by Sports Xchange

It should also benefit linemate Alex Burrows, who was dropped from the top unit for long stretches after Daniel was hurt and has struggled with nagging hip and hip flexor injuries. Burrows has scored just two goals since Daniel got hurt, and one of the goals was an empty-netter. Burrows, who was better in picking up a key assist Friday against Colorado, scored most of his career-best 28 goals after joining the Sedins late last season.

--C/RW Pavol Demitra appears to be ahead of schedule in his comeback from a second shoulder surgery, and the top-six forward was expected to take a big step toward returning by skating on his own sometime before Sunday's game against Chicago -- the team he originally hurt the shoulder against during last year's playoffs. Demitra tore his rotator cuff in the front and back when he tried to check Blackhawks defenseman Brian Campbell into the end boards early in the second-round series and had surgery to repair the damage in the offseason. He was hoping to be back in October, but recurring pain required a second operation,and pushed his return to January or even February. Now there's some talk he could be back by the end of December.

"That's what we're looking for, and we're hoping it's before that," general manager Mike Gillis told the Vancouver Province. "For him to skate means he has to have the least amount of pain because you never just skate. There's a puck there and you've got to play with it and it affects the shoulder."

--D Willie Mitchell can't seem to stay out of the spotlight against the Chicago Blackhawks. During last season's playoffs, the Canucks' shutdown defenseman made disparaging remarks about pint-sized Chicago star Patrick Kane's unwillingness to venture into high traffic areas after the first game, comments Kane mentioned after scoring three goals in the Game 6 elimination of the Canucks. This season it's a clean but wicked check on Chicago captain Jonathan Toews in the first meeting that has the focus back on Mitchell, who stepped out of the penalty box and into Toews with a thunderous but clean hit that left the latter barely able to get off the ice and out with a concussion for two weeks. It sparked the Canucks to a come-from-behind 3-2 win and was the talk of the town as the two prepared to face each other again for the first time Sunday. But Mitchell, who seemed genuinely concerned about Toews' health after the last game and has since spoken to him about the incident, didn't want to talk much about it. "It's just hockey, it was on the ice, it was a clean hit," Mitchell, who didn't leave his feet or lead with his elbow, said Saturday. "Ask Jon about it. He'll tell you that, too."

QUOTE TO NOTE: "Ever since the regular season started, he's skating the puck out of our zone, he's joining the rush when that opportunity is there. Everything we want our defensemen to do, he's doing it. He's been real dependable defensively. I think he's been our best plus-minus player. We're real happy with his contributions." -- Canucks coach Alain Vigneault on D Christian Ehrhoff, who was acquired from San Jose late in the summer and leads the defense in scoring with five goals and 15 points and the entire team with a plus-11 rating before Sunday.