It was the first shot across the bow, albeit done in jest. But Canucks GM Mike Gillis evoked the Kyle Wellfed image of last September when, responding to a question from state-of-the-union dinner emcee Barry McDonald earlier this summer, Gillis cracked that he knew for sure that Kyle Wellwood liked to eat.

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It broke up the room and was obviously said tongue-in-cheek, but it was a reminder that at today's arbitration hearing between the club and Wellwood, shots will be taken.

The most famous exchange between management and players at these rare hearings came when Brian Burke was GM and Brendan Morrison was centring the West Coast Express, with Markus Naslund and Todd Bertuzzi on his high-flying wings.

"His agent tried to say Brendan was the 'straw that stirred the drink,'" Burke said to laughter at a past state-of-the-union, held to give season-ticket holders a chance to hear management and coaches speak in a light-hearted setting.

What Burke didn't add was the Canucks, at the Morrison hearing, had told a parable about a mouse crossing a river on the back of an elephant, then taking equal credit for the crossing.

Morrison, of course, was supposed to be the mouse.

We don't know what will be said today at Wellwood's hearing.

The Canucks offered a slight increase on his salary of $997,500 last season; Wellwood wants more.

If the Canucks don't like the arbitrator's ruling, the team could walk away and Wellwood would be a free agent.

Below are five reasons the Canucks should walk -- and five reasons they shouldn't.

TALENT:

On the one hand: Wellwood is an elite puck-handler, he sees the ice as well as anyone, has great hand-eye coordination and he can slow down the game, calming things for his excited teammates.

On the other hand: He worked his way off the second line to the third and even some fourth-line duty, with seven healthy scratches thrown in.

FITNESS:

On the one hand: Wellwood, partly with the help of a Canucks cook making meals for him earlier last season, worked hard (for him, anyway) on conditioning. This gave him up to 18:30 of ice time in the playoffs.

On the other hand: It's become part of local folklore, Pudge Wellwood appearing at training camp looking more like the Pillsbury Doughboy than Drew Doughty, being sent away by Alain Vigneault to train for a second/final physical. Wellwood got fitter, but in October was placed on waivers for the second time in four months. This time no one claimed him and he was planning to play in Russia before a Pavol Demitra rib injury created an open spot for him on the roster.

CONSISTENCY:

On the one hand: Wellwood had six goals in his first eight games after he rejoined the club for an Oct. 13 game. He had 13 by Boxing Day (31 games), including eight on the power play. In the playoffs, he became a playmaker again, notching six points in 10 games. He had the club's highest winning percentage in the faceoff circle (57.7)

On the other hand: The centre had a 21-game goalless stretch and scored just five goals after Boxing Day. And, although known as a set-up man over his spotted career, he had just nine assists in 74 regular-season game.

DEFENCE:

On the one hand: After an autumn epiphany, Wellwood embraced two-way play to the point that associate coach Rick Bowness was saying by season's end that Wellwood was "our best forward at coming down low and helping our defence break out. He has the ability to come in, sniff out the loose puck and he's so calm with it that he never throws it away, never turns it over."

On the other hand: Wellwood was minus-1 in the playoffs -- only four forwards were on the ice for more equal-strength goals by St. Louis and Chicago. He's slow and too small to be physical.

FIRE IN THE BELLY:

On the one hand: He's only 5-foot-10 and (depending on the time of year) 180 to 195 pounds, but shrugged off back-to-back high sticks to the face in the playoffs when, in the same game, Andrew Ladd high-sticked him above the eye and Patrick Kane slashed him in the mouth. Both penalties were four minutes, Ladd's requiring five stitches, Kane's resulting in a cut lip, a tooth knocked out and some spitting of blood. He's never been shy of going to get the puck off the boards or in the corners, either.

On the other hand: When Vigneault called him out at training camp, indeed when the coach singled him out throughout the campaign even to the point of scratching him from the lineup, Wellwood responded like a surfer dude shrugging his shoulders after his dad had bailed him out.

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