When the wind blows hard and the sky is black

This season has been pretty much one long nightmare for the Canucks thus far. After a horrid start, they briefly rebounded before falling back into their slump. After 14 games, their record is 7-7-0 and they sit in 10th place in the Western Conference with 14 points, on the outside of the playoff picture looking in. Their injured list includes captain Roberto Luongo and sniper Daniel Sedin, as well as Pavol Demitra, Kyle Wellwood, Sami Salo, Ryan Johnson, Jannik Hansen and Alexandre Bolduc. Their home record has been acceptable (5-2), but they’re a dismal 2-5 on the road. They hit perhaps the lowest point of the season last night in Anaheim, falling 7-2 to the flightless Ducks (who still only have 10 points on the year, even after last night’s victory). Tonight, as if playing back-to-back games without their starting goalie wasn’t a big enough issue on its own, the Canucks will return home to face the surprisingly good Colorado Avalanche, who lead the Western Conference with a 10-2-2 record.

On the surface, there are plenty of legitimate reasons to panic. The injury list is incredibly problematic, as it includes Vancouver’s best player (Luongo), plus pretty much all of the Canucks’ scoring threats, several strong defensive forwards and one of their top defencemen. The 7-7 record isn’t horrible considering the injuries, but it certainly isn’t great, and the inability to get points on the road is very ominous considering that the team will be playing away from home for six straight weeks around the Olympics. Vancouver’s historically been decent on the road despite usually flying more kilometres than anyone else (although that has improved this year). This road slump doesn’t bode well for their year if it continues.

As I’ve written before, though, this poor start isn’t the end of the world. We’re still dealing with a small sample size of just 14 games (17 per cent of an 82-game season), and the Canucks are still only one point out of the playoffs. Most of the injuries are only short- to medium-term (Wellwood’s expected back tonight), and some of the injury replacements (in particular, Michael Grabner) have been very good. The Canucks’ depth has been tested, and it hasn’t quite been found wanting; in my mind, this team’s done far better with a large replacement cast than any other Canucks’ squad in the past several years would have, showing the increased organizational depth under general manager Mike Gillis. When players start to return off the IR, the Canucks should get even better, but it’s comforting to know that there are plenty of AHL guys who may make an impact for this club either this year or down the road.

Another optimistic sign is the play of Henrik Sedin since Daniel got hurt. Henrik hasn’t been quite as dominant and has had some notable slumps since his brother went down, but he’s still put up 10 points over 10 games, consistent with his career average. One of the main knocks on the Sedins has always been the theory that they’d struggle without each other, and there is some truth to that, but Henrik has proved that he’s still a great player on his own.

Last night’s loss is depressing in several ways, but it also may prove to be a good thing. 4-3 regulation losses and 7-2 losses both give you the same amount of points in the standings (zero), but the closer game can give you a sense of confidence. Sometimes, that confidence is well deserved; other times, it’s rather misplaced. A team that loses a close game isn’t going to be as motivated to work on the little things or come out with a better effort. A team that gets blown out is generally more willing to step back and look at what they’re doing wrong.

It’s not just a literary and Hollywood cliche that adversity develops character. Often, the greatest sports teams have suffered significant injuries or offseason personnel losses (a subject Bill Simmons has frequently discussed in his “Ewing Theory” columns, which go with Dave Cirilli’s idea that many teams have performed surprisingly better without their star player). Some of that is thanks to fans and media types overrating certain players, but a large part of it is also due to difficult circumstances sometimes pulling a team together. That’s why I went with the D2 quote for this post’s headline, and that’s why I still have plenty of hope for this season. Remember, when the wind blows hard and the sky is black, Canucks fly together!

Tags: adversity, Anaheim Ducks, Colorado Avalanche, composure, Daniel Sedin, depth, Henrik Sedin, injuries, Kyle Wellwood, Michael Grabner, Roberto Luongo, Ryan Johnson, Sami Salo