After the Canucks lost road games to Carolina and Nashville last week, Kyle Wellwood took a lot of heat, as he was scratched for two games in a row by head coach Alain Vigneault. He finally drew into the lineup against Los Angeles, but he played himself out of the line-up again for Wednesday’s match against Anaheim. Here are my thoughts on this situation:

In his return against the Kings, Wellwood took a third period penalty, which obviously put him right back in Vigneault’s bad books. But understand that it was Welly’s 3rd penalty in 2 years as a Canuck - considering that the coach asked for more grit, shouldn’t Vigneault be pleased with the effort?

The Canucks need a third line that can take some pressure off the top two, and right now the third and fourth lines consist of Tanner Glass - Rick Rypien – Jannik Hansen, and Darcy Hordichuck – Ryan Johnson – Steve Bernier. Tons of heart, but the only skill resides in Hansen. They need more talent!

Vigneault must get Wellwood going again, and it’s not going to happen without putting him in scoring situations! Put him back on the powerplay – he has magic hands and great vision, and he’ll be much more useful than “Stone Hands” Bernier!

Note: I will be going on holiday for 8 days, beginning today. Have a good week, if you can do so without my posts. I will return on December 28, just in time for the much anticipated unveiling of the Canadian Men's Olympic Hockey Team!

With the return of Daniel Sedin and Jannik Hansen to the Canucks' lineup, the team is beginning to look like a contender. Granted, they skated like slugs in Saturday’s match against the Hurricanes, but who schedules a game at 10:30 a.m. PST anyways? For a team used to night games, it’s no wonder they were half asleep. Going forward, they are going to be just fine – reason being, they have depth at the forward position. We know the chemistry of the Sedin twins and Burrows, so here is a breakdown of the other three forward lines.

Third Line:

Why does Vancouver love Kyle Wellwood so much? Two weeks ago, in a game against Los Angeles, when a goal credited to Wellwood was reviewed and given to the true scorer, Tanner Glass, the GM Place crowd actually booed in protest. Granted it was Wellwood’s first goal of the season, but talk about picking favorites!

Perhaps it’s his angelic, innocent face, or the fact that we all see a little of ourselves in his formerly out of shape physique, or maybe it is because we know that when he’s on his game, he is one of the most skilled Canuck forwards out there. With Wellwood, it’s all about confidence, so what’s the key to keeping his up? For starters, don’t expect him to carry a line. Playing with Tanner Glass and Steve Bernier while the Canucks were reeling from injuries, Wellwood was the only creative individual of the trio, and even when he made good plays they would go nowhere. It was the addition of Jannik Hansen to his line that initially gave him the kick in the butt he needed. Now that head coach Alain Vigneault has moved Mikael Samuelsson to the line in place of Hansen, it will combine a good combination of grit and skill, as Samuelsson is a creative, puck possession player.

Second Line:

The Vancouver Sun seems to think the fact that Ryan Kesler hasn’t scored a goal in 14 games is an issue. It’s not. Kesler is the engine that drives the Canucks, and he continues to play hard and inspire teammates with the way he always put everything on the ice. Goal scoring slumps are often overstated, and that is certainly the case here, as he has 4 assists in the Canucks last 5 games, meaning he is still creating offense.

With Hansen moved to the second line to play with Mason Raymond and Kesler, this is now a line of like minded individuals: they’re all strong, tough, and good with the puck, and all three of them travel in one direction – straight to the net. This combination will continue to provide energy when the team needs it and provide goals at big moments.

Fourth Line:

Rick Rypien and Ryan Johnson are completely underrated offensively, yet they manage to do pretty well in that regard, given their mandate of “don’t make mistakes and keep the puck in the offensive end”. When they poke in the odd goal, it’s a nice present, though not really a surprise.

Following Sunday’s 1-0 loss to the Chicago Blackhawks, here is the Canucks’ hot/not list:


HOT:

Mason Raymond:

With 14 points so far, Raymond is finally having his breakout season with the Canucks. Playing with a lot more grit and determination, lately he has looked like a slicker version of Ryan Kesler.

Christian Ehrhoff:

Following a 2 goal, 1 assist performance against the Avalanche, Ehrhoff sits 4th on the Canucks scoring list. An outburst like that can only encourage him to trust his offensive skills and put up more points as the season goes on.

Jannik Hansen:

This is more about what he represents for the team than his personal play: the return of Hansen from his hand injury brings a whole new dimension to the Canucks – a third line that can score.

NOT:

Kyle Wellwood:

Wellwood has 2 points in 19 games, and he is an offensively gifted player! In fairness, he’s been stuck with Tanner Glass and Steve Bernier for most of the season - not much to work with. But what’s really lacking in his game right now? One word: confidence. Hansen might be the serum he needs.

Sami Salo:

With Ehrhoff picking up the slack for the defensemen, one player who has fallen under the radar is Salo. Tied with Kyle Wellwood with just 2 points on the season, Salo is not using this blistering shot to strike fear into opposing goalies and penalty killers. Shoot the puck, Sami!

Alex Burrows:

Burrows hasn’t been the Canucks’ sparkplug like he was last year with only 4 goals in 23 games. Being reunited with the Sedin brothers will change this, and Burrows won’t be on the cold list for long.

Oftentimes, Vancouver Canucks’ head coach, Alain Vigneault, will make decisions that leave us scratching our heads. Usually, however, his actions carry an underlying message. Here, we’re going to help you interpret some of his latest moves, in our new segment: “Reading between Coach V’s lines”.


