Canucks Q&A: Cliff Ronning dishes on ‘the rebuild’, that broken hand, those ‘hot-dog’ goals

Two months in the Arizona sun soothes body and soul.

That’s where Cliff Ronning is enjoying National Hockey League retirement by visiting family and friends because this kind of heat is easy to take, compared to the critical temperature always cranked to high in a hockey-mad market.

However, the former diminutive Vancouver Canucks centre retains big-time interest in the struggling local franchise that continues to ride a rollercoaster of change, is challenged to deploy structure and stiffness in its waning game, and has immovable bad contracts.

“To me, this is a re-build, and if you pretend it isn’t, then you’re not true to being a Canucks fan,” Ronning stressed during a call from Phoenix. “They have a couple of pieces and lost one and they’re handcuffed a bit — and the media knows — by a couple of players with what they are making.