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Canucks’ Boudreau mania grinds to a halt

Yes, things have been fun since the Vancouver Canucks brought head coach Bruce Boudreau on board in December, heck, the team didn’t lose a game in regulation for over a month.
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Yes, things have been fun since the Vancouver Canucks brought head coach Bruce Boudreau on board in December, heck, the team didn’t lose a game in regulation for over a month.

But in the midst of a brutal stretch against all playoff powerhouses in which they’ve lost four of the last five games, its safe to say that parties over. Boudreau mania even had fans dreaming of a potential playoff berth, as the Canucks were just four points out of a wild card spot at the beginning of the month.

That deficit has continued to grow though, and with every passing loss the things get harder and harder.

To be fair, this isn’t Boudreau’s fault.

For starters, this really has been a tough stretch. The past five games have all been against top 10 teams in the NHL, as are the next three. Adding to that was that they all came on the road. It’s understandable that the Canucks are struggling right now, but still, a lot of fans had hope that their performance in December would translate into some better results during this stretch.

It’s also worth mentioning that it’s quite common in sports when a franchise gets a new bench boss for the players view it as a wake-up call of sorts, which leads to a stretch of good play that usually isn’t sustainable.

That’s exactly what we’re seeing now. After all, the coach cant play the games for you, it still comes down to personnel and the Canucks still have major issues roster-wise.

The penalty kill is still terrible, and they need to upgrade the the blue line considerably to help out star goaltender Thatcher Demko, but the main issue is goal scoring.

The Canucks rank 25th in the league in goals scored this year, and they don’t have a single player in the top 50 goal scorers in the league. Several young players who were billed as goal scorers, like Elias Pettersson, have thoroughly under-performed this year.

Boudreau can do a lot, but he can’t put the puck in the back of the net from behind he bench. This is something management has to address if Vancouver wants to taste postseason hockey once again. Given the way the game is played today, scoring is at a premium, and if you don’t have any one who even comes close to an elite goalscorer, it’s going to be hard to win a lot of games unless your defense is out of this world [which the Canucks’ certainly is not]

Unfortunately, Boudreau mania can only take the team so far. Now, there’s still a lot of hockey to left to be played this season, so you never know. With the current roster make-up though, fans might not want to hold their breath waiting for the playoffs.


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Eddie Huband
Multimedia Reporter
eddie.huband@ldnews.net
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