The 2011-2012 Vancouver Canucks (some other thoughts)

[The Brown Knight]

The 2011-2012 Vancouver Canucks (some other thoughts)

Although there isn't really much point to this thread, this minor issue has been a slight pet peeve of mine and so I thought I'd share:

Over the past few years, there seems to be this "mantra" out there that when we lost the Cup Finals in 2011, the team began this huge incredible downward slope. With the exception of our revenge game against the Bruins that season, and give or take a few games here and there against Chicago and Detroit, most people seem to have this "revisionist history" in their mind that the Canucks were a complete shell in 2011/2012 and then got absolutely destroyed by the Kings in the first round.

Am i missing something here, or did I watch a different season?

The only difference between the 2012 Canuck team and the 2011 Canuck team (a.k.a. Our greatest team of all-time and one of the greatest NHL teams of all-time), was this: 3 wins. The 2011 team had 117 points and the 2012 team had 111 points. As was the case with the 2012 team, the Canucks won a Presidents' Trophy.

As was the case with the 2011 team, the Canucks ran into a team that was absolutely SIZZLING and as result, could not get the series win. That Kings team ended up clobbering everyone en route to a cup victory. Even then - outside of our Game 2 loss to the Kings, that whole series was a coin flip. We could have just as easily been up 3-1 ourselves. We also didn't have Daniel for the first three games. This was also a time where Daniel was still a Superstar.

So - what's the point I'm trying to make here? I guess all I'm trying to say is that our 2012 team was pretty damned good as well. I don't understand this notion that the team "stopped caring" after the Cup loss, and then again after we got our revenge game in mid season that year.

I saw a team that was still pretty damn good, but simply lost to a cup-winning Kings team that was sizzling.

Now people might point and say that we took advantage of the weak Northwest Division, but the Canucks still had a very very favorable record against teams outside the Northwest that year. At worst, the Canucks probably still would have been the 4th or 5th best team in the league that year.

So - am I missing something here?

People like to point out that this team went to shit after the Boston game that season, but I think it was the mishandling of the Luongo situation that really screwed us over. Looking back on it, the Canucks should never have made Schneider their starter from Game 3 onward against the Kings, and then announce at season' send that they would be proceeding with Schneider as their #1.

Any "annointment" of Schneider as a number 1 should have been done after that Boston game at mid-season. Then - you could have had enough time to move Luongo at the deadline.

Anyway - just my $0.02.



P.s.____________________________Now having said all this, I'm also of the opinion that this core is done. And since no good GM/Farhan/Brown Knight thread is ever truly complete without a ridiculous trade suggestion, I'll suggest the following:

The Oilers are in need of massive veteran leadership while the Canucks are in massive need of youth. Why not send Kesler and Bieksa to Edmonton for something like Ryan Nugent Hopkins and their 1st? Oilers get their veteran leadership, and a guy in his prime to play with Hall and Eberle.

Canucks get a potential hair apparent to Henrik in terms of a franchise #1 center. If RNH lives up to his hype, a 1-2 combo with him and Horvat as our centermen could be incredible.

Given the young promising nucleus of talent that Edmonton has, perhaps Kesler would be willing to waive his NTC to go there? The allure of playing with Hall and Eberle on a top line should have a lot of appeal for Kesler.

[SKYO]

Yeah it was a big shitpile how the luongo situation ended up, mainly due to MG/AV and MG's lack of foresight on the implications of the new CBA.
Everyone acted like pro's though, but I think knew the air wasn't clear and the team wasn't playing unified 100%.

Injuries after the Boston series and other games after the cup final really hurt, literally.

Plus our defense has been missing a good QB ever since Hoffer left, the powerplay has really suffered due to this.
Edler and Garrison are the perfect bombers on point, but they lack the creativity and natural passing skills a setup QB dman provides, if we ever get a good QB dman to play with Edler or Garrison our powerplay should skyrocket.

Kesler/Bieksa won't go to deadmonton btw lol.

Anyways with all the mistakes MG made about to gone this offseason, there should be a new breath of fresh air for this team next season, I think he's itching to make a splash this UFA season.