FanHouse Alain Vigneault

The Vancouver Canucks have come a long way as an offensive team. This group is much more dangerous than previous Canuck teams, and it's a big part of why they're considered a legitimate threat to win the Stanley Cup.

That said, Vancouver still thrives with their defense. Coming off a big-time meltdown in Game 2 of the Western Conference semifinals against Chicago, the Canucks got some bad news. One of their main defensive cogs is going to miss Tuesday's Game 3 in Chicago.

When you watch the Vancouver Canucks, you have to be impressed with their ability to take over a game they're hardly dominant in. Sometimes, it just works that way for you.

If you're a Canuck fan, you ride it as long as you can. The opportunistic Canucks started right where they left off after their sweep of St. Louis, taking a big lead through two periods while being outshot. They then proceeded to blow the lead, and needed a late Sami Salo goal to beat Chicago 5-3.

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The NHL cranks up the conference semifinals Thursday night, as Chicago opens their series at Vancouver. With both teams off impressive opening-round victories, who has the advantage? And will we see any hair-pulling theatrics this time around?

After seven straight losses, and on the heels of blowing another two-goal home lead Wednesday against Nashville, the Vancouver Canucks held a spirited workout Thursday.

By "spirited", I mean "we nearly had a fight". These types of things are going to happen when you have two points in seven games, and you're on the verge of taking yourself out of serious contention in the Western Conference. The Canucks are out of the top eight for the moment, facing the always-tough Minnesota Wild on Saturday, and with every game they don't win, they're putting more pressure on coach Alain Vigneault.

With Mats Sundin signed and ready to play, and captain Roberto Luongo back in net, some idiot wrote on FanHouse that the Canucks were rounding into form as a Western Conference contender. After all, they had a bunch of home games, they had weathered the storm while Luongo was out, and Sundin was going to give them a pivot for their second line.

It all made sense on paper. But, as we learn all the time, hockey is a game best played on ice, not paper. The Canucks have gained exactly two points in their last seven games, and along the way, they've found some creative ways to lose games. Wednesday night, it was the penalty kill's turn.

Most NHL players would probably tell you that while Training Camp(!) fills them with some excitement of the season to come, the grueling two-a-day workouts, bag skates, and defensive drills are about as fun as driving through rush hour traffic. Just get the games going!

Canucks players will be happy to know, then, that their training camp will be a nice, compact TWO days long. Sure, there are still practices to be had between meaningless pre-season games, but the Canucks' vets won't have to put up with too many monotonous workouts before getting some in-game action.

Is this coach Alain Vigneault being nice? Nope, it's the CBA.

According to the CBA, training camp (preseason) can be no longer than 20 days for veteran players. Still, the Canucks are returning to Whistler for their NHL training camp this year, but the on-ice portion there will be two days -- down from three last year at Bear Mountain Resort, near Victoria.

"That's just the way it is," said Vigneault. "In those 20 days we have to get the team ready for the regular season. We have 12 days to practice and we play seven (preseason) games."

Quite honestly, I've never understood why the preseason has to be as long as it is. Today's players, with the exception of a few Kyle Wellwood-types, are in peak condition thanks to grueling off-season training regimens. Do the players really need to spend almost a month playing meaningless pre-season games and practicing the same stuff they've been doing for decades?

Given how short the off-season is for some clubs, especially those teams that go deep into the playoffs, I'm sure many players would appreciate an even shorter preseason. Scrap a couple of exhibition games, especially the ones where it's mostly prospects that won't even make the opening night lineup, and start the actual season a bit sooner.

Of course, that just makes TOO much sense for the NHL to consider, and we can't have them losing precious preseason ticket revenue, can we?

All is not well in Lotusland, as the Canucks are off to a poor 5-7-0 start and look nothing like the team that tore the NHL apart during the 2nd half of last season.

With the losses piling up, coach Alain Vigneault has gone public with his displeasure of his troops' play, and now the troops aren't happy.

First, Vigneault called out his top offensive players for not being gritty enough and for slackin off ala Todd Bertuzzi. Captain Markus Naslund huffed and puffed, stated his displeasure with Vigneault's system, and then proceeded to have one of his worst games of the season in a 3-2 loss to the Red Wings. Obviously, the message was heard loud and clear.

Vigneault later called out Willie Mitchell, specifically, for not playing up to his usual standards. As you can imagine, Mitchell ain't too pleased about that.

Defenceman Willie Mitchell chose his words carefully but it was clear Monday he was annoyed by the public criticism directed at him by coach Alain Vigneault following the Vancouver Canucks' loss to the Detroit Red Wings.

Some things should stay in the dressing room, Mitchell said.

"If people are unhappy with things, (as a) player you'd like to have that addressed," he said. "You don't like to hear about it through the media most of the time. That's his way of motivating I guess.

"I'm a player. I just go out and play and try and do my best. If he's not happy with what I'm doing I have to listen and dig in a little deeper and do a better job."

Vigneault's public criticisms seems to have backfired on him, and is only causing more bad feelings between him and his players. Although Vigneault is certainly right about all of his musings, choosing a public forum to do so is risky business. When dealing with a bunch of athlete egos, it's usually wise not to embarrass them publicly. If the Canucks continue to lose, and Vigneault continues his public declarations, the bad feelings will continue to grow, the losses will continue to pile up, and the death spiral will be irreversible. For all involved, it's time to shut up and put up.

Okay, so maybe that's not one of my better jokes, but wIth the NHL Awards Ceremony tonight this is to serve as a reminder of just who is in the running for the one named after dear Gomez's long-lost Canadian cousin, Jack, which goes to the NHL Coach a bunch of guys in the media think did the best job behind the bench during the regular season.

