Things looking different in Vancouver

It wasn't an earthquake, but there was a shakeup in Vancouver.
For several seasons, the Vancouver Canucks have been the hottest ticket in town, selling out Rogers Arena game after game and providing an electric atmosphere. The demand to see the team play live has been extremely high, boosting the cost of attending higher and higher.Fans who wanted to purchase season-ticket packages were put on a waiting list, and had to test their patience if they wanted to get their hands on one.
And understandably so. After all, the Canucks play in a Canadian city.
But after the Canucks rose to the top and stayed there for a few seasons, things began to decline, on and off the ice. It started to show last season, where the team ranked 28th in goals scored (191).
Because Vancouver had difficulty scoring, it wasn’t able to string together victories on a consistent basis.
Much like the players, fans started to become frustrated and, even though it always was announced that the arena was sold out, many seats were empty for a number of games.
But there was one game in which the fans took their anger to another level.
There were four games left in the regular season and Vancouver was six points out of a wild-card playoff spot. It was desperately trying to keep its minimal chances of reaching the post-season alive.
If the Canucks were going to do so, they needed to defeat the Anaheim Ducks, one of the NHL’s top teams, at home on April 7. With less than three minutes left in the game, Vancouver was trailing, 3-0.
Tempers began to flare.
Fans opted to send the organization, especially general manager Mike Gillis, a message.
“Fire Gillis,” the Canucks' faithful chanted. “Fire Gillis.”
Vancouver only put 18 shots on Ducks' rookie goaltender John Gibson, and failed to get on the scoreboard. The Canucks, to nobody's surprise, were officially out of playoff contention for the first time since the 2005-06 season.
The attention wasn't much on that, though.
It was on the fans' chants.
“Personally, I don't think it was the right thing to do,” Canucks' defenceman Kevin Bieksa said. “But at the end of the day, the fans come and they can do whatever they want. Put it this way, we're all going take the blame for this.”
The fans got what they wanted and, perhaps shockingly, it came the next day when Gillis was relieved of his duties as president and general manager.
Who would replace him? None other than Canucks' legend Trevor Linden, who most fans remember as a player on the 1993-94 team that made it to the Stanley Cup final for the second time in franchise history. He was named the team's alternate governor and president of hockey operations.
“I left the game six seasons ago and wasn't sure what the future would hold,” he said on the day of the hiring. “I've enjoyed my time away from the game. Having said that, you don't play 20 seasons in the National Hockey League and spend your whole life in hockey and not have it in your DNA. I always kind of thought I'd be back, I never wanted to work for another organization. I'm a sports fan, I love this team, I follow the team closely. This opportunity at my age is a great challenge. I'm just really excited about this opportunity and the future.”
With Gillis gone, the status of head coach John Tortorella was uncertain.
Gillis, along with the team's ownership, had stated many times that the general manager had hired the one-time Stanley Cup-champion coach.
“Obviously, the timing of this allows me to fully evaluate the coaching staff,” Linden stated. “I come into it with a fresh set of eyes. Obviously, I understand the challenges with coaching. I've been a player for 20 seasons and I look forward to sitting down with the players after the season and fully understanding the ins and outs of their issues and their season.
“Those decisions will be made down the road. Obviously, a critical path is assessing a general manager and looking at the structure of our hockey operations, whether it's on the pro side or the amateur side -- all those decisions need to be evaluated. Any coaching decision will be made in due time after thorough evaluation.”
Some may argue that Tortorella wasn't given the right roster with which to work. He has been known to work well with young players, something that the Vancouver roster doesn't have much of, at least not yet.
“I felt, from Day 1, that (the roster is)) stale,” Tortorella stated at the team's season-ending press conference. “And that's not the players’ fault. This group has been together for a long time; it's stale, it needs youth. It needs a change . . . it needs a changes, I felt that from Day 1.
“We have to stop talking about 2011. The team needs to be retooled, and that's what change is. It's a young man's game, we need to surround (the leaders) with some enthusiasm. If I'm here, I want to play four lines. But you guys have to understand when you're on a bench, and you're down 2-1 trying to get back in the game or trying to get that next goal to win the game, I tried to do what I could to win games because sometimes I'd look down (on the bench) and guys just weren't ready. We lacked depth, and that's where we're at. That isn't being critical, it's the truth.”
Tortorella admitted that he had made his mistakes, too, and he owned up to them.
“My biggest regret, personally, this season was that I was coaching the team properly the first half,” he said. “We were playing a game that I think we should play, I was on top of it. There was a lot of things that we needed to work on, but we were there.
“We get banged up and changed a bit; we needed to and I'd do it again. But I didn't get back in the room and continue to teach the details after, I didn't stay on top of that. I gave the room to the players to too much of an extent, I needed to be in there. I mean, I was in there, but I needed to be pounding away at the details and I think that hurt us. I think that it hurt us in situational play, I think that hurt us in understanding how you change momentum, all parts of the game. That's me. That's not them, that's me.”
After Linden held his exit meetings, he made his decision on the future of the coaching staff.
Tortorella wouldn't get the opportunity to redeem his mistakes as he and associate coach Mike Sullivan were relieved of their duties on Thursday morning after just one season.
“I met with John after the season for several hours on several different days,” Linden explained. “I tried to come in with a very neutral place and we had good conversation. He's a good hockey man. But, I think at the end of the day, I kept coming back to a lot of things that I didn't like that I saw trending. I just felt to move forward and kind of put a new perspective and a new direction was the right thing to do. From the outside, you may have a certain idea, a certain perspective. But when you sit down and talk with someone, they become very human. I've got a lot of respect for him; he's had a great coaching career. I mean, he's won a Stanley Cup and we had great conversation. But at the end of the day, I kept coming back to collectively how this group under-performed and individually as well.”
Vancouver, no longer the team it once was, now hope the changes being made will bring it back to being a winning team that people want to support and enjoy watching.
“I think there's nobody that happy with our results this season,” Linden said. “It starts with our players. They're disappointed.
“I believe in the core of the group down there. I think they're responsible and want to be better. I think we, as an organization, have to connect with our fans in a greater way and, ultimately, I think we need to bring excitement back to Rogers Arena and a brand of hockey that people like to play.
“I understand the fans’ discontent, I don't blame them for it. It's up to us change things and win them back.”

