Those of us whose job it is to put a poignant face on a scattered series of happenings owe Zack Kassian—who was just suspended for three games—a debt of gratitude. It’s been really difficult to properly condense all that’s happened with the Vancouver Canucks into coherent form, but we don’t have to any more because Kassian crystallized it for all the world with the blindside hit he laid on Dallas Stars defenceman Brenden Dillon Thursday night.
It was dumb and indefensible—meaning it was also tragically symbolic of the state of hockey affairs on Canada’s west coast.
We’re not here to pile on. This isn’t an exercise in hating on a struggling team, but rather marveling at how quickly things have become all kinds of ugly in Canada’s most beautiful city. Fewer than three years ago, an extremely capable Vancouver team went to Boston holding a 3-2 series advantage in the Stanley Cup final and, my goodness, not a damn thing has gone right since then.
To wit: With two shots to win the Cup, the Canucks lost games six and seven by a combined score of 9-2. Then the city burned. The next year, Vancouver was still good enough to win the Presidents’ Trophy as the NHL’s top point-getters, which is why we all gave GM Mike Gillis a partial pass when he made the decision to deal offence-minded youngster Cody Hodgson for a ruffian like Kassian. Then the L.A. Kings needed just five games to beat Vancouver in round one en route to winning the Cup.
In the lockout-shortened 2013 campaign, Cory Schneider took the lead role in an all-time goalie soap opera with Roberto Luongo, but the Canucks were swept in the playoffs at the hands of the San Jose Sharks. Then Gillis went to the draft and traded Schneider for the ninth overall pick without checking in with Luongo about whether he was happy to overlook all that alienation and stuff.
OK, we’ve got to hurry up here or we’ll never finish. Then Henrik and Daniel Sedin signed matching—What else?—four-year, $28-million contract extensions last fall, just as they apparently lost the ability to be elite point-producers. Then former heart-and-soul guy Ryan Kesler went to Sochi, where more than one person reported he was happy to talk about his desire to leave Vancouver. Then Luongo was traded back to Florida, presumably for less than he could have been moved to the Toronto Maple Leafs for one year ago had the Canucks been willing to eat some salary. Then Kesler wasn’t traded amid reports of ownership intervention.
And that pretty much brings us up to Kassian, who, with his team already down 3-0 in the first period to a Dallas team just ahead of Vancouver in the playoff chase, plowed into the No. 4 on the back of Dillon’s jersey for a five-and-a-game boarding call. That allowed Stars defenceman Alex Goligoski to tally the 4-0 power play goal that essentially killed any chance of a Canucks comeback.
Oh yeah, then the goalie who was traded 48 hours earlier took to Twitter and started chirping his old team. That part, even the heartiest Vancouver fan would have to acknowledge, was pretty awesome.
And have we mentioned the guy calling the one-ice shots is John Tortorella, a combustible coach at the best of times who is in the first season of a five-year deal? Just wanted to make sure we covered that.
Truth be told, Gillis and his staff deserve kudos for their intention to tear down a team that still looks much, much better on paper than its 1-1-10 record in its past 12 outings indicates. But clinging to second-tier-contender status is no way to put a ring on it, but rather a recipe for long, drawn-out deterioration. To a degree, that can be avoided by moving Kesler—and a few other parts—at the draft, where bidding wars are easier to start. The problem, though, is that Vancouver just doesn’t look like a team in decline now, it seems marred by dysfunction. When the championship window closed, it may have cut the oxygen supply to the room.
Here’s hoping a fresh sea breeze kicks up again soon, because the work is just beginning in B.C. In terms avoiding a slow rebuild, all is not yet lost—provided the last boneheaded decision has already been made.