Christian Ehrhoff

This year’s version of the Vancouver Canucks again looks poised to make the long run to the Stanley Cup Finals.  And when one looks at how similar the 2011-12 version of the Canucks is to last year’s team that lost in Game 7 of the Finals to the Boston Bruins, it only makes sense that the Canucks are considered favourites in the NHL’s Western Conference.

The shopping spree for goalies and defensemen was fast and furious as soon as the free-agent stores were open for business. 

Injuries exposing a lack of depth at defence derailed the Canucks the last two years in the playoffs. (OK, the Blackhawks had something to do with it too.)

In the 2009-2010 playoffs, key shutdown defender Willie Mitchell was missing with a season ending concussion (thanks to Evgeni Malkin) and he was sorely missed. 

VANCOUVER: Before you search for the big red panic button on the Canucks blue line, think again, because you may be surprised with what you see after a closer look.

The Vancouver squad entered Tuesday night's game in Minnesota with ONLY two defensemen from their opening night roster: Christian Ehrhoff and Kevin Bieksa.

Update in a minute, but Dan Hamhuis, Alex Edler, Keith Ballard, and Andrew Alberts are all out with some form of bodily illness.

VANCOUVER

Dec.17, 2010

The Canucks received good news today as defenseman Christian Ehrhoff returned to team practice Friday morning. He was hit by a puck in the side of the head by Anaheim Ducks defenseman Lubomir Visnovsky's dump-in attempt.

On Hockey Night in Canada's The Hotstove, analyst Pierre Lebrun reported that talks between the Vancouver Canucks and Christian Ehrhoff regarding a contract extension have hit a "stalemate." 

Hi, everyone.

Sunday, the Canucks come back home for one game hosting Eric Staal and the Carolina Hurricanes.

The Canucks are coming off back-to-back losses to Anaheim and LA in their two-game road swing.

Now, who is hot for the Canucks?

Alex Edler has three points, Christian Ehrhoff has two power play goals and Henrik Sedin is in on six of seven Vancouver goals so far this season. Daniel Sedin has score the majority (four of seven) goals this season and five points in total.

Summer is already halfway over. Pretty soon season preview magazines will start arriving, and training camp is around the corner.

So I figured its about time to take a look at what the Canucks have, what they lack, and put it all together with a hypothetical roster that works with the salary cap.

First the numbers. For 2010-2011, the salary cap is $59,400,000. The Canucks however have a penalty of $90,000 in performance bonuses that carried over from last season.

For those that haven’t heard, Sami Salo has been injured again . He requires surgery for a torn Achilles tendon. 

So here we are at the twenty game mark and it’s time for some beefs, bouquets, surprises, and disappointments.

Let’s start out with the surprises .

Injuries and the amount of them after just 20 games into the season—must be some kind of a record.