Cool Alain Vigneault has better year than hot-headed John Tortorella

by Charlie Smith on March 10th, 2014 at 11:08 PM

1 of 1 2 of 1

Earlier today, Canucks general manager Mike Gillis sent a letter to season-ticket holders telling them to stay calm because all is well.

A few hours later, the team blew a 3-0 lead by letting in seven goals in the third period against the New York Islanders.

What's worse is that the humliating 7-4 loss came in the Canucks' own building.

Meanwhile, former Canucks head coach Alain Vigneault is enjoying success in his new job with the New York Rangers.

Vigneault is leading them to a 35-26-4 record, good enough for second place in the Metropolitan Division.

Canucks skipper John Tortorella, who formerly coached the Rangers, has seen his team drop 12 of its last 14 games.

Rookie goalie Eddie Lack played perhaps his worst period tonight since becoming an NHL netminder at the start of this season.

Bad penalties by NIklas Jensen, Kevin Bieksa, and Tom Sestito helped the Islanders score four unanswered goals in the first 6:22 of the third period.

Canucks defenceman Chris Tanev tied the game at the midway mark of the final frame, offering a moment of hope for the fans.

But just 10 seconds later, Matt Martin scored the go-ahead goal on a backhander past Lack.

On the postgame radio show on TEAM 1040, Canucks fans moaned about Gillis and Tortorella.

But hey, don't worry.

"We are now younger and we are getting deeper," Gillis assured the season-ticket holders. "We've added a big, strong 6'4" centre in Shawn Matthias, who is excited to be here and will help this team now. And we believe in our talented group of prospects, including Bo Horvat, Nicklas Jensen, Frank Corrado, Dane Fox, Brendan Gaunce and Hunter Shinkaruk, who will be part of our short and long-term success."

He added that the team has plenty of cap room.

That will help cushion the impact of the falling Canadian dollar.

Earlier this year, TD Economics predicted the loonie would reach (U.S.)$0.85 this year.

That's bad news for any owner of a Canadian NHL franchise paying players in U.S. currency.

Comments

4 Comments

Rudy Haugeneder

Mar 11, 2014 at 12:02am

Canadian Olympic womens' hockey champion Haley Wickenheiser would be a good coach. She knows hockey better than almost anybody and is a great motivator. She would be a super terrific Vancouver Canucks coach and anybody playing for her would win. Haley would bring the Stanley Cup to Vancouver within her first two seasons at the helm.

Survey says

Mar 11, 2014 at 9:14am

The native curse on Vancouver and its white collar inhabitants will remain until it is handed back to the rightful people.

Vancouver also has the worst fans in the league so it's fitting to see white collar people getting fleeced out of their money by a sinking ship. Justice is served in small amounts.

Cici

Mar 11, 2014 at 4:38pm

@ Survey says - There is no native curse.And who are the rightful people? And how many of them are making their way in life without blame or entitlement ? What do they do with their time?