Garth McLennan
sports editor

© put it lightly, news that Christian

Ehrhoff, the German Olympian

who has, again to put it lightly,
carried the team’s defence corps this year,
was down with a sprained left knee was
about as welcome as the plague in this
city. Everyone in and around the team
held their collective breaths when Ehrhoff
went to the dressing room after an
awkward collision with Andrew Brunette
of the Minnesota Wild in the third period
of the April 4 game and didn’t return for
the remainder of the contest.

Immediately following the game,
when news floated down that Ehrhoff,
who has done everything for the Canucks
back end this year (he leads all Vancouver
D-men in goals, assists, points, power-
play goals and plus/minus), a small
panic erupted. After all, it has been well
documented already this season about the
woes surrounding Vancouver’s paper-thin
group of defensemen, and with Roberto
Luongo being average at best in recent
months, losing Ehrhoff for any prolonged
period could have been a death sentence
for the club heading into the post-season.
Thankfully, it appears that the

knee injury isn’t as serious as was
originally thought. As luck would have
it, the Canucks managed to lock up
the Northwest Division championship
several games before the conclusion of
the season, and Ehrhoff was able to rest

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his knee. However, even with him absent
for just one game, as was the case ina
relatively meaningless game against the
Colorado Avalanche, Vancouver had the
eighth place squad clearly outclassed, but
without Ehrhoff’s presence on the back
end, were noticeably lessened on their
rushes and breakout from the defence.

It is hard to underestimate just how
much Ehrhoff does for the Canucks. The
Sedin twins get the press and Luongo
gets the never-ending analysis, but in
countless games this year, it has been
Ehrhoff who has made the team go just
as much as those other three. He’s far and
away the team’s best skater and his ability
to not only start the rush with excellent
breakout passes but also to quarterback
the power-play has been one of the keys
to Vancouver’s entire offensive strategy
this year.

From the sounds of things, Ehrhoff
should be back to near 100 per cent by the
time the playoffs roll around. Head coach
Alain Vigneault even went so far as to say
that had the aforementioned game against
the Avalanche been a playoff contest,
Ehbrhoff would have played. That sounds
great, but it isn’t exactly a secret that
NHL teams are usually less than honest
when it comes to injury disclosure.

With Willie Mitchell already on
the sidelines with ongoing concussion
problems that have shown no signs of
ceasing, the Canucks can’t afford to lose
Ehrhoff, in any capacity, heading into the
playoffs. Only time will tell if Vigneault
is right on the money with his assessment
of Ehrhoff’s health, or if it is something
else entirely.