Pierre McGuire of NHL on TSN has recently been quoted as saying “Alain Vigneault may be the next coach to be fired”. He felt that while the Canucks have added Mats Sundin and Roberto Luongo has returned from injury the Canucks have actually gotten worse especially with a 7 game losing streak threat-ing to becoming a playoff ending losing streak.
Alain Vigneault is in trouble. That is a statement noone can ignore. We believe he has a life of 7 games and should he not be back in the winning percentage in that time (a combination of 5-2-0 or 4-2-1 for 9 or 10 of the next 14 points) his job may very well be done in Vancouver.
Vigneault is a good coach. However it has been shown now in 2 straight seasons that he does not have the ability to right the ship when it struggles most. Last years meltdown is tough to measure as it was at the end of the season so you cannot really get an indicator of what would have happened long term.
This 7 game meltdown is the best indicator of what this team really is, how good the coach really is and it will be determined in the next 7 games starting against Nashville on the 28th.
You sometimes have to start with baby steps to get back to where you were, that being said with almost 60% of the season done we need to get right into a full run to start gaining ground on 9th place and not to get saddled with the 4 game sweep that comes with playing the San Jose Sharks in the first round.
The division may not be out of the picture yet, but if this team does not get its act together in this next 7 games it will surely be.
The Canucks have 34 games left in the season. A playoff spot is estimated to be at about 91 points. The Canucks would need a combination of going 18-12-4 or 20-14-0 in that timeframe or plainly just get 40 points in any manner.
With the way the lower spots are playing behind the Canucks are better to finish the season with a minimum 46 points for a season total of 97 points. This will be very tough but to avoid San Jose it will be required.
Can they do it? We will see starting Wednesday night.