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With the trade deadline come and gone, it’s time to look up and down the roster to see if the Canucks are now ‘playoff ready’.  Did Mike Gillis address the holes in the line-up?  Why didn’t he as Mattias Ohlund to waive his NTC so they could get something for him? Why wasn’t there a blockbuster deal for the services of Jay Bouwmeester?  Well, frankly, I think Mike Gillis did his wheeling and dealing in the off-season and getting the players he wanted to acquire prior to the deadline.  He feels, as the rest of his management team does, that they did enough and are satisfied.

Gillis’ Vancouver Canucks are now the NHL’s current hottest team.  They have won 12 of their last 14 games.  Their captain, Roberto Luongo, looks like he has taken control of his game in all aspects.  The two scoring lines are gelling.  The checking lines are getting set and the Canucks blue line is finally all healthy and with some added insurance in the form of Ossi Vanaanen added to the line up from the waiver wire.

Mike Gills doesn’t feel he should have to overhaul his team for short term gain. Although the Canucks are ready to start the playoffs today with their climb in the standings, their management didn’t feel it right to go after that player to put them over the top when they could simply ‘stand pat’.  From NHL.com  Gillis told reporters:

(excerpt from NHL.com article)

In some cases, standing pat was difficult.

“It becomes at times really difficult to resist the pressure to do things in the short term that are high risk and in the long term that are a total risk,” explained Canucks GM Mike Gillis. “As rumours and things begin to happen … it’s hard to resist the urge to get involved all over the place.

“But we did.”

Many analysts, hockey experts, and fans alike think that the Vancouver Canucks didn’t really need to do much movement this trade deadline. They did most of their wheeling and dealing in the acquisitions of Mats Sundin and Pavol Demitra.  Also adding a few depth players and some toughness in the forms of Darcy Hordichuk, Shane O’Brien, Rob Davison and Kyle Wellwood.   Most of their movement was through the waiver wire and through free agency.  So, does this make this team ‘playoff ready’?   They are as ready as any team in the playoff race, if not more so.

The team is carrying a very good momentum right now and I, along with many others, don’t see the Canucks coming to a screaching halt just prior to the playoffs.  In the last 45 days, we have witnessed this team win with a big lead, with a small lead, in a shootout and a few come from behind victories. Good teams will always find a way to win.  Perhaps, the Canucks are the Rodney Dangerfields of this years playoff contenders. No respect.  When healthy, although with a few notable exceptions, they aren’t spectacular on paper, but they are proving that they are worth more than the paper they are written on.

This has been A View from A Broad, a not too distant perspective.
Justine Galo

justine@justinegalo.com