Canucks call for more Miller time
It defies logic to bring back goalie to be competitive when team was awful with him for two years
With the Stanley Cup Final about to begin 50 days after the Canucks played their final game of the season, here’s something else that takes a while to get through, the Monday morning musings and meditations on the world of sports:
n The Canucks seem determined to bring back veteran goalie Ryan Miller for another year and you can understand their logic. But only to a point.
Miller and Jacob Markstrom should provide stability at the game’s most important position. Their presence, in turn, will allow the Canucks’ younger players to develop in a competitive environment which should accelerate their growth.
If everything goes according to plan the Canucks will be in the playoff mix next season and that will set the franchise back on track — both on and off the ice.
That, at least, is the theory. The problem is the team has had the same goaltending tandem the last two seasons and finished 29th and 28th respectively in the NHL. If the Canucks’ goaltending gave them an edge, you’d have a hard time proving it by the standings.
The upcoming season, moreover, projects as more of the same. The Canucks are trying to get younger. Their best prospects are still a couple of years away. They’re not ready to win yet nor are they particularly close and Miller won’t be around when the Canucks turn the corner.
So what does bringing him back accomplish?
The Canucks have been trying to sell the same story to their fan base for the last two seasons and have two dismal campaigns to show for it. By now, the faithful have embraced the rebuild and are prepared for what comes next.
They just have a hard time believing in the plan when they’re told one thing and the team delivers something else.
n Fascinating matchup in the Stanley Cup Final which should boil down to the Penguins’ two Hall-ofFame centres against the Predators’ remarkable quartet of defencemen.
For two post-seasons, no one has been able to contain Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin and this year, they’re one-two in playoff scoring. But no team has been able to throw four defencemen like Roman Josi, Ryan Ellis, P.K. Subban and Mattias Ekholm at the Pens.
The Preds’ blue-line has already neutralized some of the NHL’s best players; the Hawks’ Patrick Kane and Jonathan Toews in the first series, the Blues’ Vladimir Tarasenko in the second, Ryan Getzlaf, Ryan Kesler et al in the Western Final while contributing 11 goals and 39 points.
The real key, however, is Preds coach Peter Laviolette doesn’t have to work for a favourable matchup because either pair is capable of playing against Crosby or Malkin. You’d like Nashville’s chances better if big-body centre Ryan Johansen was available but they’ve had that look about them since beating the Blackhawks in the first round.
The Cup goes to Music City and you’ll want to be there for the party.
n The Blue Jays’ five-game winning streak was stopped on Sunday and while they remain in the AL East’s basement, the cause is far from lost after their brutal start.
Last year the Jays made the playoffs with 89 wins. They’ll have to win 66 of their remaining 112 games to reach that mark this season which isn’t asking the impossible but the key is the health of their starting pitching.
The good news is J.A. Happ is close to returning to the rotation. The more troublesome news concerns Aaron Sanchez and his wonky middle finger. If they can get Sanchez back and productive by, say, the end of June, they’ll be fine.
If not, it’s doubtful they’ll have the resources to hang with the big dogs in the East.
The future of the Canadian men’s soccer team was on display last week in the first leg of the Canadian Championship Series between the Montreal Impact and Whitecaps at B.C. Place Stadium.
The next question is can Canada secure that future?
In a perfect world, the Whitecaps’ Alphonso Davies and Impact’s Ballou Tabla would join the national team as early as July for the CONCACAF Gold Cup, thereby tying themselves to the Maple Leaf for the duration of their playing careers.
But things are seldom easy with the men’s team in this country. The 16-year-old Davies was born in Liberia and has lived in Canada since he was five but has yet to gain his Canadian citizenship. It’s likely too late for him to make the Gold Cup camp but the sense is he’ll play for Canada eventually.
Tabla, 18, is a more complicated case. He was born in the Ivory Coast and has since become a Canadian citizen. But he also worships international star Didier Drogba, an Ivorian icon who wound up his career with the Impact.
The Gold Cup camp will be announced in Montreal on Tuesday, the day of the second leg of the Caps-Impact series. For once, it bears watching.
Finally, just as patriotism is the last refuge of a scoundrel, complaining about the referee is the last refuge of a losing coach.
That said, the events of Saturday’s Whitecaps-D. C. United game at B.C. Place again magnified a huge credibility issue with MLS’s officiating and it’s been going on far too long to be dismissed as the squawking of a losing coach.
If you missed it, United scored the only goal of the match off a second-half penalty when Jose Ortiz scammed referee Storin Stoica with a blatant dive. Yes, the Caps were handed an equally dubious penalty of their own in the closing moments which they failed to convert and, yes, they had half a dozen other chances to score.
But the larger point is there are simply too many MLS games where the post-game talking point concerns the referee and that’s not good for the league’s image or its business.
Caps manager Carl Robinson unloaded on Stoica after the game and he’ll be hearing from the league for his tirade. But his point — MLS is a professional league with amateur officiating which ultimately cheats the paying customer — is completely valid.