from Ed Willes of the Vancouver Province,

... While there have been spikes throughout the season, the Canucks are 9-13-5 since Nov. 3 while averaging just over two goals per game.

That’s bad enough. What’s worse, however, is this sense that they’re trapped in their current circumstance ­— that the faithful will be watching more of the same for the next three months — and the organization has to do something to change that picture.

Chris Higgins, Radim Vrbata, Yannick Weber, Burrows and Prust have all, to varying degrees, been productive NHL players throughout their careers, but right now they carry the weight of being yesterday’s men. Presumably some, or all, will be moved at the trade deadline for what they can fetch. But does it make any sense to keep playing Higgins when Brendan Gaunce has 18 points in 21 games in Utica and Hunter Shinkaruk has 25 in 26 games?

We understand we’re painting with broad strokes here, but consider the optics. The sense is the fans can live with the losses if they see the new faces and can see a Matthews or Puljujarvi down the road.

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