BURSTAnother night and another loss for your Vancouver Canucks as this time the Ottawa Senators came away with a 2-1 win at the Canadian Tire Centre on Tuesday night.
Newsflash: get used to it.
It was the eighth consecutive loss for Vancouver and the fifth straight on this Eastern road trip, with a stop in Columbus yet to come before the Canucks return to Rogers Arena to begin an eight-game homestand.
That won’t be an elixir for Vancouver either as the team sports an NHL-worst 4-12-3 mark on home ice.
All of this reminds me of a great quote from the 1980’s from then-Canucks head coach Harry Neale.
When asked about his team’s dismal performance, Neale came up with this gem: “Last season we couldn’t win at home. This season we can’t win on the road. My failure as a coach is that I can’t think of anywhere else to play.”
But let’s get back to business.
It’s obvious that the Canucks lack of talent, failure to execute or a combination of both has led to the team’s woeful 16-25-5 record which is good for dead last in the 32-team NHL.
The loss in Ottawa was the first game on the Eastern swing that the Canucks were actually in, having been outscored 21-7 during their previous four games.
“We were right there” is a quote from Vancouver head coach Adam Foote that’s become a punchline on the team’s post-game show.
And to Foote and the Canucks’ defense, on most nights they have been right there. But despite the effort in Ottawa, that hasn’t been the case on this junket.
It’s not a surprise really. You can only expect maximum effort for so long if that effort is not being reinforced by results and the Canucks were not getting the results despite ‘being right there’ in so many games. It’s not to say that the players have ‘quit’ but that extra 5% effort that most of the time is the difference between winning and losing just isn’t there.
So as the season progresses, expect more of what you have seen recently.
The irony of all of this is those fans voicing their displeasure despite calling on the organization to tank. So you want the team to lose to increase the odds of a possible #1 draft pick yet you’re upset when they lose?
What were they expecting? Every game to be a one-goal loss?
Another issue that has fans upset is the allocation of ice time to younger players.
Defenseman Elias Pettersson was sent to Abbotsford earlier this week while defenseman Zeev Buium was a healthy scratch for the 6-3 loss in Montreal on Monday with both moves enraging a large portion of Canucks Nation.
Defenceman Tom Willander then was a healthy scratch against Ottawa after having a rough night in Montreal. Most want more ice time for youngsters to develop and that’s fair considering Pettersson is just 21 while Buium and Willander are only 20.
Personally, I don’t have an issue with taking them out of the lineup.
As I mentioned in last week’s column, ice time has to be earned. That holds even more true for younger players. If a youngster is making repetitive mistakes, taking him out of the lineup sends a message that certain standards have to be met, and if they’re not, you’ll be held accountable.
The last thing you want is for a young player to believe that he is entitled to ice time. People talk about building culture and earning ice time is one of those tenets.
Now I know what you’re thinking.
So it’s okay to scratch Buium and Willander but certain veterans get a pass?
It’s a valid point but you still have a chance to mold a young player and teach him accountability. We all know coaches have a tendency to trust veterans more than rookies and part of that trust is that a veteran will bounce back after a poor performance.
It’s why Brock Boeser continues to play despite not scoring a goal in 21 games and it’s why Evander Kane continues to play despite some questionable sequences.
Besides, the Canucks don’t really have anyone to play in a top-six spot anyway. Remember this is a team with a player at 2C in David Kampf who was jettisoned by the Toronto Maple Leafs earlier this season.
The rest of the season will give the organization an opportunity to see which veterans they can move forward with. I heard my good friend and colleague Jason Brough arguing that the Canucks should know what they have with their veterans.
That’s true to a point but the adversity they are going to face between now and the end of the season is something that most have never experienced before and you know the old line – adversity reveals character.
And there is plenty of adversity yet to come.
OVERTIME
* After Columbus, the Canucks return to Rogers Arena for an eight-game homestand which begins on Saturday, Jan. 17 versus Edmonton. After that, it’s a game every second night versus the Islanders, Washington, New Jersey, Pittsburgh, San Jose, Anaheim and Toronto.
Veteran B.C. sports personality Bob “the Moj” Marjanovich writes about the B.C. sporting scene for Black Press Media. This column is brought to you in part by:
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