Does Vancouver’s hierarchy need any more proof that this roster is a mess? In light of the Canucks ruthless firing fan-favorite HC Bruce Boudreau after Vancouver’s bad start to the season, it’s clear the real problem is the very players themselves.
How many times do the Canucks need to be burned by this group of “talented youngsters” before they learn these players aren’t worth a tenth of the hype they get?
The story of Bruce Boudreau’s time coaching the Vancouver Canucks is the perfect analogy as to the sad state of affairs this team has been in ever since the 2011 Stanely Cup run.
Boudreau came in as a fresh beacon of hope for a despairing fanbase and an underperforming roster of talented, yet undiciplined players, he managed to get something to click in the core that saw them finish last season with a 32-15-10 record that almost saw them squeak into the playoffs, but now he has been unceremoniously sacked as the players reverted back into their usual, underwhelming selves.
It’s the tried and true story for the Canucks ever since the Sedin Twin team of the late 2000’s collapsed.
Though, the only thing that was notably different with the Boudreau saga compared to the other head coaches the Canucks have gone through since the 2011 Cup run was that Boudreau was beloved by the Vancouver fans…and he loved the fans and the city in return.
Despite losing his last game 4-2 to heated Canadian rival Edmonton Oilers on home ice, Boudreau was given a standing ovation and the fans chanted his “Bruce There It Is” chant out of respect and love as, despite the fans being behind him, everyone knew he was going to be fired in the morning. And that’s what makes this firing so strange and baffling for me.
It’s clear that the “young” core of Bo Horvat, Elias Petterson, Brock Boeser, J.T. Miller, Thatcher Demko, and Quinn Hughes not only doesn’t have the skillset to compete with the best teams in the league for the Stanley Cup, but they also just flat out don’t have the mental or emotional attitude to be a dominate team at the NHL level. THEY ARE THE PROBLEM!
Before Boudreau came into the organization, the Canucks were in the midst of a two-year postseason drought after getting all the way to the Conference Semi-Finals in the 2020 bubble playoffs (which was a fortuitous berth at that).
And, the team had only made the playoffs once (2015) in six years prior to the 2020 season, despite having Petterson, Horvat, Boeser, Miller, Demko, and Hughes for at least the last four seasons (Hughes, Petterson, Horvat, and Boeser have been on the team even longer).
Moreover, the blockbuster acquisition of defenseman Oliver Ekman-Larson and forward Conor Garland from the Arizona Coyotes at last year’s draft can only go down as a monumental bust as they have now overseen the firings of two head coaches (Travis Green and Bruce Boudreau), they cost the organization a Top-10 pick in 2021, a 2022 2nd round pick, and a 2023 7th round pick, and have not helped the Canucks make the playoffs in the two seasons they’ve been in Vancouver (let’s be honest and come to the realization the Canucks aren’t making the playoffs this year).
Do I need to go on?
Hiring Rick Tocchet from the TNT analyst desk won’t save the Canucks from another Top-10 pick at the 2023 draft as they currently sit 6th place in the Pacific Division (the worst in hockey) with 39 points, a whopping 14 points behind the Calgary Flames and Colorado Avalanche for the 8th and final Western Conference playoff spot.
So, in my humble opinion, Canucks GM Jim Rutherford and the rest of his staff has to get their act together and make the tough decision to rebuild this roster from the ground up and restock the draft capital the previous regime frivolously threw away. If I was in charge, the only three players on this roster who are untouchable are Elias Petterson, Thatcher Demko, and Quinn Hughes.
All three of these players are young enough to go through a 1-4 year rebuild and still be productive coming out. Plus, they are the faces of the franchises, and it would be catastrophic to trade them away without getting a massive haul in return.
Everyone else can hit the road for all I care as they have perpetuated and simmered in the ineptitude and dedigration of a once proud franchise for too long.
We’ll see if Jim Rutherford sees the light or makes the same boneheaded mistakes of his predecessors.
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