Two lackluster outings in a row on home ice as the Canucks continue to struggle without the concussed Sami Salo and Alain Vigneault has had enough. The Canucks announced on Wednesday that they would be re-calling defenceman Chris Tanev from the AHL.

Tanev is getting the recall despite the fact that the Canucks have seven other healthy defencemen on their roster. Salo has been out for five games and this move signals to me that Chris Tanev is not getting an audition as a spare part on the Canucks, rather he is getting an audition to be a major part of the team going forward.

The plan all along this season was to bring Chris Tanev along slowly. He looked calm and cool under pressure in 25 regular season and 5 playoff games with the Canucks, but he is still only two years removed from playing with the Rochester Institute of Technology. The Canucks wanted to ensure that he got a lot of ice time and got a chance to play in all situations in the AHL.

Now with the injury to Sami Salo, there is a gaping hole at right defence. Even when Salo returns, there will be a bit of a gap on the right side, as Kevin Bieksa and Sami Salo are the only right handed shots with the big club. Chris Tanev, as you might have guessed, also shoots right. Thus far the Canucks have chosen to play with one defenceman playing the ‘wrong side’ on their third pairing.

The Canucks ought to be in the market for a top 4 defenceman (as insurance if and when Sami Salo gets hurt again), but perhaps Chris Tanev can be that guy. Certainly they have big plans for him down the road, but maybe the future is now for the 22 year old. Just like how Ryan Kesler’s injury in October gave Cody Hodgson his chance to prove himself, this injury to Salo may offer the same for Tanev.

Alain Vigneault may choose to give Tanev time on the third pairing and play him sparingly, but I don’t think he will or should. This audition for Tanev should be to see if he can play with Alex Edler on the second pairing. Chris Tanev, your time is now.

After the Canucks thrilling 4-3 win yesterday against the Boston Bruins yesterday, I decided to look for a Boston perspective on the game. What I read was downright frightening.

Say what you want about Vancouver’s media, but they don’t openly bend the truth to any degree that they do in Boston. It seems as though the Bruins can do no wrong with the Beantown scribes, much in the same way that the Republican party can do no wrong on Fox News.

Let me offer a few examples:

Joe Haggerty (CSN):

It was an eventful afternoon for Shawn Thornton facing down a Vancouver Canucks team he’s come to hate over the last year.

Six Canucks players ganged up on him in front of the Canucks bench in a chain gang-style attack more appropriate in a prison laundry room rather than an NHL rink. The order of events was pretty simple: Thornton saw somebody slash at Daniel Paille as he exited the ice for a line change, he went to investigate the situation and then got tangled with the biting Burrows.

Burrows waved his stick blade around Thornton’s neck and it was on like Donkey Kong.

“I see myself as a pretty honest player,” said Thornton. “But, I’m not going to let someone spear me in the throat. I’m also a man so I stand up for myself.”

The six Canucks attackers doesn’t even count the two Canucks players sitting on the bench holding Thornton against the boards as six other Vancouver players attempted to work him over. Nathan Horton, Milan Lucic, Zdeno Chara and David Krejci ended up pulling bodies off the pile, but the image of six players attacking one guy was enough to make any NHL traditionalist’s stomach turn.

Poor Thornton. He must have left in a wheelchair after that kind of attack by eight people! Oh wait, he was totally fine? Probably cause he wasn’t Haggerty completely misrepresented the entire altercation. Check out the video below and skip to the 2:00 mark to see how the melee started.

Want a more accurate recap? Burrows taps Paille on the ankle. Thornton slashes Burrows (the euphemism used by Haggerty was that Thornton “investigated the situation”). Burrows poked his stick in Thornton’s chest (as opposed to Burrows spearing Thornton in the neck as was suggested by some in Boston). Thornton drops the gloves and goes after the much smaller Burrows, so his teammates stepped in (even suggesting that 6 players on the ice attacked Thornton is completely false, Hamhuis doesn’t go near him until the rest of the Bruins players pile in, while Henrik looked to join in but decided smartly to go to the bench because there were six skaters on the ice due to the line change). The players that stepped in immediately were Malhotra and Bieksa, who never threw punches followed by Weise and Lapierre. Lapierre was the only player visibly throwing punches.

