Injuries helped Canucks get better, says coach

Vancouver Canucks coach Willie Desjardins usually keeps his emotions in check, but could not hide his frustration before Saturday’s season finale against the Edmonton Oilers.

“It’s frustrating for everybody,” said Desjardins after Vancouver’s morning skate. “It’s frustrating for the fans. It’s frustrating for management and everybody’s frustrated with it.”

The Canucks were officially eliminated from the playoffs in March, but had little hope of reaching the post-season much earlier.

"Losing is tough, losing is hard, it’s hard on everybody, but if you just lose and you’re not upset by it, then that’s not a very good sign," he added.

But Desjardins, who has management’s blessing to return next season, believes that the Canucks have plenty of talent in their dressing room. Injuries killed Vancouver’s playoffs hopes, along with inconsistency. Desjardins said the injuries, which resulted in the loss of key veterans Brandon Sutter and Chris Higgins among others, actually ended up helping the club, because young players received extensive playing time.

“We’re a different team without injuries. I think the injuries have made us better down the road,” said Desjardins. “We don’t want the injuries, but I think they’ve made us better for the future. There (are) lots of cases throughout the team. You look at (goaltender Jacob) Markstrom. Injuries to (Ryan) Miller have helped Markstrom, and you look at Tryamkin coming in. They are so many of them. (Jake Virtanen) and (Sven) Baertschi. Lots of guys are better because of that. So that’s the positive part out of it. But that doesn’t change how we feel every night when we play.”

Vancouver players could not hide their disappointment with the way things have gone, either.

“It’s disappointing, it’s frustrating, we wanted to get in the playoffs, we wanted to be a good team – and look where we are right now,” said winger Alex Burrows.

With a possible contract looming, Burrows realized that he might have suited up for his final game as a Canuck. Burrows became a star after going undrafted and beginning his career in the East Coast Hockey League before advancing to the AHL and then the NHL. But he was in no mood to reflect on his tenure in Vancouver before the game.

“I’m sure, once I’ve had time to reflect after the season, once I’ve had my year-end meetings with management and coaching staff, then you can reflect on the bigger picture,” he said.

Edler's loss to injury spells rookie's gain

The loss of one player to injury is another player’s gain – it’s been forever thus in the NHL and, consequently, it’s now Adam Clendening’s time to shine.
Alex Edler’s absence to an undisclosed injury, enabled Clendening, a 22-year-old Niagara Falls, N.Y., native, to play a key role on Vancouver’s first power play unit as the Canucks hosted the Minnesota Wild on Monday. The rookie defenceman only joined the Canucks in a trade from Chicago in late January for minor-leaguer Gustav Forsling.
Clendening spent most of his two-year tenure in the Blackhawks organization toiling for their AHL farm club in Rockford, Ill., but now he finds himself pushing for points with NHL veterans Alex Burrows, Daniel and Henrik Sedin and Radim Vrbata.
“I take pride in my ability offensively and to quarterback the power play,” said Clendening. “To get that opportunity, especially with the twins and Burr and Verby, it’s a big responsibility.”
Clendening has displayed a flare for offence with the U.S. under-18 program, Boston University and AHL after the Blackhawks drafted him in the second round (36th overall) in 2011. He was an AHL second and first all-star in his first two pro seasons. Now, he gets a chance to replace Edler and demonstrate how consistent he can be in the NHL.
“It’s a great opportunity for other guys to step up,” he said of Edler’s injury, suffered Saturday in Calgary. “But let’s be serious. Eagle’s gonna be missed. A tough guy to take out of your lineup. He took a lot of minutes. He’s big and plays in every single situation.”
But Canucks coach Willie Desjardins, whose mandate this season is to prepare call-ups and acquisition for life in the NHL while also getting the Canucks back to the playoffs, expressed confidence in putting Clendening in difficult circumstances. Desjardins said the rearguard still has to learn some of the intricacies of the NHL, but the coach likes some of the skills that he has displayed.
“He’s a good passer,” said Desjardins. “He sees the ice real well. I think there are some things in his game that he has to work on if he wants to be an elite power-play defenceman at this level. But I think he has a real good vision in the offensive zone, and he moves the puck well.”
Clendening is feeling more comfortable every day after the first couple of days of learning Vancouver’s system, which is similar to Chicago’s on-ice framework, and making sure all of his gear and belongings arrived.
“(The performance) may not be in the numbers showing up, but I think I’m moving the puck the right way and putting it on the right guy’s tape and making the right decisions with it,” he said.
However, while he is gaining, at least for now, from Edler’s injury, he can also relate to the struggles that many players face as they battle for contracts. Clendening is a former teammate of late NHL defenceman Steve Montador, 35, who was found dead in his Toronto-area home Sunday.
“It’s very sad,” said Clendening. “I played with him in Rockford. I was actually his partner down there for a bit, and we spent a little bit of time together (as Black Aces for Chicago’s Stanley) Cup run there (in 2012-13), so I got to know him pretty well. When I heard the news, I was very heartbroken. I don’t know any details (on his death), so I can’t really comment on that. But he’s somebody that’ll definitely be missed in the hockey world.”
Police do not suspect foul play was involved. Montador suffered concussions during his 571-game NHL career with the Calgary Flames, Florida Panthers, Anaheim Ducks, Buffalo Sabres and Blackhawks. He was also battling depression, although Clendening was unaware of his issues.
“He seemed like a guy that was always in a good attitude and really enjoyed being around the rink and that type of thing,” said Clendening. “He never really gave me that perception of being in trouble mentally.”
So Clendening is aware that although he has gained from an injury loss, he his time in the spotlight could be fleeting.

