Canuckz.com » Free Agency

Gillis Re-Signs Raymond for Cheap

Tonyz Tanti — Tue, 27 Jul 2010 21:21:40 +0000

The Canucks announced on Monday that they have re-signed Mason Raymond. The restricted free agent re-signed just minutes before his arbitration case was to be heard. But that’s not the surprising part, the surprising part is that Mike Gillis was able to get Raymond to sign a two year deal, worth $2.55 per season. There’s no doubt in my mind that Raymond would have been awarded more in arbitration, perhaps well more. In fact, most pundits (including myself)were predicting $3 million or more.

This begs the question: why did Raymond settle for less? Was he worried that he would get awarded too much and have the Canucks walk away from the award? Does he just really want to win and knew that a lower cap number would help keep the team together? Or did he just run-in to Mike “the negotiator” Gillis?

Mike Gillis has done a superb job on a number of contracts in his two plus years as Canucks GM. His style seems to lay low, keep quiet and then at the last possible minute offers up his best offer. It’s like playing hard to get. Remember when he re-signed Alex Burrows? Rumours were swirling that Burrows would be traded if he didn’t sign before the deadline, and what do you know, he signs a dirt cheap contract. You could almost just see him starting to sweat, wondering what Gillis was going to do.

The fact that Gillis is a former player agent plays a big part in this also. He knows how players think, what offends them, what impresses them, etc. It’s something that we didn’t see with the last few GMs in this town.

So just how good was this deal? Consider Raymond, a 25 goal scorer is getting $2.55 million and compare that to Clarke MacArthur’s arbitration award ($2.4 million for a 16 goal scorer) or Nikolai Kulemin’s new contract ($2.35 million for a 16 goal scorer). Both of those players are of similar age and clearly not as good as Raymond.

Canucks Sign Three! Hamhuis, Malhotra, Perrault on their way to Vancouver

Tonyz Tanti — Thu, 01 Jul 2010 21:08:54 +0000

Mike Gillis has hit a free agent home run, signing the much coveted Dan Hamhuis to a 6 year deal worth $4.5 million per season. Hamhuis will step-in as their number one shutdown defenceman, replacing Willie Mitchell. He will bring defensive stability and toughness to the blueline.

I like this deal. Hamhuis is only 27 years old, so the six year deal shouldn’t be a problem. Paying him $4.5 million per season suggests that the Smithers, BC native gave the Canucks a bit of a hometown discount. A Bieksa trade can’t be too far away to clear cap space. Perhaps Buffalo would be interested, considering they lost both Henrik Tallinder and Tony Lydman today. The Canucks will be wanting a gritty winger that can score and play on their third line at a low cap hit.

The Canucks have also begun rebuilding their third line, signing Manny Malhotra to a three-year deal worth $2.5 million per season. Malhotra also gets a no trade clause in the deal. I’m not sure what to think about this deal. Malhotra is a centre and if Cody Hodgson is to become what we all hope he will, that will put Malhotra as their 4th line centre. I also don’t like giving a no trade clause to a role player. So this is a bit of a gamble, but it’s a gamble perhaps worth taking. Malhotra can kill penalties, provide size and toughness, and win faceoffs. In fact, Malhotra was the best faceoff man in the league last season, winning 62.5% of his draws last year. I’m a little on the fence with this deal because of the money, but I like it a lot better knowing that it didn’t prevent them from landing Dan Hamhuis.

Mike Gillis also added Joel Perrault to the mix, signing him to a one year deal worth $510,000. The deal is a one-way deal, so the 27 year old will probably play on the fourth line. Perrault is a 6’1″, 200lbs centre who has split time between the NHL and AHL over the last few years.

*Update: It looks like the Canucks signed one more player. Jeff Tambellini (yes, Steve’s son) has signed with the Canucks. A little surprising, I thought Tambellini was an RFA, but apparently he was a UFA. He signed a one-year deal. As long as it’s a two-way contract (*Update: confirmed, it’s a two-way deal), I like the move. He’s a former first round draft pick who is going to get his last chance to become a full time NHL player. Maybe a move back home for the BC boy is what he needs.

Bieksa Being Shopped? Hamhuis on his way to the West Coast? Those Rumours and MORE!

Tonyz Tanti — Thu, 01 Jul 2010 00:22:40 +0000

We’re one day away from the start of NHL free agency and the rumours mill is churning. With respect to Vancouver Canucks, no name has been rumoured more than Kevin Bieksa. With the acquisition of Keith Ballard, many (including yours truly) have theorized that this makes Bieksa a little bit redundant. Personally I think it’s time to ship Bieksa out of town.

