"Sami Salo, Dan Hamhuis and Keith Ballard aren't the only defencemen who have been missing from the Vancouver Canucks lineup of late.

Kevin Bieksa, or at least a part of him, has joined them. That would be the scoring part.

Bieksa, whose offence has always been a significant part of his contribution to the Canucks, has been held without a point through the team's first nine games.

"I was wondering when this [question] was going to come," Bieksa said after the Canucks' practice Sunday.

Bieksa's pointless streak matches the longest of his NHL career and has him searching for answers.

"Obviously I'm not happy about it, but we're winning," he said. "I watched my last game — my wife PVR'd it — and I watched the whole game thinking, 'What's going on here?' I could have had five assists that game, you know, posts that other guys hit and stuff. I'm not too worried about it."

In his five NHL seasons Bieksa has been close to a point-every-other-game player. In 290 NHL games, he has 125 points. He was a big offensive contributor in last year's playoffs when he had eight points in 12 games.

"You know what, it's been a slow start," he said. "Obviously, I'm not getting as many pucks on net as I'd like. But when I think back, I've had chances, I've had numerous chances and it's just a matter of bearing down when you do have those chances and getting pucks on net and shooting a little bit more.

"I'm thinking a little too much pass. We're nine games in, I know it's not ideal, but they are going to come."

For Bieksa, it's been a difficult start to a season that was preceded by a summer that was filled with trade rumours. Before Salo went down with a serious Achilles tendon injury, many were convinced Bieksa was going to be moved by general manager Mike Gillis.

Those rumours could resurface if Salo returns to the lineup as expected early in the new year. Bieksa's salary cap hit of $3.75 million and the fact he is an unrestricted free agent at the end of the season don't work in his favour when you consider the Canucks have six defencemen earning more than $3 million a season."