Why can't this team score in the playoffs?

[Alan Jackson]

The team is coached to worry more about preventing goals than scoring them.

They're more concerned with zone starts, and systems, and match-ups than they are with going out and actually trying to win.

Players, especially young players, are punished for making mistakes. Guys are afraid to take chances, to make plays.

I can guarantee when the coaches drew up the game plan for the series, the focus was who to match against San Jose's top players, and not how to exploit San Jose's weaknesses to create chances of our own.

The Canucks play scared, and try to win games 0-0.

 

[PhilMick]

How many ******* shots did they take from outside the effing circles last night?

 

[Kickassguy]

While AV may be a factor, you have to be aware of the marketplace -- there isn't much out there worth replacing him with unless you try a shot in the dark and go mine the AHL -- out of which the cream of the crop (Cooper) has already been hired.

Guy Boucher is the one available name worth considering, off the bat.

 

[Tiranis]

While AV may be a factor, you have to be aware of the marketplace -- there isn't much out there worth replacing him with unless you try a shot in the dark and go mine the AHL -- out of which the cream of the crop (Cooper) has already been hired.

Guy Boucher is the one available name worth considering, off the bat.

Decent number of rumours that Red Wings want to part ways with Babcock due to differences over where they think the team is heading (or something like that). Dallas Eakins is a top-notch AHL coach. Guy Boucher is a top coach too and considering how crappy the Lightning remained after his firing, it's pretty clear that he wasn't the problem. Might also be assistants around the league who are ready but I'm not that familiar with the names out there.

There are options.

 

[L4cer8]

No, they're not. Here's a little game I play. When a Canuck forward in the offensive zone shoots the puck, does he curl to the corner or drive the net?

It was a pretty depressing game tonight with regards to that game.

Even when someone had possession in a shooting area, they would hold and wait. So many times I'd see someone double-clutch last night.

 

[Proto]

Decent number of rumours that Red Wings want to part ways with Babcock due to differences over where they think the team is heading (or something like that). Dallas Eakins is a top-notch AHL coach. Guy Boucher is a top coach too and considering how crappy the Lightning remained after his firing, it's pretty clear that he wasn't the problem. Might also be assistants around the league who are ready but I'm not that familiar with the names out there.

There are options.

The thing I like about Boucher is that he's a good systems coach, but he has an edge in terms of risk management. Reportedly Yzerman's problem with him was that Boucher wanted his team to take risks offensively and depending on the situation, trade a chance for a chance because of the offensive personnel on the team. On a team like Vancouver, that could work.

 

[Jyrki]

Also what pisses me off is that the Sedins play like they have all the time in the world to do something and hang on to the puck when they have a moment in the slot. Just ****ing shoot.

 

[13 others]

We have no snipers + Our winger depth is bad

 

[luongo321]

In an interview a day or two before game 1, one of the sedins was talking about the dallas series/turco and how they had lots of shots, but a lot of them were easy shots. He was talking about how you needed certain shots if you wanted to score and that they needed to this against niemi (traffic, etc).

Last night, I saw one of them double-clutch on a perfect one-timer. No one was really in front, but if you get it off quick enough you have to try it. Based on what that sedin said a few days ago, it seems to me that the sedins are thinking too hard about their shot selection. No confidence. Throw that damn puck on net and stop waiting so friggin long. Niemi is not Tim Thomas so stop giving him that respect. Sometimes I wish they had the fire of Kesler or Toews or Roberto Luongo.

 

[Windy River]

Derek Roy is our best playoff player. He needs to be saddled with the best linemates available outside of the Sedins. Like Kessler and Burrows, or Higgins ?

Schneider needs to get healthy, goalies need to make series of good saves and huge saves to win ANY playoff game and Lu is lacking in that department.

Other than that, we are doing alright and should still be able to pull out this series.

 

[xtr3m]

Overthinking

Hockey is a game of mistakes, and it's especially magnified in playoffs. Our system preaches possession, but often it's Stu Bickels and Wade Reddens that score, ie just put it on the net.

 

[freakydave]

This has to be coaching now.
The Canucks have too much talent to be this offensively inept.

Also...
For some strange reason...
The team is hanging Luongo out to dry now.
He seems to be the only one who wants to win.

+1
what a way to mail in a playoff game--no heart

 

[Hammer Time]

Henrik Sedin's ice time at even strength yesterday

13:12 vs Vlasic
2:18 vs Boyle
1:24 vs Hannan

Sort of defeats the point of home ice advantage to put your top player against your opponent's ace shutdown pairing. Those are the matchups you expect to see in San Jose with McLennan getting last change.

 

[Tiranis]

Overthinking

Hockey is a game of mistakes, and it's especially magnified in playoffs. Our system preaches possession, but often it's Stu Bickels and Wade Reddens that score, ie just put it on the net.

Possession? The team makes a stretch pass and tips it in 9/10 times. That's not a possession system.

 

[freakydave]

Derek Roy is our best playoff player. He needs to be saddled with the best linemates available outside of the Sedins. Like Kessler and Burrows, or Higgins ?

Schneider needs to get healthy, goalies need to make series of good saves and huge saves to win ANY playoff game and Lu is lacking in that department.

Other than that, we are doing alright and should still be able to pull out this series.

I call BS Luongo held them in the game--the team in front of him failed to leave the locker room for the 3rd.To blame goaltending for last night is just wrong.

I agree that they need to load up 2 lines- Sedins, burrows & kesler,roy, Higgins---

 

[BenningHurtsMySoul]

The second Babcock is fired there will be teams lining up to get him.

