The Vancouver Canucks are awash in possibilities. Also in massive losing streaks, unfortunate contracts, and a mix of veterans and prospects that isn't working. But possibilities!

Drawing Maps

When I feel rich enough, I visit my favourite restaurant in Vancouver. It's French and has a single-page menu. They do few things, but they do them extremely well. The focus is tight, precise, and aiming at perfection. Changes are few and small and always serve a purpose. Beautiful place with friendly, very knowledgeable staff who also know enough to leave you alone when you're eating.

Conversely, I also like going to a "family diner" style place that has everything they serve presented in a double-sided, ten-page novel that lands on your table with a THUD. That's the best place for a group of twenty who just did a thing - a game, a show, a party. Whatever the excuse, now we're here, and we're going to tip really well because we know we're a pain in the ass.

It's not the best quality food, but it's noisy and fun and chaotic. It's a place to complain about co-workers - unless they're there, in which case the complaints are about the boss. There's time enough to make and forget a dozen projects, harass your friends, and try to figure out where to next. But, jeeze, with a menu that big, and with that many people around all adding to the noise, it's hard to choose what to eat!

You see where I'm going with this.

Thirty Games, Two Deadlines, One Focus

The Canucks need to have a plan formed by now, or in the extremely near future. The Olympic break is coming up, and while Vancouver has some representation, most of their trade chips aren't going. The common assumption is that David Kämpf and Teddy Blueger are obviously on the block; Filip Hronek is absolutely not; and the other two are...not?

The risk/reward equation is how much tradable players might increase their value with a good performance versus injury risk. No team wants to trade for Kämpf as a backup centre only to have him lost for the season in Torino. The other side is if Latvia gets an upset or two behind Blueger, his value might never be higher.

The same can be said if the muttering around Elias Pettersson the Forward are valid. If he shows his chops on the international stage, maybe some team steps forward with a Godfather-tier offer. Anything less and I don't think Vancouver should be interested, but we can talk about that later.

Running alongside this year's deadlines is whatever timeframe management decides to go with. I have zero interest in hearing "Well, maybe it will just be a couple years, maybe more." Stop that. Decide and aim your bow at that target. Shooting between only misses both.

Time Always Wins

A longer period, more than five seasons away, and moving older players is a good idea. Not because of their effect on the Canucks, but because the number of interested teams will drop. Teams who think they have a shot now, or soon, might be okay taking a long-term hit on a finishing piece who's still in their 20s. They won't be as interested in players in their 30s. Fewer customers makes for lower prices.

If the team is hoping for a quicker turnaround, though, then keeping a couple older players makes more sense. You do need veterans through the lean years who can keep emotions on an even keel. There are going to be hard games, and what you don't want to do is teach your kids how to lose. I think we can safely say the Detroit Red Wings are finally finished their rebuild, and they have a double fistful of players over 30.

Money, weirdly enough, is pretty much irrelevant now. Without the need to make the playoffs, the team doesn't need to chase aforementioned "finishing pieces". There isn't a lot of competition for decent, bottom-six veterans with 600+ games under their belt. Make a couple of them top-six forwards for the hard years, that's fine. Even if they get a bit overpaid because they're signing with a bad team, they won't demand $8 million per on a six-year deal.

A Pius Suter type deal, for instance, should be welcome here because he's replacing a traded Conor Garland.

Pick Who

Ian Cole's name keeps coming up in discussions of players who the Canucks miss. Signed to play a 6/7 role, he ended up in 78 games in the regular season and all 13 in the playoffs. Now, he's almost 37 years old, in Utah, and we talk about the value of having a player like him.

The same is said of Chris Tanev, who was nicknamed "Dad" for his welcoming of new players to the team. People liked him, on and off the ice. He has the respect of players, fans, and officials around the league. These are the guys you need around, especially when things get hard. And lord knows, this probably won't be easy over the next few seasons.

When folks talk about captains, what goes on at ice level is usually what they think of. But that's hardly the most important part of wearing a letter. I am very much opposed to handing the most talented player the captaincy automatically because it's wildly different job. I don't think Markus Naslund was a good captain early, but I also think he grew into the role to become a very good one.

Those traits emerge. You'll find out who the players listen to, who they like to play for, and who leads by example. But you need a room that is willing to listen to each other, too. Watch for the listeners as well as the talkers. Those are the ones you want to keep.

And after the last decade, I never want to hear that "being good in the room doesn't matter" ever again.

We Aren't Fools (Though We Play The Part Well!)

Fears about the fans not attending the games as often are completely valid, but also unavoidable. If the team is going to be bad, show us the players we want to see. And no, that's not just the latest top-five pick, but the players who work hard every game. Vancouver's atrocious record preceding their last two losses at home didn't dampen the cheers heard in the third period. We do know hockey in this town.

So it's an easy message to the owners and the management of the Vancovuer Canucks. It's heartfelt, and it's simple, and it comes from, I think, the majority of Canucks fans here and abroad. We're going to trust that you'll finally decide on a plan, whether you feel like telling us the details or not. It's not like we have any choice, after all. We're not piloting this ship. Heck, we're not even crew, just passengers.

Give us a team that we can like. Players we can cheer for. Blue-collar heroes who bring their lunch pails to the rink. We'll watch them, and we'll cheer for them, win or lose.

Trust us. You've already tried the opposite.