Willes: Hot seat must be uncomfortable

Transcription

1 Willes: Hot seat must be uncomfortable By Ed Willes, The Province This will make the long weekend seem even longer: the musings and meditations on the world of sports. When the Vancouver Canucks season ended two weeks ago the team s coaching staff returned to their respective summer retreats believing they were about to be fired. And they understood why. If you inject them with truth serum, they ll tell you the Canucks could have used a second-line centre or any NHL-calibre centre come to think of it this season. The team also could have used the $5.4 million in cap space tied up in its backup goalie. And they most certainly could have used more help than Derek Roy at the trade deadline. But Alain Vigneault, Rick Bowness and Newell Brown are veteran hockey men who understand that coaches are generally the first casualty after a disappointing season. What they don t understand is why they re still waiting to learn about their fate while general manager Mike Gillis conducts a review of the organization. Gillis, to be sure, has his ways but the delay over the coaching decision doesn t register as being thorough or thoughtful. It registers as needless dithering. Gillis and Vigneault have been together for five years. The head coach s track record isn t exactly a mystery. You could argue Scotty Bowman with Sir Alex Ferguson and Vince Lombardi as his assistants couldn t have won with the 2013 Canucks but that seems to be beside the point. If this team is going to reinvent itself, it needs a new face and a new voice. That, at least, would be a start. But it won t begin to solve the problems the Canucks are facing. This is a team at a crossroads. If they re going to undertake the change Gillis envisions, they ll be doing it with salary-cap issues and an aging core that has been exposed in the last two post-seasons. Firing the coach might be the first step of the reset but many more await. You d almost think Gillis would want to get started as soon as possible. If you ve grown weary of the rodeo the Stanley Cup playoffs have become, do yourself a favour and turn your attention to the Memorial Cup. You have the top-three picks in this summer s draft on display defenceman Seth Jones from Portland and Halifax forwards Nathan MacKinnon and Jonathan Drouin and all three are game-changers. You ve got two other first-rounders in London s Bo Horvat and Max Domi. And, at no extra cost, you ve got the passion and intensity this tournament always serves up. The 2013 draft, just so you know, sets up as a once-in-a-decade draft. Calgary and Columbus both own three first-rounders and have a chance to set themselves up for the next decade, as do the three teams at the top of the board: Colorado, Florida and Tampa. You ll want to pay attention to this one. It will impact the NHL s balance of power for the next 10 years. The Chicago-Detroit series still has a story to tell but if the last month has taught us anything, it s taught us the Wings Mike Babcock is the best coach in the NHL. With two weeks left in the regular season the Wings looked deader than Michael Keaton s career. Now they look like just about every Wings team from the last 10 years, which means they re fast, skilled and tenacious. A lot of it is the team s tradition. A lot of it is the continuing presence of Pavel Datsyuk and Henrik Zetterberg. Some of it is the emergence of players like Fabien Brunner, Gustav Nyquist and Brendan Smith. But, with the Wings it begins with Babcock and general manager Ken Holland. And finally, still not sure how they did it, but the NHL has done an extraordinary job of rehabilitating its image over the last five months. At Christmas, the league was mired in a lockout that threatened the industry s well-being. Now, they boast playoff series that feature teams in New York, Boston, Chicago, Los Angeles and Detroit and a Canadian team that preserves this country s rooting interest. The game s biggest stars Sidney Crosby, Datsyuk, Drew Doughty, Patrick Kane are on display and there s another layer of compelling figures John Tortorella, Jonathan Quick, the referees to keep the masses entertained. The NHL, in fact, couldn t ask for much more. The NBA playoffs seem to be an exercise in determining who will be slaughtered by Miami. Major League Baseball s storylines aren t terribly compelling. Yes, the quality of the game and the officiating standard remain a concern for the NHL but, all things considered, it s been a remarkable turnaround for the league. I m sure Gary Bettman had it planned this way all along. Twins piqué: They re not done yet Jason Botchford The Province May 19 Tear up those eulogies; the Sedins are highlighting their skill and the Canucks sub-par coaching It seemed an appropriate postscript to the Canucks disappointing season to see the Sedin twins lighting up the IIHF World Championship.

