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Desjardins, the man, is a prince. Generally, he cares for his players in a real, personal way. He is considerate, and oozes both character and class.

Photo by Arlen Redekop / PNG

He didn’t have to face media for yet another round of ‘what the heck were you doing with your power play?’ But he did it, because it was right. He did it because he wanted an opportunity to reach out and thank a long list of people who meant something to him.

And as he laid it all out, reading loosely from a prepared statement, his eyes reddening and filling with tears, it was impossible not to feel sympathy for him because — if we’re all being honest — he was dealt a rotten hand.

But as soon as that feeling evaporated, you couldn’t help but wonder, what the heck was he doing with the power play anyway?

That special-teams story is the heaviest anchor which dragged him and his team to the bottom of Coal Harbour.

Photo by JONATHAN HAYWARD / THE CANADIAN PRESS

In his three years in Vancouver, the Canucks’ power play finished 29th overall. He mentioned Thursday some adjustments he made during this season, even revealing he ransacked the Columbus Blue Jackets for ideas. But, really, it always looked essentially the same — a 1-3-1 setup with Henrik Sedin on the right half-wall, and with Brandon Sutter as the right-shot trigger man, even though Sutter’s least impressive skill is scoring power-play goals.

If you’ve lived in Vancouver long enough, you’ve seen the Sedins have success with a ton of different alignments. They’ve been good with left-shot shooters before, and when Newell Brown coached them, they were both moved around all over the ice on a power play whose flow was a thing of beauty.