Bruins-Canucks rivalry lingers four years later

Circa 2011, games between the Vancouver Canucks and Boston Bruins generated considerable buzz, along with plenty of venom. Now? Not so much.
But it was evident Friday that some of rivalry that reached a feverish height in the 2011 Stanley Cup final, when Boston overcame a 3-1 series deficit to win in seven games, is still there.
“Maybe a little bit,” said Canucks winger Alex Burrows before Vancouver hosted the Bruins. “I would have liked to win four years ago. But they’re a much different team and we’re a much different team now. So, personally, maybe a little bit. But now, we’ve moved on from that.”
Burrows was at the centre of many brouhahas with the Bruins, notably with Patrice Bergeron in a finger-biting incident. But, in a sign, perhaps, of lingering animosity, Burrows has not chatted amicably with Bergeron or anyone else about the memorable 2011 finals.
“Honestly, I don’t know where I could have (talked to) most of them,” said Burrows. “I know, maybe, (Patrice) Bergeron. But he’s from Quebec City. I’m from Montreal. That’s a four-hour drive. So it’s not like I see them or have any friends on the team, really. I’ve never really gone out of my way to talk about (the 2011 final loss) or anything. But I’ve been to Fenway Park and I’ve watched the Red Sox. That’s probably as close as I’ve gotten to Boston ever since then.”
Canucks captain Henrik Sedin said Boston is still “a team that brings out the best in us,” but the rivalry is not even close to what it used to be.
“When you play against them in the finals, the heat is going to be there,” he said. “But they have a lot of new faces, and we don’t have too many guys left from that year. So it’s different – for sure.”
The lack of games between the teams – only two per season – also prevents things from heating up.
“Yeah, a little bit,” he said. “The only game where the same kind of rivalry has been there was the year after when we played them in Boston.”
Former general manager Mike Gillis believed that his club was never the same after that highly physical and emotional affair. But some Vancouver players, such as Zack Kassian, who was not with the team then, believe that the final loss “still stings.”
Times are much different now, because both the Canucks and Bruins are battling for playoff berths instead of vying for first overall in the NHL like they once did. But Bruins winger Milan Lucic, a Vancouver native, believes there always will be a strong rivalry between the clubs.
“That’s what makes these games so exciting,” he said.
But he also believes the fight for two points is what counts the most now.
“I think that whole revenge thing is out the window as far as the final goes,” said Lucic.
Bruins captain Zdeno Chara also believes the rivalry is much different. He noted that both clubs have changed many players and the Canucks “changed their whole management and coaching staff.”
But Chara thinks the rivalry would “probably” be more intense if the Bruins and Canucks faced each other more often.
“That’s what happens when you play teams more often,” he said. “Different things might cause more more emotional games (to) come out of that, but the schedule is set before the season and, usually, you only play some teams once or twice.”
Bruins coach Claude Julien has been known to stoke the fires between the teams. But the Bruins and Canucks have some ties now following former Boston executive Jim Benning’s appointment as Canucks GM last summer. So Julien actually had some nice things to say about a member of Canucks management.
“Jim is a good man,” said Julien. “He’s a good hockey man. He’s a good person. Great hockey knowledge. Very calm. Sees deficiencies. Sees also assets. I’ve had good talks with Jim. When he was in Boston, we chatted about our team and other players and stuff like that. In my mind, it was too bad that we lost a good man, but I think Vancouver made a really good decision. To be very honest in my comment, I think they got themselves a good man who’s gonna make this team a good team if you give him some time.”
Julien has also been known to say good things about former Canucks coach Alain Vigneault, an old friends. Of course, new Canucks coach Willie Desjardins wasn’t with the club in 2011. But Dejardins, who has won championships at every level, believes that a Boston-Vancouver game will always be emotional for Canuck players who were with the team in 2011.
“I don’t see how it couldn’t be,” said Dejardins. “That’s something you never forget, the guys that were here, the run, that series.
“I think it’ll always mean something to play against Boston.”

