Keith Ballard

It's March. There are 17 games and 36 days left in the Canucks' regular season.

Two of the Canucks' top rear guards, Alexander Edler and Kevin Bieksa, are out with long-term injuries.

VANCOUVER—"Defense wins championships." Canucks followers can relate to this quote particularly well these last few weeks.

The Vancouver Canucks suffered a 3-1 loss to the Nashville Predators on Thursday. As much as the forwards tried to reduce opponents getting scoring chances in their own zone, the Canucks suffered both defensively and offensively Thursday.

Sometimes life seems to kick people when they are down by handing them another dose of bad luck. But then life is all about dealing with the good, bad and downright terrible things that are often thrown at us.

During the course of an 82-game NHL season, each team will find themselves facing adversity. Take the New York Islanders, who, after having a few problems in net, decided to claim Evgeni Nabokov off waivers only to have him refuse to play for the club.

We learned on Tuesday that Vancouver Canucks defenceman Kevin Bieksa had battled the flu throughout the Canucks' eastern trip in mid-November before contracting pneumonia and missing last Saturday's tilt against the San Jose Sharks.

Based on the defense pairings at practice, head coach Alain Vigneault appeared to be leaning towards scratching $4.2 million man Keith Ballard for the third consecutive game. Many Canucks fans have been mind-boggled by Vigneault's continued decision to sit Ballard and have accused him of playing favourites with Aaron Rome.

Saturday is the first showdown of the season between the lowly Toronto Maple Leafs and your Vancouver Canucks. The Leaf Nation is already getting pumped up.

Mike Gillis, the general manager of the Canucks, spoke to the Toronto media Friday. He discussed everything from the team's strong record, to signing up on Twitter, Roberto Luongo, Keith Ballard and stopping Nazem Kadri.

Keith Ballard is getting a breather to recover from his concussion. The team believes he is a long way from returning to form.

The decision making of the Canucks coaching staff baffles me sometimes and the lack of ice time for Keith Ballard baffles me.

The Canucks acquired Ballard from the Florida Panthers along with forward Victor Oreskovich in exchange for a first round pick in the 2010 NHL Entry Draft (the Panthers used the pick on centre Quinton Howden), Michael Grabner, and Steve Bernier.

If you are superstitious (and really, all sports fans are to some degree), you might wonder if the Canucks are cursed, specifically in regards to the health of their defence.

Over the first month of the season, Vancouver has already racked up 18 man games lost to injury just amongst their defence. Considering they have only played nine games, that is two starters out every game on average.

And unfortunately, that situation is considered average by Canucks fans recently.

There has been just under five months since the last time the Canucks played a game that counted. During the offseason, GM Mike Gillis had a mandate to analyze the team’s strengths and weaknesses, then bolster those problem areas.

There will be some roster moves to generate more wiggle room under the salary cap, but by the season opener vs the LA Kings on Saturday October 9th, the Canucks lineup should look like this:

Having just returned from Vancouver, I can tell you that the fans there are definitely optimistic about this team. Sickeningly optimistic, really—like optimistic enough to be planning the Stanley Cup parade route already. Fact is, they have every reason to be excited. They are the only legitimate contender in this division, and are perhaps the best team in the entire conference.