{"id":243744,"date":"2026-05-16T23:42:33","date_gmt":"2026-05-16T23:42:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/2026\/05\/16\/ex-canucks-coach-lashes-out-at-players-with-character-issues-time-to-get-rid-of-those-guys\/"},"modified":"2026-05-16T23:42:33","modified_gmt":"2026-05-16T23:42:33","slug":"ex-canucks-coach-lashes-out-at-players-with-character-issues-time-to-get-rid-of-those-guys","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/2026\/05\/16\/ex-canucks-coach-lashes-out-at-players-with-character-issues-time-to-get-rid-of-those-guys\/","title":{"rendered":"Ex-Canucks coach lashes out at players with &#8216;character issues&#8217; &#8211; &#8220;Time to get rid of those guys&#8221;"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><\/p>\n<div id=\"article-content\" data-postid=\"5168166\" data-slug-id=\"2782957\">\n<div class=\"vidazoo-player-container\">\n<span class=\"vidazoo-close-btn  hidden \"><br \/>\n<br \/>\n<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>The Vancouver Canucks haven&#8217;t been at their best in recent seasons. This year, the Canucks missed the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.sportskeeda.com\/us\/nhl\/stanley-cup-playoffs\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" data-is-sponsored=\"false\">Stanley Cup playoffs<\/a> for the second straight season. In total, Vancouver has missed the playoffs on 16 occasions since the NHL introduced the draft lottery in 2025.<\/p>\n<p>While it&#8217;s evident that there are problems in Vancouver that need to be fixed, ex-Skills and Development coach Chris Higgins has called the team to get rid of players with character issues. During a conversation with Jamie Dodd and Randip Janda on Sportsnet 650, Higgins mentioned that the team lacks the obsession to get better.<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>&#8220;That obsession to get better has been missing in this organization for a long time. It\u2019s been one of my biggest critiques over the last number of years is our best players aren\u2019t obsessed with getting better. We need to reestablish that culture of obsession of getting better every day, and being challenged, and not taking it personally\u2026 I feel like that hasn\u2019t been around here for a very long time,&#8221; Higgins said.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><template id=\"also-read-articles-template\"><\/p>\n<p><\/template><\/p>\n<p>The NHL veteran also added:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>&#8220;If we\u2019re into year four, five, six, seven, and we\u2019re still talking about preparation and your practice habits, it\u2019s time to get rid of those guys. Like, straight up. That\u2019s too long. Now that\u2019s a character issue.&#8221;<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>Chris Higgins has been in and around the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.sportskeeda.com\/us\/nhl\/vancouver-canucks\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" data-is-sponsored=\"false\">Vancouver Canucks<\/a> for a long time. While Higgins played in multiple seasons for Vancouver, he was also the team&#8217;s Assistant Director of Player Development. A year later, he was appointed Skills and Development coach, as mentioned.<\/p>\n<hr\/>\n<h2>Chris Higgins opened up on the type of players the Vancouver Canucks need<\/h2>\n<p>After consecutive failures, the Vancouver Canucks will look to rebuild so they at least make the playoffs next season. In his conversation with Jamie Dodd and Randip Janda on Sportsnet 650, Higgins said that Vancouver needs to find players with &#8220;predator eyes.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>He said:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>\u201cI\u2019ve looked at players in the lights of their eyes \u2014 I didn\u2019t see it with a lot of guys. I didn\u2019t see the fierceness. It\u2019s hard to describe, when you look into somebody\u2019s eyes as a competitor, you know what those predator eyes look like\u2026 Those are hard to get, but those are the guys we need to find.&#8221;<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>As the Vancouver Canucks build for the upcoming season, they will have a new face in charge, as <a href=\"https:\/\/www.sportskeeda.com\/us\/nhl\/news-canucks-gm-rumors-insider-claims-former-sens-exec-strong-candidate-role\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" data-is-sponsored=\"false\">Ryan Johnson<\/a> was recently named GM of the organization. Johnson previously played for Vancouver between 2008 and 2010.<\/p>\n<div class=\"article-post-rating-widget\">\n<p><template id=\"post-rating-feedback-modal-template\"><\/p>\n<div class=\"post-rating-feedback-feedback-box\">\n<div class=\"post-rating-feedback-content\">\n<div class=\"post-rating-feedback-data\">\n<p>Why did you not like this content?<\/p>\n<p><textarea id=\"dislike-feedback-text\" rows=\"4\" placeholder=\"Please type your feedback...\"\/>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>\n<button class=\"close\">Cancel<\/button><br \/>\n<button class=\"submit\">Submit<\/button>\n<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><\/template><\/p>\n<div class=\"post-rating-widget-parent hidden\">\n<div class=\"rating-parent-container\">\n<div class=\"rating-content-holder\">\n<p>Was this article helpful?<\/p>\n<div class=\"post-rating-action-container\">\n<div class=\"like-container\">\n<button class=\"post-rating-like-button post-rating-button\" data-action=\"like\" title=\"like article\"><br \/>\n<img class=\"post-like-image post-rating-image\" data-lazy=\"\/\/staticg.sportskeeda.com\/like-articles\/upvote-icon-grey.svg\" height=\"20\" width=\"20\" loading=\"lazy\" alt=\"like selected\"\/><br \/>\n<\/button>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"dislike-container\">\n<button class=\"post-rating-dislike-button post-rating-button\" data-action=\"dislike\" title=\"dislike article\"><br \/>\n<img class=\"post-dis-like-image post-rating-image\" data-lazy=\"\/\/staticg.sportskeeda.com\/like-articles\/upvote-icon-grey.svg\" height=\"20\" width=\"20\" loading=\"lazy\" alt=\"avatar selected\"\/><br \/>\n<\/button>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>\nThank You for feedback\n<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div id=\"tag-cloud\">\n<div class=\"tags-text\">\n<div class=\"scrollable-content-holder  article-padding\">\n<p class=\"article-p  \">Quick Links<\/p>\n<p><button id=\"pnAdvancerLeft\" class=\"pn-Advancer pn-Advancer_Left \" type=\"button\"><br \/>\n<img decoding=\"async\" style=\"background: none;\" src=\"https:\/\/staticg.sportskeeda.com\/skm\/assets\/article\/article-scroll-left.svg\" loading=\"lazy\"\/><br \/>\n<\/button><\/p>\n<nav id=\"pnProductNav\" class=\"pn-ProductNav\">\n<\/nav>\n<p><button id=\"pnAdvancerRight\" class=\"pn-Advancer pn-Advancer_Right \" type=\"button\"><br \/>\n<img decoding=\"async\" style=\"background: none;\" src=\"https:\/\/staticg.sportskeeda.com\/skm\/assets\/article\/article-scroll-right.svg\" loading=\"lazy\"\/><br \/>\n<\/button>\n<\/div>\n<p>More from Sportskeeda<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>\n<span class=\"publisher-name\">Edited by Varun Anand Bhat<\/span>\n<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.sportskeeda.com\/us\/nhl\/news-ex-canucks-coach-lashes-players-character-issues-time-get-rid-guys\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Vancouver Canucks haven&#8217;t been at their best in recent seasons. This year, the Canucks missed the Stanley Cup playoffs for the second straight season. In total, Vancouver has missed the playoffs on 16 occasions since the NHL introduced the draft lottery in 2025. While it&#8217;s evident that there are problems in Vancouver that need [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":243745,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"tdm_status":"","tdm_grid_status":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[6806],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-243744","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-gossip"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/243744","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=243744"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/243744\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/243745"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=243744"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=243744"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=243744"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}