Why he needs to go:

Bieksa is now three years removed from his breakout season in which he was the team’s best defenceman. Since then, his play his slipped. He no longer plays with the kind passion and intensity that endeared himself to Canucks fans. He has been able to put up some decent numbers, mostly due to getting a lot of (I believe) undeserved power play time.

Right now Bieksa is an anchor on the Canucks salary cap. He makes $3.75 million, he’s not capable of playing against the other team’s top lines, he’s not good on the penalty kill and is probably their third best defenceman on the power play.

So just what could Bieksa fetch the Canucks? I think they could get a very nice player for their third line in return, or perhaps a draft pick. That draft pick could be used to fetch something at the trading deadline or restock their prospect cupboard.

You may be asking, why on earth would the Canucks trade Kevin Bieksa when their biggest weakness is defense? The answer, I suggest, is that will clear cap space to sign a better free agent defenceman.

Here’s a list of the top free agent defencemen that Mike Gillis should be targetting:

Dan Hamhuis

The numbers: Averaged 21-22 minutes of ice time and is usually a plus player with an average Nashville team. Typically puts up about 25 points per season and rarely gets injured.

Why he would be a good fit: He’s a BC boy and a good stay-at-home defenceman. He would probably step in as the Canucks #1 shutdown defenceman, replacing Willie Mitchell.

What will he cost? There aren’t many good free agent d-men so you’ll probably have to overspend a little. He could make $5 million per season on a long term deal.

Anton Volchenkov

The numbers: He usually averages about 20-21 minutes per night with Ottawa and puts up about 15 points per season. He’s almost always a plus player, playing against the other team’s top lines on a nightly basis. He’s always one of the shot blocking leaders in the league as well.

Why he would be a good fit: Tough, stay-at-home defenceman that plays big minutes and blocks shots against the other team’s top lines. What team wouldn’t want that?

What will he cost? In a similar situation to Hamhuis and will probably fetch about $4-4.5 million

Paul Martin

The numbers: Averages 23-24 minutes per night on a good New Jersey team. Was their #1 defenceman the last few years. Almost always a plus player while putting up 30 points per season and can play on the power play and penalty kill.

Why he would be a good fit: Would step in as the Canucks #1 d-man. He can do it all and eats big minutes.

What will he cost? About $5 million per season.

The Best Fit

Right now Dan Hamhuis and even Anton Volchenkov are getting most of the publicity but I think that Paul Martin might be the best fit for the Canucks. Having a defenceman that can play big minutes and can contribute in all facets of the game is something they sorely lack. With that said, if they can get Hamhuis, Volchenkov or Martin for around $5 million and shed Bieksa’s contract they will be much better off. That kind of a move would be essentially trading your 5th defenceman for your #1 or 2 defenceman for only $1.25 million. If I were a betting man, I would put money on Hamhuis coming here, because he’s a BC boy and probably wants to play in a traditional hockey market after years in Nashville.

The Third Line

Mike Gillis has hinted that he wants to reconstruct his third line, which could come in the way of younger players stepping up like Cody Hodgson and Jordan Schroeder. I don’t think he can bank on that though, and will probably go looking to free agency to help out the third line. There’s been talk of Colby Armstrong coming to town, but he’s going to command over $3 million which is too pricey given their pay structure. Matt Cullen falls much into the same category, but he’s a former client of Gillis, so who knows.

The Bottom Line

The bottom line is that Mike Gillis needs to improve his defence, first and foremost. Going into next season with Keith Ballard instead of Willie Mitchell isn’t going to cut it. Changes need to made and Bieksa is the guy to move. Hamhuis, Volchenkov and Martin will be overpaid, but if they’re not ridiculously overpaid then the Canucks need to try to sign one of them. The third line needs to be improved with some players with grit who can also score, but that’s going to be difficult to add through free agency. Ideally they would add that piece in a trade for Bieksa.

Enjoy the silly season!

Who will stay? Who will go? Mike Gillis’ Offseason Game Plan

Tonyz Tanti — Tue, 29 Jun 2010 08:13:31 +0000

The countdown to the free agent frenzy is on. July 1st marks the first day of free agency 2010 and the Canucks are sure to be busy. The Canucks currently have five regulars scheduled to become unrestricted free agents and four regulars set to become restricted free agents. Clearly not all of them will be back and some new players will be added via free agency. There is also the potential for young players to step into the lineup and more trades to happen. So what will Mike Gillis do? Well, lets try to figure that out right now:

Unrestricted Free Agents:

Willie Mitchell: Perhaps the most valuable Canucks defenceman over the last number of years, most in the know are assuming that the Port Alberni native’s days are numbered in Vancouver. Mitchell, 33, made $3.5 million last season and should still have a couple more very productive years left. If not for his concussion history, I think the Canucks would be wise to re-sign him at the same money for a couple more years. The question is what will he command on the open market? He’ll probably land somewhere in the neighbourhood of $4 million on a short term deal or $3.5 on a 3-4 year deal. I don’t think he’ll be back, but I think they should try to keep him.

