At least the will to win is there
But signposts in Canucks’ season suggested Desjardins’ fortunes could hit the ditch
At one point when the walls were already closing in, Willie Desjardins opened a window into his world.
“Jokingly, I’ve always said that losing gives you character,” said the Vancouver Canucks’ coach. “And I always say I have enough character. It’s true. I hate losing.” That was November. It came the day after the Canucks snapped a nine-game losing streak — one short of the franchise record — and allowed Desjardins to briefly exhale.
And he would have to catch his breath because he ran out of it defending his deployments, a loyalty to veterans and teaching a roster ripe with fresh faces.
The reason Desjardins tops podiums as a bench boss expected to lose his job — even though the injury riddled Canucks used 39 players this sorry season — is because his club couldn’t score, couldn’t do anything on special teams and couldn’t win.
Desjardins was handed the awkward dual mandate of striving to make the playoffs while transitioning to youth, but in a bottom-line business, he didn’t get the job done. He did display patience and had a plan to accelerate the development of Bo Horvat, Sven Baertschi and Markus Granlund and thrust them into bigger roles when he deemed them ready. That was impressive.
However, there were no votes of confidence from above — only the citing of injuries and a tough year — and the only promise was a thorough performance evaluation. Desjardins probably wants it completed as soon as possible.
He knows there’s already debate about who’s next — a veteran bridge coach to get youth to another level (Ken Hitchcock) or a coach-in-waiting (Travis Green) — but there’s no debating the feeling that change is at hand, even though there has been support for Desjardins from within the room.
“The last two years have been really tough for him,” said Daniel Sedin. “A lot of injuries, a lot of players and the only way you can criticize the guy is if you’re in here (the Canucks’ locker-room) and knowing what’s happening and what he has to deal with. If you’re looking in from the outside, it’s so easy to criticize.
“He’s been loyal and supportive. He wants to win and puts a team on the ice he thinks can do that and there’s nothing wrong with that. It should never be acceptable to lose and every game we do, he’s so disappointed. That’s what you want from a coach.”
Desjardins has been more blunt when his club hasn’t shown the will to win and his body language in post-game addresses suggested a long time ago that a slow march to an early off-season was taking a toll.
“It’s not easy, but I love my job — I really do,” stressed Desjardins. “I love coming to the rink. And maybe when you’re away and you hear everything is tough, once you come back, it’s different. It’s a great place.
“And for me, that will never change. Every day, I think I’m a lucky guy to come to the rink and coach.” But was he the right guy? There were warning signs: Blowing a rare three-goal, third-period lead and losing 8-6 in Carolina on Dec. 13 and a listless 14-shot, 4-1 loss in Calgary on Dec. 23 had many wondering if the coach would see the new year.
When the switch was finally flipped to play the kids, journeymen and wannabes, the coach never wavered from doing everything he could to win.
On most nights, the Canucks relied on structure and superlative goaltending to stay in games. They were five points shy of a playoff berth in early March after a 2-1-0 California swing and the only constant in a season of constant change was effort. Give Desjardins props for that.
“It shows what this team thinks of him,” said Henrik Sedin. “We play hard for him. It’s never been the case where we don’t believe in what he does. We like playing for him and it showed going through that (ninegame losing streak).”
You expect the Canucks’ captain to be diplomatic. It comes with the territory. But when the Sedins regress statistically to the point where age (36), a lack of systems (power play) and support (revolving right wingers), the coach is partly culpable for their struggles.
Henrik has also played for Marc Crawford, Alain Vigneault and John Tortorella. What sets Desjardins apart is he makes sure he isn’t the story. He isn’t as edgy as Crawford, as successful as Vigneault or as entertaining and erratic as Tortorella. He’s just a coach trying to win.
Desjardins always argued he had the pieces, but not the production for a power play that never gained traction and plummeted to 29th overall. He stubbornly thought Loui Eriksson would work well with Henrik and Daniel and that the rightshot Brandon Sutter was a staple for the first power-play unit.
“He’s a guy who wants you to enjoy coming to the rink,” added Daniel. “He’s always positive and that can bring confidence. For us, he has been awesome because he lets the leadership group into a lot of the decisions.
“He has been loyal and supportive. We have a lot of young guys and it’s all about teaching and he always want to win, too, and that’s a fine line to deal with.
“Sometimes when you teach, there’s going to be losing. That’s been the tough part. He knew with the compacted schedule he had to use four lines or we wouldn’t survive 82 games.”
“It shows what this team thinks of him (head coach Willie Desjardins). We play hard for him. It’s never been the case where we don’t believe in what he does.” — HENRIK SEDIN CANUCKS CAPTAIN