Canuckz.com » Signing

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.

Summer Tidbits: Ring of Honour Plus Bieksa, Raymond and Demitra News

Tonyz Tanti — Thu, 15 Jul 2010 21:29:45 +0000

It went somewhat under the radar because it was reported the same day as Markus Naslund’s jersey retirement was announced, but the Canucks have announced that they will be having a “ring of honour” at Rogers Arena. The idea behind the ring of honour is that they will be able to honour some players from the past that don’t quite deserve to have their jersey retired.

Is this a good idea? In a way I like the idea of honouring past players in a way other than jersey retirement, but just what will be the criteria to get on the ring? Four players will be honoured this year, beginning with Orland Kurtenbach. The other three have yet to be announced.

Maybe I’m overly skeptical, but I can see this “ring of honour” becoming a bit of a joke. Lets be honest here, the Canucks do not have a great history. A long history, sure, but not a great history. I’m sure Orland Kurtenbach was/is a great guy and he was their first captain, but he’s the first member of the ring of honour? Kurtenbach played only four years in Vancouver, never played a game in the playoffs for them, and put up point totals of 53, 61, 28 and 21 in blue and green. He’s currently 46th in Canucks all-time scoring (one point ahead of Mark Messier).

So is the ring of honour for ‘good guys’ like Kurtenbach and guys like Tiger Williams, Dana Murzyn and Harold Snepsts? Or is it for their greatest players, like Pavel Bure, Alex Mogilny and Todd Bertuzzi? Personally, I think it should encompass both. If you aren’t one of the top players in the history of the team, you’re out. If you embarrassed the club like Bertuzzi, you’re out. If you turned your back on the city like Bure, you’re out.

So who should make it in? They probably will not feel a need to honour the guys who have already had their number retired like Smyl, Linden and Naslund, so it should be the next group of guys who were the best players for a number of years while maintaining a minimum level of class. Thomas Gradin is a no brainer in my opinion. He’s the most unappreciated Canuck of all time. He was perhaps a better player than Stan Smyl was, yet gets no publicity while Smyl gets a tonne.Very similar to way we look at Trevor Linden versus Markus Naslund.

Other players that should get consideration? Don Lever, Andre Boudrias and Dennis Kearns from the 1970s, Richard Brodeur (along with Gradin) from the 1982 Cup finalist team, Tony Tanti and Doug Lidster from those terrible teams in the 1980s, and Kirk McLean, Jyrki Lumme and Cliff Ronning from the 1994 cup finalist team. Honourable mentions go to Geoff Courtnall, Greg Adams and Petri Skriko. Harold Snepsts, Garth Butcher and Tiger Williams will probably get consideration too, but probably shouldn’t.

Bieksa’s Not Gone Yet

Kind of interesting that the trigger hasn’t been pulled on Kevin Bieksa… yet. Is it possible that Mike Gillis is planning to keep all of his d-men this year? That would make six d-men making over $3 million plus Shane O’Brien ($1.6 million). I still think Gillis has to make a move and certainly Bieksa is the man to go, but with every passing day without a trade the chances of Bieksa staying increase.

Apparently there is a lot of interest in Bieksa. Ben Kuzma (the Kooze!) of the Province figures that Anaheim, Los Angeles, Dallas, San Jose and Columbus are all interested. I can’t see the Canucks wanting to help LA or San Jose, but the other three make sense to me. Obviously trading to a team in the east is the best option though.

What’s Raymond Worth?

I guess it depends on who his comparables are. Wojtek Wolski just signed for $3.8 million and Guillaume Latendresse signed for $2.5 million. Safe to say Raymond falls somewhere in that range, so perhaps $3 million? What do you think? Lets hear your opinion in the comments section.

Demitra Signs in the KHL

As expected, Pavol Demitra will not be returning to the Canucks this season, signing a deal in the KHL. His NHL career is likely over but perhaps we’ll see him again at the Olympics in 2014. Once a great player with the Blues, he never made it to the Stanley Cup finals in his career. This past season with the Canucks was injury riddled, and his previous season was sub-par. His absence will be felt in the shootout though, where he was one of the team’s best. We will also miss his crazy interview ramblings.

Ryan Kesler Re-Signs

Tonyz Tanti — Fri, 19 Mar 2010 16:42:40 +0000

Great news for Canucks fans. The Canucks announced this morning that Ryan Kesler has signed a six year contract extension with the team. Kesler has proven that he can not only be a checker, but a scorer as well. He’s one of the best second line centres in the league, and could win the Selke Trophy this season. As early as the start of last season, nobody thought he had the potential to be the offensive producer that he is today. Again, it’s great news, depending on the price of course. If I were to guess I would say it’s worth between $4.5 and $5 million.

Update: Terms of the deal just released, $30 million over 6 seasons ($5 million per season).

