Mëds wrote:So one adjustment made in six years that results in 2 goals totally absolves Vigneault of the complete lack of adjustments made in the SCF and in round 1 against LA. Good to know.
The guy couldn't get the team to take their jobs seriously for 3 months. The result is a fan base that feels ripped off, and players who are swinging golf clubs.
:rolleyes:
I know you're on the warpath here but one example of an adjustment doesn't mean that the coach made one adjustment. The Canucks also had to adjust to figure out the Kings powerplay in 2010 off the top of my head..
As for the Bruins and Kings series, what adjustments did you think AV should have made? Both opponents controlled the front of their own net extremely well (perhaps the best two teams in the league that I've seen in this respect), have the Canucks had that Dustin Byfuglien type at their disposal and AV has instructed him to circle the perimeter?
I mentioned earlier I think it was a goddamn tragedy for the organization that we had a $4m defenseman in the SCF who could not be used effectively, so there's one thing I think they could have done better. I've also mentioned that I would have been interested to see the Canucks try to freeze the Bruins out with stifling, ultra conservative play so that's another thing I would have liked to see.
However on more than just the level you and others are implying, AV was not playing with a full deck in these series. What is he supposed to do to create offense with two of his best three scorers hurt? If he "loaded up" the first line with his best and healthiest players you're looking at.. Hank/Booth/Burrows in the Kings series, and.. Daniel/..Lapierre? rookie Silent G?/Burrows in the Bruins series. What the fuck is a coach supposed to do to fix the issue staring you in the face when presented with those options? And hell if a team shuts those guys down (as any playoff team should be able to for a stretch) who is left?
Since Vigneaul took the reigns the Canucks have shown a propensity for making beatable goaltenders look all-world by dumping 30+ shots at the net from the perimeter, getting no second shot chances on back door rebounds (because nobody is there) and grossly inflating the SV% of said goaltender. I won't even bother trying to list the number of times we've had to watch such spectacles during regular season play. The playoffs though.....that's another story. In 2009 it was Khabibulin, in 2010 it was Niemi. Last year it was Crawford (in several games during round 1), then Thomas in the SCF, the guy who had a great regular season and playoffs but was eaten alive by Tampa Bay who figured out that getting him out of position and then moving the puck across or having a guy in place for the far-side rebound paid dividends. This year it was Quick......same story. Quick is a standout in that group, he really is that good, but by the same token, the Canucks never really made him work for his wins and padded his stats nicely. Thomas would be middle of the pack on any team that didn't play box out hockey like the Bruins, he would make incredible saves and have incredible games, but he would get burned way more and win less.
It's not the players making these goaltenders look unbeatable, it's the system they are playing in.
I would say that given the rosters, the players playing hurt and so on, the one series that really hangs on AV is the 2009 Blackhawks series.
The others, I don't think you can hold the coach entirely accountable. Like I said earlier, it's not like he's sitting on a player who can control the area in front of the opposing goalie, instead we are looking at guys like Higgins, Hansen, Burrows, Raymond and Sedin trying to win loose pucks from the Willie Mitchells, Matt Greenes, Zdeno Charas and Brent Seabrooks of the world.
The Canucks are just not built to go to war in the middle of the ice and no coach is going to change that. I can totally get on board with the idea that this team needs a new coach, but these reasons just don't add up for me.