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.