I write this the morning after the pissing away of the 3-0 series lead is complete. Chicago now is poised to make the Canucks' summer the most depressing yet, considering the hopes everyone had for this group. Salo is hurt yet again, and even the experiment of starting Schneider, which I agreed with 100%, still couldn't keep Luongo out of the net for the Hawks' winning goal. (To be fair, he played well coming in to relieve Schneider.)
Like Luongo, Schneider proved on two goals against that he shouldn't come out of the net to play the puck. After the first couple of misadventures, I don't understand why Vigneault wouldn't have made it clear that if he went behind the net again there'd be hell to pay. For that matter, I've been in favour all season of banning Lou from playing anything back there as well.
They just suck at it, is all.
Salo's hurt; I'm surprised it took this long for him to once more be out of the lineup. Ballard, the 4.2 million dollar a year defenceman who cost them Grabner, who was just chosen as one of the three Calder finalists, was scratched again last night. Who knows what sort of after effects Bieksa might have after a hit that looked a lot like what outraged Hawk fans earlier in the series?
There's no reason for optimism on Tuesday. This team looks done. For three games in a row the goalie that started the game hasn't been the one who finished it. The pressure not to choke is going to be unbelievable, and the first sign of things going against them will likely trigger collapse.
On the bright side, this is why you want to win all those regular season games--you want home ice for that deciding game. As bad as the refereeing was last night, I have to believe the presence of 19,000 Canuck fans will at least mitigate a little against Bettman-friendly officiating.
A lot of people will be waiting to gleefully dissect this corpse if they complete the choke tomorrow--the full CBC team foremost among them. Beyond the questions about goaltending, I think Vigneault's tenure may be done if they show once more they can't win the big games. They also need to rethink their lack of grit up front. They might like to claim they're adopting the Detroit model of making teams that manhandle them pay on the the power play, but when the refs put the whistles away in the playoffs, that strategy won't work.
I was all for trading Schneider in the off season, but now I wonder if they need to try to hang onto him. We're all praying that Luongo doesn't become the next Jose Theodore or Rick Dipietro--that guy who's got a contract 'til eternity that isn't playing--but this year was his audition to be more than a regular season guy, and he's blowing it bigger than ever.
Gillis is one of the finalists for the GM of the year award. This off season he will need to prove how good he really is. The Luongo contract and the Ballard trade look pretty awful at this point. Locking up the Sedins at a discount, getting Kesler signed long-term, bringing in Malholtra and Hamhuis--all good things.
If Malhotra is done, his third-line size and two-way reliability will need to be replaced. Salo's likely played his last NHL game; that will free up some dollars, and I'm not fully convinced they should be added to the pile of money that will be needed to keep free-agent Erhoff here. Eddie Lack's development as a competent potential back-up to Lou is going to be a key factor--I would expect at least a phone call to Gillis from the Flyers looking to get Schneider in to fix their achilles heel, that threatens to send another favorite golfing early.
I hope Gillis has all the cap implications figured out. Cap henchman Gilman seems to know this stuff pretty well, so I think they'll have that under control.
Cody Hodgson hasn't looked out of place when he's played in this series. He hasn't blown anyone away, but he's shown he can keep up with the pace of the NHL game--something that was questioned by many--and he seems stronger on the puck now than he did in his audition back in the fall.
With Hodgson on the way up, and Schraeder (sp?) another small, skilled forward in development, it may be time to explore what's available for Mason Raymond. Unfortunately his stats this season weren't up to the previous year's production, but there are probably still some teams who like his skill set.
Of course, if they somehow were to pull off what ridiculously feels like an upset tomorrow, then I'll shelve these thoughts for a while.
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