Cheers and Jeers – April 5th

It’s Tuesday! And that means it’s time for our latest volume of… “Cheers and Jeers!”

This week, Sutter is stupid, Miller’s a model mentor, and Canucks just keep helping.

JEERS to Brandon Sutter for his “grit and balls” comment about Nikolai Goldobin and young Goldy’s perceived lack of toughness. First of all, the Canucks acquired Goldy for his skill play, and that’s a great thing. The Canucks have proven all year that they can’t score. It’s pretty damning on Sutter that he’s too oblivious to see that, and to then suggest that Goldy needs to add “grit and balls” to his game in order to be successful. No. Just no. Goldy was doing just fine with the Canucks with his skill game up until he was felled pretty heavily by the flu. That illness clearly took a lot physically out of the young Russian to the point where his game is struggling. To suggest that he has to change his game and essentially “dumb it down” proves that the right place for Sutter is on the exposed list and off this damn team. #ExposeSutter2017

CHEERS to Ryan Miller for taking the EXACT OPPOSITE approach with Goldobin. Instead of doing something inexplicable and stupid with the young player, Miller did the right thing to boost Goldy’s confidence and spirits. From a Ben Kuzma article yesterday, “I just thought he looked good today and he looked like he needed somebody to tell him he was good.” In fact, this is from the same article where Kuz quotes Sutter and his “grit and balls” nonsense. Miller is a seasoned veteran, a good dude, and undeniably the team’s MVP this season. While I have railed against the Canucks bringing him back (he’s old and the team desperately needs to get younger), it’s pretty hard to justify walking away from Miller when he is treating the youngsters the way they should be.

JEERS to the NHL for its decision to withdraw its league participation in the upcoming Winter Olympics. We can hear all the arguments about the owners protecting their investments in their players and blahblahblah. Garbage. Rubbish. Bullshit. While we are all very likely planted on the #pleaselikemysport caravan, the fact remains that the league is largely invisible around the world. The NHL does not have the same cache as the NFL, NBA, or MLB. Not even close. If the NHL is truly serious about wanting to grow the popularity of the game globally, then showcasing its best players in the world’s best hockey tournament is a poignantly easy way to do that. Much like we hockey nuts watch luge, skeleton, and short-track speed skating every four years and get captivated, non-hockey fans do the same every four years with the Winter Olympics. Instead, the NHL decided that a seemingly better way to showcase the league is to fly Jayson Megna and Griffen Molino to China and have the lowly Canucks play the most boring team in the league, the LA Kings. It’s a baffling decision, and one that serves 31 owners and nobody else.

CHEERS to the Canucks Alumni and Face Off Against Cancer for raising $143,000 for the BC/Yukon chapter of the Canadian Cancer Society and Camp Good Times. This particularly warms my heart because all three of kids go to Camp Good Times every summer. (If you weren’t aware, my eldest daughter is a cancer survivor.)
I honestly don’t think enough is made of the Canucks charitable endeavors, and how much they do in the community. That is especially true of the Canucks Alumni, who are constantly and tirelessly helping organizations around the province, donating their time and efforts to a long list of causes. Huge stick tap to all those former players and the Canucks organization for all the good work they do to help those in need.