Alex Edler and Sedins bounced back under Canucks head coach Willie Desjardins

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      Canucks head coach Willie Desjardins must be feeling pretty good this morning.

      His team is entering the first round of the playoffs with home-ice advantage against the Calgary Flames.

      Few would have predicted this at the start of the season.

      He's also brought along some surprisingly effective young players, notably Bo Horvat and Ronald Kenins.

      But his most notable achievement was helping three veteran Swedes, Alex Edler and the Sedins, back on track after a dreadful 2013-14 under John Tortorella.

      Daniel Sedin was the Canucks' leading scorer this year with 76 points (20 goals and 56 assists). He tied for eighth in the league, just 11 points behind Art Ross Trophy winner Jamie Benn.

      It was the first time since the 2003-04 season that he had more assists than his brother Henrik, who ended the season with 18 goals and 55 assists.

      Their former linemate, Radim Vrbata, recorded 31 goals and 32 assists, ranking third on the team in scoring.

      Perhaps more remarkably, a dozen Canucks scored 10 or more goals this year, compared with only eight who accomplished that feat last year.

      We all know that Desjardins didn't show nearly as much personality as Torts in his post-game news conferences. But hey, who can argue with the results?

      Comments

      2 Comments

      James Blatchford

      Apr 12, 2015 at 11:55am

      Torts was entertaining; but the Canucks were not. Like it better the other way around.

      Bore us to tears, Willie.

      Relieved

      Apr 12, 2015 at 7:57pm

      Agree with the article and James Blatchford.

      The Canucks organization kept a very low profile this year and seemed to gel once again as a team. There were no controversies and even a major, local public figure like Trevor Linden kept out of the spotlight. I was also glad that the Vancouver media was supportive of the team, and I think everyone in Vancouver was glad to see the backs of Torts and especially of Gillis.