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CANUCKS HOCKEY BLOG

Tuesday, March 21, 2006

Keep The Coach

I'd like to know who Jim Kelley's sources are:

According to several sources, Crawford's post-game rant after a loss last week to Dallas led directly to the team's listless performance in a 5-0 loss to Nashville, a loss that has accelerated the team's slide toward moving out of the Western Conference playoff picture.
Did Big Daddy Crow's screaming lead to some Canucks' pouting? I just don't see how his post-game rant would lead directly to a listless performance. NHL players are professionals, not teenagers.

Anyway, to be fair to Kelley, he rightly points out that while the fanwagon are calling for Crawford's head, much of the Canucks problems are "as much, perhaps even more an indictment of the players". In this regard, I agree.

Crawford has coached the same way since his days in Colorado, where he won a Stanley Cup, to his entire stint with the Canucks. Playing his system, the Canucks went from Western Conference cellar-dwellers to Northwest Division champions.

And while this season hasn't exactly been the dream season some were expecting, it is important to note that the Canucks are still very much in the playoff race. This, while the Canucks experienced injuries to their captain and best player, their starting goaltender, their top three defensemen and one of their top energy players at various points of the season; this, while Crawford, on some nights, had to ice a roster with mostly minor-league call-ups.

In Crawford's case we would like to assert that there are some more meaningful reasons for management to do the right thing and perhaps fire Bertuzzi or Naslund (via trade) than fire a Stanley Cup winner (Colorado) who truly does know the necessary staples for success in his chosen profession, but the problems appear too deep for that kind of logic to take hold in a city that is supremely disappointed with its hockey coach, its hockey players and the idea that the collection at hand can even be called a working team.
Personally, I'm hoping that logic wins out.

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posted by J.J. Guerrero, 6:09 AM

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