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…

Normally, I’d be happy with back to back wins with the Canucks. Especially when the Canucks outscored their opponents 11-4. However, sloppy play has been a concern as of late. Now, I’m not trying to dip into eternal pessimist territory (Tony Gallagher and Dan Russell have that position on lockdown), but the Canucks inability to play a consistent 60 minutes should be worrisome, particulary with big games against the Sharks, Devils and Flyers coming up.

Basically, when you have a mostly healthy team going up 4-0 against the Edmonton Oilers, a team that played the night before and has been ravaged by the injury bug, there’s no reason why you should be letting that team get back into the game.

The Vancouver Canucks have a couple of things to be thankful for after tonight’s win over the Los Angeles Kings. Top of the list is that they’re thankful for the stellar play of Roberto Luongo, who had a brilliant glove save in the second period and stopped 32 of 33 shots, all while looking like the potential Team Canada netminder we all know he can be.

Contributions from their role players is another thing the Canucks faithful can be thankful for, as Tanner Glass has continued to quietly put together a strong season, notching his third goal of the year.

They’ve also got to be thankful for the end to a couple of streaks. Alex Burrows managed to break a 6 game goalless streak, bulging the twine in the first period and adding an assist.

Wow, okay. Yeah, I still have this blog here. Good to know.

So, I had a bit of a hiatus there. Apologies, but I’ve got my ducks all in a row, so let’s get back to blogging! Yay!

I guess I should offer up some thoughts on the Canucks, seeing as how we’re already 22 games into the season and one of my goals here is to do some hockey blogging.

I’m sure most people have seen that the Canucks are leading the league in man games lost to injury and yet, despite that, the team is 2 games above .500. What’s even more remarkable is that the Canucks have been without Roberto Luongo and Daniel Sedin for a good chunk of that season. This has been in large part due to the team stepping up when the chips are down and contributing. For example,

Henrik Sedin has managed to step up and explode offensively: he has 13 goals to date and is on pace to hit the 40 goal mark. There have been a number of people who were critical of Mike Gillis over the summer for signing the Sedins to rather pricey contracts, with the argument being made that the twins are only good as a package. As we’ve been seeing, at least with regards to Hank, that is happily not the case.

Andrew Raycroft, and I can’t believe I’m writing this, stepped in for a spell and has looked great in the backup role. How great? He currently has more wins than the beleaguered Toronto Maple Leafs, a team who is on pace to have a worse record than the 1993 Ottawa Senators, a stat made all the more troubling in the era of shootout, which hockey curmudgeons say has been leading to inflated point totals thanks to the ‘loser points.’

One of the biggest keys to the Canucks success so far has been at the hands of Christian Ehrhoff, who is quickly becoming Gillis’ best offseason acquisition so far. Back in the summer, I heard from San Jose fans who praised him for his offensive capabilities, but warned me of his defensive brainfarts. Thankfully, this hasn’t been the case, as the ‘Hoff has been playing amazing hockey, tallying goals like it ain’t no thing, being amazing on the penalty kill and being the Canucks best defenseman by far: his +11 rates him as number one on the team, with Willie Mitchell’s +3 being the only dman who plays top minutes coming close to touching him. His defensive brainfarts seem to be a thing of the past, as supported with his +/-, but his scant 10 PIM ties him at number one with Alex Edler for lowest PIM amongst defensive regulars. Paired together, it’s looking like Ehrhoff’s game is really starting to come together.

Other standouts have been Mason Raymond, who is on pace to smash his offensive totals from last season and is finally utilizing his speed in ways other than falling on his butt in the attacking zone, Ryan Kesler, who has been an absolute monster for the Canucks (especially on the PK) and Tanner Glass, who has been really starting to assert himself on the fourth line after a rather ‘meh’ preseason. Michael Grabner, a highly touted prospect who had a poor training camp, fared much better in a callup role before injuring himself in a freak accident.

All in all, this is a Canucks squad that seems to be rolling with the punches thus far this season and hasn’t been forced to rely entirely on Roberto Luongo to steal games for them. Me likey.