“The Vancouver Canucks received some awful news on the injury front Monday when they learned that they would be without defenceman Kevin Bieksa for up to three months with severed tendons in his left ankle.
The rugged blueliner originally suffered the injury during the Canucks December 29th loss to the Phoenix Coyotes when he collided with the Coyotes’ Petr Prucha. Prucha’s skate caught Bieksa just above his left ankle, severing the tendons but missing his Achilles tendon.” (Source: TSN)
Although this is a loss for the Canucks, it likely won’t be a significant one. Kevin Bieksa has been struggling the last couple seasons, and with only one goal this season so far, his production offensively is clearly lacking.
His tough physical presence in front of goalie Roberto Luongo will be missed but the Canucks do have about $2.289 million in cap space (source:nhlnumbers.com) to make a move to replace the toughness they lose with Bieksa out. Garnet Exelby of the Toronto Maple Leafs, at a cap hit of $1.392 million, could replace that toughness. It’s common knowledge that the Leafs have defencemen to move and will be looking to acquire picks in return.