Pavol Demitra: Needless to say Demitra will not be back. He had a disappointing two seasons in Vancouver and isn’t a top six forward anymore with the players they have.

Andrew Raycroft: The one-way deal for Cory Schneider means that Raycroft won’t be back, though he was probably destined to go somewhere else anyway where he can get more money and playing time.

Ryan Johnson: Johnson is now 34 years old and has a lot of mileage on his body. His heart is unquestionable but he provides little offense and has lost a step. He had a very poor year on the penalty kill last year and I don’t think he’ll be back. He’ll find another spot in the league most likely, but at less than the $1.15 million he earned last season.

Kyle Wellwood: Sorry to say it, but I think Canuckz.com blogger Sean Ovariez’s favourite player will be playing somewhere else next season. Wellwood is just so inconsistent and doesn’t provide that grit element the Canucks were missing in the playoffs. Add the fact that the Canucks are probably hoping that Cody Hodgson takes over the third line centre role next season and I think the writing is on the wall, but he’ll be missed.

Restricted Free Agents:

Mason Raymond: Raymond will be back, but the question is at what price? A good comparable is Wojtek Wolski, who at a similar age and production just signed a two year deal worth $3.8 million per season. Wolski probably has the better resume thus far, so expect Raymond to make less than that, but not much less. Bet on about $3.2 million per season.

Shane O’Brien: O’Brien got a qualifying offer from the Canucks worth $1.6 million. The question is, is that too much for the role he plays? With the acquisition of Keith Ballard, O’Brien is now sixth on the depth chart. I like O’Brien, but I don’t think you can afford to pay your sixth d-man that kind of coin. He might be trade bait.

Tanner Glass: Glass brought some nice elements to the team last season, but I don’t think he’ll be back. He was good, but the team will probably be looking for more potential in his spot.

Jannik Hansen: Jannik Hansen is an interesting case. He’s still young at age 24, and was actually quite productive. Something tells me he won’t be back though. Perhaps it’s because he’s not Alain Vigneault’s favourite guy or perhaps they just want more grit and toughness on the third/fourth line.

Young Players Ready to Step In:

Cory Schneider: The young netminder signed a two year one-way deal worth $900,000 per season and will be handed the backup job behind Roberto Luongo. Mike Gillis has hinted that Schneider will get more playing time than Luongo’s backups have in the past.

Cody Hodgson: The Canucks most important prospect is now two years removed from his draft year and the team will do anything it can to give him the third line centre job. Assuming that he’s recovered from his injury troubles from last season he should be up for the challenge. Cross your fingers.

Jordan Schroeder: Schroeder didn’t have a great year last season with the University of Minnesota, notching 28 points in 37 games. At the end of the college season, he joined the Manitoba Moose and looked impressive. He put up 9 points in 11 regular season games and 6 points in 6 playoff games. That’s an impressive pro hockey debut, but I’m thinking he’ll probably need some more seasoning in the AHL.

Evan Oberg: In his first season of pro hockey Oberg lead all Moose d-men in scoring at age 21. He’s still young and could challenge for a job with the big club next season He’s probably destined to be a call-up from the Moose though.

Trade Bait:

In my mind the Canucks have a few pieces that could be offered up in a trade. Most notably, Kevin Bieksa could become expendable with the acquisition of Keith Ballard and perhaps the signing of free agent d-man. Shane O’Brien is in much the same situation as Bieksa (overpaid for his spot on the depth chart) and could be on the block. Look for at least one of them to go.

Up front, the trading of Michael Grabner probably solidifies Mason Raymond’s spot with the team. I say probably, because if he demands too much money as a restricted free agent he might be gone. That’s a long shot though. Darcy Hordichuk didn’t play a playoff game last season, but something tells me that he’ll be back.

So Who Will Gillis Bring Into the Fold?

Check back tomorrow when Canuckz.com will take a look at the most likely free agents the Canucks will target on July 1st. We’ll also take a stab at a few juicy trade rumours making the rounds. Remember to follow yours truly on Twitter for all the updates.

