The Vancouver Canucks are back on the ice at Rogers Arena this morning, practicing to prepare for their date on Tuesday with Alain Vigneault and the New York Rangers.
It will be a meeting of two teams headed in opposite directions. While the Canucks slide into the non-playoff swamp, the Rangers are 7-3-0 in their last 10 games and are coming off a decisive 5-0 win in Edmonton on Sunday. They're now seven points clear of the playoff line in the Eastern Conference, with a 99.7 percent chance of playing in the postseason, according to SportsClubStats.com. Their odds of missing are even smaller than the Canucks' chances of getting in, which remain at 0.5 percent.
Remember when AV was in danger of getting fired when the Rangers got off to that terrible start at the beginning of the season? I guess that's now water under the bridge.
Like Vancouver, New York has just one 20-goal scorer. Rick Nash tallied his 24th and 25th in Edmonton, while Ryan Kesler sits at 23. The clearest difference between the two teams lies in their goal differential:
New York Rangers: 205 goals-for, 183 goals-against, +22 differential
Vancouver Canucks: 184 goals-for, 206 goals-against, -22 differential
Are the Rangers more talented than the Canucks, or do those results come down to leadership and playing style?
Ed Willes has a good piece in this morning's
Province.
Click here to read.
He boils down the team's fundamental problem this season to Torts' stubborn commitment to his coaching style: "He tried to mould his players to his system instead of moulding his system to his players."
I agree with this assessment. As I've talked to fans and season-ticket holders, I've noticed that even sentences that start with "I like Torts," usually end with "...but I hate his style of hockey."
It's not much fun to watch a team lose. It's even less fun when a dynamic, high-energy style has been swapped for a plodding grind. AV's a pretty defensively-minded coach himself; I'm interested to see how the Canucks and Rangers contrast against each other tomorrow night.
How do you feel about Willis' thoughts? If Torts' demise is a done deal, who do you think should take the reins next season? Mike Sullivan's a package deal with Tortorella so he'll likely be gone as well, but could Glen Gulutzan survive? Is there somebody else you'd like to see step in?
One final thought about playing style. Yesterday, I caught a couple of minutes of a Tampa Bay power play on one of those teaser video clips they share over at nhl.com. The Detroit announcers were talking about how everyone knew that Steven Stamkos would be making his way to his favourite spot in the left faceoff circle, ready to unleash his right-handed shot—which he did, even though the opposition should have been guarding against it.
What I noticed, in comparison to Vancouver's stand-still four-on-three on Saturday night, is how Stamkos was moving the whole time, and went to about five other spots before settling into his "office," if you will.
It's not so much that he was shaking off man-to-man coverage, but with the Red Wings concentrating on adjusting their zone as the Lightning players shifted their threats, Stamkos was wide open when he received the inevitable pass, and got a good shot away on Jonas Gustavsson. He didn't score—that time—and Tampa Bay went on to lose the game. But it looked like such a clear demonstration of how a power play ought to work.
When the Canucks set up, they stand still, which makes them so easy to defend against. That's why shots can't get through. Seems so simple to add some motion—what's the catch?
Ryan Kesler and Daniel Sedin might be dealing with mobility issues from their recent lower-body injuries, but one player who's moving well these days is David Booth. His speed was supposed to be one of his major assets when he was first acquired, but we haven't seen it much this season as he continued to recover from a serious ankle injury suffered on March 16, 2013 against Detroit.
Last week in one of his "Provies," Jason Botchford talked about Booth's injury in the context of an ankle-sprain of his own:
He explained then that after he shredded his ankle so severely he needed surgery last season, they told him it would take a full year to recover.
Click here for the whole story.
As we pass that one-year mark, we start to see Booth returning to his old playing style, beating guys wide and, with renewed confidence, getting shots on net. He's still probably not worth $4.75 million next season (that's his salary—the cap hit is $4.25 million), but at 29 years old, he could be productive.
That raises another question that's worthy of a poll:
If they choose not to buy out Booth, is there someone else who warrants consideration? Remember, compliance buyouts can only be used on contracts that were signed before the lockout, so players like Edler, Burrows and the twins wouldn't be eligible.
Vancouver Canucks Blogger • 
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