"Near the end of the Vancouver Canucks' practice here Friday, Daniel and Henrik Sedin quietly explained to Byron Bitz how the National Hockey League's top-ranked power play operates and what it would require from the winger.

Bitz has had innumerable conversations about hockey over the last two years.

Sometimes the talks were about his confounding injury issues or whether his fourth surgery would be his last or maybe even what he might do if he never played again because, although Bitz has an Ivy League business degree, the only thing he really likes besides hockey is working his uncle's farm outside Saskatoon.

But we can safely say that Friday's briefing was the first time the 27-year-old winger has been counselled by a pair of NHL scoring champions about what to do on the Canucks' power play.

A week ago, Bitz was in the minors. A month before that, he was unsure if his pro career could really be restarted.

And come Saturday, against the Calgary Flames (7 p.m., CBC, Team 1040), Bitz will skate again on the top line beside the Sedins as the Canucks try to sweep a four-game road trip."