Steve Nash Sells Vitamin Water on Space Ghost Coast to Coast

Dearest Canucks fans,

I hope you're finding other awesome things to do now that our beloved orcas are playing golf. Yes, I do. I hope that the devastation you suffered lingered only briefly, and that you've found replacement activities that will sustain you through another long offseason.

Yes, I know there's been some Canucks news, but I'm a married man, y'all. My wife begs me all the time to take a little break from the Canucks, and annually, I acquiesced... for a small portion of the offseason, right at the beginning of it. I figure another week and I'll be in her good books.

In the meantime, I have sunk my teeth completely into Steve Nash and the Phoenix Suns. Have you? I hope so, because not only is Steve Nash a super great guy and one of the best point guards in the NBA (not to mention the best Canadian basketball player ever), but he's hilarious. Case in point, the above interview with Space Ghost.

I know how it works. A lot of Vancouverites are still choked at the NBA for the way we were treated. Don't be. In terms of ignorance and mismanagement from the top down, the NBA's head offices are not that different from the NHL's. Don't blame the players, don't blame the game. Blame the blundering, managerial consortium--a staple of both sports--that royally effs things up for fans of the sport. And while you're blaming them, look past them like you do with the NHL, and watch some incredible basketball.

The Phoenix Suns are very entertaining. Amare Stoudemire is a beast. Steve Nash breaks a piece of his face off during every game and still plays the next one without complaint. Last night, the Phoenix bench--a full, five-man unit--literally beat the Lakers starters by themselves. That's unheard of, and you missed it.

Stop missing it. Fall in love with the BC-born mega-athlete who makes seeing-eye passes and hawks Vitamin Water at every turn. And do it now, because he's playing the best basketball of his career.

Henrik Named Sporting News Player of the Year

Re-igniting the Hart Trophy debate, Henrik Sedin has been named The Sporting News Player of the Year. As Puck Daddy points out, this award has predicted the Hart trophy winner 8 out of the last 10 years. And, since it's voted on by NHL players, coaches, and executives, it almost guarantees Henrik the Ted Lindsay award, which is voted on by the NHLPA.

Over the next couple days we at Pass it To Bulis will be taking a closer look at the Hart trophy race and, specifically, why I think Henrik Sedin should win.

On Willie Mitchell, Brain Trauma, Professional Idiots, and the Trading Deadline

Above is a segment of Mike Gillis's year-end presser where he discusses Willie Mitchell's condition, a trade deadline in which he acquired no replacement for his top defensive defenseman suffering a season-ending injury, and Mitchell's comments regarding Colin Campbell's wheel of justice. It's a good watch.

Somehow, to me, it seemed like all playoffs long, I was just waiting for word that Mitchell was ready to suit up, that a concussion is a little like a numb arm after a nap, and it simply takes an unspecified amount of time to clear up. But we all know that's not what a concussion is. And furthermore, Willie Mitchell deserves our greatest sympathy for continuing to suffer brain trauma from a hit he suffered FOUR MONTHS AGO on January 16.

There are a number of issues arising from this hit. The first is the hit itself and its failure to earn supplementary discipline from Colin Campbell. Of this, Willie Mitchell was critical:

"I am disappointed in the league, disappointed in Colin Campbell," Mitchell said. "As we've seen, [he's] been very inconsistent with how he's handled himself in those situations [...] I think the league needs to, along with our players' union, take a look at how they run the discipline in the league. Colin Campbell had a lot of relationships with general managers and ownership and stuff like that. It's very tough to hand down decisions on matters like this when you are friends with people. It's something the league and players need to look at, to have an outside party handle the discipline in the league [so] it's consistent.

And just to make it clear this has nothing to do with the Canucks being eliminated from the playoffs, Mitchell explained his very personal angle.

"I want to make this very clear, too, I'm not saying this for me. What's it going to do for me? It's not going to do a thing for me. No one is going to take back the last four-and-a-half months that I've endured and my family has endured. Why I'm saying this right now is because of my friends in the league, my peers in the league. I don't want anyone to go through what I just did.''

The good news: not only is Mitchell right, but his refusal to mince words and the clarity with which he slammed the NHL brass (at one point he implied Campbell has caused "chaos") likely guarantees him a job in broadcasting if this is indeed the end of his NHL career. The bad news, of course, is that impassioned, emboldened, intellectually worded criticism of the NHL discipline is just as against the rules as whatever John Tortorella usually does, so Mitchell's likely going to get fined. But I thoroughly appreciate Mitchell speaking his mind.