From Dan Shaughnessy of the Boston Globe:

Playing the Vancouver Canucks is like playing a collection of A-Rods or a full squad of Bill Laimbeers. The defending NHL Western Conference champions are a virtual conga line of Claude Lemieuxes and Ulf Samuelssons.

“B-R-U… I-N-S, WE ALL KNOW WHO’S THE BEST! BRUINS! BRUINS! YAAAAAAAY BRUINS!”.

More from Shaughnessy:

Here’s something from Stephen Harris of the Boston Herald, recapping the Brad Marchand hit on Sami Salo:

On the play, Marchand had the puck along the boards, looked up to see 6-foot-3, 212-pound Vancover defenseman Sami Salo charging at him and ducked down low to avoid the hit. Salo flipped up over Marchand, hit the ice hard and suffered a concussion.

Please. To mention Salo’s height and weight is to suggest that he is some kind of monster that was planning on delivering a bone crushing hit. Watch the replay, Salo is hardly charging at him. He wasn’t going at him with a lot of speed. Furthermore, how often has Salo ever delivered a big hit? Has he ever injured anyone? I can’t recall one and I have been watching him play hockey for ten years. Also, Brad Marchand has a history of this exact type of hit, and in the past it was done maliciously. Sort of like his hit on Daniel Sedin, after the whistle in last year’s Stanley Cup final. Was Marchand afraid of getting nailed by Daniel Sedin on that hit too? Sorry, I meant to say, was he afraid of getting nailed by 6-foot-1, 187 pound Daniel Sedin when he CHARGED at him? There, that’s better.

I’m not sure how any objective observer could watch the game played yesterday and come to such ridiculous conclusions. I think the rest of the hockey world saw what Canucks fans have known all along. The Bruins are a big, tough team, but they also take cheap shots and complain a whole heck of a lot. When they go after players, it’s honourable, and when players go after them, it’s cowardly. It seems as though they have brainwashed their cheerleaders media members as well.

This Friday is one of the most exciting days of the year for hockey fans, July 1st, the start of free agent season! Only trade deadline day and the draft (especially this year with Jeff Carter and Mike Richards getting traded) can come close to matching the intrigue of July 1st. Last year Mike Gillis signed Dan Hamhuis, Manny Malhotra and Jeff Tambellini on the first day of free agency. The previous year Gillis re-signed Daniel and Henrik Sedin, just hours before July 1st.

This year probably won’t be as eventful for the Canucks. Kevin Bieksa signed a five year deal today, worth $4.6 million per season. Core players such as Christian Ehrhoff and Sami Salo are all still unsigned as of this moment. Depth players such as Andrew Alberts, Raffi Torres, Chris Higgins, Tanner Glass and Jeff Tambellini are also set to be unrestricted free agents on July 1st. Some are more likely to return than others, and it will be a balancing act for GM Mike Gillis. Ehrhoff, Salo, Torres and Higgins could go either way, and I think the rest will not be returning.

With all of that said, Gillis is likely to have a little bit of spending room (especially if they are able to unload Keith Ballard and his $4.2 million cap hit), and should be active on the free agent front. I believe that Gillis will be in the market to get tougher on the fourth line, get depth on defense (especially if he isn’t able to re-sign Christian Ehrhoff and Sami Salo), and improve scoring from the second line. The likely result on defense will be the return of at least two of Ehrhoff, Salo and Ballard.

With that in mind, here are the players that GM Mike Gillis should have on his free agent wish list:

Simon Gagne

Age: 31

2010-11 Salary: $5.25 million

2010-11 Statistics: GP: 63, G: 17, A: 23, Pts: 40

2010-11 Playoff Statistics: GP: 15, G: 5, A: 7, Pts: 12

The most talented free agent forward not named Brad Richards, one might think that Simon Gagne will probably get overpaid this offseason. But with his concussion history, maybe not. Gagne is not the player he once was, but he is still very effective, offensively and defensively. He would slide into the Canucks system seemlessly and would help out Ryan Kesler tremendously on the second line. He is a gold medal winner, and has been to a Stanley Cup final. Gagne likely won’t duplicate his career year from 2005-06 (47 goals and 79 points), but he could easily put up a 30 goal/60 point season (if healthy). But with Gagne, health is always the number one concern. If the Canucks decide to sign him, it’ll be a gamble. If Mike Gillis can convince him to sign a short term deal for $3 million, I think Gagne is worth the risk.