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Gillis, Tortorella in the spotlight

VANCOUVER -- The Vancouver Canucks likely are going to make changes.
Alain Vigneault, who spent seven seasons as the Canucks' head coach, was relieved of his duties on May 22. He wasn't able to succeed in the playoffs.
Management hoped that John Tortorella would be the solution to that problem, as he was hired to replace Vigneault on June 23.
“This is a great day for our organization,” Mike Gillis, Vancouver's president and general manager, said on the day of Tortorella's hiring. “ We are very pleased, we went through an extensive selection process and are just thrilled to have John here. His records speak for itself and I am extremely excited about the opportunities we have moving forward. I think that it'll be a great time for our organization and a very successful time.”
And the team did have success, but only for a little while.
At the end of December, the Canucks had a 23-11-7 record. However, once the calendar year turned, things began to fall apart.
Perhaps it began when the Canucks played host to Calgary on Jan. 18.
Not only did a line brawl occur at the start of the game, but Tortorella tried to enter the Flames' locker-room during the intermission to confront their head coach, Bob Hartley.
Ultimately, Tortorella was suspended for 15 days, during which he wasn't allowed to have any contact with the team. He ended up missing six games.
Once he returned, there continued to be problems.
Not often does a team have an opportunity to play in an outdoor game, let alone play host to one. That would change as the NHL announced that it was going to have four games as part of its stadium series,along with one Winter and one Heritage Classic game.
Vancouver would play host to the Ottawa Senators in the Heritage Classic at BC
Place Stadium on March 2.
Roberto Luongo, who was Vancouver's starting goaltender, had wanted to start that
game, but because backup Eddie Lack was performing better and the team was in need of victories, Tortorella decided to start the 26-year-old.
A frustrated Luongo sat on the bench, as the Canucks lost, 4-2.
As well, not even nature was on the Vancouver's side. The roof of the building was meant to be opened, but was closed due to rain.
Not starting was the last straw for the-then-34-year-old Luongo, who had wanted out for two seasons. Two days later, he was traded to the Florida Panthers, where he had wanted to be all along.
The Canucks traded Luongo, retaining 15 per cent of his salary, and forward Steven Anthony to Florida for goaltender Jacob Markstrom and forward Shawn Matthias.
By March 12, the Canucks were 7-17-3 in 2014.
“To go from December when you win every game in a month to what has occurred since then is remarkable,” Gillis explained on the March 12. “But there are some reasons and they're not excuses, but we've had massive injuries this (season), we've had key guys out of our lineup for extended periods of time, we had an incident in January that was hard to describe. It is what it is, we have to continue to find ways to win games.”
That led to speculation that Tortorella, who signed a five-year contract, was about to lose his job.
“I'm not commenting on that, because then it just lends creditably to what's out there with bloggers and all kinds of different people,” Gillis said. "So, it's unfair to comment on any future plans other than what we've already said, which was that were trying to get younger, we're trying to retool, and we're trying to do things a little differently in the next one, three, five years.”
But his job isn't safe either.
Gillis has been feeling heat, too, after several questionable trades during his time as the Canucks' general manager. That includes moving goaltender Cory Schneider to the New Jersey Devils for the ninth-overall pick at the 2013 NHL draft, which the Canucks' used to select forward Bo Horvat from the OHL's London Knights.
Vancouver has an 11-21-4 record since Gillis addressed Tortorella's job situation on March 12.
Finally, Gillis decided to speak up.
“The running of this team is my responsibility,” Gillis said in an interview on TEAM 1040's Bro Jake Show on Thursday. “I really feel that in the last seasons we've chased goal posts that have been moving and got away from our core principles of how I want this team to play and how we want to preform and the tempo that we want to play with.