Forsberg Update: “Thanks But No Thanks”

Tonyz Tanti — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 20:18:22 +0000

According to the Team 1040, Peter Forsberg has told the Canucks “Thanks but no thanks” in regards to him returning to the NHL. He will apparently return to pro hockey, but with Modo of the Swedish Elite League.

Too bad, he had potential to be a difference maker that could be acquired for nothing. At least he didn’t drag it out like Sundin did last year though.

Hodgson Injury, Vigneault’s Contract, Cloutier’s Comeback and More!

Tonyz Tanti — Tue, 08 Sep 2009 20:02:52 +0000

Nice to see Cody Hodgson back on the ice this week at Canucks prospect camp. Hodgson injured his back from the 120+ games he played at the NHL exhibition/OHL regular season and playoffs/AHL playoffs and had surgery on it over the summer. Everyone is praying that this isn’t going to be a chronic problem that plagues him (that would be just the Canucks luck wouldn’t it?). He’s not participating in any contact drills, so it’s not 100% yet. Here’s hoping that the Canucks don’t rush him at all and allow him to get to 100%. You know a young guy like that with all sorts of expectations will probably want to rush it.

Speaking of prospects camp, anyone else notice that they’re practicing on the old UBC rink (Father Bauer Arena) and not the brand new Thunderbird Arena built for the Olympics? I’ve skated on both and the ice is a lot better in the old rink. Thunderbird Arena is just too warm. They might want to think about that before, say, the world comes to visit.

Seems like Alain Vigneault is a lame duck coach… for now at least. That shouldn’t last long though, Mike Gillis has said that he wants to extend the entire coaching staff. The question is, when? Gillis said that he wanted to do that in May, so you’d wonder why it would take until September for it to happen. That said, that seems to be Gillis’ style, so expect Vigneault to get an extension soon.

Nice to see Dan Cloutier is at least on the NHL radar again. Cloutier is trying out for the Detroit Red Wings. There’s no guaranteed money for him, but if he impresses, he could be Chris Osgood’s backup (which is interesting as they are both known for giving up goals from centre ice, but I digress). I hope Cloutier finds a way back to the NHL. He’s been criticized heavily, often warranted, but often unwarranted as well. Most of his poor play was injury-based. He was a middle of the road starting goalie when healthy.

Keeping the theme of former Canucks going, nice to see Taylor Pyatt finally found a new team. Pyatt signed a one-year deal with the Hamilton Phoenix Coyotes last week. It would have been sad to see him lose his job/lifestyle in the NHL after all he has already had to deal with.

How good has Sergei Shirokov looked so far at prospect’s camp? Well, he’s being compared to Austin Powers. Is that a good thing? I’m not sure, but video clips like the one below are nice to see:

It’s Official, Luongo Signs a 12 Year Deal!

Tonyz Tanti — Wed, 02 Sep 2009 15:51:51 +0000

The Vancouver Canucks have just announced that Roberto Luongo has re-signed, to the tune of a 12-year deal! No word yet on the official dollar amount, but it was rumoured to be a $64 million dollar deal (that’s $5.3 million per season). If that dollar figure is correct, it has the potential to do a lot of things.

This will make the Canucks more competitive in the short term, no question. Luongo is really a $7 million goalie. Having him on the hook for almost $2 million under market value will allow the Canucks to go out and sign a $6 million player instead of a $4 million player, which is significant. That’s the difference between signing a 1st liner or a 2nd liner.

Short term is clear, but long term isn’t as much. If Luongo plays out the balance of his contract, it will pay him $5.3 million per season until he is 42. I don’t know of any goalie in NHL history that was worth that much money in his 40s. Of course if the salary cap goes down, this will be magnified, and if it goes up, this will be minimized.

The scenario that Mike Gillis is probably banking on though, is the scenario where Luongo is a bargain for the next 5-6 years, and retires at the point where he is no longer an elite goaltender. Luongo strikes me as the type that would do that anyway (how many elite goaltenders become backups at the end of their career?).

D-men Bonanza! Schneider, Ehrhoff and Lukowich on Their Way to Vancouver

Tonyz Tanti — Sat, 29 Aug 2009 21:44:23 +0000

Mike Gillis had a busy day on Friday, signing Mathieu Schneider and acquiring Christian Ehrhoff and Brad Lukowich in exchange for Daniel Rahimi and Canuckz.com favourite, Patrick White (that was sarcasm by the way). Lets take an in-depth look at everyone they acquired and everyone they let go:

Who did they let go?

Patrick White

Drafted in the first round in 2007 by former GM Dave Nonis, White appears destined to be yet another first round bust. The Canucks went off the board a bit to take him (he was projected to go in the 2nd round), and it looks like a mistake. In two years with the University of Minnesota, White has 26 points in 81 games. Last season he finished 10th in scoring on his team. If White turns out to be an NHL player, it’ll be a shock, if he turns into a star, it’ll be a miracle.

