Demand for Canucks tickets as low as it was in the ‘Keenan years’

VANCOUVER (NEWS 1130) – It’s a tough time to be a Canucks fan (cue plaintive-sounding blues song) as the team continued its losing ways last night, dropping another game at home to the Minnesota Wild — one of the lowest scoring teams in the league.

After also being whooped by the lowly Toronto Maple Leafs over the weekend, demand for seats is dropping even further and ticket prices have seemingly hit rock bottom.

“The last time I saw this was during the Mike Keenan years when he got rid of Trevor Linden and brought in Messier and said we are going to change this whole team around. He sure did. The team went into the tank,” says Kingsley Bailey, manager of Vancouver Ticket.

A quick online search ahead of last night’s loss could find you tickets as low as $34 and Bailey isn’t surprised.

“I’m glad that the ownership group has come up with a brand new thing called dynamic pricing. What it means is there’s no ceiling on what a ticket price is worth. But there’s no floor to how low a price can go either. I can see it going down even lower than $34,” he tells NEWS 1130.

With non-marquee games being played to a less-than-packed Rogers Arena, there will likely be some deals as the team trundles through the final stretch of the season.

“It’s all because of some boneheaded moves by management. They’ve made some bad decisions and they really have alienated the fans. Because of that, no one wants to go. No one,” says Bailey.

You’ve heard the expression about not being able to give away tickets?

“If you were a long-time customer of mine, you would have been getting calls from me, offering free tickets to the game. Really. I’ve been doing that for the last several games.”

The Vancouver Canucks have their work cut out for them to try to turn things around.

Their next game is Thursday at home against the red-hot Anaheim Ducks.

Should Canucks fans write off the 2015-16 season?

“They certainly look like they’re in a whole lot of trouble,” admits Rick Dhaliwal in the NEWS 1130 Sports Centre. “Head Coach Willie Dejardins looks like he’s in trouble, as well. This is back-to-back losses. First to the Maple Leafs, the worst team in the NHL, and now they’ve just lost to a team that had lost 13 of their past 14 games and had to make a coaching change over the weekend.”

“There’s not a lot of confidence in the Canucks these days, that’s for sure.”

It’s still up for debate as to whether management can salvage the season by making some moves.

“The trading deadline is in a couple of weeks and we still don’t know if the Canucks are sellers or buyers,” says Dhaliwal.

“As we get closer to that trading deadline, we’re going to find out, as the standings will dictate if they’re going to be sellers or buyers. As soon as we find out about that… you’re going to get a better idea of which way this team is headed.”

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