VANCOUVER -- After a frustrating season which saw his team miss the playoffs, Vancouver head coach John Tortorella was rather blunt Monday in his assessment of what the Canucks must change if they hope to return to the NHLs elite. Lane Taylor Super Bowl Jersey . While Tortorella took some of the blame, he also didnt pull any punches. He said the Canucks are getting old, the core group has become complacent and the team needs to get younger. "I felt from day one that its stale," said Tortorella. "Thats not their fault. This is a group that has been together for a long time. "It needs youth. It needs a change. The team needs to be retooled. Its a young mans game. Its certainly not a criticism of (the veterans). We need to surround them with some enthusiasm." After a promising start under Tortorella, the Canucks finished the year with a 36-35-11 record for 83 points. Vancouver managed just 13 wins in 41 games since Jan. 1 and settled for a 25th-place finish in the overall standings. The poor showing has already cost Mike Gillis his job as president and general manager. New president Trevor Linden -- the Canucks former captain -- still must decide Tortorellas fate. The two were scheduled to meet later Monday. Centre Ryan Kesler, who was the subject of trade rumours this year, said the players have to take responsibility for the season. "Were all flabbergasted right now," said Kesler, who led Vancouver with 25 goals. "Going into this year I would never think we would be sitting here in this situation." The Canucks ended their season with a 5-1 win over the Calgary Flames last Sunday but the victory was soured by an ugly incident late in the second period. Daniel Sedin was taken off the ice on a stretcher after being hit from behind by Calgarys Paul Byron. Sedin was taken to hospital and later released. After the hit, Sedin lay crumpled on the ice and couldnt raise his head. "I was scared," he said at Mondays season-ending news conference. "I tried to lift my head at first and couldnt get it off the ice. "The only thing I thought was lay still. I tried to move my hands and it felt good. I went to the hospital and everything looks good. I feel OK today." Tortorella said fans and management cant keep reminiscing about the Canucks loss in Game 7 of the 2011 Stanley Cup final, but instead must concentrate on making the team better again. "Were not in 2011," said the man hired last year to replace the fired Alain Vigneault. "We have to stop talking about 2011. "The core needs to change." Canucks captain Henrik Sedin said the team was "really good" until halfway through the season when injuries became a problem. Both Sedins, Alex Burrows and defenceman Chris Tanev all missed a significant number of games with injuries. "You never want to use injuries (as an excuse but) we had a tough year," said Henrik. "We had guys playing out of position. We had guys playing more minutes than they were used to. "We had to play a different way and we werent able to win playing that way." Tortorella said during this period he made a coaching mistake by giving the room to the players. "I didnt get back in the room and continue to teach the details," he said. "I didnt stay on top of it. "I needed to be pounding away at the details. I think that hurt us in situational play. I think that hurt us in trying to understand how you change momentum. Thats not the team, thats me. Thats my biggest regret." A lack of scoring haunted Vancouver all season. The Canucks managed just 196 goals, leaving them tied for second fewest in the league. For the first time in a non-lockout season, Vancouver had just one 20-goal scorer in Kesler. Daniel Sedin finished the year with 16 goals and went through a stretch of 23 games without scoring. Henrik Sedin had just 11 goals. Burrows, who hadnt scored less than 25 goals in the last four full seasons, had just five. "People talk about we are playing too much defence," said Daniel. "Honestly we played as aggressively as we have been. "That has nothing to do with why our production is down. Its up to us to play like we can." Defenceman Alex Edler, who begins a US$30-million, six-year contract next season, finished the season at -39, the worst plus-minus in the NHL. "There was a lot of changes this year (in how we played in own end) and a lot of new things to get used to," said Edler. "I think I didnt have the year I should