tenure in Vancouver,
the Canucks steadily improved before
reaching a plateau. In L.A., Crawford
never got into the playoffs. He entered
a situation where the Kings were the
joke of the league. Crawford, bringing
injury-prone goaltender Dan Cloutier with
him from Vancouver, didn’t help either.
Cloutier’s stats bottomed out and the
King’s record sunk even further.

Not surprisingly, Crawford was fired
by team management after two dismal
seasons. With Los Angeles, the best
Crawford could do was compile a less
than satisfactory record of 59-84-21.

Since his firing, Crawford has taken
up a role as a television analyst for TSN.
He is also embroiled in the never-ending
Steve Moore lawsuit as he is one of the
defendants named in the suit.

 

 

Mike Johnston

Johnston worked as Marc Crawford’s
understudy for a long time as assistant
coach with the Vancouver Canucks,
and when Crawford was fired in 2006
and went to the Kings, Johnston’s
tenure with the team also ended.

He was seriously considered
to be the team’s new head coach,
as he had been long touted as such,
but management opted to go ina
new direction as it was thought that
Johnston would be too much like his
predecessor. So, when Alain Vigneault
became Vancouver’s new coach,
Johnston re-joined Crawford, this
time in Los Angeles, as his primary
assistant.

The Kings didn’t improve under a
Crawford-Johnston administration, and
the entire coaching staff was released
unconditionally this past summer.
While Crawford moved into hockey
television work, Johnston surprisingly
went to the major junior ranks as the
new head coach and general manager
for the Portland Winter Hawks. Since
he took the helm, the Hawks have
dramatically improved and are now
thought of as one of the WHL’s up-
and-coming teams.

 

 

 

Mike Keenan

The man responsible for leading the
Canucks into the tank during the late
1990’s, “Iron” Mike Keenan, is currently
the bench boss for Vancouver’s division
rivals, the Calgary Flames. He accepted
that post in June 2007 after several years
off from coaching.

The reason for Keenan’s break was
that after an increasingly messy divorce
from the Florida Panthers, Kennan was
rumored to be blackballed from the NHL.
In April of 2007, he even took up the
role of senior advisor to the Swedish Ice
Hockey Association after he failed to find
work in North America.

While Keenan is the fifth winningest
coach in NHL history, he is also infamous
for his brutal coaching style. He regularly
screams at his players in the middle of
games, has pulled his goalie in the second
period, has switched his netminders several
times in a single period, and deals players
like trading cards. It was only after Calgary
GM Darryl Sutter stepped down from the
coaching job and decided to give Keenan a
final chance that he returned to the NHL.

 

 

 

Pat Quinn

One of the best coaches in Vancouver
history, Pat Quinn has long since moved
on from the Vancouver Canucks, and he’s
been to several prominent places since.
Two years after leaving the Canucks,
Quinn accepted a head coaching position
with the Toronto Maple Leafs. He guided
the Leafs back to respectability, but when
they failed to attain significant playoff
success, he was fired at the conclusion of
the 2005-06 season.

That was the last time Quinn coached
in the NHL, but he’s remained active in
coaching international teams. He dubiously
led Canada to a disastrous ninth place
finish at the 2006 Winter Olympics, but
took silver at the Spengler Cup that year.

He would work sporadically as a TSN
analyst until 2008, when he would take up
the coaching reigns for the Canadian U-18
team, which won gold in dominant fashion.
A short time later, Quinn was named the
head coach for Canada’s national junior
team. In 2007, he became a minority owner
of the Vancouver Giants.

 

 

17