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I think the Vancouver Canucks will NEVER win the Stanley Cup
Posted by Michael Klassen on April 4, 2008 in Soapbox
I've been meaning to post this entry for a while, but now that Vancouver is not in the playoffs it's a good time to say what until now I've only spoken in conversation with friends: I think that the Vancouver Canucks will never win a championship.
There is a plenitude of young people, children and old timers that love hockey, and love our local team warts and all. To you, I mean no disrespect.
It is nothing more than a hunch. A feeling in my gut that the Canucks organization has all the wrong stuff.
And I'm not at all qualified to comment on the quality of the team or its players. I don't listen to sports talk shows, I don't follow hockey stats. I think I've been to 2 Canucks games in my entire life.
I just grew up in Vancouver, and when you live here you can't ignore that this city is obsessed with its hockey team.
The Vancouver Sun published this story a few weeks back cover story analyzing the team's current woes. When the 'Nucks suck, it's not only bad for business, but people around here get grumpy.
My theory that the Canucks will never win is not based on any science, depth of understanding of the sport of hockey, or real anecdotal evidence concerning the team. Again, it's just intuition, but here are a couple of things that lead me to think they will always be wanting:
- The poorly considered Canucks branding. Is it a whale or a C cleaved by a hockey stick? The hybrid jerseys smack of the worst kind of market testing, and no one was able to argue why it should be one or the other. For my part, I think most newer hockey logos are grossly over-detailed. Boys should be able to draw team logos on their school binders while daydreaming (like the Bruins logo, the Leafs or Habs logos). The Orca logo is way too Disney.
- Vancouver is Club Med for hockey players. Hockey players are doted upon by the public here (Ironically, Vancouver's first professional team were named the Millionaires). Expensive cars, homes and furnishings might make the hockey wives and girlfriends happy, but owning an Escalade hardly makes you into a warrior on ice. Not sure what to do about this one, except to point out that towns like Edmonton and Calgary produced championship teams during hard economic times (read: low oil prices), but now that they're rolling in $$ they sit at the bottom of the division standings.
There are lots of excuses for why Vancouver can't seem to win. The one that is always floated lately is too much travel. But other teams spend a lot of their seasons on jets yet do much better than Vancouver. The salary cap is another reason floated, but again other teams win under the cap.
If I am correct, and it's easy to dismiss my point of view, then should the Vancouver Canucks even continue? In 2010, the Vancouver Canucks will be 40 years old as a franchise. It will be entering its "middle age" without ever building a true contender for the Stanley Cup.
Now is the time to consider whether to lower the flag permanently, start over and come up with a new Vancouver team name. Vancouver Quatchis, anyone?
Tagged: sports branding, vancouver canucks
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