Fan In Van

The O’Brien Headache

Is Shane O’Brien part of the solution or part of the problem? It depends on the perspective you look at it from.

There’s little doubt that one thing Shane O’Brien has brought to Vancouver since his trade from the Tampa Bay Lightning at the beginning of the season has been toughness. The Port Hope, Ontario native has shown a willingness to crunch his opponents along the boards and little hesitance to drop the gloves, which is a welcomed sight considering the lack of toughness that plagued the Canucks last season.

But there is just as many flaws with O’Brien’s game, and perhaps those ugly wrinkles are starting to show more and more as the Canucks continue to struggle.

Not only is Shane O’Brien the team leader in penalty minutes, he’s the NHL leader in that category. Although a lot of those minutes can be attributed to the fighting majors and game misconducts that he’s been assessed, O’Brien has shown a serious lack of discipline. Not only that, the entire Canucks lineup displayed that very same sense of undiscipline, taking eight penalties last night in their 5-3 loss to the Nashville Predators, whose powerplay was ranked 29th in the league yet scored 3 goals on the man advantage.

Whether or not you choose to believe Shane O’Brien’s knack for taking untimely penalties has had a trickle down effect through the Canucks lineup is completely up to you. But there is one thing clear: O’Brien has had many games this season where his reckless play has cost the Canucks.

Here’s an interesting statistic: Since December, the Canucks have had a record of 5-10-1 when Shane O’Brien has taken a penalty. In games where he hasn’t taken a penalty, the Canucks have collected 10 of 18 possible points. And let’s not forget the Canucks duel with the Rangers on November 19 where O’Brien took five minor penalties. Five!

Perhaps something to add fuel to the O’Brien witchunt has been the show he put on during the Canucks’ practice this morning. If you don’t remember what exactly happened, here it is.

They can’t win a game to save their lives, but the Vancouver Canucks have their game faces on at practice today at UBC.

Losers of eight straight home games, the Canucks’ tension and frustration boiled over with a practice altercation involving defenceman Willie Mitchell and winger Mason Raymond.

Mitchell ran at Raymond during a drill and, when the speedy sophomore came back at the veteran in the corner, Mitchell punched Raymond in the head and cross-checked him hard on the shoulder.

The fracas drew several players and coaches, and tough defenceman Shane O’Brien skated to Raymond’s defence and challenged Mitchell to fight before tempers calmed.

O’Brien skated and challenged Mitchell to fight? Alright, while I’m all for emotions running high and guys needing to let off some steam, what kind of audacity is O’Brien showing here? Is it just me? Who does O’Brien think he is? Here’s a guy who is the NHL’s most undisciplined player, a sixth defenceman on the team, challenging the Canucks’ assistant captain and one of the most respected guys in the locker room, to a fight. Perhaps if Shane O’Brien spent more time on working on how to avoid taking dumb penalties and less time on picking fights with his teammates the Canucks would be a little higher up in the standings.

The Canucks are slowly digging their own grave with actions like these. If head coach Alain Vigneault knows what he’s doing, he’ll show that the Canucks need to get going and work on staying out of the penalty box. The last thing the Canucks need are more dumb penalties like the ones Shane O’Brien has been taking as of late.