With playoff pressure on, Alain Vigneault's critics are ready to pounce

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      There have been widespread rumblings that head coach Alain Vigneault’s job is on the line as the Vancouver Canucks head into the postseason against the Los Angeles Kings on Wednesday. If the team eventually comes up with anything less than, say, a strong showing in the Western Conference final, Vigneault should start typing up his resume—so say many members of the local blitherati.

      It’s the kind of opinion that often turns into self-fulfilling prophecy in hockey-deranged markets like Vancouver’s. But this is one prophecy that no one in their right mind should want to come true.

      Vigneault is plainly the finest coach in franchise history—and I say this as a hard-core Pat Quinn fan. After falling a single game short of the Stanley Cup, he’s guided the team to its second Presidents’ Trophy in a row. And he’s done it with a significantly altered roster, a goaltending “controversy” stranger than any in memory, and a season-closing push that included head trauma to last year’s Art Ross Trophy winner, to name just a few of the 2011-12 campaign’s major turns.

      It’s easy to view much of this as reflected glory—to argue that Vigneault’s success here has actually been the success of a deeply talented roster. But it’s just as easy to imagine how several key Canucks—Lapierre, Hansen, Higgins, even Burrows, hell, even Kesler—may well have been pretty ordinary players if they’d wound up on another team, in another system, under a less creative and patient eye.

      And speaking of systems: name another NHL head coach who, over the course of his tenure, has transformed his club from a smotheringly defensive squad into a scoring juggernaut—and then turned back to a conservative style again, as he has recently, all according to performance and necessity. Ken Hitchcock has never come close to trying this, and he’s regularly hailed as a genius. The Washington Capitals tried it once, last season, attempting to switch from freewheeling hockey to a defence-first strategy. They’ve been a shambles ever since.

      None of this is to suggest Vigneault is without flaws. Even with the flexibility just mentioned, he sometimes makes weirdly stubborn judgments about players that undermine their confidence to the point of neurotic breakdown (see: Keith Ballard). But he has plenty of company among NHL head coaches in that respect.

      And yes, his media conferences are famous league-wide for their comically dull scripts: any drinking game based on the number of times Vigneault utters “play the right way” or “hard-fought battle” in his public statements would leave most constestants with cirrhosis.

      But these add up to a small price to pay for what he’s brought to the Canucks. Local media and fans should remember this if—or, more likely, when—they get the urge to hammer together a plank for this coach to walk.

      Comments

      6 Comments

      Tim

      Apr 9, 2012 at 7:12pm

      I live in Vancouver area and am in California for most of winter.. Hey we are the envy of everyone down here... If the people down here saw that Aliain was being pounched on..these folks think you should form another riot and please don't wear a mask .. Enjoy the ride..we are the envy of the league ..

      Tim

      Apr 9, 2012 at 7:19pm

      I golfed with a guy from Denver today..they would kill to have a coach like Alain. Suck it up and enjoy the ride

      jimmy

      Apr 10, 2012 at 3:55am

      the only time i call for vigneault's head is when he leaves a clearly useless and broken luongo between the pipes. 2 quick goals against and he NEEDS to be benched, and i don't know why alain does not act. it kills the game. otherwise, i have nothing but praise.

      mike da spike

      Apr 10, 2012 at 5:44am

      what a ridiculous question

      Class Act

      Apr 10, 2012 at 8:19am

      What do we really know of AV? Not much other than his podium presence and his demeanour behind the bench as shown by TV cameras. Yet that for me says it all. The man is a class act. He stays calm, has a sense of humour, is well turned out and overall puts forward a very high standard. As for how he is as a coach we really don;t know what the dynamic 'in the room' is.

      But look at a sour puss like Sutter. No wonder his teams struggle. There's a guy who exudes an air of being perpetually pissed off and his team's performances show it.

      Keep on winning AV, you're great, the team is amazing and hockey is a great sport to play and watch.

      HAPPYpants

      Apr 10, 2012 at 11:14am

      Only in Vancouver does the team make it to 7th game of the Stanley Cup playoffs and Presidents trophy two years in a row and start talking about firing the coach. Relax, the beginning of playoff, 1st in the NHL is a time for optimism not talk of rebuilding. P.S. Ballard is man making $4million/yr if the couch is hard of him it is because much is expected, he needs to play for himself, his team, and should show up AV with great play.

      GO CANUCK GO