Tortorella calls for Canucks to improve on their lack of depth

It’s time for the Vancouver Canucks to stop dwelling on their 2011 Stanley Cup finals appearance and start retooling for the future, says coach John Tortorella.
“This is a group that’s been together for a long time,” he said Monday, a day after the Canucks’ 2013-14 season ended. “It’s stale. It needs youth. It needs a change – it needs a change – and I felt that from day one.
“We’re not in 2011. We have to stop talking about 2011. The team needs to be retooled, and that’s where change is. It is a young man’s game. It’s certainly not a criticism of them. We need to surround them with some enthusiasm.”
But he also called for changes to “some of the team’s core” as part of the “evolution” that’s necessary. He does not want to see massive changes, but noted "there is a heartbeat of a team, and it needs to be surrounded.”
Tortorella made his comments less than 24 hours after the Canucks missed the playoffs for the first time since 2008, knowing that he might not be around next season. In other words, even with his job on the line, nobody could accuse him of trying to be politically correct.
And, he wasn’t about to try to spin things as he prepares to discuss his future with new team president Trevor Linden.
“I don’t coach to keep my job,” said Tortorella. “I’m not going to go into any meeting trying to save my job. I just don’t do it that way. I am going to tell him what I think. Trevor is very efficient and, from what I understand, he is on top of everything as far as the interviews and what he’s doing. I have a tremendous amount of respect for him. I loved him as a player and, (in) just a short time I’ve seen him here, you’re in good hands. The team is in good hands. But I’m not going to be rehearsed.”
The Canucks finished 12th in the Western Conference with a 36-35-11 record for 83 points. Only the Calgary Flames and Edmonton Oilers finished behind them in the conference. The Winnipeg Jets, who fired their coach in mid-season, finished with one more point than Vancouver.
Tortorella said his biggest regret was not staying on top of his team to keep it playing well after a strong first half. But he contended that he did not know how his six-game suspension for storming the Calgary Flames dressing room area Jan. 18 affected his team, which battled numerous injuries that he and players contend forced it to play a different way, which they have described as less aggressive, more conservative and defensive-oriented.
But in addition to the injuries and inconsistency, Tortorella pointed to an obvious fact that was at the root of their woes: A lack of depth. While he has come under criticism for over-playing Daniel and Henrik Sedin at times, Tortorella said that when the outcome of a 2-1 game was on the line with six or seven minutes to go, he did not feel comfortable putting out other players.
“I did the things I needed to do to try to win games, because sometimes I looked down (the bench) and guys just weren’t ready, some other guys in our lineup” he said. “We lack depth, and that’s where we’re at. That isn’t being critical. It’s the truth.”
Well, it’s also an indictment of former general manager Mike Gillis’ poor drafting and trade records. The recently fired GM’s legacy will likely be botched trades involving goaltenders Roberto Luongo and Cory Schneider, whose deals did not appear to bring back suitable asset returns. But Tortorella was not pointing a finger at him intentionally.
Tortorella also contended that, contrary to public perception, he gets along well with centre Ryan Kesler, whose future with the team is uncertain, although the Livonia, Mich., native said Monday that he never asked for a trade and hopes to stay.
