from Ed Willes of the Vancouver Province,

The Canucks, it seems, are trying to win with a game that’s no longer played in the NHL. This game is based on speed, skill, execution and precision, and while these are noble virtues, they’re no longer effective or necessary in the NHL. This is a sad development for the game, and if Gary Bettman and the league’s other stewards could stop counting their profits long enough to notice it, there’s a chance something might be done.

But that’s also another story for another time. On this day, the relevant theme concerns the Canucks and how they got in this predicament.

For the second year in a row, the Canucks were eliminated by a team that might not have been as flashy but were bigger, heavier and tougher. This showed up in a hundred ways but, mostly, it was apparent in the hockey’s principal war zones where the game has traditionally been won and lost.

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