The Vancouver Canucks played tonight’s game in Nashville without Alex Edler, Dan Hamhuis, Keith Ballard, Andrew Alberts and, as we found out this morning, Kevin Bieksa. That’s 5 of their top 7 defencemen out of the lineup. To make matters worse, minor leaguer Lee Sweatt broke his foot in practice. Even the Manitoba Moose have injury troubles on the blueline, with Nolan Baumgartner suffering an injury last week. He might have been one of the recent call-ups.

So panic in the city right? No. Wait, what?

This is an issue that in years past would have just crippled the Canucks and caused panic in the streets. But this year is different. Sure, there’s concern, but the club is showing incredible defensive depth at the moment. The latest call-up, Evan Oberg, played two NHL games last season. Not a lot of teams can go to number 12 on the depth chart and have a player with any NHL experience. The Canucks will try to get by with the likes of Christian Ehrhoff, Sami Salo (*cringe*) and Aaron Rome getting huge minutes. The most impressive youngster, Chris Tanev, will see his minutes climb also.

Of course, you can only get by with injuries like these for so long, and the Canucks are fortunate to have a healthy cushion on first place in the Western Conference at the moment.

But it wasn’t always this way on the west coast. Can you believe the Canucks used to go into seasons with 7 defencemen, rather than 8? Can you believe that they were counting on the health of Sami Salo at one point in time? Remember when Rory Fitzpatrick was an everyday player? Lets take a trip down memory lane…

2005-06

Top 6 defencemen to start the season: Mattias Ohlund, Ed Jovanovski, Sami Salo, Bryan Allen, Nolan Baumgartner, Steve McCarthy

Key injuries: Ed Jovanovski injured his groin December 28, came back too early, and re-injured it January 24. He remained out until April 8. Sami Salo suffered a season ending injury during the Olympics in February. Mattias Ohlund also got injured during the Olympics but only missed four games.

Result: Dave Nonis panicked and acquired Keith Carney, Sean Brown and Eric Weinrich at the trade deadline. They were all terrible, and the Canucks continued to slide down the stretch, missing the playoffs.

2007-08

Top 6 defensemen to start season: Willie Mitchell, Mattias Ohlund, Sami Salo, Kevin Bieksa, Lukas Krajicek, Aaron Miller

Key injuries: Mattias Ohlund was lost for the season on March 12. Sami Salo missed the first 10 games of the regular season, played 4 games and then missed most of November. A bizarre skate cut kept Kevin Bieksa out of action for 4 months. Lukas Krajicek had a season ending shoulder injury he suffered on January 23. Aaron Miller missed most of February, March and April.

Result: Not surprisingly the Canucks struggled with a depleted blueline and had to call-up the likes of Zach Fitzgerald and Nathan McIver. They missed the playoffs and the Aquilinis were not pleased. Dave Nonis was fired, Trevor Linden retired and Markus Naslund left to play in New York.

20. Brendan Morrison

The ‘other guy’ on the West Coast Express, Morrison played in all situations for Marc Crawford’s Canucks. He was clutch too, ranking first in all-time overtime goals in club history. The biggest goal he scored is undoubtedly his OT goal in triple overtime (the second longest game in Canucks history) of game 6 against Calgary in 2004.

19. Cliff Ronning

An excellent player during the team’s best years in the 1990s, Ronning was an integral part of the team’s resurgence. Amazingly given his size he was a prolific playoff performer, ranking fourth in all-time playoffs points.

18. Andre Boudrias

One of the most underrated players in club history, Boudrias held the club record for assists in a season until Henrik Sedin came along. He recorded five straight years of 60 points or more.

17. Don Lever

Ranking tenth in all-time scoring, he was their most consistent player in the 1970s. Breaking into the league as a 19 year old, Lever scored 20+ goals in six of eight seasons with the team.

16. Dennis Kearns

Their best defenceman from the 1970s, was a consistent player on some bad teams. Holds the record for most assists in a season by a defenceman.

15. Alexander Mogilny

AlMo produced one of the best seasons in club history in 1995-96, when he scored 55 goals. Too bad it was mostly downhill from there. Still, his production was decent (especially considering it was during the start of the dead puck era) and he is undoubtedly one of the best talents to put on a Canucks jersey.

