Canucks' Ballard tested in bench role
By Jason Botchford, The ProvinceJanuary 14, 2012
Keith Ballard gets up from underneath Alexander Sulzer during Vancouver Canucks practice at Rogers Arena in Vancouver, B.C., Dec. 27, 2011. Ballard is behind Sulzer on the Canucks' depth chart.
Photograph by: Arlen Redekop, PNGKeith Ballard can never quite catch a break.
He was benched in St. Louis Thursday, in a game the Canucks defence surrendered the puck so frequently, it would have been easy for him to look good. Even on a bad day. Compounding it, Alex Sulzer, the surprise
starter, blocked a shot with his jaw and kept on playing. In the post-game analysis, head coach Alain Vigneault gave Sulzer a little love, underscoring the harsh reality which faces Ballard.
As a Canuck, he has never played better than he has since November.
That's by Ballard's account, and his coach's.
In 17 games, he was a plus-5 with five points. He has consciously dimmed some of the "flash" in his game, trying to provide Vigneault with what he wanted. That's less puck carrying, fewer risks and more dull. Think
of a swashbuckler without the swash and without the buckling.
But after Sami Salo suffered a concussion on that low-bridge Brad Marchand cheap shot, surprisingly - or not - Ballard was benched, passed yet again on the depth chart. He's expected to be a healthy scratch again Sunday against Anaheim. Whatever changes he's made to tailor his game to be the reliable third-pairing blueliner, it's not been enough.
"I was disappointed for sure," Ballard said. "I think I've been playing well since the middle of November. It's been my most consistent hockey since I've been here.
"I've done a lot of work mentally from last year to this year. Maybe last year at this time, I would have been doubting myself a little bit or wondering what's going on or trying to change my game or change something about my game.
"But that's not the case. That's not how I feel right now, and that's not what I'm going to do. I am mentally a 100 times stronger than I felt last year."
In revealing last year was far more difficult than he ever let on, Ballard is saying he's picked up some coping mechanisms along the way.
"After going through it, I've put in a lot of work in how to deal with adversity, and how to prepare myself better," Ballard said. "I've learned how to reflect on a game, whether it's mid-game, or mid-shift. A lot of guys think if they make two great plays they had a great game.
But that's two shifts out of 20 that you did something. What did you do the other 18?"
This time Ballard's adversity is sitting for Sulzer, and dealing with rumours the Canucks could look to trade him because he's expensive and unlikely to play much in Vancouver's top four, even if there are a series of injuries.
Sulzer is something of a journeyman who signed a two-way deal with Vancouver in the off-season because the Canucks were the only team which strongly suggested he'd have a decent chance of making the team out of
training camp.
Sulzer isn't just a fun name to say. He has a good story. He's the son of a former German Elite League player, and he's played for Germany twice at the Olympics, including in 2010. He remembers being matched up against the line of Jarome Iginila, Sidney Crosby and Eric Staal in the quarterfinal playoff game. Canada won 8-2 and Sulzer was a minus-4. It still irks him.
"I wasn't happy at all about it and I'm still not," Sulzer said.
He has some fire. Still, Sulzer's favourite line, is interesting.
"I've heard him say this quite a few times to coaches and teammates, 'Any day in the NHL is a good day,'" Vigneault said. "I think he's embracing the fact he is in the best league and when he gets an opportunity to play, he's come in and done a good job for us."
Sulzer is just happy to be here, content to be a depth guy who plays occasionally. In that spot, he's been just fine. But the expectations for Ballard were much higher than competing with Sulzer for playing time.
"At the beginning of the year, I was up and down," Ballard said. "There were games when I was skating 100 mph and making plays and then there were games where I'd have three turnovers, and I was a minus-2. It was
too much like that.
"Since mid-November, I've taken it back at both ends. There's less risk in my game. You see less flash. You see less of me trying to skate through guys and trying to do all that. I've simplified things a lot.
"In the role I'm in, that style probably best suits where I am on this team."
But that reigned-in "flash" is the reason he's making $4.2 million and a reason the Canucks went out and made the trade for him in the first place. Watching him skate, especially on one of his end-to-end rushes,
you can still see why the Canucks thought he'd be a nice fit for their up-tempo attack. Even if those rushes, never seem to go anywhere.
"But with that way of playing comes maybe a mistake or two, that I don't know if I have the leeway to make, you know?" Ballard said.
"It's not my concern to worry about whether that (lack of leeway) is fair. All that will do for me is lead to negative things and it will affect my play. I don't bother with that."
Has he lost the confidence of the coaching staff?
"It doesn't matter to me," he said. "I know the things I have to do to be successful.
"A lot of guys on this team could go to another team and play a bigger role. But if you want to be part of a successful, winning team, you have accept what you're given and do the best with it.
"For me, that's what I'd rather do. I'd rather be on a successful team than play more."
jbotchford@theprovince.com 
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