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Looking back on this season, I really think the problem for the Canucks was that they got away from what made them good, being an up tempo offensive transition team. They got too focused on building a tougher team to battle the Bruins.
Everyones only focus on why the Canucks lost to the Bruins was that the team got physically dominated and Lu sucked, everyone just turned a blind eye to the offense and powerplay disappearing with Kesler, Ehrhoff, Burrows, Edler and Hamhuis hurt. Those were pretty significant pieces out or playing through serious injuries and still they were 1 game away, so this season the Canucks seemed to get away from their up tempo offensive style by going to a more defense first grittier style when they just do not have the right personnel to make that work effectively.
They let Ehrhoff walk thinking Edler was ready to setup into that role successfully, they went from a 3rd line who could play an offensive role to a traditional shut down defense focused 3rd line and traded away some offensive talent to bring in bigger bodies. To me it just seems the Canucks this year were stuck in a transition phase and lost/had no clue of their identity. Right from January, it just seemed that they always had trouble scoring but lacked the personnel and talented big bodies to play the way the coaches/management wanted them to transition to (like the Kings, Bruins, Blues). Kesler also didn't look right the whole year, I think that hip injury/surgery was still bugging him, he just looked really uncomfortable and seemed to have lost that burst of speed he used to have which turned into not much goal support from the 2nd line.
On a brighter note, Schroeder has looked good with the Wolves this year and he should easily be able to replace Raymond next season, and Jensen has looked fantastic since his pro debut with the Wolves. Hopefully the Canucks' coaches can be patient with younger talent next season and trust in them more than in the past.
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