Erik Cole

Age: 32

2010-11 Salary: $2.9 million

2010-11 Statistics: GP: 82, G: 26, A: 26, Pts: 52

2010-11 Playoff Statistics: n/a

A gritty power forward with a scoring touch, Erik Cole could be a nice fit with on the Canucks second line. He has a Stanley Cup ring and has been a consistent 20-30 goal scorer. But he does not come without risk. Firstly, he has a long injury history. Secondly, his heart seems to be in Carolina. He played his entire career in Carolina, save for one disappointing year in Edmonton. But he might be worth the risk. If they can get him for $2.75 million on a 1-2 year deal, I say roll the dice.

Ville Leino

Age: 27

2010-11 Salary: $0.8 million

2010-11 Statistics: GP: 81, G: 19, A: 34, Pts: 53

2010-11 Playoff Statistics: GP: 11, G: 3, A: 2, Pts: 5

One of the Flyers playoff heroes from 2010 (21 points in 19 playoff games), Leino is a candidate to play with play a scoring role on the Canucks second line. He has proven that he can produce at a second line level, and more importantly he has proven that he can do it come playoff time. He’ll be in the market for a new contract worth probably in the neighbourhood of $2.5-3 million.

Chad LaRose

Age: 29

2010-11 Salary: $1.7 million

2010-11 Statistics: GP: 82, G: 16, A: 15, Pts: 31

2010-11 Playoff Statistics: n/a

Chad Larose would be a good fit for the Canucks third line. He’s a gritty player that will likely put up 15 goals while delivering bodychecks (he was 4th on the Hurricanes in hits) and killing penalties. If they can add Larose for about $1.75 million, it would be a good find.

Joel Ward

Age: 30

2010-11 Salary: $1.5 million

2010-11 Statistics: GP: 80, G: 10, A: 19, Pts: 29

2010-11 Playoff Statistics: GP: 12, G: 7, A: 6, Pts: 13

Joel Ward was an absolute force in this year’s playoffs, but whoever signs him this offseason should not expect that same player for 82 regular season games. Ward has size and a scoring touch, but he has never put up more than 35 points in a regular season. He would fit onto the Canucks 2nd or 3rd line and the hope would be that he would be able to elevate his game in the playoffs. Sign him for under $2 million and you’ve got a bargain.

Honourable Mentions

Maxime Talbot: A gritty player with a Stanley Cup ring, Talbot is loved by his teammates. He also finds a way to step up in big games. He scored both of the Penguins goals in game 7 of the Stanley Cup final in 2009. His regular season numbers are a little underwhelming, never putting up more than 26 points in a season. It is in the playoffs where he has made his reputation. He has 33 points in 66 playoff games.

Mike Grier: At age 36, his best days are clearly behind him, but Mike Grier would provide experience and physical play, likely in a fourth line role.

Ben Eager: He’s not exactly the most popular player among Canucks fans, but Eager would give the Canucks a lot of things they don’t have right now. He is a big bodychecker and a good fighter. He has championship experience and even a bit of a scoring touch. He scored 11 goals for the Blackhawks in 2008-09, and had 7 last season.

Michael Rupp: Another player with championship pedigree (notice a trend here?), Rupp would be a nice fit on the Canucks fourth line. At 6’5″ and 230 lbs he is a big man with the ability to pop in the odd goal. He had 9 goals last year and 11 the year before.

Due to the Canucks long playoff run, the team is in for a very short offseason. The NHL entry draft is in four days and free agency begins in only eleven days. Mike Gillis has some work to do, as all GMs do. Luckily for the Canucks, most of their core is locked up long term, but there are a few key players that will become restricted free agents. Kevin Bieksa, Christian Ehrhoff, Sami Salo, Andrew Alberts, Raffi Torres, Chris Higgins, Tanner Glass and Jeff Tambellini are all unrestricted free agents on July 1st. Maxim Lapierre, Jannik Hansen, Victor Oreskovich and Alex Bolduc are all restricted free agents.

