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It’s time to shed the “potential” label

By Garth McLennan, Sports Editor

fter shelling out a ton of money this
summer to basically retain the same

team that was clearly outmatched

‘by the Chicago Blackhawks, Canucks GM

and newly-anointed president of operations
Mike Gillis has left himself little room to
hit a bona fide home run with just a month
and a half remaining before the start of the
2009-10 season.

So in order for Vancouver to prove that
they are more than just a playoff-worthy
team that won’t make it far past the first
or second round, certain members of the
current Canucks’ roster need to step up.

Guys like Mason Raymond, Steve
Bernier and Jannik Hansen have been
several years now tagged with that generic
“potential” brand. You hear sportscasters
talk about it all the time: “Oh, Raymond’s
got a lot of upside. Bill...” or “Hansen has

all the right tools...”

The fact is, we’ ve been hearing how
good these guys are going to be for years
now. Bernier has bounced around the NHL
several times but everywhere he’s gone he’s
always been highly touted as a guy who is
“almost there.”

Plain and simple, if the Canucks are
to finally emerge as a legitimate Stanley
Cup contender, they need more than just
two fantastic first liners and a standout
goaltender. Now, second line scoring
certainly isn’t Vancouver’s only problem,
but solving that would be a huge help.

All three of the names listed above
seem to have the right package to be
successful NHLers. They’re all strong
skaters, good passers and have decent
enough hockey sense to be 20-30 goal
scorers. The problem for all three of them
is that they just can’t put the puck in the

net. There is zero finish for any of those



guys. Things got so bad for Bernier that the
Canucks hired a skills coach for him over
the summer to help him learn how to hit the
net. Raymond has blazing speed and some
shifty moves with the puck, but for most of
the past few years he’s just been racing back
and forth up the wing on the boards.

All three have been given generous
amounts of playing time in the coveted spot
as the winger for the Sedin twins, and all
three have failed to capitalize on that.

I think that its safe to say that this is a
make-or-break year for Raymond, Bernier
and Hansen. Eventually, there has to be
some measure of progression to let you
know if you’ve got a talent or just another
dime-a-dozen third/fourth liner.

Ryan Kesler and Alex Burrows both
stepped up into prominent roles with the
club last year, while Taylor Pyatt, his
personal tragedy taken into account, didn’t.
The year before that it was Alex Edler who

stepped up and proved himself. The year
before, Edler, it was Kevin Bieksa.

The time has come for guys like
Raymond to get rid of the “potential” label.
That designation should now move to guys
like Cody Hodgson, Cory Schneider or
Michael Grabner. And a few years down
the road, it will be the time for Jordan
Schroeder to fill that role.

While Bernier and Hansen both took
lesser amounts in contract negotiations,
they, along with Raymond, are still on the
bubble this year. There’s no. guarantee that
any of them will make the team straight
out of training camp. It’s time to see what
they’ve got.



Think the Coyotes are bad?

Florida Panthers a mediocre joke

By Garth McLennan, Sports Editor

ver the past several months, the
Or of NHL discussions have been

devoted to the continual mess in
Arizona, where the Phoenix Coyotes have
stumbled through a series of comedic errors
involving team bankruptcy, the increasingly
ridiculous battle between Jim Balsillie and
Gary Bettman and protracted court dispute

18





over who really owns the franchise.

But while the Coyotes have been
hogging all the headlines due to their
ineptitude, one other struggling, Southern
United States-based team has also been
going through tumultuous times, and that’s
the Florida Panthers.

The problems in Miami are almost
as numerous and serious as the ones in
Glendale for the Coyotes. For 16 years

now, the Panthers have existed in the
Sunshine state, and in that time they have
managed just three playoff appearances.
Aside from a surprising Stanley Cup
showing in 1996, where they lost to
Colorado in four straight games, the
Panthers have never moved past the first
round of the post-season. To put it simply,
they have been consistently terrible for
pretty much their entire tenure in the NHL.

As expected, frequently poor results
with little signs of change hasn’t exactly
packed fans into the seats. Never mind the
fact that Miami has zero hockey history
and that another Florida team, the Tampa
Bay Lightning, are located just a few hours
away.

For a state that is about as foreign to
hockey as you can get, the Panthers haven’t
made it easy to be loyal to their squad.
Besides not winning a playoff game since
Clinton was in office, the BankAtlantic
Center, where the Panthers play, is miles
and miles away from the city center, with
little public transportation available to get
there and back. Basically, it’s like driving
to Abbotsford from Vancouver to see a
Canucks’ game.

Then there’s the fact that Florida
hasn’t exactly endeared their fans with
many marketable hockey heroes. Besides
the electrifying Pavel Bure, most of the
Panthers’ top end players haven’t been
superstars. Sure, Jay Bouwmeester is an
incredible defenseman that any team in the
league would love to have, but for a team
playing out of a very non-traditional hockey
market, Bouwmeester isn’t the type of
player who will sell tickets.

When you consider the team’s front
office, it’s a disaster. The Panthers seem to
change their head coach or general manager
every year and after firing Jacques Martin

from the GM role several months ago, they
are still without a GM. Randy Sexton has
been acting as a part-time GM since then.

Think about that for a moment: a part
time GM. This isn’t a bantam C team where
a parent steps in to manage. We’re talking
about a multi-million dollar organization in
one of the best leagues in the sports world,
and the Panthers are letting a guy run the
show part time? I mean, how can anyone
expect them to improve with that kind of
business plan?

The Panthers made a late charge for
the playoffs last season, but inevitably
fell short. They then removed what little
hope remained for 2009-10 by allowing
Bouwmeester to leave for the Calgary
Flames and did little to fill the void. To give
them some credit, they did lock up forward,
and team leading scorer David Booth to a
six-year contract, and that’s a good thing.
But again, while Booth is undoubtedly a
talented player, he’s not going to get a new
arena built or save the franchise.

It might be stating the obvious, but
what the Panthers need is a player like
Sidney Crosby or Alexander Ovechkin.
They need a larger-than-life personality who
can lead the team every night and who is
worth the price of admission. Look at where
the Penguins and Capitals are, respectively,
today with Crosby and Ovechkin. Pittsburgh
just won the Stanley Cup and Washington is
the most exciting team on the planet.

Now, one player, no matter how
dynamic, won’t solve all of the Panthers’
woes. But it would go a long way to
restoring the relevance of the franchise.
Plus, it would give the average family of
four a reason to drive an hour out into the
middle of nowhere to see a hockey game,
and that has to be the first priority for this
team.