Daniel Rahimi

A third round pick from the 2006 draft, Rahimi hasn’t shown much promise. He hasn’t been exactly knocking on the door fighting for an NHL spot, and was probably let go because they don’t see him making much of an impact in his career.

Who did they acquire?

Christian Ehrhoff

Ehrhoff was the key to the deal with the Sharks. The smooth skating 27 year old German has been a consistent point producer over the last four seasons. He’s a “puck moving defenceman”, and excels on the power play. The Sharks got rid of him to shed salary, even though he has a pretty fair deal, paying him $3.1 million per season for the next two years.

Brad Lukowich

Brad Lukowich will bring experience, dependability and two Stanley Cup Rings to the Canucks blue line. He has one year left on his deal with a cap hit of $1.567 million. Not bad for a guy with his experience who is still only 32 years old. He’s also a BC boy.

Mathieu Schneider

Old man Schneider is now 40 years old, but he had a very productive season last year. Once re-acquired by Montreal, he kick-started their power play until getting injured. That’s the key with Schneider, how much gas does he have left in the tank, and can he stay healthy? Time will tell. Still a good signing, as it’s low risk (a one year deal worth reportedly $1.5 million) and potentially high reward. Schneider is a proven power play specialist, something the Canucks desperately needed. He also has a Stanley Cup ring, which now gives the Canucks three players on their roster that have won a Stanley Cup. I can’t remember the last time the Canucks were able to say that.

What now?

So what’s next? The Canucks now possess 8 NHL d-men making more than $1.5 million and 14 NHL calibre forwards. They’re also over the salary cap. This means that someone has to go, and probably a defenceman. You can’t have two defencemen sitting in the press box making more than $1.5 million a season. So who is on the way out? Some were speculating Bieksa on the radio Friday afternoon, but I can’t see Gillis getting rid of a guy like that. It remains to be seen who goes, but don’t count out Gillis asking Mitchell or Salo to waive their no-trade clauses.

Meet “THE GERMANATOR”!

Blast From the Past… Scatchard Attempts Comeback with Canucks

Tonyz Tanti — Thu, 27 Aug 2009 08:42:25 +0000

In the latest development in what can now be considered an unusual career, the pride of Salmon Arm, Dave Scatchard will be trying out with the Canucks in training camp. Scatchard began his career with Vancouver as a 21 year old in 1997. He was a 2nd round pick of Pat Quinn (makes sense, Pat Quinn LOVED picking big centres, regardless of skill sometimes), but only proved to be a serviceable checking centre with some bad Canucks teams of the late 90s.

Scatchard was part of the trade that was supposed to fix the Canucks goaltending woes (of course it didn’t) when he was shipped off with Bill Muckalt and Kevin Weekes for Felix Potvin. With the Islanders, Scatchard had 4+ productive seasons, notching 27 goals in 2002-03. Inexplicably, his career took a nose dive after the lockout. He signed a big four year contract with Boston, was traded to Phoenix after only 16 games, and then had two sub-par seasons with the Coyotes before getting his contract bought out. Injuries contributed to this, but he still had an amazingly quick exit from the league, playing his last NHL game at only age 31.

Scatchard is only 33 years old at the moment, which should suggest that he may have something to give. That being said, I would be downright shocked if he made the team with players like Ryan Johnson and Rick Rypien already signed to contracts. Best case scenario for Scatchard: he signs a league minimum salary two-way deal and then gets called-up to play on the 4th line when Rick Rypien inevitably gets injured. If he gets that and shows what he can do, maybe he can get his NHL career back on track. It’d be great to see him make it back in the league, but I just don’t see it happening.

My best memory of Scatchard will ALWAYS be when he fought Joe Thornton…

Reports Say Mathieu Schneider is Soon To Be a Canuck

Tonyz Tanti — Mon, 24 Aug 2009 23:50:15 +0000

Dan Murphy of Sportsnet is reporting that the Canucks are about to sign Mathieu Schneider. That’s a pretty reliable source, which could mean that Gillis has finally found his puck moving defenceman. I know he’s old, but at the right price (about $2 million per season lets say?), he’s a perfect fit. Stay tuned…

Update: still nothing new to report, he’s probably coming to Vancouver, but nothing has been announced yet. While we wait for an announcement, how about a look back at one of the better moments in Schneider’s career, the 1993 Stanley Cup Final (Desjardins gets the goals, but Schneider’s on the other point!). Enjoy!