 

[pahlsson]

also they're doing way too many soft dump-ins on net, we're clearly the inferior team on faceoffs so idk why they keep trying it, not to mention it kills any type of flow offensively

 

[Henrik To Daniel]

I may sound bitter when I say this, but this team's scoring issues stem from one major problem - no Ehrhoff.

The Canucks have absolutely NO transition game in the back end. There's no defenseman that can move the puck up the ice and immediately dish it off without doing one of those stupid drop passes. No one to make a stretch pass that would lead to an odd man rush in our favour.

It isn't a coincidence that the Sedins', Kesler, and Burrows numbers have slowly been decreasing over the last couple of years. Ehrhoff was our best defenseman and it's a damn shame Gillis let him walk for nothing. Sure, he wasn't a defensive beast like Hamhuis is, but his skating alone makes him a HUGE asset. Keeping a plug like Ballard over him is a disgrace. He was a perfect fit for this team.

I don't care if he signed a 10 year deal, he should have offered more money and less term. A 30-32 million deal over 6 years would have been a good deal for both parties.

 

[King of the ES*]

They're more concerned with zone starts, and systems, and match-ups than they are with going out and actually trying to win.

The Canucks play scared, and try to win games 0-0.

Yes, bravo, I totally agree. Everything is now becoming over-analyzed to death, with these so-called "advanced" stats and the like. Coaching is not going to be the cause of a win or a loss. Coaching is just theory - the players are the ones that need to go out and execute.

It's hockey. They all know how to play. Anyone who thinks AV is preventing a guy like Daniel Sedin from going out and scoring 3 goals/game, if he was able to, is crazy.

 

[digger18]

Not enough playiers willing to go into the dirty areas to get it done.

 

[BenningHurtsMySoul]

Letting Ehrhoff go was another of Gillis' many mistakes.

Here's the full list:

1) Mats Sundin's ridiculous contract (granted he only signed a one year, but if it had been for two the 2010-2011 Cup Run never would have happened with Sundin taking up a $10 million CAP HIT)

2) Trading valuable assets for Keith Ballard. This was done out of pure fear that he was going to miss out on Hamhuis, so he panicked and got rid of our 1st (Quinton Howden, who would be one of our best prospects), Grabner (who has gone on to eventually provide good secondary scoring elsewhere) and a decent bottom-sixer in Bernier. Ballard has never fit on this team and now takes up a considerable amount of cap space to sit on the bench.

3) Letting Ehrhoff walk. This is an obvious mistake now, but didn't look so bad at the time. Fact is, he was absolutely crucial to the success of the team and now we can't score at all with nearly the same personnel.

4) Signing Marco Sturm and then trading for David Booth. One mistake for another. Sure, Booth is a decent player when he's healthy...but he's never healthy. And he wasn't even considered decent this year. And he makes way too much. Blegh.

5) Trading Cody Hodgson for Zack Kassian WHEN HE DID. I'm not bashing Kassian, I think he's going to be a good player one day. But when that happens, this core will likely be finished. Hodgson was a complainer and a prima donna but he was READY at the time to step in for Kesler in case he got injured again (which he has, several times now.) Hodgson is now a top line center on the Sabres and produced almost as many points as any of our players, including the Sedins.

6) The Luongo debacle. Never mind the fact that the contract itself is awful...Gillis has completely botched this situation to the point that he couldn't even trade him for Ben ****ing Scrivens. He was offered Luke Schenn straight up at the draft (who was flipped for JVR, why Gillis wasn't in on that on a three-way is beyond me) and he should have taken him and cut his losses. Instead, we are now stuck with an unhappy player who is unmovable and may require a release from contract. Nobody needs a starting goalie anymore, let alone with that contract.

7) Refusing to fire Vigneault after the finals loss/last year/this year. We will see if this is to be his downfall, but AV has had to go for a while now and Gillis might just find himself going with him if we bow out in the first round. Vigneault is a decent coach on a team like Nashville...NOT here. We have too much talent to be playing this poorly.

And I'm sure I've missed something. The guy is just an overrated GM, plain and simple. His errors have cost this team dearly and nullified a potential yearly threat to win the Cup out of pure ego.

 

[digger18]

U agree with most of that Gillis synopsis. I however do like the Kassian deal.

 

[Dado]

"I think they are front-line players. I don't know if they are players the team will be built around moving forward..."

 

[opendoor]

I may sound bitter when I say this, but this team's scoring issues stem from one major problem - no Ehrhoff.

The Canucks have absolutely NO transition game in the back end. There's no defenseman that can move the puck up the ice and immediately dish it off without doing one of those stupid drop passes. No one to make a stretch pass that would lead to an odd man rush in our favour.

It isn't a coincidence that the Sedins', Kesler, and Burrows numbers have slowly been decreasing over the last couple of years. Ehrhoff was our best defenseman and it's a damn shame Gillis let him walk for nothing. Sure, he wasn't a defensive beast like Hamhuis is, but his skating alone makes him a HUGE asset. Keeping a plug like Ballard over him is a disgrace. He was a perfect fit for this team.

I don't care if he signed a 10 year deal, he should have offered more money and less term. A 30-32 million deal over 6 years would have been a good deal for both parties.

You realize that even with Ehrhoff they put up the worst ranked offense in NHL history among teams to make it to the SCF?

 

[JuniorNelson]

Canucks seem to be playing as hard as they can. They simply do not have another gear! I think they get used to playing within the division, have success and think it is enough. Plainly, it isn't!

Vigneault is a good coach. It is inexplicable why he is doing the roster moves that he did in game one. Slanted reffing is enough of a disadvantage without Vig screwing up the lines!

Canucks cannot just rely on goaltending in the playoffs. Or powerplays.