So, now at the lowest point they have been, probably since the arrival of the Sedins, where do they go from here?

May 7, 2013; San Jose, CA, USA; San Jose Sharks center Patrick Marleau (12) falls down as he scores the game winning goal against the Vancouver Canucks during the overtime period in game four of the first round of the 2013 Stanley Cup playoffs at HP Pavilion. The San Jose Sharks defeated the Vancouver Canucks 4-3. Mandatory Credit: Kelley L Cox-USA TODAY Sports

There are a number of options that may happen in the off-season, either individually or a combination of a number of them.

1.  Fire the GM – The biggest distraction around the City of Vancouver since about game 3 of last year’s playoff against the Kings, when it became apparent that the crease was not big enough for both Roberto Luongo and Cory Schneider.  GM Mike Gillis had the opportunity to go through a draft, a summer and a trade deadline, but couldn’t get his asking price, which was widely regarded as too much to take on the salary of Luongo as well as giving up assets.  He is still a top level goalie but his contract was overwhelming for many teams.  And the teams that were interested didn’t want to give the Canucks what they were asking for.  Is botching the crease enough to warrant firing the GM?

2.  Fire the Coach – Alain Vigneault has been at the helm for 7 full seasons, and has taken one of the top teams in the league past the second round just once, when they went to the 2011 finals.  Now, with 2 straight first round exits has his time in Vancouver run out?

3.  Trade a Goalie, but which one? – This was supposed to be the year that Cory Schnieder asserted himself in the Cancuks’ crease.  It simply did not happen, due to injury and inconsisent play.  He was good in the regular season, but couldn’t get the job done in the playoffs.  Luongo was a good teammate and supported his team as best he could, but you could see his frustration at being second fiddle.  The question is, could the Canucks trade Schneider instead of Luongo?  His contract is more tradeable and he might get a bigger return because there isn’t so much invested in him.  Luongo was the goalie when they had their best season, but hasn’t lived up to expectations since then.  One has to go, but which one.  Is Luongo a buyout candidate?  Surely someone would need a goalie of his calibre, but can they afford it?

4.  Blow up the Team – It might seem like a rather drastic step, but with just 17 players under contract for next year, the Canucks are over the $64.3M salary cap already. They have 12 players making $4M or more.  Just trading a goalie is not going to help them get out of the mess they are in. The core is intact, but they are expensive.  You would have to think David Booth and Keith Ballard would be trade bait, but finding a taker and getting something decent in return might be a bit too much.  They have two amnesty buyouts, and they might have to use them this summer.

The Canucks are a team over a barrel.  With no cap space, they can’t fill in with even minimum salary players without getting rid of some big tickets.  Goaltending is a serious problem and coaching and management hasn’t done much about it in over a year.

The deficit alone always looks daunting. Coming back from a 3-0 hole isn’t going to be easy, doing it against a team you haven’t beaten all year is going to make it harder even still. If the Canucks wanted to stay in this series it had to start tonight. Despite pushing this game to Overtime, the Sharks were a little more than they could handle, and San Jose is the first team in to the Second Round.

May 7, 2013; San Jose, CA, USA; San Jose Sharks center Patrick Marleau (12), center James Sheppard (15) and defenseman Brent Burns (88) shake hands with Vancouver Canucks left wing Daniel Sedin (22) after game four of the first round of the 2013 Stanley Cup playoffs at HP Pavilion. The San Jose Sharks defeated the Vancouver Canucks 4-3. Mandatory Credit: Kelley L Cox-USA TODAY Sports

GAME RECAP

Less than 3 minutes into this game and things already looked to be going right for the San Jose Sharks. Brent Burns would give them Sharks a 1-0 lead and for a few minutes deflate the tires of the Canucks almost completely. 5 Minutes later however, the Canucks would persevere for what seemed like only the second time in the series, and knot this at 1 on a Mason Raymond goal. However, thanks to a Derek Roy boarding call, the Sharks power play would go to work. Putting home his third of the series, Joe Pavelski wasted no time giving the Sharks the lead heading into the Second Period.

The second period had the teams looking stymied. Despite a 4 minute power play the Sharks couldn’t get anything passed Cory Schneider. Regardless of everyones best efforts this game stayed at 2-1. Interesting to note, Vancouver registered only 4 shots in the period, not a winning strategy.

Period 3 was desperation time for Vancouver. Given the opportunity, their power play needed to convert, and convert it did. Alexandre Burrows, once again kickstarted by the Henrik Sedin and Daniel Sedin,ties this game at 2. Approaching the midway mark of the third, Alexander Edler would  put one home and the Canucks take a 3-2 lead in the game.

With just under 5 minutes to play, Joe Pavelski would strike again. On the power play, Pavelski would tie this one up and force the elimination game into overtime. Then, everything began to unwind for the Canucks. Daniel Sedin, heading off the ice for a boarding call lets his mouth get the better of him and  is given a 10 minute misconduct for abusive language. If there’s ever a sign that things aren’t going well, this is it. On the ensuing power play the resurgent Patrick Marleau would score, pushing the Sharks to round 2.

SENSHOT 3 STARS

1- Patrick Marleau

2 – Joe Thornton

3 – Joe Pavelski