Canucks' Ballard Returns To Action: Keith Ballard (concussion, neck) returned to action Friday night. He dished out an assist while picking up two penalty minutes in the Game 2 loss to the Kings. (Updated 04/14/2012)
Injury Report
No information available at this time (Updated 5/27/12).
Fantasy Analysis
Friday marked Keith Ballard's first game since Feb. 7. Ballard saw over 14 minutes of ice time on 23 shifts. While it was nice to see him pick up an assist in his return, he also had a costly cross checking penalty in the third period which led to the eventual game-winning goal. (Updated 04/14/2012).
01/21/2012 18:51 Canucks hold off depleted Sharks
Cody Hodgson scored his second goal of the game with 4:17 left, and the Vancouver Canucks beat the San Jose Sharks 4-3.
Ballard was a big disappointment in his first season with the Canucks. After averaging 30 points per season through his first five years in the NHL, Ballard managed just seven points in his debut campaign with Vancouver. He was routinely a healthy scratch by the end of the regular season, and only saw ice time in the playoffs due to multiple injuries on the Canucks back end. Despite his abysmal debut up north, Ballard is a bounce-back candidate for the 2011-12 season. With Christian Erhroff now patrolling the blue line in Buffalo, Ballard, with his cap hit of $4.2 million, will be asked to take on a bigger role with the Canucks. Hes a late-round flier, but Ballard could return to the 30-point range weve seen from him in past seasons.
(Updated 10/4/11)