Nazzy’s Coming Out of Retirement! To Play in Sweden….

Tonyz Tanti — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 18:23:33 +0000

It appears that Markus Naslund and Peter Forsberg will be returning to pro hockey together, playing for their hometown team of Modo in Sweden. The two of them are clearly very loyal to Modo, as they are reportedly going to play for FREE! This will mark the third (and presumably final) time that Forsberg and Naslund have played together for Modo. The two played together previously for Modo before their NHL careers and during the lockout canceled season in 2005-06.

The most interesting part of this new development could be the impact on Team Sweden for the Olympics in February. Forsberg has reportedly shown interest in playing in February but up to this point, Naslund hasn’t. He may or may not be interested, but if Naslund and Forsberg click well together in Modo, why wouldn’t Naslund want to have his swan song in the Olympics? It would mark his first return to play hockey in Vancouver since he last played for the team in 2008. He also missed the chance to play for Team Sweden in the 2006 Olympics, thus missing a chance at a gold medal. Consider further that Team Sweden doesn’t exactly have the best depth right now, and I think there’s an outside chance that Naslund could be in the 2010 Olympics.

The Return of Matt Pettinger and Your Daily Injury Update

Tonyz Tanti — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 00:53:07 +0000

How bad are the Canucks injury woes? Well, they’ve brought back a Tampa Bay Lightning cast-off! Yeeesh. Actually, I don’t mind this signing. Matt Pettinger was re-signed by Mike Gillis yesterday. With all their injuries at the moment, bringing a veteran NHL forward who can skate and kill penalties probably isn’t a bad idea. He’ll be here on a temporary basis in all likelihood though. The best they can hope for is a Trent Klatt effect. Klatt was sent down to the minors early in his Canucks tenure, and when he came back up was a changed man. His intensity was up considerably and he became an effective player. Surely, Pettinger will be a motivated player.

Speaking of Canucks injuries, this is getting ridiculous. In what seems like a daily injury update, Michael Grabner will be lost for six weeks with a fractured ankle. Amazing how you can be chased around at high speed by 220 lb defencemen for your career and it’s casually kicking a soccer ball that knocks you out.

After watching the following video I started to think that maybe Canuckz.com should consider spicing up its injury updates? Just a thought…

Vigneault Signs Extension

Tonyz Tanti — Thu, 24 Sep 2009 16:46:50 +0000

The Canucks have just announced that Alain Vigneault has signed a three year contract extension. The contract takes him through the 2012-13 season. While most everyone agrees that re-signing Vigneault is a good thing (except those bandwagon douchebags, of course), what are the odds of a coach lasting seven years with one team? That’s what Vigneault will have done if he coaches to the end of this contract. Seeing as how the Aquilini family is footing the bill, so long as this contract doesn’t make Gillis more hesitant to make a decision with his coach, this will prove to be a positive move.

In other news, the Canucks trimmed their roster today, with no major surprises. Dave Scatchard was released and may have played his last NHL game. Yann Sauve is on his way back to junior while most of the others will play in Manitoba. Interestingly, Mark Parrish was not on the list of cuts (although still a long shot in my opinion).

Update: so long Mark Parrish

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?).

Canucks Reportedly Re-Sign Luongo

Tonyz Tanti — Tue, 01 Sep 2009 06:08:17 +0000

According to Sportsnet, the Canucks have re-signed franchise player and team captain Roberto Luongo. Apparently the term and salary have been agreed upon, so only minor details remain to be worked out. This shouldn’t come as a surprise to Canucks fans, but it’s definitely great news. Remember all those bandwagon douchebags calling for the Canucks to trade Luongo after the Canucks were bounced in the 2nd round by Chicago? Luckily Mike Gillis isn’t smoking the same thing they were, and realizes the value of a top goalie.

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”!

Luongo To Sign Extension Soon?

Tonyz Tanti — Wed, 26 Aug 2009 06:57:16 +0000

Reports are circulating that Luongo is about to sign a six year deal worth over $6.5 million per season. If this is true, it would make sense for them to announce it after the Olympic orientation camp (as to not upstage that event) and to do it while Luongo is in Western Canada, where he can fly to Vancouver after the orientation camp (I assume he has spent most of the offseason in Miami or Montreal).

If it’s a six year deal worth under $7 million per season, I think it’s a steal for the Canucks. Don’t believe the bandwagon douchebags that think you can’t win with a high priced goalie. They’re the same douchebags that were saying you can’t win the Cup with a Swedish captain (until Lidstrom did it in 2008) and that you had to be filled with a bunch of goons after Anaheim won the Cup in 2007 (Pittsburgh won without any last year). The fact of the matter is that there are many ways to win a Cup and you don’t have to play this ridiculous copy-cat game to do it.