Kukla's Korner Hockey

Kukla's Korner Hockey

Something Is Not Right In Vancouver

11/08/2022 at 3:00pm EST

from Iain MacIntyre of Sportsnet,

When the tireless advocates for a complete rebuild of the Vancouver Canucks talk about blowing up the team, they aren’t envisioning the franchise president doing it on radio.

But the blast from Jim Rutherford’s blunt assessment of the Canucks’ 3-6-3 start was still reverberating around the team, 4,000 kilometres away, as they prepared Tuesday to try to save their season when they open a five-game trip against the Ottawa Senators.

Head coach Bruce Boudreau, who seems halfway down the plank protruding over shark-infested waters from the SS Canucks, spent nearly all of his morning media availability responding to questions about Rutherford’s criticism of “structure” and player performance during a Monday afternoon appearance on Sportsnet 650 radio in Vancouver.

“Listen, I'm not going to get into an argument of whether we do or whether we don't (have structure),” Boudreau said. “We play as hard as we can, we do as well as we can and we lay it all out on the line, I think, every night. That's what I can tell you.

“It is what it is, right? I try to keep the noise out and keep the noise out of the room as much as possible and just focus on what we have to do at hand, and that's win a hockey game. So that's our focus tonight.”

continued

exor54

Sounds like time for Rutherford to make some trades. 

Lefty30

Theyre one team - Columbus is another - that probably allowed way too much talk about having playoff expectations after surprisingly good seasons (a good finish for Van with Boudreau; a decent season for a rebuilding team expected to be the among the dregs of the league with Columbus). Once the sugar high of a new coach wears off, does Vancouvers D look like NHL playoff caliber? Does CBJs? Im sure its a relief in some ways to move on from Torts, too, but two things Philly is getting lately are a coach who demands intensity and structure and preaches an us against the world underdog mentality, and a goalie who has so far at least bounced back to his very promising play as a rookie. There is a ton of pressure on Demko to steal games. And none of CBJs goalies has been making enough saves. 

If you look at these rosters dispassionately both still have major flaws. And thats seemingly what Boudreau is implying: weve got who weve got. 

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Paul Kukla founded Kukla’s Korner in 2005 and the site has since become the must-read site on the ‘net for all the latest happenings around the NHL.

From breaking news to in-depth stories around the league, KK Hockey is updated with fresh stories all day long and will bring you the latest news as quickly as possible.

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