“Kes and I have a tremendous relationship,” said Tortorella. “You guys think we hate one another (and) we don’t speak, but we have a tremendous relationship. We have a very honest relationship. I think he has stood in there and played hard every night.”
Kesler led the team in goals with 25 after a turnaround season following two seasons derailed by injuries. But Tortorella criticized himself for not getting through to defenceman Alex Edler, who is clearly Vancouver’s most gifted rearguard but finished minus-39.
(One of these years, a coach might realize that he just needs to let Edler play his game and not let him over-think it, which he admitted Monday that he does. But that realization might not come in Vancouver, if Edler agrees to waive a no-trade clause and gets moved.)
Kesler lamented the loss of what he thought would be a good season after former coach Alain Vigneault was fired last summer and all players felt they had something to prove after being eliminated in the first round of the playoffs for the second straight year.
“We’re all flabbergasted right now that we’re sitting up here talking about the year that we just had. Going into this year, I would never think that we’d be sitting here in this situation,” said Kesler.
He agreed with Daniel Sedin’s contention that players, not the team’s system, were to blame for the club’s woes.
“It’s not like Torts is in there telling us not to play offence,” said Kesler. ‘He wants us to score. He wants us to produce.”
Added defenceman Kevin Bieksa: “Having a coach let go last year and a GM a (week) ago, it’s not a good feeling right now, especially (for) the four guys up here,” said Bieksa. “We feel responsible for it. The bottom line is, we win more games and guys don’t lose their jobs.”
With Gillis fired and Tortorella’s job anything but certain, players know that they are next in line to face the team’s revolving door.
“With Torts’ future in question, it’s a tough time for everybody,” said Bieksa. “We’ll see what decisions are made. But, right now, we look at ourselves first and foremost … and think: We could have been better. We should have been better. There are people that are suffering because of it.”
Notes_Daniel Sedin, who left Sunday’s season finale on a stretcher after Paul Byron sent him into the boards head-first, said he did not suffer a concussion or any other serious injuries. He was placed on the stretcher for “precautionary reasons” only. … Vancouver winger Alex Burrows will play for Canada in the upcoming world championships. … Edler does not plan to play for Sweden at the worlds. Lack said he is willing, but has not yet heard from Team Sweden.

Iginla excels again eight years later

Post-Olympic blog items that will never grow up to be columns . . .

Jarome Iginla withstood a test of time Sunday. Iginla's assist on Sidney Crosby's winning goal in overtime as Canada claimed the Olympic gold medal with a 3-2 victory over the United States, evoked memories of Salt Lake City eight years earlier, when he scored two goals in another golden triumph over Uncle Sam's team. To play in three different Winter Olympics is an accomplishment in itself. To figure in gold medal wins eight years apart ranks as a rare feat. Iginla, who led the 2010 Winter Games in goal scoring, has another Olympic gold to go along with a world championship at the senior level; two world junior crowns, when he was also a dominant player; and two Memorial Cup crowns. Now, he just needs another Stanley Cup, although he did help his Calgary Flames reach the 2004 finals, only to lose in seven games to Tampa Bay. Unfortunately, the way things are going for Calgary, it might take the Flames another eight years to get back there.