While who Mike Gillis decides to sign and not sign will affect the look of the 2011-12 Vancouver Canucks, he may also be in the market to make a trade or two. He might need to make a move to free up cap space, or to find the missing piece of the puzzle.

Today we will look at the Canucks’ goaltenders and defencemen. Later in the week I will look in depth at their forwards and before July 1st I will look into who the Canucks can go out and sign from elsewhere.

Lets start with the most polarizing figure on the team, Roberto Luongo:

Roberto Luongo

Despite his critics, he is still one of the premiere goaltenders in the NHL. There’s no doubting his skill, and he has done everything short of winning a Vezina and winning a Stanley Cup. But despite this, you can’t argue that he has had a strange propensity of getting into slumps at inopportune times. His play in game 4, 5, and 6 of the Chicago series left some room for concern. He gave up some bizzare goals against Nashville. And in the Stanley Cup finals he had four sub-par games. One could argue that he was outplayed in 3 of the 4 series. It seems strange to say, because when he was good, he was VERY good. But unfortunately the good does not erase the bad. Despite all of this, I believe Luongo is an excellent goalie that can win a Stanley Cup. And because he has a no trade clause, he won’t be going anywhere.

Cory Schneider

I believe in Roberto Luongo, but I also believe in Cory Schneider. Schneider is unproven of course, and it would remain to be seen if he could carry the mail as a number one netminder. In a perfect world, the Canucks would trade Luongo, clear cap space and go with the younger/cheaper Schneider. That would give them approximately $4 million more to play with. Because of Luongo’s no-trade clause, that would be a risky proposition, given that he could say no and then you have a rift in the relationship between your top goalie and management. They could also choose to trade Schneider and find a journeyman goalie to backup Luongo. While that could possibly fetch them a good second line winger to play with Ryan Kesler, but Mike Gillis will likely play it safe and keep both of his goalies for at least one more year. He stays.

Dan Hamhuis

No doubt here, he stays. He was their best offseason acquisition and is their best shutdown defenceman.

Kevin Bieksa

He is an unrestricted free agent and will surely get a raise on the $3.75 million he made last season. On the open market, he would command over $5 million for sure, but it seems like he might be willing to take less to stay in Vancouver. If the Canucks could convince him to sign for the same as Hamhuis ($4.5 million), it would be a steal. I think he stays.

Christian Ehrhoff

Like Bieksa, Ehrhoff is an unrestricted free agent. Like Bieksa, he will command over $5 million on the open market. He says that he might take less to play in Vancouver, but I don’t think he will as much as Bieksa. Ehrhoff is their most talented offensive defenceman and he is one of the most important players on their potent power play. The Canucks would be wise to re-sign him, but it might not fit in their salary structure. If he doesn’t stay, then a likely destination for him would be Detroit. Without Brian Rafalski, Ehrhoff would be a fine replacement. It’s probably 50/50, but I think he goes.

Alex Edler

He isn’t going anywhere, and if the Canucks are unable to re-sign Christian Ehrhoff, his role as an offensive force will likely expand.

Sami Salo

It will be very interesting to see what happens with Sami Salo. One of the longest serving current Canucks, Salo made $3.5 million last season. As you might be aware of, he is quite injury prone. He has also lost a step and is also 36 years old. I can’t imagine the Canucks locking him up for more than one year, and if they do, what will be the price? He played well after returning from injury, but I don’t think the Canucks can afford to pay him big money given his lack of reliability due to injuries. If he accepts a one year, $2 million deal, I think it would work. Otherwise, he leaves. I think Salo stays.

Aaron Rome

Rome has one more year left on his contract at a very affordable $750,000 cap hit. He is a favourite of Alain Vigneault, and we found out why after he was suspended in the Stanley Cup final. The team missed his reliability and grit. He is a dependable depth defenceman, and will be back next season.

Andrew Alberts

Alberts had a strong season and the Canucks would probably like to have him back, but I’m betting that he will want more playing time and will sign elsewhere.