2 Not long after they got off the plane, the Sedins began writing an epilogue to the tire fire they left behind in Vancouver, and it s one Canucks management would be wise not to just brush off because there s more ice. On their own, the Sedins instantly turned Team Sweden into Team Power Play, torching both the Canadian and Finnish squads with four goals on their first nine man-advantage opportunities. For reference, the Swedes were 2-for-30 before the twins hit home soil. Next they play Switzerland for gold, and it d be a fitting end if the Sedins win that, in the same week the Canucks make their inevitable coaching change. In two games at the World Championship, the Sedins showed more creativity on the power play in Sweden than they did for an entire year in Vancouver. OK, that s some slight hyperbole there. But seeing them able to freelance, kicking the puck back and forth down low, on the right side, then on the left side, and then behind the net, made the Canucks setup with Daniel back on the point seem needlessly restrictive. It also incinerated the narrative the Canucks struggles on the power play were mostly because the Sedins skills have diminished. Their skills are just fine, thanks. It s possible the Sedins just need Loui Eriksson. The left-handed winger scored two goals on their line in the semifinal win against Finland. He said he d score 40 in an NHL season with the Sedins. Commentator, and former Canucks coach, Marc Crawford said more like 50. Crawford marvelled at the number of looks the Sedin line was showing Finland with him on their line. The Dallas Stars are apparently shopping Eriksson too, but need a centre more than they need an Alex Edler. Of the many problems the Canucks had this year, seeing their once-formidable power play brought to its knees was the most surprising turn. Yes, they missed Christian Ehrhoff. Yes, their failure to win faceoffs was a problem. But the coaching staff was apparently paralyzed to help, and their inability to incorporate Jason Garrison s shot among the best in the league on the first unit remains incriminating. If the best-ever lineup had Edler and Christian Ehrhoff, two lefties, on the points, why did the Canucks put so little time and effort into having Edler on one side and Garrison on the other this year? The Sedins current success in Europe will be dismissed by some because they have a larger sheet and more room to operate and they re not entirely wrong. Things like less obstruction and more open lanes play right in the Sedins wheelhouse, allowing them time to dissect a defence. But it can t be ignored that against Team Canada, the twins made a Canucks 2003 draft pick, Niklas Danielsson, look like Al MacInnis, firing bombs from the point. To see a current KHL forward do that against Dan Hamhuis and company was impressive. Just imagine what the twins could do with Garrison at the top of their power play over the long run. There is no getting around the fact the Sedins had a brutal post-season against the San Jose Sharks. They combined for six assists and no goals in four games. It wasn t dissimilar to post-seasons past, which include disappointments against the Boston Bruins, Chicago Blackhawks, Nashville Predators and the Anaheim Ducks since They re hardly alone, by the way, in being among the game s best players who get shut down at times in the playoffs. Jonathon Toews, who many thought should have been a finalist for the Hart Trophy this year, has no goals, and three assists in seven playoff games. The Canucks just don t have a second line with Patrick Sharp pumping in six goals in seven games to pick up the slack.

3 That s been a problem for two years now. The Canucks have essentially been a one-line team. The second and third units have been black holes. Part of it is because of injuries. But it s also been because of poor personnel decisions like not acquiring a centre in the offseason, and ending up with Derek Roy and Sami Pahlsson in the playoffs. So, before you start listening to all of those Sedin eulogies, let s see what they can do when supported by a couple of real NHL lines. They are 32 years old, not 38. They are showing in Sweden there is a lot left in the tank. It s up to the Canucks to get the most out of it. Whether that s someone like Eriksson on their line, more size up front to create space, or a different coach, Vancouver has to figure this out. The Canucks are running out of time. Sharks set the bar high Ed Willes The Province May 19 If the Canucks want a model on what a reset looks like, they need only look at San Jose Let s see. A week ago it was a reset. On Friday it was a reinvention. Can t wait until next week to learn what the Vancouver Canucks will call their offseason makeover. Still, it s one thing to make grandiose statements; it s another to deliver results, and if the Canucks ever wondered what a reset, refresh, rewhatever looks like, they need only examine the San Jose Sharks, the team that swept them in the first round of the playoffs. The Fish were victimized by the stupidest rule in professional sports on Thursday when Marc-Edouard Vlasic was assessed a delay of game penalty for sort of shooting the puck over the glass. They came back to win Game 3 on Saturday night under equally dubious circumstances, but the wretched state of NHL officiating isn t terribly relevant to our point. This is. Two years ago, after the Sharks were dispatched from the Western Conference final by your Vancouver Canucks, general manager Doug Wilson started one of those re-thingies that changed the look, the feel and the entire direction of his franchise, and he did it without announcing his intentions to the world. The Sharks of 2013 are now younger, bigger, faster and grittier while changing 10 players from the 2011 team that recorded 106 points and made the final four. The Canucks, for their part, have kept the core of their team largely intact and now face, according to Gillis, some difficult decisions. Those decisions will play out over the course of this summer and the next couple of years for the Canucks, and they could go a whole bunch of different ways. As for the Sharks, they ve done their work and set their course. You don t have to ask who s in the better position. We look at each year as a separate entity, Wilson said in a phone interview. We try to put together the team that gives us the best chance of winning while keeping an eye toward the future. But that six-year rebuild where the you finish out of the playoffs and accumulate draft picks has never been part of the plan. That s because the Sharks have been able to change their team on the fly, which, when you think about it, is a neat trick. Two years ago, the Sharks were a powerful offensive team that featured seven 20-goal scorers and was distinguished by its size but not its speed. Joe Thornton, Patrick Marleau and Joe Pavelski were key cogs and remain part of the Sharks core. But it s the other names which are interesting. Ryan Clowe was considered the heart and soul of that team. Dany Heatley played on the first line. Devin Setoguchi was still considered a rising star. Their top defenceman then, as he is now, was Dan Boyle, but the rest of the blue-line corps featured players like Douglas Murray, Niclas Wallin and Kent Huskins, and they were exposed by the Canucks in the Western final.