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Women's hockey players can play the game like men, but they are not allowed to celebrate gold medals the same way. The International Olympic Committee pooh-poohed on Canada's gold-medal-winning femal squad after players celebrated by smoking cigars and getting crazy enough for one to try and drive a Zamboni. The celebration was not in public, but a wily photographer caught some of the antics. (Which just goes to prove that the camera, not the pen, is mightier than the sword.) Never mind countless tales of Stanley Cup champions doing zany things with Lord Stanley's chalice when they take it back to their hometowns every summer. The IOC likes to talk about doing its thing for gender equality. (And, a big hello to you, too, lady ski jumpers!) But, when push comes to shove, Olympic power brokers would probably prefer that women athletes just go home, cook and make babies for their men folk after getting this thing for competition out of their systems.

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If you build it, they will come.
Medals, that is.
Canada did not own the podium, because no country truly does. The absurd slogan for an even more ridiculously-marketed program was rightly panned during the Vancouver Games. Some Canadian political types thought a bit of government money (which you can bet your last loonie will not be available for the next quadrennial) would help us conquer the world in just four years. Canadians did set a record for gold medal victories during a Winter Olympics, but only because the athletes had facilities where they could train. Medals (gold or otherwise) in bobsled, speedskating and freestyle skiing, among other sports, can be traced to facilities that were built for the 1988 Calgary Winter Olympics.
These facilities also spawned programs and dreams that spawned medal winners. (For proof on the dreams claim, look up Hughes, Clara.) Money always helps, but the truth is that medals take decades to produce.
Alex Bilodeau, the first athlete to win a gold medal on Canadian soil, was right when he said more would come during the 2010 Games. And even more will come in the future, because many of the world-class athletes that you see now will become world-class coaches and world-class sport association leaders that Canada never had before. In addition to them, the legacy will be in the facilities that do not become white elephants like the ski jumps at Canada Olympic Park, since Vancouver will not produce the same athlete-development fund that the profitable Calgary Games did.

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Thumbs down to the IOC for not making more of an effort to raise the profile of Right to Play during the Games. The organization goes out of its way to make sure that kids in wartorn and poverty-stricken regions just have a chance to play pick-up games of soccer and other playground games. Sponsorship politics got in the way of doing good deeds for kids who face more hurdles than even an Olympic champion can imagine. Right to Play has a major sponsor that is a rival to one of the official Olympic supporters. The right thing would have been to highlight Right to Play without playing up the sponsorship angle. Right to Play agreed to such a plan, but the pooh bahs did not.

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Kudos to Hughes for giving her $10,000 bonus from the federal government for winning a bronze to a group on Vancouver's poverty-stricken Downtown Eastside that promotes physical activity. Who's willing to bet that Ottawa probably does not give that much to the group. Her unselfishness again has spoken volumes. Hughes probably has more cash these days than she did when she donated 10 grand to Right to Play from her own bank account four years ago. But most Olympic dream chasers do not have deep pockets at the best of times. Which makes you wonder what the Tories could have done if they had used the money for Prime Minister Stephen Harper's vacation in Vancouver on athletic development instead.

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Quick, somebody give Alex Burrows a Swedish passport. As they did for many years with the Vancouver Canucks, Daniel and Henrik Sedin were in desperate need of a gifted linemate during the Olympics. Burrows has proved to be the answer with the Canucks. Now, if he can just learn a little Swedish and apply for citizenship . . .

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Still in the linemates department: Pavol Demitra showed what he can do when he has real talent (Marian Hossa, etc.) playing alongside him with Slovakia during the Olympics. Despite missing most of the NHL season because of shoulder surgery, Demitra dominated as Slovakia came within Roberto Luongo's glove length of upsetting Canada in their semi-final. The speculation has already started on how long the likes of Darcy Hordichuk, Tanner Glass and Steve Bernier with last as Demitra's linemates with the Canucks. At any rate, Demitra increased his trade value before Wednesday's deadline.

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Calgary Flames coach Brent Sutter is probably wondering who he can get to play with Iginla, too. The Calgary captain proved that his recent struggles in the NHL can probably be attributed to a poor line combination. Let's hope Matt Stajan does a reasonably good Crosby impression.