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While Desjardins team couldn’t score, Green’s team has struggled defensively. The Canucks have given up 146 goals against in their past 40 for a rate of 3.65 per tilt.

This is not good, and it’s 25 more goals against than the Desjardins’ team had in the same sample size.

Some of it is on the goaltending and the Canucks have been below average all season there. But some of it is style of play, and here’s where things get layered.

No one in the city has an appetite for the demoralizing, life-draining hockey of last year. That said, the current Canucks are so woefully undermanned at the moment the Arizona visited this week and seemed to convince them the Coyotes are a “good team.”

They aren’t.

It is with this backdrop you can’t help but wonder if Green is thinking changing things up to help his team defend.

Impassioned despite Friday’s loss to the Minnesota Wild, Green was asked this and his answer was along the lines of: Hell, no.

“All of a sudden, we’re not going to sit back and try and defend and trap all night and let teams play in our zone,” said Green. “You’re still going to defend your ass off. We’re not going to change our whole system because we’re undermanned. We’re just not.

“I like how we played. I think if we go in and try and play a tight defensive-minded game, the results are going to be worse.

“We’ll look slow and lethargic and sit on our heels.”

That’s one heck of a mission statement right there, and you can’t help but read it and think about how a Green-led team would play with just an average amount of skill.