A quick look at AV's Career :
MTL 1997–98 Lost in Second Round
MTL 1998–99 Missed playoff
MTL 1999–2000 Missed Playoffs
MTL 2000–01 (fired)

VAN 2006–07 Lost in Second Round
VAN 2007–08 Missed Playoffs
VAN 2008-09 ???? (Unkown)

By the looks of it , its either missed playoff or fired.. lol

I like AV, he is a good coach, but probabaly there is inside story we all dont know, lack of chemistry between player and coach...

Ohlund is still our best D IMO and I hope we have $ to keep him. I mean we have money to keep salo and bieska and not Ohlund?? Come on.

Not forever a Canuck, classy Ohlund plays on


By Iain MacIntyre, Vancouver SunFebruary 2, 2009


Mattias Ohlund has played for just one team in NHL career.

While a brush fire raged Monday near Vancouver Canuck defenceman Shane O’Brien, who dropped napalm as reporters asked him about being a healthy scratch, across the Vancouver Canucks’ dressing room the slow smoulder around Mattias Ohlund continued unnoticed.

Ohlund isn’t angry, merely largely resigned to the likelihood that his decade-long stint as the backbone of the Canucks’ defence is nearing an end. Any frustration Ohlund harboured about a slightly diminished role in what seems his final National Hockey League season in Vancouver, long ago dissipated. It was never expressed publicly.

In Saturday’s 4-3 loss to the Minnesota Wild, everyone saw that Mats Sundin didn’t get off the Canuck bench in the final minute of regulation time and overtime. Maybe you didn’t notice Ohlund was sitting at the other end of it.

Ohlund’s only contribution was a fragment of broken stick, snapped against the dasher when Marc-Andre Bergeron scored in OT, that skipped across the ice as the Wild celebrated.

“That was just frustration that we got scored on,” Ohlund said.

When the Canucks pressed desperately for a tying goal, coach Alain Vigneault used defencemen Sami Salo and Alex Edler in the final minute. And when he changed penalty-killers in overtime, going to two defencemen from one, Vigneault left blueliner Willie Mitchell on the ice and sent Salo out to join him. Ohlund stayed on the bench.

“Without a doubt in my mind, Sami and Alex Edler were our two best Ds as far as moving the puck and trying to get their shots on net,” Vigneault explained Monday. “Those two guys, at the end of the game, were our two best defencemen. That’s why they were out there.”

Fair enough.

It was a far more defensible position than Vigneault’s decision to scratch O’Brien and winger Mason Raymond in favour of Rob Davison and Mike Brown, replacing two guys who can handle the puck with two guys who can’t. Though admirably competitive, Brown and Davison combined for just 7:34 of ice time, about 221⁄2 minutes fewer than what Raymond and O’Brien offer.

Partly because of Davison’s limitations, Ohlund logged 25:12. But that nudged the 32-year-old’s season average to only 21:59, nearly two minutes less than last season and about 31⁄2 minutes off the Swede’s career average.

Small changes, but Ohlund has noticed.

“I’m not trying to analyse it,” he said. “They’re going to put out whoever they think gives us the best chance to win. When I get tapped on the shoulder, I go out and play. That’s all I know. I’d like to be out there. I’m sure other guys would say the same thing.”

Overshadowed by the possible free agency of first-liners Daniel and Henrik Sedin, Ohlund’s contractual status generated little fanfare when talks on an extension broke off last fall.

Ohlund, eight points shy of becoming the franchise’s all-time leading scorer on defence, is probably the first Canuck victim of the global economic crisis. He badly wants to stay in Vancouver and general manager Mike Gillis reiterated Monday he’d like to keep the defenceman who has spent his entire 11-year career with the Canucks.

But no one knows what the NHL salary cap will be next season, except that in the next two years it is likely to plummet. With the Sedins still to sign, goalie Roberto Luongo under contract next season at $7.5 million US and defencemen Kevin Bieksa, Mitchell, Salo and Edler on the books for $14 million, Gillis simply doesn’t have enough money to keep Ohlund.

Not for anything close to market value ($5-6 million US over 4-5 years), anyway.

Ohlund understands this. He believes the Canucks have acted in good faith, and accepts there are consequences to the economic uncertainty. He is not bitter. Not even close.

But that doesn’t make this season easier for him. It is no accident that he has never played for another team. So content was he to stay — and willing to give a discount — none of his previous contracts made it to the final year before Ohlund re-signed.

He lives here more than 10 months a year, spending just July and another week or two back home in Pitea. Vancouver is the only home his children, Viktor, 9, and Hannah, 7, have known. Viktor was born with one leg shorter than the other, and the Ohlunds have strong ties to staff at Children’s Hospital.