What Coach V did: Defenseman Kevin Bieksa has been moved from defenseman to forward due to the many injuries that the Canucks are dealing with.

What he was thinking: “Since you love jumping into the offensive play without a thought to your defensive responsibilities, you can just play forward and forget about defense all together.”

What Coach V did: Kyle Wellwood was taken off the power play for the first two periods of Tuesday’s game.

What he was thinking: “I don’t care if you’re a ‘powerplay specialist,’ Kyle, if you keep giving the puck away you get to be a third line specialist."

(note, Wellwood played his way back onto the powerplay in the third period, and looked more motivated in his return)


What Coach V did: He demoted Sergei Shirokov from the Canucks to the minor league Manitoba Moose despite all the injuries and the Canucks’ desperate need for offense.

What he was thinking: "You seem to want to play like a kid, so you can just go play with the kids."

10. Kyle Wellwood is in shape!

Wellwood has always been the combination of a gifted hockey mind with the body of a couch potato. That is about to change, as this year he has come into training camp 17 pounds lighter than last year!


9. New and Improved Steve Bernier.

Bernier was the Canucks' “goat” last year, missing a ridiculous amount of scoring opportunities. He has worked on everything in the off-season, from foot-speed, to fitness, to pressure situations with the puck. We might finally see him reach his potential.


7. No slow start for Roberto Luongo

The knock on Luongo’s career thus far: slow starts to the season. With the pre-season Team Canada Orientation Camp taking place, and the starting job for the Olympics on the line, Luongo knows he has to be on form early. Pressure usually works in his favour.


6. Sergei Shirokov

No idea what to expect, but Tommy Larsheid has dubbed him the “Pocket Russian Rocket”, and he has looked great in the pre-season.


5. Cody Hodgson

Finally, the future of the Vancouver Canucks has arrived!


3. Demitra is injured

Not even getting into his softness as a player, the positive here is that young Hodgson, Shirokov, and Raymond will gain playing time and have a chance to show what they’ve got.


4. Christian Ehrhoff and Mathieu Schneider Replace Ohlund

We were worried when we lost Ohlund to free agency – our depth of offensive defensemen was low, considering Salo’s brittle body. With the arrival of Schneider and Ehrhoff, the Canucks’ blueline seems even better than it was last year.


2. Schedule Fixed

Finally, after three long seasons of playing too many divisional and conference games, the schedule has been fixed! This year we will see the Penguins, Capitals, and all 5 other Canadian teams at GM Place at least once.


1. Optimism

Not since late in the Brian Burke era, have Canucks fans felt so optimistic heading into a season. Back then, we had one of the league’s most offensive powerhouses, led by the “Westcoast Express” – Bertuzzi, Morrison, and Naslund – but no goaltending. With Luongo signed to a 12 year deal in the off-season, that will not be a problem for a long long time.

The NHL arbitrator came to a decision on Thursday. Given the task of choosing a fair salary for Kyle Wellwood between the $1 million offer tabled by the Canucks and a number proposed by Wellwood and his agent Mike Liut that was slightly below the Canucks’ $1.57 million limit, the judge awarded him $1.2 million for one year of service.

From calculating the average salary of the 10 players closest to him in points per game (as I did in my previous post), the salary awarded would have been $1.13 million, a difference of only $70,000. Surely this supports my hypothesis that the salary awarded by an arbitrator is based on the market value of players with similar production. With this in mind, perhaps the entire process of arbitration, which is often painted with a negative brush as it forces teams to denigrate their players in a demoralizing fashion, is a waste of time and energy.

But no, it is good for the public to know and believe that more goes into a determination of salary than just stats. Unless the arbitrators would be willing to perform an independent study on each player in question, the streamlined process will not be going anywhere in the near future.

I am writing this Tuesday post in lieu of Wednesday’s this week because today, Kyle Wellwood is having his hearing with the NHL salary arbitrator. Wellwood, his agent, Canucks’ assistant GM Laurence Gillman, the judge, and several other officials will sit in a room as the two sides present cases supporting their proposed numbers.

It won’t be pretty. The Canucks will likely bring up Wellwood’s well-publicized fitness issues, his 21 game goal scoring draught, and his paltry 9 assists for a supposed “playmaker”. Basically, his team will tell him how bad he is, and why he is worth no more than the 1M qualifying offer they placed.

My question is, when the judge deliberates, how much will all of these arguments affect the final number he produces? Will he not simply look at the salaries of other NHL players who had similar production in the past season, and create a number based on that?

In order to answer this question, I have calculated what Wellwood’s salary would be based on the 10 NHL forwards closest to him in production – based on points per game. I have discarded the highest and lowest salary out of those 10, so the number is based on 8 players.

Troy Brower: $ 700,000 0.38 PPG
Radek Bonk: $ 1,350,000 0.38 PPG
Mike Grier: $ 1,775,000 0.37 PPG
Daniel Paille: $ 900,000 0.37 PPG
Josh Bailey: $ 875,000 0.37 PPG

KYLE WELLWOOD: 0.36 Points Per Game

Kyle Calder: $ 2,700,000 0.36 PPG
Mikkel Boedker: $ 875,000 0.36 PPG
Chris Stewart: $ 850,000 0.36 PPG
Maxim Lapierre: $ 575,000 0.35 PPG
Alexander Steen: $ 1,700,000 0.35 PPG

Average salary based on 8 players: $ 1,128,125.


The Canucks have placed a limit on what they will pay, and if the judge awards Wellwood more than $ 1.57M, they will not pay and he will be free to sign with another team. The salary ruling shall come no later than 48 hours after the hearing - by Thursday. Stay tuned.