Just a quick note for a sunny Monday afternoon:

Not at all surprising. Henrik Sedin was struggling all night versus Calgary, before finally being shown some mercy by being taken out of the game in the 2nd period. The last time the Canucks played a game without him, they lost a 4-3 game to the Chicago Blackhawks on a hat-trick by Tyler Arnason, all the way back on March 19, 2004.

Henrik was one of the NHL’s ironmen (and still technically is until the lineup sheets are submitted tomorrow—the other is Jay Bouwmeester) and we’ve talked up the importance of longevity on this page before. I guess we’d taken for granted that you can almost always expect Sedin to give you 82 strong games, until you can’t. The injury doesn’t look particularly serious, mind you. Ribs heal, but they hurt like hell and breathing becomes an issue.

You know which Iron Man doesn’t get enough respect? William Shatner: