Success hinges on finding identity
MUSINGS AND MEDITATIONS: Canucks show early signs Linden-Benning plan has chance to work out after all
There wasn’t enough craft beer in all of Portland to make the weekend with the Whitecaps any better and, believe me, we’d know. So let’s just move on to the musings and meditations on the world of sports:
In a Western Conference where Nashville qualified as the eighth seed and teams like Los Angeles and Dallas missed the post-season, it’s difficult to take the Vancouver Canucks’ playoff ambitions seriously.
But that’s not really the point for this NHL team. This Canucks’ campaign is about many things, most of which have nothing to do with the playoffs.
Establishing an identity is high on that list. Across the board improvement from the young players is high on the list. Selling the plan and management’s vision for this team is high on the list.
If the Canucks can achieve success in those areas, their position in the standings is relatively unimportant. And that’s why their start to this season registers as an encouraging development.
Their record is one thing — and it might be the ultimate commentary on this franchise that the faithful are openly cheering a 4-3-1 start. But it’s how they’ve arrived at that mark which is the story.
Last year you didn’t know from game to game what the Canucks were trying to be. This year they’re a four-line team that plays fast and aggressively under coach Travis Green.
Last year, Brock Boeser was in college, Jake Virtanen was in the minors and Derrick Pouliot, who is still only 23, was in Pittsburgh. This year they’re all contributing regulars.
Last year, the Canucks dressed 26 different forwards throughout the season and 17 finished with five goals or less. This year, there are legitimate NHLers at all 12 forward spots.
This doesn’t mean the Canucks are bound for the playoffs. But, for the first time in three years, the faithful can see the makings of a competitive team and, maybe, an end to the suffering.
Last year, with that dog’s breakfast of a lineup, you couldn’t say that and that made it difficult to buy into the Linden-Benning plan. This year? Well, the jury’s still out on this management group.
The real measure will come in another couple of years when we see what all those draft picks have become.
But, to date at least, the Canucks can point to Green, point to the younger players and say, “See? We know what we’re doing here.”
If they can do the same thing in February and March, that will be the Canucks’ playoffs.
One note on Virtanen. Think of the players who had success with the Sedins over the years — Alex Burrows and Jannik Hansen in particular — and they shared some traits. They could skate, they could forecheck and they could get to the front of the net.
As it happens, those are the strengths of Virtanen’s game.
Don’t know if he’s a long-term fit with the twins but, if he is, it’s a significant development for the kid from Abbotsford and the organization. He’s been through a lot in his short career. You’d like to see him settle in and have some success.
You’ll have a hard time believing the youthful-looking scribe pictured above can be a grandfather but the arrival of baby Anna on Monday changed all that.
Changed a lot things, come to think of it. A friend of my wife said grandchildren are the dessert of life. After seeing this little wonder, I can officially relate.
That was a riveting ALCS between the New York Yankees and Houston Astros but here’s the best part about the new rivalry. Given their rosters and the age of their key players, baseball fans can look forward to another three, four post-seasons featuring these two super teams.
The Yankees, with their young core of Aaron Judge, Gary Sanchez, Didi Gregorius, Greg Bird and Luis Severino, are scary. The Astros will have to add pitching to stay competitive but, after this season, attracting free agents won’t be a problem.
In the Vancouver Whitecaps’ biggest game of the season — and maybe in franchise history — Carl Robinson fielded a lineup in Portland that hadn’t played together all season.
You might say it showed. Understandably, the Whitecaps’ depth is the MLS team’s strength, but let’s not over-think things. This team, as with all teams, will go as far as their best players can take them.
The Whitecaps’ best lineup has Fredy Montero, Yordy Reyna and Cristian Techera upfront and David Ousted in goal. You hope they’ll be starting in Wednesday’s playoff game against San Jose.
And finally. As the seconds ticked down on the men’s gold-medal hockey game at the 2002 Winter Olympics, your agent along with Mike Petrie — then of the Calgary Herald, now the Calgary Stampeders’ capologist — went in search of celebrities to put Canada’s victory over the United States in perspective.
Petrie found New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani, who bemoaned the Americans’ loss to Pat Quinn’s team. My search turned up two famous Canadians: Gord Downie and Rob Baker of The Tragically Hip.
Can’t really remember the substance of Downie’s commentary but I do remember he was more eager to talk about the Canadian women winning gold in Salt Lake than the men.
I was thinking about that last week after the Hip frontman died of brain cancer and the tributes poured in from all over the country; thinking it made perfect sense that Downie would be attracted to the story of an underdog Canadian women’s team beating a favoured American team on their home ice.
The Hip, after all, were the ultimate underdogs, a bar band from Kingston, Ont. that, through diligence and persistence, mastered their craft and came to represent something so important to this country. At their best, their music was Canada; expansive, moody and a little cryptic — but it also had heart and humour.
He’s gone now but the music will always be with us, right there, where the great plains begin.