First of all, there are the facts:
Of the 10 teams that played for a Stanley Cup from 2006 through 2010, only two had a better regular season the following year while the average decline in the standings was a staggering 12 points.
Then there’s the reality. The Canucks will have another fine season. Luongo and Schneider will fight for top goalie spot; I give the nod this year to the latter.
Will Marco Sturm help? Of course not, the last thing the Nucks need is an under-performing guy who gives not a damn about the Stanley Cup.
Then there’s the twins. I shut off game 7 of the finals last year before the end of the first period. It was just too painful to watch as history was being made as I feared it would. The Sedins are an exciting regular season show. They dazzle, bob and weave like the best of them. Best of Swedish hockey players that is. When it comes to gutting it out in the ring, they have zero heart.
They are pacifists, a noble trait that benefits the city of Vancouver by the twins’ many benevolent acts, but hockey has a second wind that separates the men from the boys. It has nothing to do with the outside world and everything to do with hockey heart.
The Sedins don’t have it. If the Canucks are lucky enough to make it to the finals this year and outplay their opponents to game seven, the result will duplicate last year’s fate of folding like lawn chairs in the face of players on the other team with a lust for the cup our roster has no match. Daniel Sedin has said himself, if he encountered a Brad Marchand, slapping him around again in the same situation, he still would not protect himself, let alone fight back.
When I think of the character of the Vancouver Canucks, this video represents the team to a T.
Then I think, does Vancouver really want to be in that position again? Isolated on the left coast, the envy of the world and in the top three of most desirable cities, the source of ridicule and jealousy from the rest of Canada’s hockey snobs, why go through that all over again?
Which is great if you love regular season hockey. I find it dull. The Cup is the only thing. It’s what NHL players should be playing for – and fighting for, if necessary. That is not this Vancouver Canucks. Mike Gillis has decided, or has had it decided for him, the Canucks are going for regular season show. Not for the Stanley Cup.
