Stanley Cup Finals 2011: Canucks Conundrum—Should You Love or Hate This Team?

Since the 2011 playoffs began, the Vancouver Canucks have been on the front page of most hockey media outlets. Whether it is for their stellar play or controversial antics, they create a reaction from the rest of the NHL landscape.

Now that they have reached the finals and seem to be on the cusp of their first ever Stanley Cup, the question needs to be asked—do you love or hate this team?

In the "hate" column, we need to start off with just how good they are. They boast two potential Hart Trophy winners, a perennial Selke Trophy candidate and a Vezina finalist. Former general manager Brian Burke and current GM Mike Gillis have put together the best lineup the league has seen in the salary cap era. The team began the season with no weaknesses, and that top-notch quality depth has carried it to the end.

It's not easy to feel sympathy for the top dogs of the NHL. There is no underdog story here, folks.

This fact alone is going to draw the ire of many a hockey fan. It's not a coincidence that the majority of stories, polls and talk show banter in Canada had an anti-Canucks undertone. Yes, there are some in Canada who would rather see the Cup return to the Great White North than the big bad Bruins of the U.S. of A., but it's also not hard to see why most would not.

It's also very difficult to look past the shenanigans from what could be the worst collection of agitators in league history.

Raffi Torres has been the center of many borderline hits this season and looks like a mad pit bull on the bench once the emotions begin to fly on the ice. Hockey fans know what's coming from him on his next shift after an incident, and it's only a matter of time before he winds up either in the penalty box or the league office.

Next up you have Maxim Lapierre. He was supposed to be a reformed player coming to Vancouver under the tutelage of Alain Vigneault. He was told to buy into the system and cut out the bush league stuff if he wanted to see ice time. This approach worked for quite some time. Lapierre filled the third-line center position admirably and powered a legitimate two-way line throughout the playoffs.

Yet once a pest, always a pest.

Lapierre must have felt that he's built up enough equity with his teammates and the coaching staff that he can now go out and revert to his old ways. It was bad enough that Alex Burrows wasn't suspended for what was one of the most pathetic acts in Stanley Cup history, but Lapierre took it a step further and taunted Patrice Bergeron with his fingers the very next game.

Speaking of Burrows, does the English dictionary have any words left to describe him? It's one thing to bite another hockey player, but it's a whole different story when you flail your head around as if you've been shot the second you feel any contact. 

There's only one cliché that is applicable here: If you're not cheating, you're not trying.

Which brings us to Ryan Kesler. Thankfully the guy finally dropped his gloves in Game 3 and decided to atone for all his barking and diving. It's not easy to watch a great player resort to soccer-like tactics in order to embarrass the refs.

Lastly, we have Aaron Rome—a likable player who brings quality depth to a championship-worthy roster but got a little carried away and delivered a dirty head shot to an unsuspecting opponent. The only thing worse than his egregious hit was all the rapid-fire reaction from Vancouver fans and writers. The spin-doctoring was out in full force late Monday night as Canucks supporters tried their best to plant a seed of doubt in the NHL community.

Sorry homers, but the rest of us aren't buying what you are sellin'.

The shame in all of this is that these pathetic antics overshadow the long list of things to like about this team.

Yes, Ryan Kesler has his pest side, but he's also one of the best two-way players in the game today. You can question his methods, but you can't question his fire. When all the marbles are up for grabs, this kid comes to play in a big, big way, and I can't think of too many other players I'd want on my team in a do-or-die situation.

Kesler compliments the Sedins—two guys that do as much for Vancouver off the ice as they do on it. They donated $1.5 million to the Children's Hospital shortly after their contract extensions, and the only reason they made it public was to inspire others to donate too. It's easy to like a couple guys that display the kind of class and excellence that these two do.

On the blue line, you have a handful of players that have either been underrated or castoffs in the not too distant past. Alex Edler has quietly improved his two-way game each and every year. He's deadly in all situations and rarely delivers a dirty hit.

Kevin Bieksa was all but gone this season as the Canucks had to make room for their new shiny arrivals. It's a testament to his hard work and character that he battled through the rumors and naysayers to emerge as an invaluable piece of the playoff puzzle.

Christian Ehrhoff was traded away from San Jose to make room for a so-called better crop of up-and-coming defenders. This is perhaps one of the worst deals that Doug Wilson has made because Ehrhoff has developed into one of the better offensive defensemen in the league.

Jannik Hansen is somebody that no one would recognize on the street, but he is among the Vancouver hit leaders, kills penalties with the best of them and is a threat to score a goal at any point with his blazing speed. Guys like him don't come around very often, and he should be a cornerstone of the third line for years to come.

We also have Roberto Luongo. Can anybody give this guy some love? Even a large faction of Canucks fans wanted this guy on the bench during the season because of Cory Schneider's great rookie year. A lot of fans embraced the thought of entering the playoffs with a fresh face between the pipes because another year of losing to the Blackhawks with Luongo was too unbearable.

It's nice to see when a guy shuts his critics up and wins over his fans. Yes, goalies often get too much of the blame and too much of the glory, but how soon do these same fans forget names like Dan Cloutier?

Lastly, we come to Manny Malhotra. If he was eligible to win the Bill Masterton Trophy, this guy would be the hands-down winner. If his eye injury happened to a regular Joe on the street, the doctors would have taken the eye out, but because it was so critical to his career he underwent multiple surgeries to try to save the eye. 

In the final chapter, we got to see one of the best feel-good stories of the season unfold on the grandest stage. Even if you have no rooting interest in this series, you aren't human if his return to the ice on Saturday night didn't give you chills.

For a city that has endured more pain and suffering than most other NHL cities, it seems like a fitting reward that it would finally win its first Cup this season. You would be hard pressed to find another fanbase that has been as rabid and loyal to their team as this one.

At the same time, it would be completely understandable if you wanted to see them suffer even longer. Some of their players make Sean Avery look like a choir boy, and no amount of biased writing or online fan outrage is going to change that perception.

In the end, it's uncertain how fans across the league feel about this team, but one thing is certain—the Vancouver Canucks are a polarizing bunch. You aren't going to find many people that sit on the fence.