After a couple of days off the ice, the Vancouver Canucks will get back to work on Monday, with an 11 a.m. practice at Rogers Arena.
We could get more information on the health of the lineup at that time. Zack Kassian's believed to be ready to return this week from what's now being called a knee injury. The fact that Bobby Sanguinetti was returned to Utica after his brief call-up makes me think that Luca Sbisa's also probably not too far away—though we still have no idea what has been ailing him.
I'm going to assume it's not mumps, even though that seems to be the viral catch-all
going around the league these days.
The Canucks' brief flirtation last week with first place overall in the league seems to have drawn some attention from national media.
The Hockey News website is running
this story, an edited version of their Canucks' season preview that focuses on the team's offseason changes.
Meanwhile, the Sportsnet website has an
in-depth look at the Canucks' tough recent road trip. Written by Dan Robson, the piece originally ran in Sportsnet Magazine, and provides plenty of insight into goings-on behind the scenes and in the dressing room.
Kevin Bieksa's the star of the piece, which speaks to his key role on the team this season. Whether he's setting the tone in Anaheim by dropping the gloves against Patrick Maroon, sharing the team's "open forum" strategy for talking through their loss to Los Angeles or pranking Chris Higgins while he's being interviewed by the media, Bieksa's big personality is cropping up all over this team.
Tony Gallagher ran a piece about Bieksa's recovery from early-season injury issues in
The Province last week. Dan Robson's piece certainly reinforces Bieksa's belief that it was worth playing through his issues due to the many intangibles he brings to the game.
Bieksa's numbers are improving. He has bounced back to a minus-three and scored his first goal since last January against Ottawa last week.
Vancouver's 5-0 loss to Arizona last Friday has overshadowed all the good things that happened on the road trip. And the Canuck certainly aren't the only team that has let down against an opponent that should be beatable: after two hard-fought games against Los Angeles last week, the Anaheim Ducks lost 6-2 to Florida on Sunday.
With a couple of days to practice before hopping on the plane to Edmonton, the team has had plenty of time to reflect on what went wrong and should be able to turn the ship back in the right direction this week.
Vancouver Canucks Blogger • 
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