"So, you know, people love to pick someone to blame. But the reality is, as an organization, we've deviated from some of the things that have been successful and some of the things that I know will be successful. We will get back to those levels and that style of play that we started six years ago and we have the personnel to do it. We just have to be committed and have the guts to carry it out.”
But perhaps his ideas may not matter.
“I'm not sure if I'll be back next season,” Gillis said on the radio show. "I think
everybody is open for evaluation. We've had players who have severely underperformed. Our team has underperformed. I think that we're all open to evaluation and we all deserve evaluation and that's what's going to come.
"Having said that, I have a clear vision on where we have to go. I had one six seasons ago, and I have one today that we have to execute on in order to compete for the Stanley Cup and the Western Conference and that's what I intend to do. But I think it's fair to say that we will all be under scrutiny and evaluation come the end of this season, which is deserved.”
Still, Gillis is determined to bring the Canucks to their winning ways once again if he is given the chance to do so.
"We had a plan six years ago to do it and we got as close as we could get,” Gillis explained on the Bro Jake Show. “We learned a lot of lessons from that and I'm tired of chasing a moving target. We are going to get back to the fundamentals and the principles that I believe in and that's how we're going to play. Like I said, if people don't want to comply, and we did this six years ago, we made hard
choices. Those hard choices are going to come again if we don't see people get on the same page."
So why are the Canucks struggling?
“When you have an entire team's performance drop off, there has to be reasons for it,” he told the radio audience. “Whether those reasons are attributable to one thing and one thing only is unlikely. I think it's a combination of things that has contributed to us not preforming at a level that we have expected, and I think those things need to be addressed systemically and completely and turned
around so that we can build the style and style of team we want to have here. If given the resources and the players are committed to it, any coach can coach the team that he has. But having said that, our problems are far-reaching and will be addressed. If people don't want to get onside with how I view this team and how it's supposed to play then they won't be here.”
Tortorella coaches a hard-nosed, shot-blocking, defence-first game. Gillis, however, has a different view on how he wants the game to be played.
“I want us to play an upbeat, puck possession, move-the-puck quickly, force teams into mistakes, high-transition game,” Gillis said on the radio show. “I think we have the personnel to do it. If we don't, they'll be changed. That's my vision, that's how I believe you're going to win in the Western Conference and the National Hockey League. If you look at the top teams in the West, there isn't a lot
that separated the teams, but the top teams played that way. That's the way that we played.”
Following Friday's practice, Tortorella was asked about Gillis's conversation on TEAM 1040.
“I'm not going to have any comment on that,” Tortorella told reporters. “I think that that's a conversation that should be held internally, and that's how I'll go about my business. You're digging at a subject that I'd rather talk internally about, that's probably something you talk about after the season is over. I have to worry about coaching a hockey team, we have five more games, a team that needs to get better, and that's my focus.”
With the Canucks unlikely to make the playoffs, the spotlight has been placed squarely on Tortorella and Gillis.
“We'll go through a thorough evaluation of what occurred this season,” Gillis said on the Bro Jake Show. “We'll go through a thorough plan of where we see we have to go and (ownership will) make a decision on what route they choose."
It likely won't be long until that route is revealed.

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Vigneault's Rangers get past Tortorella's Canucks