And let's be clear on one thing: when the hit originally took place, the debate over whether or not Malkin should be suspended was actually not too loud. It seemed like a hit from behind, deserving of a penalty, but it didn't initially look as bad as it turned out to be. I don't think the outcry from Canuck nation was any larger than it is now, in retrospect. But, having finally heard from Mitchell, revisiting the play that may have cost us our season, I've realized that my perspective of what is and isn't a suspendable offense is completely skewed by the inconsistency and, well, chaos of NHL discipline for which Colin "Lord Chaos" Campbell (pictured, right) is directly responsible. Couple that with what's been a playoffs of unimaginable reffing incompetence and you have a sickness in the NHL head office that needs fixing right away.

The second issue, which is much smaller, is the unimaginable incompetence in the NHL media. Doofuses like Kelly Hrudey who criticize Mike Gillis's "failure" to find a replacement for Mitchell at the trading deadline. Now I may just be an amateur member of the Vancouver Canucks media, but even I am observant enough to recognize the way the deadline has changed, the lack of blockbusters, the fact that it's become little more than a chance to get depth guys and swap middling prospects. Spending big has become an unquestionably stupid move; it hasn't paid off once in the new NHL, and I would imagine that it never will. Ilya Kovalchuk is merely the latest example of what happens when you go out and get a big name to bolster your postseason lineup. It doesn't work. And we wanted Mike Gillis to replace Willie Mitchell? Did anybody consider the cost of acquiring a premier defensive defenseman? According to GM MG, It was a 1st round pick and Cody Hodgson. No dice. Did anybody consider that the chemistry might not have been there, because it rarely is when you acquire a star player, set in his ways, and then try to teach him your system and the tendencies of your players in a short time? Did anybody think at all?

Sometimes I wonder why Mike Gillis condescends to the media. Usually, I know why: they ask stupid questions and they say stupid things. Skeeter pointed out some of the asinine radical ideas that spring up in the postseason, but all of his evidence was from the Canucks forum. Incredibly, the media are just as bad. Heck, these guys have diplomas and degrees; it's more embarrassing for them.

Here's hoping Willie Mitchell recovers and we see him playing for an NHL team next season. Maybe ours, maybe not. It doesn't matter. It's not about the Canucks; it's about Mitchell lacing up the skates so that Malkin's undisciplined headshot doesn't become a career-ending one.

Because We Know So Much Better

Clearly, Hordichuk would have made all the difference...

It's become an annual tradition for Canucks fans to take stock of their team post-season and come up with a list of mistakes made by the coaches and general manager and what needs to change. Canucks fans aren't content to end the season with "Wait 'til next year!" Instead, we immediately start putting together next year's team, with radical ideas usually based on reactionary thinking.

On the radio, I heard a caller suggest that the Canucks should play the trap because, with Luongo in net they need to play a defensive game. Just last year I heard callers to the Team 1040 complain that the Canucks need to play a more open style and let Luongo clean up any defensive breakdowns that result.

AV decided not to dress Hordichuk against Chicago? Chose not to go with 7 defencemen when Salo was injured? Didn't use enough timeouts? Fire him.

Luongo not up to par in the playoffs? Statistics not as good as last year? Trade him.

Holes in the defence? Weak bottom six? Throw money at the problem until it goes away.

This guy thinks Luongo is an inch too tall and 20 pounds too heavy to win a Stanley Cup.

Another thinks Ilya Kovalchuk is the solution to put "the Sedins over the top."

And, of course, there's the annual call to "bring Bertuzzi back."

Let's face it, every Canucks fan does this. Maybe our ideas aren't as silly as these ones on the surface, but we each believe that we're the only ones who know what's best for the team and exactly what needs to be done. I'm no different and neither is Harrison. He insists that a trade of Mason Raymond and Steve Bernier for Nathan Horton would be ideal; I'm skeptical that Florida would accept the trade and, after seeing the flame-outs of Jokinen and Bouwmeester in Calgary, whether he would experience the same success in the Northwest that he did in the Southeast.

I have my own ideas about what needs to be done during the offseason, and I'll be sure to write it all down on this blog, but I need to make sure my conscience is clear: I could be wrong. And, what's truly important, so could everyone else. Every blog that you read, every editorial column from the mainstream media, every random opinion from a co-worker, we could all be wrong. Don't believe everything you hear from the Team 1040 and don't base your opinions on what the experts say: look at the facts and decide for yourself. But be open-minded. After all, you could be wrong. If someone disagrees with you, don't dismiss them. Listen to their argument, look at the facts, and then dismiss him.

After all, you know better than he does.

I Watched This Game: Canucks vs. Blackhawks, May 11, 2010

So here we are, the last game of the season complete, our beloved Vancouver Canucks left exactly where they were this last year to the day. So why do I feel so much more content this time around?

I'll tell you why. Make no mistake: Chicago was the better team in these playoffs, but our potential for even an upset went out the window when Dustin Byfuglien took Alex Edler out of the game. With Edler gone, and Salo playing like a ghost of himself (just as he appears), Kevin Bieksa became our number one defenseman, playing the wrong side. Shane O'Brien became our number three.

We all saw what happened with that. Bieksa is a mistake-prone, high-risk kind of guy on any given night, but on Tuesday night, he was exhausted, overworked, taxed, and the mental errors finally began to pile up. Credit to Chicago for tightening up and pouncing on an exhausted Vancouver defense. There was nothing we could do. Imagine, momentarily, that the Blackhawks had lost Brent Seabrook and Duncan Keith. I submit that they would lose. Well, while Mitchell, Salo, and Edler are not those guys, they are the best defensemen on our team, and without them, we are drastically worse.

Put aside that shoddy argument about Vigneault dressing seven defensemen. It wouldn't have made a difference. What was Lawrence Nycholat going to give us? Was he going to replace Edler, Mitchell, or Salo? No. You live and die with your best players, and tonight it was fatal. It's not Luongo's fault. He wasn't the best goalie in this series, but, again, Andrew Alberts finished this series at #4 on the depth chart. Bad defense will turn even the best goalies into mediocre ones after awhile. Luongo made more amazing saves in the first period than I can remember. Consider how many great scoring chances Chicago got in the game. That Bobby Lu only let in five is--regrettably--impressive. When he said about as much, the media crucified him. Give it a break, guys. What do you want? More tears? The team had nothing left, and for once, they feel like they did all they could.

That's what I got from the aftermath of this game: a disappointed team consoling themselves with the knowledge it wouldn't have turned out any other way. As a resigned fatalist, I recognize you can't fight the present. It just is. And the Canucks seemed of a similar mind. How are you supposed to stifle the best offense in the league when your best defensive defenseman is injured and your best defensive forward is playing injured? Ryan Kesler was not even close to regular-season form for most of the playoffs. (Consolation: he still put up nearly a point a game--the kid's a player.) The shoulder injury we found out about after the loss explains the step back his play took.

I'm content because we lost, and not because we suddenly fell apart. It's because we deserved to lose. Chicago is a fantastic team (full of gutless pukes, yes, but fantastic), and we had nothing left to give them. They deserve to be the team looking ahead. We deserve to be the team looking inward. So we look to the offseason, which should be interesting. Gillis has some huge choices to make, especially regarding who comes back. He's got some young prospects who could make a difference, he got a little bit of wiggle room with the cap, and he's got a core in place that should let him focus on the potholes rather than the direction of the street.

No bullet points from me today. We all saw the same series, the same season, the same hockey team, and nothing much changed in that final game. Kyle Wellwood was frustratingly brilliant. For better or worse, Shane O'Brien has become our emotional barometer. The Sedins were neutralized.

Whatever, though. Enjoy your offseason, Canucks fans. If, like me, you find yourself a little lost, sports-wise, I highly recommend giving the Suns-Lakers series a chance. Should be good. We'll be reporting on it a little. The World Cup starts in about a month if you can sit on your hands until then. Stay away from baseball. It's worse than ever.

And what of Pass it to Bulis? Well, we've really enjoyed our first year here, and we'll be with you all season long next time around. As for the offseason, we've got a lot planned. We'll still be reporting Canucks news, large (the draft, free agency) and small (you know, piddly blog crap), and we'll be giving our measured take on GM MG's big decisions. Look for a biweekly video blog where Skeeter and I debate the issues.

So please, bookmark us, add us to readers, tell your friends about us, do whatever. Just make sure you don't forget about us, because we'll still be here and we'd hate to lose you.

Until next year.

I Didn't Watch This Game: Canucks vs. Blackhawks, May 11, 2010

It's true. I play guitar in a band and we have a show coming up, so I was busy practicing while the game was on. Harrison PVRed the game (he also had a practice with his band) and we intended to watch the game together, but the combination of exhaustion and depression kept us from doing so.

It feels like a kick in the chest right now, to have my hometeam that I care so much about out of the playoffs. I'll have more to say as a postmortem later on, but right now I'm just upset. Harrison and I will likely watch the game tonight and collect our thoughts on the season as a whole.

PiTB will continue. We're enjoying blogging and we hope you're enjoying reading. We'll hopefully be doing some video blogging to go with the writing and you might see some musical tributes to our beloved Canucks in the future. For now, let's just have a moment of silence for the '09-'10 Vancouver Canucks.

Quotes Taken Out of Context: Burish Edition

"Maybe I will rub up against him."

- Adam Burish (in reference to Sami Salo's testicle), May 11, 2010

You Don't Know Me at All: Adam Burish Edition

If [Salo] plays, that guy is an iron man.
--Adam Burish, May 11, 2010


PiTB says: No dice. While it would be impressive if he plays tonight, at this point in his career, "Sami Salo" and "Iron Man" are antonyms.