Ask Katie about the Canucks: November 22, 2010 Edition

[Every Monday, Katie Maximick takes your questions and gives her take on the Canucks in her own cantankerous style. If you have any questions about the Canucks, send it to her via Twitter (@canucksgirl44)]

After three losses in a row, Canucks fans are frustrated and embarrassed, wondering what’s going on with their favourite team and it’s a fair question. After Sunday’s 3-2 loss to the Coyotes, the Canucks slipped from top spot in the Northwest Division to be replaced by the Avalanche. Vancouver’s last 10 games sits at a dismal 5-4-1 and the Sedins are pointless for two games in a row for the first time this season.

Some are wondering when the team is going to get back from their eastern road trip.

Perhaps the lowlight of the week was the 7-1 thrashing by Vancouver’s rival, the Chicago Blackhawks. The entire team played atrociously, hanging both goaltenders out to dry with no offensive or defensive assistance. Even Samuelsson’s goal didn’t do much except for deny the Hawks the satisfaction of a shutout.

Donna (@DonnatheGreat) asks: “WHAT THE EFF WAS THAT??!!”

Valid question, Donna. What the eff was that indeed. Despite UFC blaring on all speakers and all surrounding TVs, bloggers at Saturday’s Tweetup were stunned into a drunken stupour, unable to look away from the trainwreck that was this game. No amount of sweaty naked men could distract Canucks fans from watching the disaster unfold. It was atrocious. Our $22 million blueline might as well sat down and tweeted from their blackberries – they were invisible anyway. If they weren’t invisible, they were assisting the other team’s goals (like Kevin Bieksa, who if I recall correctly, assisted in three, possibly four, of the seven Blackhawks goals). And offense? What offense? Where were the Sedins when we needed them? Donna, I think the answer to your question is: an epic fail.

So what to do? Where do Canucks fans turn to and release their wrath? (They always need one of these). Is it Luongo, who makes $10 million a year right now, or is he off the hook because despite four goals against Friday night, he wasn’t at fault for any of those goals and was the only one trying? Is it the Sedins who’ve decided to take an extended mental stay in Ottawa?

We could always blame Bieksa, but he’s always been a detriment, so this isn’t news, nor is it surprising. (He’s slipped from +5 to +2, by the way.)

Justine (@aviewfromabroad) speaks for many fans when she asks: “When does management tighten the leash on Alain Vigneault’s neck, or will they, and should they?”

If management is ever going to give Vigneault crap for his team’s performance, it seems that now would be a good time to do so. His team is undisciplined, their play is inconsistent and considering the ridiculous amount of talent on Vancouver’s roster, this shouldn’t be the outcome. As Henrik Sedin told The Province, what separates a good team from a great team is that a great team rarely ever loses two games in a row.

The Canucks have lost two games in a row twice in 10 games.

Will management call out Vigneault? Probably not, but the Aquilinis might.

Should they? Yes. Remember – AV has never taken a hockey team past the second round of the playoffs. When does management stop blaming individual players or lines and start criticizing the puppetmaster behind the bench? When’s enough enough? I find it very, very hard to believe that a team with this much talent could be struggling; that a team projected to win the Stanley Cup can look like a second-rate hockey club.

Something needs to be shaken up. And it’s not the roster. There’s nothing wrong with the roster. It’s something else, and thus it’s a simple process of elimination. If the team isn’t the problem, what is?

Here’s a hint – chewing gum with your arms crossed is not coaching.