I am le horrible with le blogging. I know. Interviews and other responsibilities have taken me away from this. Or, excuses, excuses. What will the lazy bastard come up with next?

Ahem. So, the Edmonton game was pretty horrible. I’m sorry I didn’t get a chance to blog that, as I like to try and write something up even when the Canucks lose. So, sorry. I do think that Luongo looked bad and that he’s probably run out of mulligans this season for off nights. I’ve got something brewing shortly looking at Luongo, but, well, time.

So I’ve made mention in a couple of other blog posts that I was going to be doing up a piece talking about the Canucks bottom six. And why not? There’s been a lot of talk lately about certain members of the Canucks third and fourth liners, most of it laced with profanities.

Steve Bernier needs to be shipped out of town, Kyle Wellwood should be benched and so on and so forth. While I’m not in disagreement that the bottom six players are bad, I would argue that there are reasons why our bottom six hasn’t really been performing all that well that extend beyond ’such and such player sucks.’

At least that’s what I’m hoping to get across here.

Okay, I know what everyone’s going to be talking about with tonight’s loss against the Calgary Flames.

Yes, Dion Phaneuf, along with the rest of the Flames were getting away with murder out there, with the referees turning a mostly blind eye to their antics. Yes, there were a number of blown calls out there, including the blown icing call with Alex Bolduc and Dion Phaneuf and the Tanner Glass non-call/call in the third. Yes, Canucks fans should be ticked at the officiating in general.

BUT…

Or, The Assassination of Darcy Hordichuk by the Coward Trevor Presiloski

Alright, this is sort of an extension from my postscript on Wednesday, where I talked about the problems that are going on in the Canucks bottom six. Kyle Wellwood has been catching a lot of flak from people as of late as his offensive production so far this year has ranged from miniscule to dreadful. Just as Wellwood’s waistband has been shrinking, so too have his numbers on the scoresheet. Some fans have called for his being waived or bought out, as we simply must have him off the roster post-haste. Others have been content to let him stew up in the pressbox, letting him have a couch potato’s seat for his couch potato efforts.

But are ALL of these criticisms fully deserved? Is Wellwood truly as bad as everyone is making him out to be, or are people getting caught on the lack of offensive numbers and roasting him on a spit as a result? I don’t think so, as even without Wellwood’s offensive contributions, he actually improves the team and gives them a better shot at winning when he is in the lineup. So, here comes the analysis!

I’m tardy, I know. I apologise. I’ll try to make this quick and dirty.

The Nashville game resulted in another loss for a Canucks team who has been inconsistent and got burned on the powerplay. The team also looked worn out (!) and tired out there, which again makes me worried about the upcoming Road Trip From Hell, Pt 1 and Pt 2.  Annoyingly, Nashville games continue to be ones that punish our defensemen (remember Bieksa’s laceration and Salo getting his nose broken in the same night?) as Alex Edler is out for a couple of weeks with an arm injury. What makes this all the more frustrating is that Edler was looking to be turning things around and has been one of our more consistent offensive contributers from the backend, alongside Ehrhoff.