By DICKSON LIONG
Special to Taking Note

VANCOUVER -- All is well when a team is consistently winning, in the regular season and playoffs.
But when one isn't winning, not so much.
There was a time not too long ago, in 2010-11 to be exact, when the Vancouver Canucks not only won the Presidents Trophy as the top team in the NHL with 54 victories and 117 points, but also reached the Stanley Cup final and faced the Boston Bruins.
The series came down to one game: Game 7, with people all over B.C. watching live at Rogers Arena or on a television screen somewhere, following on the Internet, or tuning in via radio in the hope that Vancouver would write a new page in the history books.
But it all took a turn for the worst, as Vancouver lost 4-0 to the Bruins and there followed riots in the streets of Vancouver. Cars were flipped, fires were started, and store windows were broken and stores looted.
It was a day that no one wants to remember.
The riot may have symbolized something else, however. It marked the beginning of the downfall of the Canucks. Because although Vancouver was able to capture another Presidents Trophy, victories in the playoffs didn't come as easily.
Two seasons ago, in the first round, Vancouver faced the Los Angeles Kings, who had finished eighth in the Western Conference with 95 points. To many people's surprise, the Kings defeated the Canucks in six games.
But no other team had much success against the Kings, who went on to become Stanley Cup champions.
For the Canucks, it was much the same story last season. Again, Vancouver was
able to show success in what was a lockout-shortened 48-game regular season. The Canucks were the No. 3 seed, thanks to 59 points, and were matched up against the No. 6 San Jose Sharks in the first round. Down 2-0 after losing twice at home, the Canucks knew they were in trouble.
“Right now, it's two evenly matched teams, and two team that are competing very hard,” Alain Vigneault, who was the Canucks' head coach, said, sounding clearly defeated after a 3-2 loss in Game 2. “Right now, we're on the wrong side for two games and we need to find a way to get on the right side.”
Vancouver couldn't find a way to win a single game in that series and changes were going to happen.
“We're going to look at every element of the organization and change where ever we need to change,” general manager Mike Gillis stated at the team's season-ending press conference on May 9. “It doesn't begin and end with me, it goes all the way through to the players and we're going to have to make changes. I think
there is a couple of significant changes that we have to consider and make.”
One, was the coaching staff. Vigneault and assistants Newell Brown and Rick Bowness were relieved of their duties 13 days later. Their time was up.
“Well, I think that we're in a results oriented business,” Gillis said. “If you look at the last two playoffs that we've been in, we were the higher seeded that lost the first two games at home, we've lost consecutive games the last two playoff years, and there comes a time where the message has to change but we have to be better. We simply didn't get the results that we expected and, in this business,
you have to get results.”
Enter John Tortorella, who had spent five seasons as the head coach of the New York Rangers, before being fired by for many of the same reasons as Vigneault. The bottom line was that Tortorella wasn’t able to lead his team to success in the playoffs.
The Rangers were eliminated by the Boston Bruins in Game 5 of a second-round series.
“Lots of things (led us to hire Tortorella),” Gillis said. “First of all, his demeanour and how he approaches the game and the expectations that he has as a head coach. I think coming to our organization at this particular point and time, it was the voice that I wanted to hear. He's won at every level, which is very important for our players here.”
Oddly enough, Vigneault was hired by the Rangers eight days prior to Tortorella being named the Canucks' head coach on June 25.
But perhaps coaching was never the issue for Vancouver.
Tortorella is a new voice with a different message, with many of the same players on the roster. But even with that, not much has changed and the Canucks find themselves unlikely to make the playoffs.
In a season where the NHL introduced divisional realignment, that didn’t help either. When Vancouver was at least successful in the regular reason, it was in a Northwest Division that also included the Calgary Flames, Colorado Avalanche, Minnesota Wild and Edmonton Oilers, teams that consistently finished out of the top eight in the conference.
Now those teams are gone. With realignment, the Canucks now are in the Pacific Division,  battling with the likes of the San Jose Sharks, Phoenix Coyotes, Los Angeles Kings, Phoenix Coyotes and Anaheim Ducks, along with Edmonton and Calgary.
Were the Canucks well-equipped enough to defeat those teams? The answer, it seems, is no. Vancouver has had trouble getting victories, especially in the 2014 portion of the schedule, and finds itself 10th in the conference.
Close to 3,000 miles away, meanwhile, the Rangers and Vigneault are doing just fine. They are comfortably at No. 5 in the Eastern Conference.
“We're losing games so I'm the idiot, and he's winning games so he's the smart guy — and rightfully so," Tortorella said after the Canucks’ Monday practice. "When you lose games and you struggle, you're going to get scrutinized.
"That's part of the business, and I should be scrutinized."
He continued to be under the microscope on Tuesday, as the Canucks lost 3-1 to the visiting Rangers.
“No whining,” Tortorella said after the game. “We lost. We're losing. We just have to keep on trying to get better.”
The Canucks bench doesn’t appear to be a fun one to be on, and it likely won't be until the coaching staff is given some new cards to shuffle. Vigneault has his cards, and left Rogers Arena laughing and smiling.
And it wasn't from somebody telling him an April Fools joke.
NOTES: Vancouver RW Zack Kassian suffered an injury to a kneecap in the first period, but was able to finish the game. . . . Canucks C Ryan Kesler scored Vancouver's lone goal at 6:21 of the second period. . . . New York F Martin St. Louis scored his first goal with the Rangers, a shorthanded effort at 10:15 of the third period that gave the visitors a 3-1 edge. . . . Rangers D Ryan McDonagh suffered an upper-body injury at 19:16 of the third period after a hit from Canucks' RW Alex Burrows, who was given an elbowing major and game misconduct. . . . The Canucks are scheduled to practice at Rogers
Arena on Wednesday as they prepare for a Saturday night visit by Los Angeles. . . . The Canucks have only five games left in the regular season, with four of them to be played at home.

(Follow Dickson Liong on Twitter: @DLLiong)
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