Kukla's Korner Hockey

Kukla's Korner Hockey

Your Vancouver Canucks

01/28/2014 at 9:43am EST

from Tony Gallagher of the Vancouver Province,

Then you throw in the fact that the stars of the home team are simply not present. Yes, two of the three are alleged to still be in uniform, but surely the fellow in Daniel Sedin’s uniform is some sort of clone who’s been smuggled into the room by a Swedish scientist while the real guy rests up for the Olympics. How else do you explain 13 games without a goal, one point in eight games and a deportment that gives the impression it might be a good deal longer before the next one comes? And Ryan Kesler? He’s played so much this season he literally has nothing left, unable to generate anything remotely close to his usual speed.

Even when the opposition takes a penalty, there’s no particular reason why the Vancouver fan should feel in any way hopeful something positive might happen. With quarterback Henrik Sedin out, the team seems so cowed by the prospect of going out on the power play with their confidence in tatters, they’ve become virtually paralyzed with respect to trying to generate some offence. They went bagels again against the worst defensive team in the league, albeit in just two tries, and now sit in 28th spot in the league having gone two for their last 36 advantages over 10 games. That normally wouldn’t be the end of the world save these fans once watched largely the same players perform as one of the best units in the game, that concept now a distant memory.

The forecheck, which is such a driving force in the John Tortorella system and was the engine that drove this team’s attack at the start of the season when everyone was fresh, has faded to one lone, tired skater tepidly going hoping to get lucky and to get out of the offensive zone quickly once the puck comes out.

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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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