from Ed Willes of the Vancouver Province,

It must come as some comfort to the faithful that, in addition to global warming and the national debt, Alain Vigneault is solely responsible for the Vancouver Canucks’ recent troubles.

That simplifies things, doesn’t it? Remove Vigneault, and you’ve removed the Canucks’ problems. Remove Vigneault and the juggernaut general manager Mike Gillis has assembled will be unleashed. It’s a nice, neat answer to a difficult question, and sometimes we like it that way.

In this case, it’s also as credible as an Elvis sighting.

If you’re honest, the Canucks, as they’re currently constructed, are exactly where they should be in the Western Conference standings. They are part of a large, amorphous mass which is everyone except Chicago and Anaheim. When they get top-notch goaltending or dominating performances by the Sedins or their power play is cooking, they are probably better than most. If they slip in any of those areas, as they have recently, they struggle.

This notion that the Canucks are a powerhouse, however, is absurd and you don’t have to look any farther than the depth chart at centre ice to understand why.

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