Music: {allcanada} CANUCKS EARNING PLAYER-FRIENDLY REPUTATION

Monday, October 15, 2012

{allcanada} CANUCKS EARNING PLAYER-FRIENDLY REPUTATION

In wondering if the Canucks should be worried long-term about Alexander Edler's back health with the recent news he has been rehabbing a bulging disc, The Vancouver Province notes his back issue fit under the Canucks' broad interpretation of "hockey-related injuries" that allow teams to continue to pay players during the lockout who have been deemed unfit to play.

Essentially, if a player is injured during his employment as a hockey player, he shall receive his salary for as long as he is unable to perform.

A club physician would be the one to decide whether to clear a player.

Different teams have different definitions. The Florida Panthers' blue-chip defenceman Erik Gudbranson had shoulder surgery after sustaining an injury during offseason training. He isn't scheduled to be back until January. But the Panthers concluded it wasn't hockey-related because it didn't happen during the season. They decided to lock him out with the rest of their non-injured players.

The Canucks went the other way, and it feeds the narrative that they often make decisions from the players' perspective. That narrative has been one of the reasons the Canucks have been able to sign some players to deals considered discounts.

"If [Edler] wiped out water skiing and then started complaining about back pain, it would be a little different," Canucks assistant GM Laurence Gilman said. "That's obviously not a hockey-related injury.

"The thing about it is, if you take the position that, if the guy who gets injured in the offseason is on his own time and his own responsibility, you may not have a player lift a weight once the season is over.

"You could argue Sami Salo was doing his own thing when he was playing floorball in the summer. But if you take that position with the guy, your players aren't going to do anything in the offseason except sit on their butts.

"Alex was fine. He was skating with our players and he began to suffer some pain following the skates. If that's not a hockey-related injury, I don't know what is."