The kids are all right

It came out today that Canucks’ centre Brendan Morrison will miss up to 12 weeks after undergoing wrist surgery. This is merely the latest injury misfortune to strike Vancouver, as they've spent plenty of time this year without three of their top defencemen (Sami Salo and Lukas Krajicek, who have returned to the lineup, and Kevin Bieksa, who's still out) and their number-one goaltender (Roberto Luongo, slated to return in tomorrow's game against the New Jersey Devils). Yet, despite the rash of injuries to top players, they've turned in quite a successful season so far: their 38 points are good enough that they're tied with the Minnesota Wild for first in the Northwest Division, and sit fifth overall in the Western Conference. A large part of their success so far has come from the stellar performances turned in by the younger players they've called up to patch the holes: Alex Edler and Luc Bourdon did a terrific job filling in on defence (see Ben Kuzma's column in The Province for further proof), while forward callups Mason Raymond and Jason Jaffray have also been solid so far. Combine this with Ryan Kesler having a breakout season (and living up to Bobby Clarke's offer sheet), Curtis Sanford showing that he's pretty darn good for a backup, and Alex Burrows having another strong year, and the future certainly looks bright for the Canucks. Depth has been a concern with this team in the past, but it shouldn't be as big of a worry this year, and there are still some great prospects down in Manitoba (Ryan Shannon, Rick Rypien, Michael Grabner, Brad Moran, and Jannik Hansen spring to mind). In the immortal words of The Who, the kids are all right.

A special Canuck edition of the links of the day:
-Zanstrom reports that Luongo will start tomorrow
-Ben Kuzma's Canucks Nation feature in The Province: his three stars of the week are Sanford, Edler, and Jaffray
-Tom Benjamin on why the Canucks' defensive brand of hockey is still entertaining
-A new Canucks' rap (like last year's ""Trapper's Delight"): Trap It Like It's Hot(thanks to Alanah for the link)
-Elliot Pap of the Vancouver Sun on Luongo's return
-Grant Kerr of the Globe previews tomorrow's Luongo-Brodeur showdown
-The guys over at Orland Kurtenblog on music they'd like to hear at GM Place
-The take over at the Canucks Hockey Blog on the Morrison situation, and if the Canucks should try to replace him now or later