Canucks: After another blowout loss, when is enough enough?

The Vancouver Canucks continue to struggle on a gargantuan level against their Canadian rivals. The latest beat down came on Saturday’s Hockey Night in Canada, where the main event featured the down and out Canucks facing off against the division-leading Toronto Maple Leafs.

It didn’t take long for the Maple Leafs to once again expose the Canucks defensively. Wayne Simmonds and Auston Matthews both beat Braden Holtby twice, one of which had the Canucks new goalie shaking his head and glaring at the bench in frustration. Why? Vancouver appeared to give up on the play leaving their netminder out to dry. Something they’ve been doing all season.

Clearly, he’s tired of the mess in front of him and I don’t blame him. All of Canucks Nation is up in arms right now. The Canucks were defeated by the Maple Leafs 5-1 in a game that had a “must-win” feeling to it and they looked entirely lost from start to finish.

Kevin Bieksa, a former Canuck and fan-favourite can’t even pinpoint a specific problem for Vancouver. They are lacking an identity and are having issues in every facet of the game of hockey.

Through 15 contests, Vancouver has given up five or more goals nine times and they’ve allowed the most amount of goals against (60) in the entire NHL. Do the math. That’s an average of 4.5 goals against per game. Simply, disastrous.

When is enough going to be enough? From Canada’s best team last year to potentially the worst Canucks team in the past decade. What it is going to take to get this team back on track?

In such a different year, it’s difficult to narrow it down to one specific thing. Is the problem the coaching staff? Have Jim Benning’s list of moves and signings caught up to him? Is the condensed schedule and travel time for Vancouver a problem? Is the lack of practice availability part of it? Are the Canucks just plain bad?

You could make a well-documented argument for it all. The players are out of sync, the Lotto Line is struggling to be a two-way trio, special teams have been average, the defence is being beaten and outworked, and Vancouver’s goaltenders are gaining zero confidence because of it.

Whatever it is, at the end of the day, it’s ultimately going to land on Travis Green and/or Benning. It’s up to them to figure this out and they have to do it right now. In such a fan-crazy hockey market like Vancouver, the seat must be white-hot.