Game Day Post: Predators at Canucks

For the media, it is always Halloween in Vigneault's press conferences. Ask a direct question and get a treat -- a direct answer.

No tricks, no two-minute soliloquies on winning and losing as a team that make Stephen Harper sound as compelling as the late Dr. Martin Luther King.

More often than not, Vigneault says what he thinks about his players' performance. And, generally, it is something any reasonably astute observer already knows because the National Hockey League does not play in private, although a Nashville Predators' mid-week home game comes close.

It's not the truth that some Canucks players have a problem with. It's that their coach is willing to share it with -- gasp! -- the media.

"When I say a player's got to pick up his game or pick up his level, in my mind, I don't consider that calling him out," Vigneault explained Wednesday. "When I do call out a player, you will know; that's not it.

"You ask questions and I make remarks on different things. Last game, I said certain players have to pick up their level. You could look at the stats and everything I mentioned was just facts. In my mind, that's not calling out or challenging players. I don't use the media for that. I use my office, I use the video, I use other things. Different people interpret it different ways."

Labels: Vigneault