Price is Right: Will Boudreau coach Canucks his way or management's way?

The Canucks were footloose and fancy free in Edmonton. And it was fun. Love the speed and aggression. But… they lost.

And as science has taught us, every action has an equal and opposite reaction, right? Particularly with a coach in a final year of his contract. Ok science left that part out. But it doesn’t mean it isn’t true.

Bruce Boudreau, whether he truly wants to or not, has to have a team with more structure. It might be against every fibre of his being, but when management asks you for something, you try to deliver. And surrendering 4-5 unanswered goals to lose a game is probably not the way to show you have it.

So it will be very interesting to see what Boudreau’s team looks like versus the Flyers.

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Normally we predict looser games against non-conference foes, after all, not a four-point game in the standings. A loss doesn’t hurt as badly. But every game for Bruce Boudreau is part of the audition process for his new contract. Despite the gaudy win percentage totals from last season, management made it clear the “how” was almost as important as the wins themselves.

So pick the under? Yeah, maybe you pick the under. And considering the lack of pushback on a couple of instances already this season, maybe a low scoring, old-school kind of game from Broad Street is in order.

If it’s not, and if the Canucks continue to play looser, then win or lose we may have our answer about whether or not Boudreau is at all preoccupied by what management has made very public. And by the way, I’d be here for it.

It would pretty amazing to watch the coach shrug off the faint praise and criticism from the offseason, and just coach his way. And if they even came close to the success they had last year, my goodness even better. It would be interesting to see how the organization reacts to a team that has success, but not in the way they intended.

We wanted fun in this market. Boudreau loves the fun. Let’s hope it continues.