Where Art Thou?
He is at a near point for every two games pace in his short career, and holds the hardest shot title these past two years from the Canucks skills competition. He can lay out hits among the best in the league.
With his bountiful skills Alexander Edler has the ability to dominate opponents.
So why isn’t he doing it right now?
It is a question that Edler and his teammates urgently need to be answered or the team will pay the ultimate price with their eviction from the playoffs.
Sami Salo does provide some offence from the back line, most notably on the power play. Kevin Bieksa is able to chip in periodically, as is Keith Ballard in his sporadic appearances.
They are the more likely providers among the other defensemen.
However, Chris Tanev, Dan Hamhuis, Aaron Rome and Andrew Alberts are almost exclusively defence first options. Only Edler provides a true two way threat for the Canucks back line.
He plays the most minutes of the unit and with the departure of Christian Ehrhoff at the end of last season he is expected to help run the point on the power play.
For all this talent though, Edler sometimes plays the game, like the old adage goes, as a million dollar player with a 10 cent head.
With his bountiful skills Alex Edler has the ability to dominate opponents.
His two egregious puck handling errors, one in each game in these playoffs against the LA Kings, have cost the team in goals against at the most crucial of times.
I believe that these types of errors are what are really killing this Vancouver team right now as the team has already struggled to find goals against the excellent LA goaltender Jonathan Quick when needed, so when they give up one on an error, it means that it becomes even more challenging to skate uphill to salvage yet another goal.
We have seen the players visibly drop their heads on the ice following these mistakes.
Someone, perhaps team captain Henrik Sedin, needs to take the Swedish blue liner aside by the scruff of the neck and press him to do better.
Edler may sometimes be held somewhat in check by his introverted nature, but this is not the time to be hiding from his potential in the heat of the playoffs when his team needs him most.
Check out my other recent Canucks articles on NWSB.
- Five key playoff lessons learned from 2011 for the Vancouver Canucks
- Canucks lesson learned?…fail. Rogers arena crowd?…fail
- Vancouver Canucks 2011/12 final season player grades
- Five Future Targets for Lucic’s twittering girlfriend
- Henrik Sedin and Max Lapierre cue a new Canucks drinking game
- BC boys I would love to see on the Vancouver Canucks
- Future is bright! Chris Tanev buoys the Vancouver Canucks blue line
Also, check out our Keys to the Vancouver Canucks winning round One vs. L.A. article.
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