Keith Ballard

The most intriguing decision that Mike Gillis will make this offseason will probably be with Keith Ballard. To say he had a disappointing season is putting it nicely. He has four more years left on a deal that pays him $4.2 million per season. That likely means that his contract is impossible to trade. Gillis can decide to keep him and hope he has a bounce-back season, or dump him in the minors in order to re-sign Christian Ehrhoff. The problem with dumping in the minors is that it likely won’t please Francesco Aquilini, who would be on the hook for paying Ballard $16.8 million dollars for a minor leaguer! My best guess is that he stays and has a bounce-back season, but it’s a toss-up.

Chris Tanev

Chris Tanev has all but locked up a spot on next year’s roster, given his strong play in the Stanley Cup Final. His calm, cool demeanor was great to see. Having a good, young, cheap defenceman is a nice thing to have in a salary cap system. He makes just $900,000 next year.

The 1994 Vancouver Canucks had a reunion on Monday, with the likes of Linden, McLean, Courtnall, Adams and others on hand. On the 17th anniversary of Greg Adams’ goal in double overtime in game 5 of the 1994 conference finals that sent the Canucks to the Stanley Cup Final, the present day Canucks will get a chance to match that feat. The Clarence Campbell Bowl will be in the building, and the whole city of Vancouver is ready to party.

But there’s still a lot of work to be done before that can happen, to be certain. For starters, the Canucks failed to put away the Blackhawks and the Predators in game 5 at home in the 1st and 2nd rounds this year. It goes without saying that they will be looking to change that this time.

You could argue that the Canucks were outplayed in game 4, aside from special teams. While that has some validity to it, I think for the most part the Canucks played well in game 4, and that the shot total (35-13 in favouf of San Jose) was misleading. A lot of the Sharks shot total was due to getting a lot of power plays and getting shots in the third period when Vancouver was protecting a three goal lead. The Canucks got a lot of power plays too of course, but were so efficient on them that they often scored on their only shot. So despite the fact that the Canucks were grossly outshot, they clearly have the momentum heading into game 5.

The Canucks won game 5 because they were able to win the special teams battle. And when you win the special teams battle so decisively, you’re going to 99% of the time. I thought the key to Vancouver’s penalty kill was the increased aggressiveness on the puck, especially in the neutral zone. They made it very difficult for San Jose to not only enter the zone, but also to set-up.

The coaching staff must have read Canuckz.com to fix the power play, because they listened to me! All three goals on the power play were scored on one timers, making Antti Niemi move side-to-side.

The Canucks got good news on the injury front on Monday, as Christian Ehrhoff practiced. He might play in game 5, but I would bet on him sitting out another game given the 3-1 series lead and the great depth the Canucks have on the blue line.

As for Joe Thornton, who was knocked out of game 4 by a solid Raffi Torres bodycheck, he will play in game 5. We know he will play, but how effective he will be could be another story. Nobody knows exactly how banged up he is, but it’s probably significant given he was unable to return in game 4.

I don’t expect the Sharks to go down without a fight, and they will have a high desperation level in game 5. I think we’re due for a game that isn’t completely penalty filled and it should be a thrilling game… hopefully just like game 5 in 1994.

Head coach Alain Vigneault tipped his hand on a few key adjustments at practice designed to improve the Canucks chances for a victory in game 3. Scoring two goals in 8 periods of hockey will tend to lend itself to that.

Forward Lines:

Alex Burrows is back with the Sedins on the first line. Presumably the idea here is for Burrows to jump start the twins. I think it’s a great idea. Despite the fact that Burrows was playing well with Ryan Kesler, they weren’t filling the net at an overly high rate 5-on-5. The Canucks will need the Sedins to get rolling at some point, and Burrows is the guy to do it.

The need for Burrows to get back on the top line is accented by the struggles of Mikael Samuelsson. Samuelsson couldn’t get anything going with the twins and I think they need the gritty Burrows to dig out a few extra pucks for the Sedins.

Samuelsson for his part is now on the fourth line, with Tanner Glass and Cody Hodgson. Hodgson’s insertion into the lineup means that Victor Oreskovich will come out of the lineup. This is a line that should be able to play a regular shift for Alain Vigneault, and I bet they’ll get more ice time than Torres-Glass-Oreskovich in game 1 and 2.

The second line will now feature Chris Higgins and Mason Raymond on the wing with Ryan Kesler in the middle. If there’s a time to try it, it’s right now. All three players are playing outstanding right now, and all three have a lot of speed.

