I was just thinking that Cody Hodgson is one lucky fellow.

Here he is called up to play with the Canucks in the post-season by an organization and management that clearly has faith and confidence in his abilities and talent.   This follows a couple of years during which he has been injured and his high draft ranking has continually been questioned by disgruntled Canucks fans who were disappointed that he didn't step into the line-up straight out of his first training camp.  The "where's Cody Hodgson?" debate raged all season and has just enjoyed a revival in these pages as press and fans alike wondered when the promise that he showed in Junior was going to make itself available to our beloved Canucks.  He has been reviled by some as another Canucks draft pick bust and he hasn't even had a full season in the bigs yet.

He is not the first to experience the bitterness of Canucks Nation at what was felt to be under delivering on draft day promise.  That is why he is such a lucky fellow.

Daniel and Henrik Sedin have, over the years, developed into outstanding hockey players, winners of Art Ross Trophies, Hart Trophies and numerous in-house awards.  No longer "The Sedin Sisters', soft Swedish players with no hands and no foot speed, they have transmogrified into two of the finest players in the NHL, both in the top five in point production this season.

They have also turned into magnificent leaders on the ice and in the locker room.  It is not too much of a stretch to say that their strong, quiet, committed personalities have been adopted by the team which now emulates them in confidence, discipline, work ethic and character.

Don't you think that Daniel and Henrik wont have gone to Cody and said "listen kid, we know just how you feel.  We are the Sedin Sisters. We had all this weight of disappointed expectation on our shoulders too and we are here to tell you that you will get through it."  As the Sedins had Trevor Linden to keep them pointed in the right direction, Cody has the twins and what better role models could he have?

That is not to discount the other magnificent examples of the effect of character, hard work and commitment he sees in the locker room every day; Roberto Luongo, Manny Malhotra, Ryan Kesler, Alex Burrows, Michael Samuellson, Dan Hamhuis and on and on the list goes.

Yes, Cody is a very lucky guy and we Canucks fans are very lucky because at the end of the day, and it won't necessarily be a short process, we are going to end up watching and admiring the exploits of a very special hockey player.

Enjoy your playoffs Cody.  Suck up all the experience and knowledge that you can because we will be watching you pay it back for years to come.