14. Ed Jovanovski

Jovo Cop loses some points for not playing as many games as Ohlund or Lumme, but was an offensive force during the Marc Crawford era. He was offensively gifted, gritty and an emotional leader. Oh, and an awesome fighter too.

13. Todd Bertuzzi

Big Bert put together two of the best seasons in club history in 2001-02 and 2002-03. In those two seasons he was the best power forward in the game. Aside from those two seasons, his career with the team was very inconsistent despite a lot of talent. Still, he put up big numbers, notching six straight 50+ point seasons and five seasons of 25+ goals. He was also the inspiration for this gem by Heavy Eric.

12. Jyrki Lumme

Arguably the team’s best offensive defenceman of all-time, Lumme ran the Canucks power play for years. He put up four 40+ point seasons and seven 30+ point seasons.

11. Mattias Ohlund

Matt-O is the team’s all-time leading scoring d-man, mostly because he played a lot of games for the team. He was more of a defensive standout, and was consistent over a number of years. Still, he was able to come up with a lot of big goals, ranking third in career overtime goals.

The defending Olympic champions, Team Sweden, announced their 23 man roster on Sunday. The Swedes are flying a bit under radar at the moment, as a lot of their top players from years past are now retired or nearing retirement: Mats Sundin, Peter Forsberg and Nicklas Lidstrom. Speaking of Forsberg, he’s playing in the Swedish Elite League this season. Apparently he’s playing pretty well too. His 15 points in 9 games were enough to warrant a spot on the Olympic team. In case you were wondering about Markus Naslund, he has 8 points in 8 games but was not selected.

So who made the team? Take a look:

King Henrik will be in between the pipes as the clear starter for the Swedes once again in 2010. Look for Gustavsson to be his backup. If Sweden is to win gold, it will need to come with some spectacular goaltending from Lundqvist.

Goalies:

Jonas Gustavsson (Toronto Maple Leafs/NHL), Stefan Liv (HV 71), Henrik Lundqvist (New York Rangers/NHL)

Sweden’s defense will once again feature six-time Norris trophy winner Nicklas Lidstrom. Niklas Kronwall and Mattias Ohlund will also be leaned on heavily, but their blueliners are a little thin after that. All the more surprising that Alex Edler was not named to the team, while NHL castaway Magnus Johansson was.

Defenders:
Tobias Enstrom (Atlanta Thrashers/NHL), Magnus Johansson (Linkopings HC), Niklas Kronwall (Detroit Red Wings/NHL), Nicklas Lidstrom (Detroit Red Wings/NHL), Douglas Murray (San Jose Sharks/NHL), Johnny Oduya (New Jersey Devils/NHL), Henrik Tallinder (Buffalo Sabres/NHL), Mattias Ohlund (Tampa Bay Lightning/NHL)

Assuming his foot holds up long enough, Peter Forsberg will certainly provide an unexpected boost to Sweden’s forward group. A healthy Forsberg gives Sweden three potent centres, joined with Nicklas Backstrom and Henrik Sedin. After Daniel Sedin, Daniel Alfredsson, Henrik Zetterberg and maybe Loui Eriksson, their wingers don’t have a whole lot to offer. This didn’t escape Mikael Samuelsson, who is PISSED! When asked for his reaction, Samuelsson had this to offer:

“I pretty much have one comment and maybe I’ll regret it,” Samulesson said. “But they can go f*** themselves. That’s what I really think.”

This rare moment of candidness from an NHLer was probably in bad taste, but it’s hard not to agree with him. In 2006, Samuelsson played well on the team that eventually won gold in Torino. He’s having a pretty decent season and can play in an offensive and defensive role. He’s put up better numbers and has a better resume than Patric Hornqvist. Fredrik Modin hasn’t had a decent season in a few years, yet was named to the team. Mattias Weinhandl had trouble cracking the Minnesota Wild lineup just three years ago, but is playing well in the KHL and made the team.

