2015 was a difficult year to be a Canucks fan.
First there was all the losing. The Canucks went 43-33-11 in 2015, which may not look all that bad, but it’s important to consider that most of the wins came in the back half of the 2014-15 season, when the Canucks posted a 27-18-2 finish on their way to a playoff spot.
Once there, the winning came to an abrupt end, as Â鶹´«Ă˝Ół»was eliminated by the Calgary Flames in six games. And since this season began, they’ve shown nothing that indicates a stronger finish this year. They look even less likely to win a playoff round, let alone get invited to one.
Plus, if you add the regulation and overtime losses together, the Canucks went 43-44 last year. They lost one more game than they won in 2015, which officially makes it a losing year.
Harder than all the losing, however, was knowing how to react to it. The proper response would seem to be disappointment or even anger. Lord knows Â鶹´«Ă˝Ół»is practised at reacting angrily to Canuck losses, and I’m not just talking about those two unfortunate civil disturbances. All you have to do is listen to the local radio station after a game. You can practically hear callers frothing at the mouth.
Or at least you could before. Listen to the callers these days and you’re bound to notice a difference: a loss of conviction, mostly, as though most people aren’t quite sure how to react anymore.
Consider this comment on the Pass it to Bulis blog, left by reader Joan Brown after the Canucks mounted their first third-period comeback of the season, defeating the Anaheim Ducks in a shootout on Saturday. That’s a good thing, right? Brown seems to think otherwise.
“After watching [projected first overall pick] Auston Matthews rack up the points in the WJT,” wrote Brown, “I have frustrated visions of Canucks actually losing out on a potentially great draft pick every time they eke out one of these gutsy wins.
“In the weak [Pacific Division], this means they will likely stay ahead of the other bottom feeders, get into the playoffs, get smeared in the first round and miss out on draft day. So personally, I liked the win but not the points.”
Therein lies the conundrum of this Canucks season. Each loss makes it clearer that they’re pretty far away from being Stanley Cup contenders. But each win puts distance between them and the teams vying for the first overall pick in next year’s entry draft. They’re treading water. Fans need to know which direction they intend to swim.
Practical fans are calling for the Canucks to throw in the towel. Forget about winning right now. Move veterans out, bring youngsters in. Get a head start on the future, as well as a core player for it, by tanking the season right away.
You can see the logic in it. If the best-case scenario for the Canucks is a first-round playoff exit, why aspire to that? Why not flush the season and focus on getting that high draft pick?
It’s not unreasonable. I just think it’s too optimistic. These fans seem to think the draft is a can’t-miss proposition. Do I have to remind you of the man drafted ahead of Henrik and Daniel Sedin at first overall in 1999?
Probably, since no one remembers him. He wasn’t very good. His name was Patrik Stefan. He’s now regarded as one of the greatest draft busts in hockey history.
People seem strangely confident that big-time busts like this are a thing of the past. (To them, I would ask, did you see Jake Virtanen at the World Juniors?) There’s always a risk. And when you think about the Canucks’ recent drafting record, it seems silly that there’s a segment of truly intelligent hockey fans thinking a high draft pick is a can’t-lose proposition for this club.
Sure, that’s fatalistic. But I’ve been a Canucks fan for a long time. This is what I’ve become.
Furthermore, as a fan, the last thing I want to watch is a version of the Â鶹´«Ă˝Ół»Canucks that couldn’t care less about winning. I don’t care if it’s part of some longer-term plan. Don’t waste my time. I tune in to hockey games to watch the Canucks try to win them. The moment they stop doing that, are they even a hockey team anymore? No surprise that Â鶹´«Ă˝Ół»hockey fans enter 2016 in the midst of an existential crisis.
There’s still a lot of hockey left to be played this year. But if we don’t sort out our expectations, we’ll wind up spending 2016 just as bewildered and frustrated as last year. And so, as we start another calendar year of hockey, we need to ask ourselves: What do we actually want from this team?
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