Raffi Torres will return to the third line for the first time in a few games, playing with Max Lapierre and Jannik Hansen. I really like this idea. Raffi Torres has been playing very well of late, and is the best Canuck forward at punishing the opposition’s defense.

Defense:

Sami Salo is practicing again, but probably won’t be ready for game 3. Will Andrew Alberts return to the lineup? Your guess is as good as mine. Keith Ballard was a minus 1 for the first time in the playoffs and Vigneault loves any chance to sit him, so maybe he’s found an excuse to.

Power Play:

Alain Vigneault has finally decided to return Alex Edler to the first unit power play, sending Mikael Samuelsson to the second unit. My only question concerning this is: what took so long? The Canucks are in clear need of another big shot on their power play. Apart from improved point shots, Edler on the point will also open up a lot for the Sedins down low.

Conclusion:

I like a lot of these adjustments the Canucks seem to be planning but none of it will matter if they don’t come to play in game 3. Their effort in game 2 simply wasn’t good enough and that will need to change. They will also need to work at going to the net more and getting in Pekka Rinne’s way. Rinne looks all world right now, but all goalies can be beat if they can’t see the puck.

For the first time in the Canucks-Blackhawks Trilogy, we will have a game 7. And it will happen in the most improbable way. As you must know by now, the Canucks have squandered a 3-0 series lead and now face elimination on Tuesday night.

A few of my observations from last night’s game:

-I wasn’t a fan of the Cory Schneider start in net, but he played well… Apart from his two major puck handling blunders. In many ways, those two errors cost the Canucks the game.

-Despite losing 4-3 in game 6, the Canucks were the best team on the ice last night, but the best team doesn’t always win.

-Kevin Bieksa had the best game of his career last night. He logged over 36 minutes of ice time, had a clutch goal and was a plus 2. Every decision he made seemed to be the right one, and he wasn’t playing a conservative game by any means.

-Bieksa had to play big minutes in part because the Canucks lost Sami Salo to injury. It’s the playoffs so nobody is saying what is wrong, but I wouldn’t count on him playing in game 7. In true Sami Salo fashion, he injured himself simply skating up the ice.

-Maybe with Salo injured we will see Keith Ballard inserted back into the lineup. It makes absolutely no sense to me why he has been benched time after time. He’s clearly better than Andrew Alberts and Aaron Rome. Why this isn’t clear for Alain Vigneault is a mystery. To make matters worse, Alberts was a central figure on the winning goal, as his mobility was an issue dealing with Marian Hossa.

-Alex Burrows arrived last night. It was his best game of the series by far, as he picked up a goal and two assists.

-I thought the referees absolutely shafted the Canucks last night and Mike Gillis agrees. Somehow, with the Canucks carrying most of the play, they were given only two power plays. I’m all for letting the players play, but on two occasions there were ‘automatic’ penalties that were overlooked. The first came when Daniel Sedin was high sticked on an offside call, the second came when Henrik Sedin’s stick was slashed in half.

-Roberto Luongo is getting some heat for his play in game 6 and I think it’s unwarranted. Sure, he looked a little shaky coming in cold in the third period, but the bottom line is he only let in one goal and you can’t blame him for it. He needed to make an acrobatic save on a deflected shot. To expect great rebound control or to make the second save is asking a lot.

Lineup Changes

-Bryan Bickell is injured and will miss game 7. Tomas Kopecky appears ready to return from injury, he’s traveling with the team to Vancouver.

-Sami Salo will likely miss game 7 as well, perhaps he will be replaced by Keith Ballard.

-It will be interesting to see if Alain Vigneault decides to play Cody Hodgson in game 7. Personally I think he should play Maxim Lapierre on the 3rd line and re-insert Tanner Glass at 4th line centre. We probably won’t find out until game time.

-Of course the biggest lineup change is the starting goalie, Roberto Luongo.

Keys to Game 7

A quick start. It goes without saying that the first goal is important, but perhaps more important will be the second goal. If Chicago gets the first two goals, the pressure will mount.

