The Canucks blueline has not been the receiver of good fortunes over the past couple of weeks. Alex Edler has been sidelined due to back surgery, Keith Ballard out with a knee injury, Dan Hamhuis has a concussion, Andrew Alberts has a broken wrist and the latest name to add to the list is Kevin Bieksa, who suffered a broken foot on Tuesday night against the Wild.The Canucks are expecting to be without Bieksa for anywhere between 2-to-4 weeks, depending on how quickly he heals and/or his pain threshold.
Bieksa has worked himself back into being a cornerstone of the on-ice roster, as he has been very good for the Canucks in a number of situations, including the beginning of the plague of injuries that have been suffered by the team. Bieksa hits the shelf with 6 goals and 14 assists in 57 games with the Canucks, which is good for 319th in pool scoring this year, 56th among defensemen, which is a pace slightly lower than his injury-shortened 2010 season. Still, he has brought a bit more to his game than offense, which is hard to measure in straight metrics.If Bieksa is to miss the next four weeks worth of action, he could potentially miss 14 games, returning after St. Patrick's Day, but I would have to think that his track record of being a fast-healer will work in his favour. The 10-game mark, for theoretical cap purposes, would occur March 8th.
Bieksa is the second player in as many days to hit the list for Stacey C. and it isn't the good list. Another injury, albeit to a player who hasn't scored a great deal this year, will likely hinder Stacey's shot at winning a jersey at the end of the year. He currently sits in a tie for 8th on the list, with 41 points, 10 points behind the current leader.Link to the Injury/News Page
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