“My son is pretty interested in hockey, so he knows what’s going on,” Ohlund said of not knowing where he’ll be next season. “But they’re kids. They don’t think much further than the next minute.

“I’m sort of past that point [of worrying]. We’ve played most of the year. There were talks last summer that didn’t lead anywhere. You get to the point where you’re kind of reconciled to it, and then you move on. You go through times where you reflect on it, but now I’m excited about the future.”

Gillis said he hasn’t given up on trying to sign Ohlund after the season and praised the assistant captain for his professionalism and commitment.

“No one knows what the future is from a salary-cap situation,” Ohlund said. “I know this is a business. I’ve been here 11 years and it has been great. But if I’m not here, I’ll move on and be perfectly happy somewhere else.”

you sir, are the fail at life

Yeah, almost as good as your wisdom, bud.

Did you miss the post-game interview after the Minnesota game when Vigneault said "Louie should have had the 1st one" talking about the Koivu goal?

snip, snip, snip...............

Great post. Ohlund is a solid player and a very classy one at that.

Slohlund needs to be gone after this season unless he'll take less money on a short term deal

Thanks for pointing it out, but I think that's as far as it will get. I don't think the guy will be held accountable as far as Jah's example of Kipper's benching.

Your statement = fail. Welcome to your life.

Awww. someone's butthurt because I pointed out a flaw and you have no other retort? That's right, if you can't handle reality, eat some more other PR responses to your liking.

Mitchell's tussles with his teammates are a good thing.
Continued economic bail out for failing corporations is a good thing.
The war in iraq is a good thing.

That's right, keep crying that O'Brien spilled news that everyone already knew. That problems are occurring between players, and player & coaches. Too bad he couldn't dress it up in PR for the likes of you. Pansy ass.

Shit, the atmosphere in here must be similar to that in the Canucks locker room. :p

Ohlund being resigned or not...sadly...the team needs a new identity.
Ohlund needs to earn his contract like everyone else does...

Ohlund might take les money for family related issues, but the canucks might not want to pay ohlund at all.
I would like to see him stay tho..

i unno..SOB isnt terrible...not the best either, but i would say much better than Krajcek...

Nice, even the fans are heating it up now. Too bad we're not famous enough or the Province will write an article about us.

Pyatt better go. Seriously.

SOB is a good 4-6 Dman for this new Canucks, i'd rather keep him around as a bottom pairing then keep ohlund around and trying to parade him around as a top D-man, he isnt

our defense as a whole is highly overrated and has been for the past 2 years, mitchell is alright but after that it's pretty bad, imo Mitchell and SOB are the only 2 worth keeping, bring in a top dman, and rebuild from there

as for salo's "Shot" sure u can talk about how fast or hard a shot is all day long, when it goes 4 feet wide everytime why does it even matter if it's going fast or not

Perhaps what we really need in the locker room right now is leadership. Someone to stand up and to fire up the team, and someone to help the frustrated youngsters like SOB.

lol @ O'brien not being a team player

Well, the difference between you and me is I'm not going to play your little game. I can go on and have good come backs, but what's the point?

I've had my share of disagreements with Noir but he's got some good points and is right in many ways about AV not calling out his star players.

Yeah, but he does not have to be a fucktard about it. He's worse than a fucking woman.

You can disagree with people, but to have this "holier than thou" attitude is just....... nuff said.

Too bad I don't know him from a hole in the wall. Perhaps he's a really nice guy in real life. I don't think I'm the only one he irritates.

OK, time to suck up to hockey god, Noir........


Mr. Noir. I am so sorry to have said something you don't agree with. Can you find it in your good christian heart to forgive me for being so ignorant? I wish I could be half as knowledgeable as you. I will, from now on, worship the ground you walk on. Never shall I ever go against anything you say. You are a god and I don't deserve to be in the same thread as you. I believe everybody else in here feels the same way. In fact, everyone should leave this thread and just be in awe at your insightfulness.

Totally agree.

please god. let someone photoshop the picture for the linke to the video of the Hurricanes/Canucks Ice Chips video

http://www.tsn.ca/nhl/

OT: Did the NHL stop all the illegal live feeds on the net?

Awww I'm sorry. Was my response not PR enough for you? I'll make sure to dress it up in bowties and rainbows next time.

You better.

BTW, for future reference, my opinions are only as strong as the conviction its trying to oppose.

I knew it. You're a girlyman........

omg trade bieksa

/sarcasm