BY JAMES HUNT – FAN FUEL BLOGGER

The Vancouver Canucks are a team that on paper should be battling for the top spot in the Western Conference just the way they did last year.

Fan Fuel wants to hear from you on how you’d fix the club in it’s current state if you were given the keys to the general manager’s office.

Sure, the Canucks made some changes in the offseason that may have caused some early season disruption (most notably Christian Ehrhoff and Raffi Torres), but all teams make player changes on a yearly basis.

And sure, there are still a few Canucks that are in the process of recovering from injuries suffered during the extended postseason run. But as many hockey fans are quick to point out, injuries are a part of the game and they can’t be used as an excuse for a team’s poor play. At least that’s what opposing fans told Canuck fans after the finals. Funny, how that whole “injuries are an excuse” thing doesn’t hold as much water this year when other teams are fighting the injury bug, but I digress.

Right now the Canucks are simply not performing anywhere near where they should be and Canuck fans are starting to get a bit tired of hearing from the players and the coaching staff that “we are really close”. Perhaps the Canucks ARE really close, but as the old saying goes, close only counts in horseshoes and hand grenades.

Instead of being close, maybe the Canucks could actually GET THERE instead, because there’s a whole lot of Canuck fans starting to ask, “Are we there yet?”

So, what is it Canuck fans?

Is it Alain Vigneault? Have the players tuned him out?

I don’t happen to think he is necessarily loved by every Canuck player, but I do believe he is respected. But that is just this blogger’s opinion. Maybe it’s time for Mike Gillis to make a coaching change.

Perhaps the Canucks need to make a HUGE splash in the trade market. Maybe you ask Luongo to waive his NMC or perhaps you put together a package that includes Cory Schneider and Cody Hodgson.

What say you Canuck fans, is a big trade the way to go?

Is it the line combos? Vigneault does seem to move guys around faster than the speed of light at times. Should he try sticking with combos so they have time to gel or do you like the way he fiddles around night in and night out, looking for that magic combo? After all, before Alex Burrows played with the Sedins he was a third liner and MOST believed his opening night success with the twins in St. Louis was only going to be a one night affair. That was three years ago.

Why don’t YOU be the GM of the Canucks and tell us what YOU would do to get this Canuck train back on track.

And with any luck we might have an answer to that burning question.

Are we there yet?