Dreger: Perception's not reality for Canucks

Darren Dreger
1/19/2007 9:13:48 PM

Ottawa Senators coach Bryan Murray made an interesting remark following his teams loss to the Vancouver Canucks. Murray described the Canucks as, "New Jersey of the West," adding "they trap you to death!"

Automatically assumptions were made Murray was being critical.

He wasn't.

In fact, Bryan Murray was complimenting the Canucks for being sound defensively, supported by the great goaltending of Roberto Luongo.

However, the misconception Vancouver is a "backup and wait" style team is a slight annoyance to Canucks GM Dave Nonis, who compares their approach to other Western Conference teams such as Calgary, Edmonton, Anaheim and Detroit.

The attack, Nonis says is very similar, but Vancouver doesn't have the same quality of offensively skilled players, so the Canucks don't score a lot, and more often than not, Luongo steals the game.

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