Special teams. It remains to be seen how many penalties will be called in game 7, but the Canucks will need to be better on the penalty kill and power play. I would love for Alain Vigneault to put Alex Edler back onto the first unit power play in place of Mikael Samuelsson. I know he reads this blog, so that should be no problem…

Pressure. There will be lots to go around, especially for the home team, especially for Roberto Luongo. How he and the players in front of him deal with that pressure will absolutely be the biggest key to the game. They need to harness the energy from the home crowd and play smart with controlled aggression.

History

This will be the 10th game 7 in Canucks history, the first without Trevor Linden. They’re 5-4 in game 7s, 3-2 in game 7s at home. The Blackhawks will try to become just the fourth team in NHL history to win a series after trailing 3-0.

This game is one of the most important games in franchise history and undoubtedly the most important game in franchise history that didn’t take place in 1994. It may well define the legacy of Alain Vigneault, Roberto Luongo and the Sedins. If they are unable to win this series, serious questions will be asked and Vancouver will have a very grim summer. On the other hand, if they win this series this propel this team to greatness.

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.

Sami Salo is back, well, almost. He’s been skating for a long time now, and has been practicing and traveling with the team for a couple of weeks also. So when is he set to return? The Canucks are keeping this somewhat secretive, but it looks to be soon.

The reason is of course the salary cap. The Canucks are very close to the cap right now and will be over it when Salo returns. According to CapGeek, the Canucks would need to get rid of $1.8 million of annual salary if Salo returned today.

If the Canucks are smart, they’ll keep Salo on long term injury reserve as long as possible. I expect this to happen because the longer he stays on IR, the more that $1.8 million number goes down. They’ll also have the option of putting him in Manitoba on a conditioning stint to stall for more time before returning. But with that said, they’ll make a mockery of the NHL if he practices with the team for four months while staying on IR.

Who goes?

So what will happen? Personally, I expect him back sometime next month. I also expect Mike Gillis to have a plan in place. Recent speculation has everyone from Keith Ballard ($4.2 million), Raffi Torres ($1 million) and Mikael Samuelsson (2.5 million) being traded. Personally, I find that speculation ridiculous. Those are playoff-type players that the Canucks would loathe to lose. The more likely scenario would have Andrew Alberts ($1.05 million) and Aaron Rome ($0.75 million) being sent away, assuming they both return from injury not long from now. Notice I’m not mentioning Kevin Bieksa anymore? In case you missed it, a lot of things have changed since the summer and now we are all Bieksa.

What Salo means to the team

Not a lot of people are talking about what Sami Salo is likely to bring to the team. Everyone jokes about his injury troubles, but over the last few seasons Salo has been one of their most valuable defensemen. My worry (and his worry too apparently) is that he comes back and is a shadow of his former self. To recover from his injury and missing more than half a season is not easy to come back from. It’s even more difficult to do at age 36. Of course, if he is able to regain his form he’ll be a huge boost to an already impressive defense corps.

What about Raymond?

Nobody ever seems to mention Mason Raymond’s name in trade rumours and I find this curious. He’s got some value given his age, contract and production, but he’s also somewhat dispensable for this team. Jeff Tambellini has stepped in and pretty much matched Raymond this year. They’re a similar age (Tambellini is 26, Raymond 24) too. I don’t want to see Raymond go, but the possibility should at least be in the discussion. He should be able to fetch a decent draft pick (the Canucks will need to restock given the amount of picks they’ve traded away recently) or perhaps get a guy like Tyler Kennedy ($0.725 million) out of Pittsburgh, though the Penguins would need to do some salary cap shuffling of their own to make that work.

Whatever happens, it’s sure to be interesting. Of course, should another high priced player get injured before Salo returns and gets moved to the IR, the problem with solve itself.

Reports out of Finland are saying that Sami Salo has injured his achilles tendon in a game of floor hockey and could be gone 3-5 months. The report has not been confirmed as of yet.

Assuming the report is true, this could be a very difficult injury for Salo, now 35, to recover from. Not only is he 35, but he has a lot of mileage on his body.

One side effect of Salo being injured may be Kevin Bieksa. The longer Salo is out, the more valuable Kevin Bieksa becomes. A long term injury also provides salary cap relief, just as Pavol Demitra’s long term injury did last season.

***Update: The report has been confirmed by the Canucks