One defenceman regains full health, another goes down with injury.
So goes the Vancouver Canucks plight early in the 2010-11 NHL season. The team has already used eight rearguards, and may have needed a ninth had Keith Ballard not been able to return from a concussion.
Ballard, who missed five games, will return to the lineup Monday, just in time to fill in for Ryan Parent, who is day-to-day with a slight groin strain. "With Parent being hurt, we'd be short," head coach Alain Vigneault said when asked what Ballard's return meant.
Ballard said he was hoping to be hit early in the game against the New Jersey Devils, and will keep his first few shifts short. Vigneault said he would play no more than 15 to 17 minutes. The durable defenceman sustained the concussion on a hit in Los Angeles, and suffered a setback almost two weeks ago when he felt nauseous after a skate.
"For me, I need to be physical and be in the mix, and if I'm not doing that, I might as well not play," he said.
The Canucks have not played in six days - the longest inactive period on their schedule - but now have four games in six nights. Vigneault said Parent and defenceman Dan Hamhuis, who has a bruised foot, would not accompany the team to Edmonton Tuesday.
But winger Alex Burrows, who had off-season shoulder surgery, will return against the Oilers, meaning forwards such as Jeff Tambellini and Peter Schaefer are down to their last chance to maintain regular status.
The Devils limp into Vancouver with the NHL's worst record, 3-8-1, and are without the services of star winger Zach Parise, who aggravated a lower-body injury Saturday in Los Angeles, and took a commercial flight home for further medical evaluation.