The Canucks: What Happened?

It's a season that ends with far more intrigue than it started with. The news that the Vancouver Canucks will not be making the post-season this year is settling in slowly, but is still very hard to stomach for a city full of rabid hockey fans. Who is to blame for what happened? Nonis? Vigneault? Naslund? The Sedins? Or (gasp!) Luongo? Who was supposed to step up and change the course of a distastrous month of March filled with missed opportunities? It's a question that hockey fans will undoubtedly be asking for the rest of the summer, through the course of which will see some big changes on the payroll and, possibly, two of our most popular players ever to put on the uniform leaving town for good.

After giving us a thrilling 06/07 season, filled with amazing goaltending, some good new talent and a 105-point finish, we are left with a team that is in shambles. A team that on their last game of the season, Saturday's tilt with the Calgary Flames, couldn't even muster up a win for their fans on what was called "fan appreciation night", losing 7-1. Yes, the game doesn't mean anything because they already missed the playoffs. But that's it? No one steps up to win one for the fans or to salvage a bit of pride? But that was the problem the entire last half of the season: nobody stepped up when it was needed most. So who do you blame for that?

Well, you can start with the top line of Naslund and the Sedins. Naslund used to always get that all-important goal when it was needed most and find a way to secure a win for the team. But as of this season he's been virtually non-existent and you can say it's coach Alain Vigneault's defensive system, missing his former linemate Todd Bertuzzi or, simply, a lack of confidence, but whatever the reason is, it's irrelevant and I'm sure no one knows that more than Markus Naslund himself. The same can be said for the Sedins. They still racked up a respectable number of points, but didn't come through when the team needed their offensive capabilities the most and simultaneously proved they couldn't be relied upon for top line responsibility.

The question then becomes: Without offense how does a team win? The answer? They don't. It's that simple. It's a well-covered fact that the Canucks lacked greatly in the offensive category this season and last season. But there was a difference last season: a Roberto Luongo playing at the top of his game and getting a win for this team night after night, even if they could only muster one or two goals. This season was a bit different. The Canucks were still ending up with 2-1 finishes, but usually ending up on the wrong side of the low-scoring tally. Alas, Luongo and the strong, hard-working defensive core of Mitchell, Salo, Ohlund and Edler could not win games singlehandedly every time.

In the National Hockey League, 90% of the time you cannot win a game by scoring only one goal and, unfortunately, that's all the Canucks forwards could usually muster. But then the question becomes: Can you fault the forwards completely? Maybe they just needed a bit of offensive help. Help that was supposed to be provided by GM Dave Nonis, a man who refused to budge before the season began and who refused to budge at the all-important trade deadline. He knew this organization made no substantial improvements to last season and was to remain an offensively-challenged team, but still did nothing. Effectively leaving around $3 million in cap space for the hope that Peter Forsberg would come and join the team when ready. Even going so far as traveling to Sweden last summer to secure him as a future Canuck, only to have those dreams dashed when he chose the Colorado Avalanche instead. Nonis made a conscious effort to have this 07/08 season be a write-off for both the team and the fans by not securing a player who would help out with scoring and, instead, placing the onus on Luongo and Luongo alone to win the Stanley Cup for Vancouver. He was, quite obviously, waiting for Naslund's and Morrison's contracts to expire in order to clear enough cap space to get a Marian Hossa-calibre player for next season. That's all well and good for next season. But what about this season, Mr. Nonis? What about all the fans who pay top-dollar for seats in one of the highest-priced arenas in the league or to the jersey/merchandise buyers or to all the people who go to the bar to watch the game after work night after night? All they want is to see the team they're investing so much of their time and income into win and then to not even been given a chance to see them in the playoffs, just because the GM doesn't want to risk a Luc Bourdon-type prospect?

The Canucks, to be fair, didn't work hard enough in the last stretch to secure that spot they could have so easily had in the playoffs. They failed and failed miserably. With the exception of a handful of players, namely Ryan Kesler and Alex Burrows, they played with no hunger and no passion. But it is the responsibility of the GM to make sure that this is the best team it could be, and by not even acquiring a Sergei Fedorov-priced player at the deadline to increase the depth on this team, the fault ends with him. He let the entire city down, in a heartbreaking end to a season that on Saturday night possibly saw the last performances of perennial workhorse and fan favorite Trevor Linden and the captain Markus Naslund. Dave Nonis says there was no deal that made sense at the deadline. But the truth is, had he worked creatively and secured only one good sniper for the post-season, one who could have scored goals and relieved the pressure off of Roberto Luongo and his beleaguered defensemen, it may have proved to be the difference between this team or a team that made the playoffs.