4 Now, fast forward two years and you see a Sharks team who, on the surface, looks similar, but in reality, has changed dramatically. The team s leader is now Logan Couture, who d enjoyed a breakout campaign in Couture was the Sharks only top-10 pick from the last seven years, and if you want to draw a parallel between him and Cody Hodgson, feel free. Wilson also got bigger in the 2011 offseason by packaging Setoguchi, a first-rounder and top prospect Charlie Coyle to Minnesota for Brent Burns and a secondrounder. Again, if you want to draw parallels, look at that trade and the Canucks trade for Keith Ballard. As for the bottom half of their lineup, the Sharks have slid in late-round picks Tommy Wingels and Justin Braun and undrafted free agents Matt Irwin and Andrew Desjardins. Braun and Irwin helped remake the blue-line. Wingels and Desjardins are younger, cheaper and grittier. Those are players developed by the organization. We need not remind you of the Canucks draft record over the last five years. And there s still more to the Sharks matrix. The game s biggest prize has eluded the franchise and there have been calls to replace head coach Todd McLellan. Instead of making that move, however, Wilson added wise, old head Larry Robinson to the coaching staff and the Hall of Famer s contribution has been profound. He s helped our younger players develop, he s kept our veterans accountable and he s supported Todd, Wilson added. Robinson s pedigree, of course, speaks for itself. But it s no accident McLellan came from Detroit while director of scouting Tim Burke and assistant GM Wayne Thomas cut their teeth with the great Canadiens teams in the 70s. We look for people who welcome high expectations, Wilson said. That s a helluva an idea. He should think of a fancy name for it. Swedes rout Swiss to claim gold at world hockey championship Team USA wins bronze By QMI Agency The clock struck midnight on Switzerland as their fairytale run at the world hockey championship came to a halt in Sunday s gold-medal game. The Swiss fell 5-1 to hosts Sweden, their first defeat of the tournament. Roman Josi opened the scoring at 4:45 into the first period to give Switzerland the lead. But from then on, it was all Sweden. Erik Gustafsson tied the game at 8:42 of the first and Henrik Sedin gave Sweden the lead for good at 11:38 with a power-play goal. Simon Hjalmarsson and Loui Eriksson scored for Sweden in the third period while Sedin added an empty-netter. Jhonas Enroth made 26 saves in the win. The win marks Sweden s ninth world championship as they became the first host nation to win the tournament since the Soviet Union in Switzerland s loss wasn t all bad. The second-place finish gives them their first medal at a major international tournament since winning bronze at the 1953 world championship. It also matches their best result, a silver at the 1935 tournament.

5 USA CLAIMS BRONZE A late rally by Finland forced overtime and a shootout in Sunday s bronze-medal game at the world championship, but the U.S. came out on top with a 3-2 victory. Lauri Korpikoski scored twice in the third period to give his team hope, but Alex Galchenyuk buried the Finns with two goals of his own in the shootout to secure the win in Stockholm. It feels great. This is my fourth time playing for Team USA, and I hadn t gotten a medal (until now), T.J. Oshie told IIHF.com. Obviously we wanted it to be gold, but that s not going to take any excitement away from winning this. Craig Smith and Paul Stastny scored in the first period for the U.S. It s tough. They wanted it, we wanted it, said Ossi Vaananen. We had a bad start, and there s no excuse for that. We tried to be ready. It s a challenge, though, for a game like this. But the USA was ready for the first period. The third-place finish marks the U.S. s first medal at the world championship since winning bronze in 2004.