The Nominees are:

Lindy Ruff (Buffalo): The guy currently with his name on the trophy last coached a young and injury-plagued squad to a President's Trophy (another one that means complete jack-all) and, by extension, a division title, in what was thought at the outset of the season as one of the toughest divisions in the NHL. So much for predictions. The Sabres 113 points and 53 wins were impressive enough, but to do so when at one point having to work with no less than 8 starters out with long-term injuries was the highlight of this past campaign for Ruff. Points need to be deducted for never getting the Special Teams on track, which proved to be the team's Achilles Hell against Ottawa in the ECF.

Michel Therrien (Pittsburgh): The Pens were a pathetic excuse for a hockey club before Therrien took over during the 2005-06 season. He immediately put in place such radical concepts as accountability, professionalism and playing defense. The result was a 47 point increase in the standings, a goal differential that went from -72 to +31 and a team capable of playing 7 games over .500 on the road. For a solid three month stretch from January to March, the Pens were the most exciting and confident group of hockey players in the Eastern Conference.. It's not hard to give some of the credit to the coaching staff. Points should be deducted because he has the best player in the League and a slew of Top 5 picks all coming into their own at the same time. Good talent makes the coach look good.

Alain Vigneault (Vancouver): Of the three coaches in this list Vigneault is here because no man did more with less than him. He realized nearly immediately that he didn't have the offensive horses to do anything other than rely on his brilliant goaltender my-long-lost-cousin Roberto (really no relation -- comma dammit) and win a bunch of tough tight-checking, one-goal games. His Canucks did just that, and did it so well, that they won the truly toughest division in the NHL, the Northwest. The difference between his first year and Calgary's Jim Playfair's is a true study in opposites. The Canucks this year gave up a staggering 54 fewer goals than a year ago. As well, they scored 34 less but won 7 more games and improved 13 points. Those small differences make the difference between winning the division and missing the playoffs. Points to be deducted for not getting any offense from Marcus Naslund and owning the game's best goalie.

For the record, I think this is a tight race, with Ruff running third. His is a good story, but not the compelling, eye-popping one of Therrien's. So, when the votes are counted, I'd say the order runs Therrien, Vigneault, Ruff. Now, getting me to watch the cheese-fest tonight? That's a bet I wouldn't make.

Ta,

The Sedins do everything together, including water aerobics, eating ice cream, buying condos, and cycling the puck in the offensive zone.

The Sedin twins are known for having some kind of psychic connection on the ice, and they have rarely ever been apart, save for penalty-killing situations.

Well, desperate times call for drastic measures, and it seems the twins will probably be split apart for Game Five:

"Obviously, they have played so well together all year long, they have been our best offensive players, but right now in the playoffs, except for maybe Game 1 and Game 7 of the Dallas series, they haven't been as good as they have been all year long," [coach] Vigneault told the Vancouver Sun. "They seem to be skating in quicksand on different nights. I know they want to do well and they want to be the go-to guys, but right now their game is not as good as it was during the season."

Not quite as good? That's quite understating it, don't ya think?

Henrik Sedin: An amazing 71 assists and 81 points in 82 regular season games compared to 2 assists and 4 points in 11 playoff games. Henrik's slap-pass on the Power Play is far too predictable and he's not having much luck connecting on his feeds. His team-worst -6, playing mostly head-to-head against opposing checking lines, is downright awful.

Daniel Sedin: Led the Canucks with 84 points in 81 games, but has just 5 in 11 playoff games. He actually leads the NHL in playoff shots (48), but has been snake-bit and also generating fairly low-quality chances. He needs to get to the front of the net more often.

The real issue is that the Sedin's can't or won't kick their game into another gear. While a guy like Trevor Linden is noticeably working harder and hitting anything that moves, the Sedins are cruising around at the same speed and intensity that they were in the regular season.

That just won't do ... so, maybe this wake-up call will do something. It has to, or the Canucks are finished.

After a frustrating and ugly win in Game Two, the Canucks' fans suffered through a similar kind of game. Only this time, the result was a defeat; A 3-2 loss to the no-longer-Mighty Ducks.

While the Canucks outplayed the Ducks and managed to draw eight different Power Play opportunities, the Canucks managed to score just once with the man advantage, and truly failed to make the Ducks pay for their lack of discipline. Even Naslund's Power Play goal was rather fluky, and certainly didn't give the Canucks the kind of confidence boost they needed. The PP for the Canucks is now 4-for-58 in the playoffs, and is costing them far too many winnable games.

The Ducks? They make it look so damn easy! They get five power plays, and score twice! The second, from Corey Perry, gave the Ducks a 3-2 lead they never lost.

"I thought five-on-five we were good again, but the difference was obviously special teams," [Canucks coach] Vigneault said. "Theirs were better than ours. It was a tight game and we had some chances at the end, but couldn't get it done."

The Ducks have certainly looked beatable in the past two games, with the Canucks outworking the Ducks at even strength. Once the Power Play stats? *psssssssst*, the air goes out of the tires.

How can a team screw up TWO 5-on-3's, as the Canucks did, and expect to win any playoff games? Yes, Anaheim has a fine PK unit, but the Canucks make it easy on them when nobody is driving to the net. When Corey Perry scored his PP tally, there was a Duck with his feathered behind right in front of Luongo's face. J-S Giguere is getting off far too easily.

What's the solution? Henrik Sedin on the point? Bad idea! (What was Vigneault thinking?) Bench the Sedins on the Power Play? That might work. If Anaheim puts their top PK unit on the ice to start off, why not hold back the Sedins until the second half of the Power Play, when Anaheim has an inferior unit on the ice? It's something to consider.