5 reasons why the 'Nucks start slow

In light of the early-season reflections going on around here, I thought I'd chip in about the disturbing Canucks trends that Sean pointed out. So far, there's certainly reason for concern in Canucksland. If it weren't for the fact that Detroit, Anaheim, and Vancouver are out of the playoffs, while Colorado, Los Angeles, Edmonton, and Phoenix are in, it would look a lot like we'd have an uphill climb from this point onwards. As it is, we can take comfort in the fact that these standings are very unlikely to remain as is, and, with only three points separating us and Calgary, we're definitely not in Minnesota Wild-caliber trouble at this juncture.

Still, with our defense looking like swiss cheese more often than we'd like, and the injury bug doing more than bugging us, it would be unwise to assume a spot in the playoffs is guaranteed. With Anderson playing the way he is and Edmonton as riddled by injuries as we are and still playing well, the Northwest looks to be a tough division once again, after a few years of weakness. That being said, these negative trends are probably overstated. The best argument against them, in my opinion, is the same one that's been tossed around for the last little bit: The Canucks are notoriously slow at getting the ball rolling. Assuming this start is the worst hockey we'll see from the Canucks all year, they're bound to be on the up and up, while teams like Colorado seem to be poised for the bubble to pop.

At first, such statements have the ring of irrational hope to them. "Oh yeah, those Canucks fans are always talking about 'if only Lou were playing better', or 'If only we got better breaks offensively'", one might say in response. But there's no denying that the return of Sedin, the continued development of our depth players, and better play from Luongo would all make the Canucks a far more potent team. And with a three-game winning streak in hand the evidence seems to support the hope. The fact that the same story played out last year seems to stack the odds in our favour, although it leaves the question: Why are the Canucks so bad at the start of the season?

I'd like to offer five reasons (with a lot more possible ones out there) as to why the Canucks are so bad in October.

#1- Roberto Luongo.

Everyone knows that Luongo is the heart and soul of this Canucks team. Since his arrival, the team has been built from the crease outwards. He's the highest-paid player on the team, the controversial captain, and the only one on the team who is likely to win a major award in his career. He's the most fiery man on the ice in the playoffs, the most vocal about his desperation to win, and the first to have the magnifying glass turned on him when the team is doing poorly. One simply cannot overstate the degree to which the Canucks management have built up Luongo as the core of this franchise.

Unfortunately, there are two trends which seem to arise every year with El Capitaine. The first is that he doesn't do particularly well at the beginning of the season. He takes time to adjust to different defensive styles. He lets up far more rebounds, and doesn't make the spectacular saves against odd-man rushes that he's capable of. This year, the numbers were particularly abhorrent, as he kicked off with a sub-.900 save percentage and a phenomenally high GAA. But there's nothing new about the slow start of Luongo. And as long as he's off, the Canucks are missing their best player.

With a 27-save shutout, we can be hopeful that he's back in the game now. Assuming he avoids any major injury, we should be in for another whopper of a season from Lou. And you know what? So long as he kicks into gear soon enough, there's no reason for "fans" to rail so heavily against him for the slow start. If we get over 100 points in the season and contend for top spot in the Northwest, it doesn't really matter if we start out with 4 losses in 5 games. The trend that needs to disappear is his playoff difficulties. Start slow, Lou, but give us a good finish, at least.

#2- Our dependence on depth scoring.

Not many teams depend as much as the Canucks do on their depth players. The Sedins may be considered among the top-20 forwards in the league, but we saw how bad the team is when they're the only ones scoring a couple of years ago. We need our secondary scoring to be in place, otherwise we'll lose a lot more than we win thanks to our central performers being point-per-game performers at best.

Unfortunately, this means waiting for some of the players to step it up a notch. Unlike the stars, who you can count on to perform to the max every year, guys like Kesler and Burrows take time to find their groove, and that groove is often with a completely different line than last year's. Each new line has to figure out what strengths they can play to, and how to work with one another in terms of playmaking and scoring. Lines like our newly-dubbed "speed line" take time to solidify, unlike the Sedin Twins' magical act. And that means we're going to take time to get scoring up enough to win regularly.

#3- Our lack of defensive studs.

Let's face it, even with Ohlund, this team was short on big-name defensemen. With him gone, Willie Mitchell is the only guy with any established renown to his name, and he's not disappointed so far this season. Instead, it's the guys like Edler, Bieksa, and O'Brien who we count on to keep the odd-man rushes down. Because there's no Lidstoms and Rafalski workhorses to eat up 30 minutes a game, our corps depends on the young guys gelling and settling down their game enough to keep the opposition away from our net.

A big deal has been made of Edler's slow start and the general troubles of our blueline. Are these fair claims? Edler is doing quite well offensively so far, which points to the need for him to slow down some and be responsible defensively. Salo's injured again, which is no surprise, but more importantly the return of guys like Schneider is going to make a big difference in leadership. Until these young guys have grown up and developed the defensive instincts that make the Lidstroms so great, they'll always take time to get back into that state whereby they take the risks when they're necessary, but generally know how to hold back and keep the opposition in check.

#4- Our developing youth.

Let's face it, this is something new in Vancouver. Since the 2003 draft, during which Kesler was picked up, the Canucks have been focusing more and more on developing their young studs. With a number of good players on the horizon, it's an exciting time for us fans. But it also makes for more fluidity at the beginning of the season. When you can't be sure who your second-, third-, and fourth-liners are going to be thanks to a bumper crop of guys who have the potential to crack the lineup, it takes some time to figure out lines. And, of course, those young players themselves take time to adjust to NHL-caliber hockey. So long as we have active development of young players, we can expect some difficulty in the early season.

#5- Vignault's a system guy.

Every other factor here has pointed straight to the staff, though it has yet to be pointed out. Vignault is a man who lives by systems, and Vancouver in turn lives by his decisions. What he decides directly impacts every part of our on-ice game. The scoring is slow to develop because Vignault likes to juggle lines and figure out which combinations work and which rookies will fit into his system. The defensemen are annually challenged to work with a changing level of defensive responsibility, depending on whether Vignault wants the team to play the trap or fire wagon hockey. And Luongo's early struggles are partly due to the weak defensive system that results. Once the team has established a routine, it flies. But it takes time for these things to develop, and Vignault is Ent-like when it comes to hasty decisions.