Forwards:
Daniel Alfredsson (Ottawa Senators/NHL), Nicklas Backstrom (Washington Capitals/NHL), Loui Eriksson (Dallas Stars/NHL), Peter Forsberg (MODO Hockey), Tomas Holmstrom (Detroit Red Wings/NHL), Patric Hornqvist (Nashville Predators/NHL), Fredrik Modin (Columbus Blue Jackets/NHL), Samuel Pahlsson (Columbus Blue Jackets/NHL), Daniel Sedin (Vancouver Canucks/NHL), Henrik Sedin (Vancouver Canucks/NHL), Mattias Weinhandl (Dynamo Moscow/RUS), Henrik Zetterberg (Detroit Red Wings/NHL)

Also NOT selected to the team was Tommy Salo (who is still having nightmares at last report):

That’s right! The twins are back, this time making $6.1 million a season. That can only mean one thing. Now Sedin bashers will be adding “overpaid” to the list of things they don’t like about the Sedins (also on the list? They’re Swedish, soft, too polite, boring, don’t produce in the playoffs, too slow, etc.). All the Sedins have done is disprove each one of those allegations one by one, which is why they are indeed worth $6.1 million. They didn’t come at a bargain basement price, but when you see the Montreal Canadiens trading for Scott Gomez, he of the $7.357 cap hit (for the next next five seasons!) and 58 points last season, it’s certainly a good deal for the Canucks.

Sedin news means we get to post this video:

Also moving on Wednesday was Mattias Ohlund, signing a ridiculous 7 year deal at $3.75 million per season with the Tampa Bay Lightning. Ohlund will be 39 by the time his contract runs out! Ohlund’s play has been declining steadily for the last few years. This deal has the potential to have him being overpaid grossly in the not too distant future.

So what about all of the other free agents moving on day 1 of the free agent madness? You can see the full list here. Often times you hear about “winners and losers” of trades or free agent signings, but it is more complex than that. Some deals like Mattias Ohlund’s contract with the Lightning will be beneficial to them in the short term, but will hurt them greatly long-term. Taking that into account, here are the biggest short and long term winners and losers in free agency so far:

Vancouver Canucks

Winners both long and short term. The Sedin twins were two of the most sought after free agents and Mike Gillis landed both of them. Their contracts are fair, so not a home run, but not a strikeout either. The length of contract (5 years) is vital as well. In 5 years they will still only be 33 years old, and shouldn’t have too much of a drop-off in their play. They lost Mattias Ohlund, but he was signed to ridiculous money in Tampa Bay and Gillis would have been crazy to match that. Jason Labarbera ended up in Phoenix, which will hurt, but when you have Luongo playing and making as much as he does, it’s hard to spend big money on a backup or promising significant playing time.

Chicago Blackhawks

Big short term winners, long term losers. Chicago bolstered their lineup with the additions of Marian Hossa, John Madden and Tomas Kopecky. Hossa and Madden are upgrades over Havlat and Pahlsson, who each signed elsewhere, while Khabibulin signed with Edmonton and Matt Walker will be joining Matty-O in Tampa Bay. The reason they are long term losers is that Marian Hossa signed a 12 year deal! Combine this with the fact that Brian Campbell is locked up to ridiculous money until 2016, and they are going to have a terrible time trying to re-sign Patrick Kane, Jonathan Toews and Duncan Keith when all three become free agents next summer! Clearly, someone will have to be moved for it to happen.

Montreal Canadiens

Just what is Bob Gainey doing? The Habs are losers in both the short and long term. They signed a bunch of good, but not great, players to huge money on Wednesday. Cammalleri is going to make $6 million and Gionta $5 million. Add that to Scott Gomez’s $7.357 contract that they acquired on Tuesday, and that’s over $18 million spent on an average first line! They also lost Komisarek, their version of Willie Mitchell, who signed for reasonable money in Toronto ($4.5 million per season).

New York Rangers

I guess Marian Gaborik will have to rent out his Vancouver home? Great signing by the Rangers. He signed a 5 year deal in New York, which will be a bad deal when he’s injured and a great deal when he’s healthy. He’s bound to be healthy for at least a portion of that deal, and when that happens, the Rangers will be tough to deal with.

Calgary Flames

Big winners. Jay Bouwmeester was the prized defenceman of this year’s free agency. Calgary’s defence now consists of probably the best top 3 in the league with J-Bo joining Dion Phaneuf and Robyn Regehr.