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This should be the last word on the question of the Canucks captaincy. Following the Canucks game 6 loss to the Blackhawks for the second straight year, two players could not have given more contrasting post game interviews:

Exhibit A: Roberto Luongo Shirking Responsibility

Key Comment #1: “No matter what happened out there, I’m gonna leave tonight with my head up. Not like last year, I battled for 60 minutes, kept it under 7 goals, so improvement was made.”

Key Comment #2: “Well, I mean, there was pretty much turnovers the whole game, I don’t think it was just in the 2nd… it could’ve easily been 2 or 3 to zero in the first.”

Exhibit B: Ryan Kesler “Shoulders” the Blame

Key Comment: “It’s no excuse, I’m not sitting here making excuses. I’ve got to play through it, and obviously I didn’t have my best series and it hurts.”

Ending The Great Debate

These are two of the Canucks’ core group whose performance has a great influence on that of their teammates, and neither had a very impressive 2010 playoffs. Luongo posted a .895 save percentage over 12 games, making him the 18th best goalie in the playoffs, while Kesler scored only one goal and was not his usual imposing physical presence. But while Kesler was not about to make excuses, and took the blame for the loss squarely upon himself, Luongo did the opposite.

The CBC‘s Kelly Hrudey had this to say after watching Luongo’s interview: “Your goaltender has to be rock solid, and take that team on his shoulders and tell everybody that (he’s) going to be a great player, and I didn’t hear that.”

What makes it worse is that not only is Luongo the goaltender, he is the captain of the team.

When the Canucks lost to Chicago one year ago, in his first year wearing the ‘C’, Roberto Luongo broke down in front of the camera, admitting that he should have been better in a 7-5 loss. One of the first times we had seen him step up and take responsibility for his performance, it should have been a career defining moment – an admission that he needed to play his best and would take the blame for any of the team’s shortcomings.

A few months later, at the start of the 2009-10 season, when asked about that display of emotion, Luongo expressed regret at how he was portrayed. He said too much was made of that tough moment following a difficult series, “A lot went on during that game that contributed to the loss.” This was the first hint of what would become a complete regression in his willingness to take responsibility.

His comments following this year’s loss should be concerning to anyone who has stakes in the Canucks. They say leadership can be taught and learned, but surely you need something to work with. Luongo’s comments indicate that he just does not get it – it being what it takes to lead a winning team.