The Vancouver Canucks lost a defenceman as quickly as they gained one this morning. While Dan Hamhuis will return to the lineup for tonight’s game against the Philadelphia Flyers, head coach Willie Desjardins confirmed today that Swiss Scapegoat Luca Sbisa will is out of the lineup with an injury, and that he’s been placed on injured reserve.
Desjardins positioned Sbisa’s timeline as not day-to-day, stating that “he’ll be out longer than that”. To back this up, Sbisa was placed on injured reserve, which requires a minimum of seven days out of the lineup. Sbisa was seen wearing a walking boot, implying that he suffered a foot injury.
Sbisa played through until the end of Friday’s game against the Arizona Coyotes, and it’s hard to see a moment where he could have been hurt. He had a 35-minute gap between his second-last and last blocked shot, but he didn’t react negatively to either occurrence. His last shift was with a minute left in the third period. With that said, he played 16:40, his lowest allotted ice time since the season opener, while playing a typical 24 shifts, leading you to believe that he might have played through his ailment. but couldn’t handle the longer shifts.
Canucks fans will no doubt be split in their reaction to this move. Many hope that the 26-year-old will finally reach the potential that he showed as a first-round pick who made the Flyers as a 19-year-old, but his tenure in Vancouver has been questionable at best. After a decent start, Sbisa has dipped to the bottom of the possession barrel. His giveaway numbers have dropped this year though that could be a byproduct of being given the puck less rather than him becoming more efficient.
This also gives Yannick Weber a bit more roster security, as he attempts to prove that he can return to being a regular in the Canucks’ pairings.
At the end of the day, though, you never want to see someone get hurt. From a human perspective, you have to hope that he recovers quick. From a hockey perspective, this may not be the worst thing in the world.
Wait, he wasn’t in a walking boot on the ice?
That’s unfortunate for Luca. I hope he heals up soon.
Fortunately, we’ve got Hammer coming back.
Maybe they will call up Corraddo…no wait. Maybe Clendenn…no, not him either..ummmhh..
Are these actually better options than Biega or Pedan?
Corsi For … here we come!
You never want to see someone hurt, but this is definitely addition by subtraction for the Canucks. Edler/Tanev, Hutton/Weber, and Hamhuis/Bartkowski is definitely an improvement over playing Sbisa on his off side with Hutton or Hamhuis, and scratching Weber.
Also minor correction: Sbisa is 25. He turns 26 in January.
Hamhuis-Weber was quite good but Hamhuis-Bartkowski was bad I think? I wonder if Hutton-Bartkowski would be an ok pairing or not so that Hammer and Weber could play together.
Yeah the H-B pairing wasn’t great (though better than Sbisa-Bartkowski) – Hutton-Weber have been so good though that it would be a shame to break them up.
Sorry to hear for Luca, good guy and don’t want this to happen to him. BUT objectively speaking, the Canucks are a better team with him on the sidelines. Just the reality.
Injury equals opportunity. Too bad the Canucks have a lack of depth in NHL ready defencemen. They might even regret letting Corrado slip away. Benning realized this when he drafted three d-men last June. Biega? Pedan? Negrin?
I mean, the frustrating thing for us fans is that Weber didn’t do a damned thing to lose his roster spot in the first place. I respect that the current management and coaching want a culture of reward and accountability from their youngsters, but why not the veterans too.
Here’s the acid test for Benning and WD’s competence: if the defence is outstanding while Sbisa is out, do they put him back in when he’s healthy or sit him to the pressbox until someone stumbles?
Here’s the acid test for CanucksArmy fans and bloggers: if the defence is atrocious with Sbisa out, do they welcome him back with open arms or continue whipping him at every opportunity?
With philly in town maybe we could take a look at Luke schenn he seems to be available. Maybe a good hockey trade for once maybe involving Higgins/weber
We’re going to miss the snarl and bite that Sbisa brings to the table and Philly will take advantage of that if we’re not careful. I’ve come to like this big lug despite the odd gaff – a real gamer!
It’s Andrey Pedan time. He would match up well against the Broadway Bullies. Get well soon Luca.
In other news, an imprint of Webber’s stick found in Sbisa’s leg…
Yes there is a god!
Think of the money we will save.
A classic song that sums up the feelings in Canuckistan:
“Dancing in the street”
http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=RGpgkCE41x8
The nine sweetest words in the English language when spoken in that exact order! I had to double check my calendar to make sure it wasn’t Christmas.
Sbisa has been better this year and is the one defense-man that brings an edge.
I think we will miss him.