Canucks post-game #sixpack - we finally agree with Tortorella

One thing’s for sure: when the Canucks secure that high draft pick in the off-season, they’ll deserve it. Even when they try to win – when they put in a decent effort and they play hard – they lose.

Vancouver lost 3-1 to Alain Vigneault’s New York Rangers on Tuesday. And here’s our six pack to take the edge off.

1. Agreeing with Tortorella

Can’t say I’ve agreed with John Tortorella in a long time, but I’m sure he speaks for all Canucks fans here:

Yup. That’s how we all feel, John.

2. TSN Panel says keep Torts

During the first intermission, the TSN Panel debated whether Tortorella or Mike Gillis should be let go. In a unanimous decision, they all said they’d keep Torts.

Aaron Ward:

“John Tortorella’s had to deal with the fact that there’s so many injuries, there’s a soap opera in his lockerroom – a lot of it created by Gillis for the fact he had the Schneider-Luongo incident, we now have Luongo sitting there, now we have the Kesler situation – he has not had calm from the storm.”

Uh, Wardo, Torts was not around for the Schneider-Luongo “incident,” and he single-handedly caused the Luongo “sitting there” story himself. As for Kesler – one of the biggest reasons he wants out is Tortorella. Might want to check your facts.

That was confusing, but the most baffling argument came from Darren Pang:

“On the first year I maintain patience with a coach. I think it makes Mike Gillis look bad if right away you fire a coach that you’ve put this much money into.”

Sure, firing a coach you hired for five years makes the decision look like a mistake, but it looks a hell of a lot better than keeping a guy who’s not right for the job any longer than you have to.

Pang’s basically saying Gillis has to keep Tortorella in order to save face.

Don’t know about you, but I sure hope Gillis doesn’t care about saving face. That’s not a half-decent way to run any business.

3. Torts news comin’

ESPN’s Pierre LeBrun wrote about John Tortorella’s future with the Canucks today:

I think it is more than likely that John Tortorella will be fired as head coach after the season in Vancouver.

I like Torts, but he was never the right fit for that team.

The Canucks built a blue-line corps meant for a quick transition game, but the club has played more of a chip and chase, shot-blocking game this season. As one NHL scout told ESPN.com, “The wrong system for that set of players.”

Jason Botchford hinted he’d have more on Torts tonight in this tweet.

@F4SLeighRamsden tune into the provies

— Jason Botchford (@botchford) April 2, 2014

From the Provies:

Yes, the team needed a new voice and yes, the organization picked the wrong one.

Now, management wants to move on.

But Francesco has been slow to get on the Fire Torts train. Maybe that’s why input from Luigi with hockey ops seems to be increasing rapidly, which would be a fairly significant behind-the-scenes development.

Sounds like Luigi’s less attached to Torts and more willing to make calculating moves than his brother. He’s what the Canucks need right now.

4. Kesler with the zingers

Ryan Kesler was asked about Alain Vigneault’s coaching style Monday (from the Province):

“It wasn’t just him. It was his assistants, too. We had a good power play and penalty kill and he did a great job of giving us the room. We had a team where we were very deep up front. We played the right way — like he used to say — and we dominated teams.”

Let’s be honest – he’s making a strong comment on the Canucks’ current state of affairs here.

He went further on the special teams after the Rangers game:

“Other than the specialty teams, we were the better team five on five. It’s too bad we couldn’t get the win.”

“Specialty teams has a lot to do with it.”

As a standalone quote, I’d say he was putting responsibility on the players for their crappy PP and PK performances, but combined with the stuff about his ex-assistant coaches above – it’s just another knock against his current coaches.

5. Danny is back

It appears that winter is over because Daniel Sedin finally emerged from a three month hibernation for the Rangers game.

Seriously though. The Sedins looked incredible to start off the season – so good that fans were clamoring for a contract extension. They started to wear down in December, but were still going strong… then they hit January as if they drove into a concrete wall.

But Danny finally looked like a Sedin brother again tonight (instead of the impostor who’s been wearing his jersey lately), with a beauty pass to Kesler for his goal, and three of his own shots on net.

Tortorella on Sedin after the game:

“It’s the best I’ve seen Danny play in quite a while.”

With the way Henrik was playing before he was injured, all that crap about the Sedins’ careers going downhill was definitely just that – crap. They’ll be back and ready to go next season. And hopefully their coach will know better than to run them into the ground.

6. The amazing David Booth

On Monday, David Booth sent out this tweet:

This love is difficult but it's real. Don't be afraid, we'll make it out of this mess. It's a love story pic.twitter.com/VHUcj05DAu

— David Booth (@D_Booth7) March 31, 2014

Later, he gave an interview on the Team 1040. It was one of the best player interviews of the year.

“That was yesterday. It was one of the coolest things I’ve ever done… It’s at my buddy’s place out in Abbotsford. He’s got a polar bear too. We were hanging out with eagles, a couple of wolves, you know, just the things I enjoy doing on my off day.”

It was funny. I mean, he said it like this place in Abbotsford is normal. And like hanging out with wild animals that can kill you is as normal a hobby as hitting balls at the driving range.

Torts hasn’t got many things right this year, but when he said Booth is a “weird guy,” back in November, he nailed it.