have had but I know I am a good player." The Canucks have had several distractions to deal with over the last year. Tortorellas hiring was a surprise. Goaltender Cory Schneider was traded during the summer, meaning Roberto Luongo was the Vancouver starter after believing he was gone. Luongo was eventually traded to Florida. Tortorella missed six games after being suspended for trying to get into the Calgary locker-room following a line brawl to open a Jan. 18 game against the Flames. The Canucks were 2-4-0 during that period, then 2-7-1 when Tortorella returned. "When you lose a head coach its never good," said Henrik Sedin. "I dont think it was specifically that incident that made us start losing." Ray Nitschke Super Bowl Jersey . The team announced that it exercised the options on 15 players including goalkeepers Evan Bush, Maxime Crepeau and Troy Perkins, defenders Matteo Ferrari, Karl W. Kenny Clark Super Bowl Jersey . There, I saw a teenaged boy with tears in his eyes, being consoled by strength and conditioning coach Randy Lee. http://www.officialgreenbaypackerspro.com/Preston-smith-packers-jersey/ . With the Pirates in the thick of the race in the NL Central, the timing couldnt be better. Liriano struck out a season-high 11 in seven innings to win consecutive starts for the first time this season and Pittsburgh beat the San Francisco Giants 3-1 on Tuesday night.(SportsNetwork.com) - The Washington Wizards are arguably the top team in the Eastern Conference and have been even more impressive at home. The Wizards will try to stay on track Tuesday in the finale of a three-game homestand versus the Minnesota Timberwolves. Washington has the second-best record in the East at 17-6 and the Toronto Raptors are slightly ahead at 19-6. The Wizards have won seven in a row at home and four straight overall, including Sundays 93-84 win over the Utah Jazz. Bradley Beal scored 22 points, John Wall had 16, eight assists, six rebounds and five steals, and Paul Pierce ended with 15 points in the win. The Wizards shot 48.7 percent and scored 25 points off 17 Utah turnovers. They also held the Jazz to 16 points in the third quarter (30-16) and improved to 14-0 when keeping opponents under 100 points. We didnt play our (style of) basketball in the first half, Wizards center Marcin Gortat said. We were patient (in the second half) and started playing better. The Wizards pushed their home record to 12-2 and are 8-1 in the past nine games. The 17-6 start is the best since an identical beginning to the 1968-69 - 1974-75 seasons. The last time Washington was 12 games over .500 was at the end of the 1978-79 campaign (54-28). Wall and Beal have carried the Wizards so far and the latter is averaging 18.5 points in his last four games. Wall leads the Wizards with 17.7 ppg and the team is one of the toughest on defense, allowing 96.6 points. The Wizards, who willl visit Miami on Friday, are averaging 103. Adrian Amos Super Bowl Jersey. 9 points at home and holding opponents to a 95.6 ppg clip in 14 games at the Verizon Center. Minnesota will be on the road the next two games against Washington and Boston, and went 1-3 on a recent homestand. The Timberwolves lost their second straight game and eighth in nine tries with Sundays 100-94 setback to Kobe Bryant and the Los Angeles Lakers. Bryant passed Michael Jordan for third on the NBAs all-time scoring list and finished with 26 points, including the go-ahead 3-pointer in the final minute. Shabazz Muhammad scored a game-high 28 points and rookie Andrew Wiggins registered 16 points for the T-wolves, who made 42.2 percent of their shots and just 3-of-10 3-pointers. Minnesota trailed by 10 at 64-54 and later evened the score at 73-73 early in the fourth quarter. Wiggins made two free throws to make it 94-94 and the Lakers took over from there thanks to Bryants big 3-pointer. Timberwolves guard Zach LaVine said he grew up a fan and reflected on Bryants earlier feat of passing Jordan. Passing Michael Jordan is a big feat. Not many people do that, LaVine said. I mean, like, ever. The Wolves are winless in their past three road games and have a 2-8 ledger as the visitor this season. They are 1-17 when allowing 100-plus points. Minnesota and Washington split a pair of meetings last season and will meet again Feb. 25 in the Twin Cities. The Wizards have won two straight at home versus the T-wolves. ' ' '