If you haven’t caught wind of the medical updates of late, I can hardly blame you. There’s a lot going on right now, what with the trades and non-trades alike. Not to mention all the extra-curricular business.

The meat on the latest injury report bone indicates that the Canucks will be joined by Luca Sbisa and Brandon Sutter on their upcoming six-game road trip through the Eastern Conference. Sutter has been absent from the Canucks lineup since November after having sports hernia surgery, while Sbisa is nursing a hand injury, sustained while blocking a shot.

Vancouver just sent Chris Higgins through waivers so they could clear the limit of active skaters on their roster, so things are kind of tight. This begs the question: who’s out to make room for the returning Canucks? If you’re feeling daring, who’s in might be a question worth asking too.

Last week I asked what the Canucks should do with their young, budding defender, Andrey Pedan. Of course, luck would have it that the Canucks have since sent Pedan down to the Utica Comets. Still, there were some pretty good answers worth reviewing all the same.

I think Pedan is part of the future for the Canucks. He brings a lot of what we don’t have – size and aggression. He has a howitzer of a shot and was developing nicely in Utica. He’ll probably be a solid 5 or 6 D man.

When the D get healthy, Pedan will have to go back down. So, the Canucks should bring him back up after the deadline if they deal the D men on expiring contracts (Hamhuis, Weber, Bartkowski). There will be room for him and he will get to play.

Also, Willie D. also said Biega isn’t going anywhere so it is getting crowded back there.

So it turns out not signing Weber to an extended deal last summer was the right call…

I don’t think we know what we have in Pedan yet, and that likely makes him trade bait (sell high) in the short term. I think, for 2015-2016, Pedan is a future piece. He likely won’t displace anyone this season, but it’s good to know we’re not quite so hamstrung on the blueline and that we can act accordingly at the trade deadline and in the off-season. My instinct, though, is that Pedan could be an add-on to some future trade down the road.

Size. Skates well. Drops the gloves. Not positionally unsound.

What’s not to like?

Keep developing the kid, he’s got great third pairing potential.

A cagey acquisition by Benning.

Pedan has earned an extended look, however due to his Waiver Exempt status vs the likes of Biega who has to pass through waivers to go back and forth to the AHL, Pedan really shouldn’t be playing ahead of any healthy NHL D Man currently on the Canucks NHL roster purely from an asset management perspective…a lesson we learned the hard way with Corrado.

With Pedan being a RFA coming off an entry level contract and having unspectacular NHL or AHL stats at this point, I’d say he is a lock to be signed to a 2 yr two way contract around the same $850K the Montreal Canadians afforded Jared Tinordi last year. From there you pencil him in as a 7-8 D man on an NHL roster that should be carrying 8 D men next year anyway and see how he comes out of the gates.

In the mean time, this season while yo-yo’ing him up and down from the AHL to fill injury holes on the Mash unit that is the Canucks D this year, Pedan can gain a lot from playing with Utica where Coach Green has him playing in all situations and gaining confidence with every game.

Play Pedan. In the NHL or the AHL. Just play him.

I’d like to see Pedan slot in for 6 – 10 games to get a real feel for his play against NHL opposition. That does create problems for defense pairings. I think the Canucks want to stay away from any double-rookie pairing and if the left side is going to be Edler/Hutton/Pedan then they’re going to be stuck with either Hutton/Biega or Pedan/Biega. They’ve already said Biega isn’t going away.

When Sbisa comes back I’d like to see a Pedan/Sbisa pairing. Sure it has a high probability of combining rookie mistakes with mental mistakes, but it would probably be a real pain to play against. And it’s been suggested that when Sbisa plays his off-side he has to think more, which cuts down on the mental mistakes.

However, Pedan probably sticks around as injury insurance until Sbisa comes back at which point the waiver situation means Pedan is the first one headed to Utica. That may not put the best talent on the ice but makes the most sense from an asset management perspective.