Cory Schneider Needs to Play Two More Games

The William M. Jennings Trophy is awarded annually to the goalies for the team that allows the fewest goals against. The Vancouver Canucks have allowed 181 goals this season, three fewer than the Boston Bruins, who have four games remaining to the Canucks three. If the Canucks can avoid ugly performances like Saturday's flop, there's a good chance that the Canucks goalies will take home the prize.

Or rather, Roberto Luongo will take home the prize.

The Canucks Are So Good, Alain Vigneault Might Even Get The Credit

The great irony of the Jack Adams award is that being the coach of the league's best team often precludes one from talk of being the league's best coach. Truth is, when there's no other possible explanation for a team's success, then the coach gets the credit. If, however, it's possible to attribute that success elsewhere (such as the team's makeup or star players) you're likely to hear very little about the man behind the bench.

The Jack Adams trophy typically goes to coaches who have led unimpressive teams to impressive records. Impressive, that is to say, considering how little was expected of them. It's an award predicated on exceeding expectations, not excelling. You measure where expectations were when you started, and contrast this with where the team winds up. The coach behind the greatest unexplained upswing gets the award.

This is one reason chatter regarding Alain Vigneault's coach of the year odds has been relatively nonexistent this year. Everyone expected the Canucks to be good: they've been the safe pick to win the West since the summer, and you don't win the Jack Adams simply by meeting expectations, however lofty. Considering Mike Babcock has never won the award, largely because his team, too, is merely ho-hum excellent, you'd think it was nearly impossible for the coach of a top-tier team to win. The team would have to dominate every major statistical category.

Amazingly, Alain Vigneault has emerged as a late-season frontrunner for the Jack Adams, because that's what the Canucks are doing.

The Selke Is Kind of a Stupid Award

For Canucks' center Ryan Kesler, 2010-11 has been a breakout season (both offensively and shirtwise). In fact, Kesler's been such an offensive sparkplug for the 1st-place Canucks that he's even earned a place in the conversation for the Hart trophy. But, even if Kesler doesn't go home with the Hart, the Selke trophy finally appears his to lose, after two consecutive years of doing exactly that. Twice nominated, he has not yet been able to overcome takeaway machine Pavel Datsyuk, who has been named the league's best defensive forward two years in a row. This year, however, largely due to his offensive breakout, Ryan Kesler is the frontrunner.

Why, exactly? Kesler's offense may have improved, but he's been able to make this progression because his defensive responsibilities have diminished. Earlier this season, Skeeter argued that Kesler's increased offensive role has only been made possible by free agent signing Manny Malhotra, who has taken up much of Kesler's defensive burden. Skeeter:

In 2008-09, Kesler led the team in Corsi Rel QoC, with a rating of 1.265 [...] This was good for 13th in the NHL; night in and night out, Kesler faced the best players the opposition had to offer and earned his first Selke nomination [...] This year, however, Malhotra is taking the heat off Kesler, as Malhotra is third in Corsi Rel QoC on the Canucks, first among forwards. Meanwhile, Kesler is facing the 8th toughest competition [...] With Malhotra bearing the brunt of the opposition's offensive pressure, Kesler has gone from first amongst Canucks forwards in Corsi Rel QoC to sixth.

In short, Manny Malhotra has relieved Ryan Kesler of the dirty, defensive responsibilities and, in so doing, he's freed Kesler up to achieve the type of offensive production necessary to finally win the trophy for the best defensive forward. That's kind of stupid, don't you think?

Yup. It's also indicative of a larger issue. Considering its tacit criteria, the Selke is kind of a stupid award.

The Canuck Academy Awards

In honor of the Academy Awards coming up this Sunday, we here at Pass it to Bulis have taken it upon ourselves to award our own versions of the Academy Awards to our beloved Vancouver Canucks. Like the actual Academy Awards, it's incredibly self-congratulatory, but that's just fine. After all, the Canucks are first place in the NHL, Daniel is leading the NHL in points, and Pass it to Bulis gets more and more famous every day. So let's take this opportunity to feel good about the team, pat each other on the back, and dress up like we're going to a shindig on Persephone.

Vigneault for Jack Adams

If you see this as a picture of Henrik Sedin, you may be qualified to vote for the NHL awards.

When Alain Vigneault took the Jack Adams trophy for the 2006-07 season, a lot of people didn't care, because their problem was, Luongo hadn't won the Vezina or the Hart. "Luongo was robbed," the general consensus seemed to be -- an ironic consensus, given the number of NHL players Luongo had robbed himself.

Still, looking back on Luongo's play and the team's performance, I think the right call was made. It's hard to deny that Luongo's numbers were heavily influenced not just by the team in front of him, but by the system. Alain Vigneault took a team that had the same major pieces as the one that had missed the playoffs the season before, and led them to a division title. Luongo was a big part of that, but so was Vigneault's giving the Sedins first line minutes, his motivation of the players that needed the right push, and, ultimately, the system he played.

Luongo is still one of the most talented goaltenders in the league, but it's long been a position of mine that his statistical decline wasn't a decline in his skill level, but a result of a much more opened system, for which he should not have been blamed. If we can take blame from him when he's performing in an open system, then it stands to reason he doesn't get all the credit when playing a defensive system. The 2006-07 Canucks were a trapping, dump-and-chase team that were, at times, painful to watch. As fans, we were willing to watch the Canucks cling to a 1-0 lead for 40 minutes because it was nice that our team was ahead, but really, it was safe, boring hockey. Luongo was the guy who could be counted on to complete the defensive system, but the newly-acquired Willie Mitchell and Vigneault's defense-first trap game had a lot to do with his Vezina-worthy season. While I'd have preferred they both were recognized, giving the award to AV, not Luongo, probably made more sense than giving the award to Luongo and not AV.