Luongo07

"Live a Life. A Simple Life. Eat. Sleep. Play Hockey"

Canada, BC • Canada •

The Injury Bug

With the Canucks having several injuries to the core of their team it is becoming increasingly difficult to ice a competitive roster especially while the teams around them are trimming down to something that finally resembles an NHL line-up.

In the case of the Canucks it may be several weeks before they start to see what their line-up is really capable of. Brendan Morrison finally made his way back into the line-up in Sunday's debacle (5-0 Loss to Anaheim) but the Canuck injury list does not seem to be getting any shorter anytime soon. Furthermore, Dan McGillis has come to terms with the Canucks which leads me to believe that Sami Salo, Kevin Bieksa and/or Willie Mitchell are still several weeks away from returning. If that is not the case, does the club not have enough confidence in youngsters Luc Bourdon or Alex Edler?

McGillis' addition is only strengthening the Canucks backend which is probably (when healthy) one of the best in the NHL. As the club looks to improve its offensive abilities, it appears that the trade bait may be damaged goods. Mattias Ohlund is the only veteran blueliner that has been able to log a regular shift during the pre-season but given his history Mattias will somehow stub his toe on his BMW while taking his kids to see Santa this coming Christmas.

On another note:

With the season only days away, head coach Alain Vigneault decided that somethings just can't wait. Blasting the veteran core of his club, Vigneault stated "It's important our guys start to feel interested".

A valid opinion given the recent problematic trip to California. Vigneault's approach to calling out players is a complete reverse of the former coach (Marc Crawford) in Vancouver. Over the course of Vigneault's reign in Vancouver it has been a pleasant surprise to pick up the morning rag and here that the coach of the Canucks is not 'sugarcoating' anything and he is 'telling it like it is'.