who would have to be covered for.

Well, it turns out that wasn’t the case.
Ehrhoff has shocked everyone by leading
the NHL in plus/minus for the bulk of the
season and hasn’t sacrificed any of his
offensive game in doing so. In fact, he’s
on pace for a career year in points and
already has one in goals.

Runner up: Rick Rypien

Rypien hasn’t blown anyone away on
the stat sheets, but it’s his ability to stay
healthy, take a regular shift and beat the
living crap out of anyone in the league
that has everyone pleased with his play
this season. After playing just 12 games
last year and only 36 in the last three
campaigns, eyebrows were raised when
Gillis inked him to a two-year contract
extension in the summer. Now though,
he’s already exceeded that total and

has been taking on, and beating, the
biggest and best fighters in the league.
No highlight was more inspiring than
Rypien’s tilt with 6-foot-7 behemoth
Boris Valabik of Atlanta. The two battled
for more than a minute before Rypien

 

 

 

 

 

took him down.

Worst surprise: Kyle Wellwood

After taking the team to salary arbitration
and receiving a pay bump to $1.2 million
this year, all Wellwood has done since
then is make Vancouver fans thankful it
was only a one-year deal.

Hopes were high for the 26 year old
heading into this year. He showed up to
camp in good shape and was looking to
build on his career-high 18 goals from last
year and a strong post-season.

Instead, he vanished off the face of the
Earth. It took him 21 games to finally
notch his first goal of the season, and that
was an empty netter. He’s played himself
into the press box on some nights while
he’s shown signs of coming out of his
shell from time to time, five goals are not
even close to good enough.

Runner up: Cody Hodgson

The next Trevor Linden. Franchise
saviour. Consummate leader; Those were
the tag lines being applied to Vancouver’s
first-round pick, 10" overall, from 2008.

Not: Returned to junior. Never ending
back ailments. Zero games...anywhere.
Hodgson went from being the team’s
golden boy heading into training camp to
getting filed into the “Who?” folder after a
series of back injuries that haven’t healed.
First he got cut from the Canucks. Then
he never made it back to the Brampton
Battalion of the OHL, and then he missed
the World Junior Championships. Now,
there’s word that he could be done. Not
good.

Biggest heart and soul guy: Alex
Burrows

No one has energized the team and the
city quite the way that Alex Burrows has.
The fiery 28 year old took a hometown
discount in the summer to re-sign with the
Canucks for the next four years at just $2
million per year.

In recent weeks he’s been named the
NHL’s player of the week and has
basically gone crazy in the points
department. Back-to-back hat tricks,

an 11-game point streak and defending

 

 

his team’s pride and honour against a
vengeful referee have all been part of the
year for Burrows since taking the team
by the throat on New Year’s Eve. The
Canucks have soared up the standings
since.

Runner up: Ryan Kesler

Every game it seems, Ryan Kesler takes
one for the team. Whether it’s a vicious
slash, taking a puck to the ribs or getting
clipped with a stick, it all seems to happen
to Kesler on a regular basis. Despite

his almost magnetic attraction to those
annoying incidents, Kesler hasn’t missed
a single game this year.

He’s shown a driving desire to win, and
when the Canucks lose, be somewhere
else. After Vancouver dropped a crushing
shootout decision to the Phoenix Coyotes,
Kesler responded by redecorating the
walls outside the dressing room with his
stick. On the ice, he’s just as passionate.
No one fights harder or battles more to
win pucks and stand for his teammates.

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