from vancouver sun..............
If keeping the group together is proved wrong, we can do in October and November what we could have done in June."
-- Canuck general manager Brian Burke, one month ago
Unless the Vancouver Canucks beat the Nashville Predators tonight, the roster won't make it to November.
General manager Brian Burke revealed Monday that the National Hockey League team's poor start led coaches and management to target a three-game window through which to reassess Canuck personnel.
The last of these games is tonight. In the first two, weekend road games in Phoenix and Anaheim, the Canucks lost by an aggregate score of 8-3 against two of the poorest teams in the Western Conference.
The roster shakeup began quietly Monday afternoon when the Canucks sent Harold Druken, Steve Kariya and rookie Bryan Allen back to minor-league Manitoba while airlifting in farmhands Justin Kurtz, Mike Brown and Artem Chubarov.
That transaction, expected to be confirmed this morning by the Canucks, could soon be eclipsed by trades should Vancouver falter against Nashville. Kurtz, Chubarov and Brown may all play tonight.
In four games this season against teams that missed the 2001 playoffs, the Canucks are 0-3-1. Vancouver's 2-6-1 start is the franchise's worst since 1987 and has dropped the Canucks well off the pace of their key rivals in the playoff race.
How much further will Burke let it slide?
"Not far," he said. "This past trip and the Nashville game, these three games were what the coaching staff agreed would be the measuring stick.
"All the assets we had [to make moves over the summer], we still have. We like this group. We still do. But we will make changes if this continues."
Burke indicated at the end of last season that he had space on the payroll to add about $4-5 million US in salary, and said when free agent Brett Hull signed with the Detroit Red Wings in August that money the Canucks were prepared to bid could be used elsewhere.
The current payroll of $29 million US, among the NHL's lowest, is less than $1 million more than at this point last season.
"We still have some budget room," Burke confirmed Monday. "But I won't quantify it.
"If I have to start making changes, I'm more than willing to do that. All summer long, people came up to me and said: 'Love what you're doing, love the team, playoffs were great.' We believed in this group. If that was a mistake, then it was my mistake."
The Canucks' defence has looked slow and disorganized in several games. There remains a shortage of scoring wingers, as third-line centre Brendan Morrison continues to skate with grinders.
Sophomores Daniel and Henrik Sedin have been invisible since the opening week, the lineup isn't robust enough without suspended winger Todd Bertuzzi, and Vancouver's depth at centre doesn't include a pivot powerful enough to check big centres like Toronto's Mats Sundin.
Most worrisome, perhaps, is the apparent lack of drive and urgency among several Canucks who went to the playoffs last spring for the first time.
"Jobs come and jobs go," struggling defenceman Ed Jovanovski said. "If anyone feels secure at any time, they're crazy. I know personally, the spot I'm in, I could be moved tomorrow, too."
"If there was complacency to this point, there won't be now," defenceman Scott Lachance, among only a handful of Canucks who have started well, said after Monday's practice. "When you go 2-6-1, if you're complacent, there will be changes. It's unfortunate because we do have the group here that can do the job."
Burke said the problems seem to change nightly, making it difficult to determine precisely what should be done to upgrade the roster.
"I don't think last year was fluke," centre Andrew Cassels said. "And management and coaches didn't think so because they stuck with this team. It's not up to us to make changes. I have no idea what they're thinking. All I know is 20 guys are going to come out next game and give it their all."
Since Cassels spoke, three of those guys have gone to the minors. How many of the others remain may soon be determined.
NOTE: Brown, one of the callups, looks to have been called up b/c vancouver faces colorado on thursday and Brown is known as a fighter, a pretty big guy. From reading some team message boards, many speculated he was brought up in a large part to mix it up a bit.
If keeping the group together is proved wrong, we can do in October and November what we could have done in June."
-- Canuck general manager Brian Burke, one month ago
Unless the Vancouver Canucks beat the Nashville Predators tonight, the roster won't make it to November.
General manager Brian Burke revealed Monday that the National Hockey League team's poor start led coaches and management to target a three-game window through which to reassess Canuck personnel.
The last of these games is tonight. In the first two, weekend road games in Phoenix and Anaheim, the Canucks lost by an aggregate score of 8-3 against two of the poorest teams in the Western Conference.
The roster shakeup began quietly Monday afternoon when the Canucks sent Harold Druken, Steve Kariya and rookie Bryan Allen back to minor-league Manitoba while airlifting in farmhands Justin Kurtz, Mike Brown and Artem Chubarov.
That transaction, expected to be confirmed this morning by the Canucks, could soon be eclipsed by trades should Vancouver falter against Nashville. Kurtz, Chubarov and Brown may all play tonight.
In four games this season against teams that missed the 2001 playoffs, the Canucks are 0-3-1. Vancouver's 2-6-1 start is the franchise's worst since 1987 and has dropped the Canucks well off the pace of their key rivals in the playoff race.
How much further will Burke let it slide?
"Not far," he said. "This past trip and the Nashville game, these three games were what the coaching staff agreed would be the measuring stick.
"All the assets we had [to make moves over the summer], we still have. We like this group. We still do. But we will make changes if this continues."
Burke indicated at the end of last season that he had space on the payroll to add about $4-5 million US in salary, and said when free agent Brett Hull signed with the Detroit Red Wings in August that money the Canucks were prepared to bid could be used elsewhere.
The current payroll of $29 million US, among the NHL's lowest, is less than $1 million more than at this point last season.
"We still have some budget room," Burke confirmed Monday. "But I won't quantify it.
"If I have to start making changes, I'm more than willing to do that. All summer long, people came up to me and said: 'Love what you're doing, love the team, playoffs were great.' We believed in this group. If that was a mistake, then it was my mistake."
The Canucks' defence has looked slow and disorganized in several games. There remains a shortage of scoring wingers, as third-line centre Brendan Morrison continues to skate with grinders.
Sophomores Daniel and Henrik Sedin have been invisible since the opening week, the lineup isn't robust enough without suspended winger Todd Bertuzzi, and Vancouver's depth at centre doesn't include a pivot powerful enough to check big centres like Toronto's Mats Sundin.
Most worrisome, perhaps, is the apparent lack of drive and urgency among several Canucks who went to the playoffs last spring for the first time.
"Jobs come and jobs go," struggling defenceman Ed Jovanovski said. "If anyone feels secure at any time, they're crazy. I know personally, the spot I'm in, I could be moved tomorrow, too."
"If there was complacency to this point, there won't be now," defenceman Scott Lachance, among only a handful of Canucks who have started well, said after Monday's practice. "When you go 2-6-1, if you're complacent, there will be changes. It's unfortunate because we do have the group here that can do the job."
Burke said the problems seem to change nightly, making it difficult to determine precisely what should be done to upgrade the roster.
"I don't think last year was fluke," centre Andrew Cassels said. "And management and coaches didn't think so because they stuck with this team. It's not up to us to make changes. I have no idea what they're thinking. All I know is 20 guys are going to come out next game and give it their all."
Since Cassels spoke, three of those guys have gone to the minors. How many of the others remain may soon be determined.
NOTE: Brown, one of the callups, looks to have been called up b/c vancouver faces colorado on thursday and Brown is known as a fighter, a pretty big guy. From reading some team message boards, many speculated he was brought up in a large part to mix it up a bit.
