Vancouver Canucks' Deja Vu: 5 Games in, 5 Significant Injuries

Looking out my window, the sun is shining, and it is a beautiful Vancouver day.

Based on both the weather and the number of Canucks on the injured list, you could be forgiven if you thought it was spring instead of fall.

Five games into the 2010-2011 NHL season, the Vancouver Canucks are again plagued by injuries.

To make matters worse, three of those injuries are to defencemen who would be starters if everyone was healthy. It is deja vu to the 2009-2010 season, although usually the Canucks wait until after midseason before the defence start dropping like flies.

At this point, it is looking like an awfully astute move by GM Mike Gillis to have not succumbed to media and fan pressure to trade Kevin Bieksa during the summer.

In order of relative importance:

Sami Salo is still out with a burst ACL suffered during offseason training. No timetable on his return, other than it would be late December at the earliest. Salo is the Canucks' best all-around defenceman...when he is healthy, which is seemingly only 60 games a season on average.

Dan Hamhuis, signed in the offseason as a free agent in part due to his history of being durable and injury-free...is injured. According to Dan Murphy of Sportsnet, Hamhuis injured his foot blocking a shot in the Carolina Hurricanes game on October 17th and is doubtful to play tonight versus the Minnesota Wild.

Keith Ballard, another offseason signing, is out with a suspected concussion. Again, adding insult to (head) injury is that Ballard, like Hamhuis, has been injury-free in his career up to this point and was signed specifically to stabilize a defence corps that has been ravaged with injuries the last few years. 

Alex Burrows, the Canucks' top goal scorer from last season, is still rehabbing from shoulder surgery. No official timetable on his return, but he is practicing again and hopefully should be available as soon as he finishes out the 10-game minimum due to being placed on long-term injured reserve. The Canucks offense has been sputtering, and adding Burrows to the top six will definitely help.

Alex Bolduc won the competition during the preseason to claim the fourth line center role and then promptly suffered a high ankle sprain in the opening game of the season. He's expected to be out four to eight weeks.

The loss of Burrows hurts, but it should be for a relatively short time, and the Canucks should have enough offense to carry them through until he returns. Similarly, the loss of Bolduc won't have a huge impact because there are other options to play center on the fourth line with its limited ice time.

But the injuries to the defense hurt the Canucks badly. With all these injuries, the Canucks are looking at icing a lineup against the Minnesota Wild tonight that might include Aaron Rome and Ryan Parent as the third D pairing. That isn't something that should make anyone (aside from players on the Manitoba Moose looking for a promotion) happy in October.