VANCOUVER—Vancouver Canucks management went into silence mode Wednesday in the aftermath of the club’s first-round playoff exit at the hands of the San Jose Sharks.
But major changes loom after the Canucks, who came within a game of winning the Stanley Cup in 2010-11, bowed out early for the second consecutive spring.
The Canucks lost Tuesday 3–2 in overtime in San Jose, which gave the Sharks a 4–0 sweep of their best-of-seven Western Conference quarterfinal series.
The Canucks have lost 10 of their last 11 playoff games dating to the 2010-11 finals.
“It’s frustrating,” goaltender Cory Schneider told reporters in San Jose following Tuesday’s loss. “This seems like a lost year. You don’t get that many opportunities to play in the Stanley Cup playoffs and to miss one or two, it’s pretty frustrating.”
There is no guarantee general manager Mike Gillis will get the chance to fix what ails the club. His future and those of coach Alain Vigneault, Vancouver’s veteran core, and as usual, goaltender Roberto Luongo, are all in question.
The Canucks were not able to counteract San Jose’s potent power play in the playoffs, and Vigneault failed at the seemingly impossible task of getting secondary offensive players, who were inconsistent at best in the regular season, to start generating goals at the most pressure-packed time of the year.
The lack of offence has coincided with the team’s inability to develop new scoring talent in an era when young stars are emerging throughout the NHL. In five seasons at the helm, only one Gillis draft pick—Cody Hodgson, since traded—has become an NHL regular.
The Canucks must ensure that more of their draft picks figure prominently. The NHL salary cap drops to $64.3 million next season, and chances to sign a high-end free agent will become more difficult.
One way to enable more home-grown prospects to reach the NHL is to stockpile draft choices through trades, and the Canucks have a number of veteran assets that could attract a decent price on the market.
Vancouver showed a need for more size and grit, as well as offensive skill, among its top-nine forwards after losing many one-on-one battles, allowing the Sharks to move the puck out of their end with relative ease.
Except for Daniel and Henrik Sedin and Alex Burrows, no forward appears likely to be spared consideration for a new hockey home. But the Sedins’ future with the team will also be in question, because they are slated to enter the final year of their contracts in 2013-14.
With the Canucks at the top of the old salary cap and a new one pending, changes also appear inevitable for financial reasons. Luongo, slated to represent a $5.3-million salary cap hit next season, is an obvious candidate to leave, via trade or buyout—a year later than planned.
But before commencing with changes, management and players will have to get over the sting of being swept for the first time in 12 years.
“This is the most frustrating team I’ve been a part of,” said Daniel Sedin. “We have a good team and what cost us? Little mistakes, taking penalties. We have ourselves to blame.”
His controversial boarding penalty on Tommy Wingels in overtime led to Patrick Marleau’s winning goal in Game 4.
“This year, this is not the way we wanted to end,” said Henrik Sedin. “It was almost like we were a first-time playoff team going to the box too many times.”
“A lot of guys have been together for a long time,” he said. “It’s very disappointing, because you only have so many chances.”
With files from The Canadian Press
The Epoch Times publishes in 35 countries and in 21 languages. Subscribe to our e-newsletter.
