TSN: The Vancouver Canucks announced Tuesday that defenceman Aaron Miller will have minor abdominal surgery in Vancouver.
“After further consultation with our medical team it was decided that surgery was the best course of action for Aaron,” said GM Dave Nonis. “It is expected that Aaron will make a full recovery in two weeks and will re-join his teammates on the ice during our pre-season schedule.”
Miller, who signed a one-year deal with the Canucks, played in 82 games for the Los Angeles Kings last season, registering eight assists and 60 penalty minutes.
In 620 career games, he has scored 24 goals and 86 assists.
It looks like Miller Time has been delayed until mid-preseason, but in all honesty, it’s probably for the best. Aaron Miller is older than father time and it’s become commonplace that he hasn’t been able to stay injury-free for the last few seasons. Besides his injury-free season last year with the LA Kings, Miller had missed 26 games in the 05-06 campaign to two different back injuries. The season before he managed to handle just 35 contests and the one before that only a paltry 49.
Maybe the minor surgery isn’t such a bad idea after all.
But with all due respect, Aaron Miller’s absence opens the door for the up and coming blueliners Alex Edler and Luc Bourdon to really force Alain Vigneault and co. that they are worthy of being on this Canuck team for this season. The old saying goes that when one door closes, another opens …
In sticking with the NHL, Russian superstar Alexander Ovechkin claimed he wasn’t surprised by the Super Series results that gave the Canadian juniors a triumphant 7-0-1 thrashing of the Russian juniors. The Ovechkinian one had this to say:
TSN: ‘’You know, right now junior Canadian hockey is better,'’ he said Tuesday. ‘’Everybody knows it. I think the Russians are learning. They watched how they worked here. It’s good for us - the kids, the guys that played in this series now understand what they need to do to be better.'’
And I can definitely agree with what Alexander The Great has to say. He also went on to argue that had it been professional players competing, the result might have been different. Of course this is the idea that Soviet goaltender Vladislav Tretiak had in mind when he first came up with the Super Series idea, but Canada offered only its junior players (Injuries to any Canadian player would’ve dealt the NHL and their respective clubs a big blow before the season).
Here’s my take on the issue: This year marked the 35th anniversary of the ‘72 Summit Series. And, while it’s clear the Russians got their brains beaten out, this may be exactly what Russian hockey needs … a swift kick in the arse to get their program going. I’m of the opinion that Russia and Canada had very similar hockey development programs in terms of talent back in the 70’s but following the Summit Series was when Canada really aimed to develop some great hockey players (ala Gretzky, Orr). This ‘07 beatdown of the Russians may force their hands into re-vitalizing their program in time before the 2010 Olympics … the next time the Russians have a chance to take on their oldest hockey nemesis, and on Canadian soil.
