Welcome Matt: Canucks need to rid themselves of "losing culture"

Over the past decade, we have often asked the question about whether the Canucks risked a losing culture seeping into the organization.

Last week all but confirmed that it did.

It didn’t get the headlines of Jim Rutherford saying he miscalculated the degree of surgery needed, nor the treatment of ex-coach Bruce Boudreau, but Patrik Allvin and Rick Tocchet talked far and wide about culture, identity and turning over a new leaf.

From the new head coach it was the press conference after the Seattle loss. He talked about needing a stronger leadership group, and learning to manage a game, not simply playing for yourself.

Then on Friday, Allvin signalled the scoreboard was no longer his concern this season.

“What are we? 27th in the league? And really bad in a lot of underlying metrics,” the GM said. “Long way to go here. Again, for me it’s not about the wins and losses, it’s about the process, playing the right way and finding our identity as a hockey club.”

Those are the sorts of things you do when you’re building a club and culture from the ground up. But first, the Canucks have to shed players who have contributed to that losing culture, and identify players who are incapable of culture change.

I wish Tocchet et al luck with that. It’ll be difficult to do in only two months.

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