he Vancouver Canucks are in the stretch

drive heading into the playoffs and while

a post-season berth is a virtual guarantee
at this point, just how well the Canucks will do
when the best time of the year rolls around is
another matter entirely.

Ryan Kesler, Alex Burrows, Mason
Raymond, Mikael Samuelsson and the Sedin
twins have all had breakthrough, career years
for Vancouver this season, and they also all
have one thing in common: they’re all forwards.
Yes, the Canucks have exceed all reasonable
expectations this year with their ability to put
to put the puck in the net, but what is becoming
an increasingly glaring problem is their lack of
ability to keep the puck out of their own net.

The only Vancouver defender who has done
big things for the Canucks this year has been
Christian Ehrhoff, and his prowess has come
primarily at the offensive end of the rink.

The rest of Vancouver’s blue liners haven’t
done so great. The Canucks lead the entire NHL
in comeback wins this season with 10, but that’s
just as much a testament to their startlingly
consistent giving up of the first goal in the game
as it is of their ability to battle back and win

games. game while
It’s been “The prolonged absences of Willie Mitchell and Kevin playing for
generally ignored Bieksa have really uncovered the lack of depth on the Sjoykaia and
by the media, Vancouver blue line.” is looking like
but the bulk of the $4 million

Vancouver’s comeback wins have mostly come
against less than cream of the crop competition.
It’s a lot easier to come back from two or three
goals down against the Torontos and Columbus’
of the league then it is against legitimate playoff
contenders. That was proven definitively when
Vancouver fell behind early to Chicago back on
March 5 and never recovered.

The prolonged absences of Willie Mitchell
and Kevin Bieksa have really uncovered the lack
of depth on the Vancouver blue line. Ehrhoff
has been great, but Alex Edler has given the
puck away with the worst of them, and often at
the most inopportune moments, Shane O’Brien
has shown he’s good for at least two truly bone-
headed plays per game, Nolan Baumgartner has
been pretty much what you would expect from a
career minor leaguer while Aaron Rome is hard
pressed to move the puck at all. Andrew Alberts,
Mike Gillis’ lone trade deadline pickup, has re-
defined the word slow and has made everyone
wonder how in the hell he was a plus player

20

   
    

Garth McLennan

sports editor

down in Carolina for most of the year.

All of this has really further called into
question Gillis’ decision to stand pat at the
deadline. It’s crystal clear by now that Alberts
isn’t providing any sort of stability to the
defence corps. The only reason why that
hellacious 14 game road trip went as well as it
did was because the above mentioned forwards
were able to score the team out of trouble when
the situation called for it. Why Gillis didn’t
address the lack of depth on the back end when
he had the chance is anybody’s guess.

Consider this: This year the Vancouver
Canucks reached the 40-win plateau faster than
any previous team in club history. At present
they have six forwards who should comfortably
reach the 25-goal level and exceed 60 points
with ease. That includes Henrik Sedin, who’s
battling with Alex Ovechkin for the overall
scoring title and who, along with Daniel Sedin,
is among the very best in the NHL in points-
per-game. They have one of the game’s elite
goaltenders in Roberto Luongo, who even if
he hasn’t been at his best of late just helped
lead Canada to Olympic gold. They have Pavol
Demitra, who has magically resurrected his

player he was signed to be.

Basically, there was no reason to suggest
that this wasn’t the year Vancouver could take
a real run at the Stanley Cup. So why didn’t
Gillis go out and pick up Tomas Kaberle, the
great rushing defenseman from Toronto, or Dan
Hambhuis from Nashville? Yes, we all know he’s
made the argument that he wasn’t prepared to
part with the team’s best prospects and draft
picks and that the prices were just too high, but
Gillis said the same thing last year, and look
how that turned out.

The simple fact of the matter is that if
you believe your team has a real shot at a long
playoff run, you find a way to make your club
better. You go out and bolster your line-up.
Gillis didn’t do that, and he showed that he
doesn’t have a ton of confidence in this edition
of the Canucks. If the playoffs roll around,
and Vancouver’s defence is once again getting
shredded by the likes of Chicago or San Jose,
Gillis should have to answer for that. Christian Ehrhoff