Spec at the skate: Canucks like their depth

VANCOUVER — Daniel Sedin no longer worries about whom his line will spend the next two weeks going up against.

“I like our depth. If they (the Blackhawks) want to match lines, it’s only going to be to our advantage,” he said after the morning skate, just hours before Game 1 versus Chicago.

In the past, the series has been about their opponents. One gets the sense that now, an improved Canucks team is more focused on their own game.

“That was probably a mistake last year,” he said. “The balance we have, it’s probably a deeper lineup than they have. We are a deep team — that’s how we are going to win games.”

You can bet that the line of Daniel, Henrik Sedin and Alex Burrows will get a steady diet of the Chicago Blackhawks’ No. 1 defensive pairing of Duncan Keith and Brent Seabrook. And if this series is anything like the past two meetings between these teams, the Sedin line will get a hearty helping of the Hawks’ top unit, with Jonathan Toews, Marian Hossa and Patrick Sharp.

“We have such a deep lineup this year, we shouldn’t be worried about those kinds of things,” Daniel said. “If we play against Keith and Seabrook and the Toews line, and we do a good job against them, we know that our other lines are going to step up and win the games for us.

“That’s the mindset we need to have, and maybe we didn’t have that the last few years. We felt we needed to do something more extraordinary.

“We trust other lines to step up and do their jobs.”

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Not a morning person

The fact that Canucks rookie Cody Hodgson prefers not to take morning skates proves that times have indeed changed in the National Hockey League.

There was a time, not long ago, when a rookie would never even consider taking a skate off. But Hodgson, who has had serious back problems in his young career, prefers a workout in the gym to a morning skate.

“It was an optional skate and I do a long workout before,” said Hodgson. “With the pre-game skate it’s a little too much.”

He did canvas the veterans however, knowing that the hockey culture has always frowned on young players who take optional skates off.

“I talked to Manny (Malhotra), (Dan) Hamhuis, (Keith) Ballard,” he said. “They all said the same thing: do what you need to do to be ready for the playoffs. I asked a bunch of the guys, and made sure it was all right.”

Said his coach, Alain Vigneault, “For me, an optional (practice) is an optional. I’m not a believer in morning skates. I just don’t. The twins usually don’t go out, and it’s up to a player to … decide what is best for them to be ready for the game that night. I respect that.”

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Brouwer is in

Big winger Troy Brouwer is in for the Blackhawks, after missing the last three regular season games with a shoulder injury.

“I feel good. Playoff ready,” he said after the morning skate. “The final decision will be made in the coaches’ office, but I’ve told them how I feel.”

Moments later, Blackhawks head coach Joel Quenneville confirmed to the media, “He’s in.”

After disposing of the Canucks the past two years running — much due to the fact that Chicago had a bigger, stronger and better group among its bottom six forwards — salary cap restrictions caused the Hawks to lose Dustin Byfuglien, Andrew Ladd and Ben Eager, among others in the off-season.

Brouwer is another big body that can also play. With third-line centre Dave Bolland sidelined with a concussion — it is unknown if he will make an appearance this series — it was crucial that the Blackhawks at least get Brouwer back.