Fan In Van

Put ‘Em Up

If I had a dollar for every fight the Vancouver Canucks were involved in last season … well, I would probably be a pretty rich man. However if I had a dollar for every fight they won … Well, I could be living on the streets.

Despite the Canucks so valiantly finished first in the league with major penalties (Yes, even ahead of Brian Burke’s Ducks) the team didn’t finish with a very positive record, and a lot of those losses can be credited to the team speed bag, Jeff Cowan.

Nothing against the Brabarian, but when the team delegated him as the heavyweight, they were begging to be disappointed. They might as well have allowed a rabid dog to be feasting on him right from the get go. Sure, he had a few wins against the occasional Zach Stortini and Jared Boll, but the fact remains Cowan is not a good fighter. I mean honestly … Can you say that the Canucks were really that tough as the stats indicate?

With nothing against the likes of Ryan Kesler, Alex Burrows, Kevin Bieksa, Mike Brown and Byron Ritchie, the Canucks have been in desperate need of an enforcer since Darren Langdon’s golden days in 2003.

Enter the Mike Gillis area, where we enforce intelligence, integrity and team toughness.

The new general manager obviously carried the same mindset as a lot of teams in the league, and he went out to get the biggest, baddest enforcer possible.

What? What do you mean, we didn’t get Georges Laraque?!

Okay, so Darcy Hordichuk is the second best enforcer available. But if you YouTube this crazy cat by going to his official website, www.darcyhordichuk.com , you’ll see the guy hold his own against some of the biggest brutes in the league. In addition, Gillis went out and snagged Steve Bernier and Rob Davison, those heart and soul type character guys who will battle endlessly for a team.

So while goal scoring may still be an issue for this club, this team will definitely be a tougher opponent to play against next season.