by Joel Smart (Sports Editor) – Email
At just 24 years of age, Alexander Edler has become the most solid defensemen on the roster of the Vancouver Canucks. His calm, reliable passes out of the zone are only upstaged by his recent, but increasingly impressive, physical play. It may have been too much of a good thing, however, as a recent back injury has taken him out of the game for at least a few months. He will be missed. In fact, the Canucks may have to pull out all the stops if their battered and beaten blue-line starts to let them down too frequently in the absence of number 23.
Since being drafted in the third round by the Canucks in 2004, and playing his first NHL game on November 4, 2006, the left-handed, 6’4” player from Ostersund, Sweden, has turned into one of the most impressive young defensemen in the entire league. Weighing in around 215 lbs, he has the ability to demolish anyone who can’t avoid him – several impressive open-ice hits have been the result.
This season was a breakout year for Edler offensively as well. The Canucks rely on defensive scoring more than most teams, so they will especially miss his contributions. After just 49 games, Edler had amassed eight goals and 32 points, enough to lead the Canuck’s defense in scoring. Compare that to last year when he scored five goals all year. The most NHL goals he had previously scored in a single season was 10, the most points he’d ever had was 42. This year he was on pace to beat both totals with 13 goals and 53 points. Unfortunately, it wasn’t to be. It’s a shame because he was just starting to really come on in the last handful of games.
The Canucks will hope the rest of the team can pick up the slack. Christian Ehrhoff is second in defensive scoring, with eight goals and 28 points, but he has struggled at times this year. He is on pace to hit 47 points this year, though, which would top his previous best of 44. After Ehrhoff, it’s a fairly large drop-off to Kevin Bieksa with six goals and 17 points.
With Aaron Rome and Andrew Alberts soon recovering from injury themselves, the Canucks will be pleased to know they have some depth on defense. In fact, so far the Canucks have done very well with call-up defensemen Lee Sweat and Christopher Tanev: Sweat scored in his first game, and Tanev has played smart hockey, even breaking up a 2-on-1 in his first game by getting his skate on the pass. Vancouver must also be sighing in relief to know that star defensemen Sami Salo has been fully practicing with the team for five weeks after suffering a catastrophic achilles injury late last season.
In the event that things don’t go to plan, however, general manager Mike Gillis may be forced to make some key trades prior to the deadline – especially if Mason Raymond and Mikael Samuelsson can’t start putting in a couple more goals. It will probably cost a couple draft picks to improve the team, unless Gillis is willing to consider trading Cory Schneider. Even if the Canucks do start slipping, Gillis may opt to keep the team together if Edler appears to be healing from surgery well enough to make it back before the playoffs. The Canucks might have to kiss their hopes of a Conference title goodbye, but a little adversity before the playoffs might be just what the team needs to grow into a true contender.
