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Tagged: Free Agency

Canucks Free Agent Targets

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Canucks Free Agent Targets

Photo credit: Vancouver Province Still yet to re-sign Chris Tanev and already short on salary cap space, don’t expect the Vancouver Canucks to make any splashes tomorrow morning. This won’t be like free agent frenzies of the past, meaning anyone expecting to sign players of the Dan Hamhuis or Jason Garrison ilk can keep dreaming. That means you can write off Jarome Iginla, Nathan Horton, and Mike Ribeiro. Instead, Mike Gillis and the management team would be best served finding diamonds in the rough; players who come at a low salary and term and be excellent stop gaps while the...

The Reality of RFA’s and Offer Sheets

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The Reality of RFA’s and Offer Sheets

Have you ever wondered why “armchair GM” is spoken with sneers one might reserve for a villain in a cartoon? It isn’t because thinking up potential deals your favorite team might make is a bad thing. Actually, it’s a fun way for us fans to keep ourselves entertained during the off-season when there’s no sports on TV…just games like baseball, golf and the occasional monster truck rally on Sunday, Sunday, SUNDAY. It’s only natural to want your team to improve in the way that you want it to. But the reason armchair GM is sort of derogatory is because the...

Out of Town Notebook: 30 Teams, Many Moves

Blog / Out of Town Notebook

Out of Town Notebook: 30 Teams, Many Moves

Don’t let anyone ever tell you there aren’t trades to be made in a salary-capped NHL. Philadelphia got the NHL summer silly-season underway with a stunning move that sent Mike Richards and Jeff Carter to Los Angeles and Columbus, respectively. Then they signed Ilya Bryzgalov to a nine-year deal. Not quite sure how this makes the Flyers better for the 2011-12 season, but the Kings and Blue Jackets certainly are. Other deals over the weekend came fast and furious: The Buffalo Sabres signaled they’ve got cash by acquiring Robyn Regehr for a bag of pucks. The San Jose Sharks signaled...

Is there room on the roster for Hansen?

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Is there room on the roster for Hansen?

According to a Danish website, the Vancouver Canucks have offered Jannik Hansen a new two-way contract; however, Hansen is looking for a one-way deal. Hansen was one of only 4 Canucks given a qualifying offer – O’Brien (since signed to a 1-year, $1.6 million deal), Wellwood (going arbitration) and McIver are the others – is obviously a sign that the team wants him back. The above-mentioned piece even provides a quote from Canucks GM Mike Gillis (rough translation from Google): There’s no limit to how far Jannik Hansen can go. With his quick skating and ability to go straight to...

Canucks Ink New Backup and Bring Back O’Brien

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Canucks Ink New Backup and Bring Back O’Brien

In the Canucks busiest day of free agency, if you can call it that, the Canucks have inked a new backup to sit with Luongo – former Colorado Avalanche goalie Andrew Raycroft. Raycroft after having a terrible season with a struggling Avalanche team gives the Canucks a solid backup behind Roberto. Raycroft who cannot be a starter would make a solid backup for the Canucks and as it is it’s hard to find a goalie that wants to play second fiddle to a superstar when they’re likely only going to see 12 games a year. His deal is for $500,000...

Canucks Sign Tanner Glass and Announce Prospects Roster

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Canucks Sign Tanner Glass and Announce Prospects Roster

Mike Gillis took another dip into the free agent market to pick up a supposed-to-be RFA who became a UFA due to fumbled paper work on the Panther’s part. Tanner Glass a former Florida Panther signed a 2 way deal for 500,000 and is a physical, energetic, two-way forward that occasionally drops the gloves and is the first to protect his team mates. The Canucks also released their Prospects Camp Roster yesterday. The annual prospects camp begins next week and takes the rookies through a variety of activities from on ice practices to dryland workouts and a race up the...

Free Agency – How Much is Mats Worth?

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Free Agency – How Much is Mats Worth?

As free agency rolls along, as last year, Mats is is no hurry whatsoever to get a deal. This time around though it plays into the Canucks favour, for the time being at least, as it allows Gillis to focus his efforts on signing other key UFAs and RFAs before dealing with the veteran Swede. I wrote in an earlier post that I thought Mats was worth only 2 million a year for another year in a Canucks uniform and it seems a lot of people think I’m absolutely crazy for thinking he’ll even consider that kind of money. Other...

Canucks sign Mikael Samuelsson to 3 years

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Canucks sign Mikael Samuelsson to 3 years

As per TSN’s article the Canucks have signed former Red Wing Mikael Samuelsson to a 3 year deal. The cap hit is expected to be about 2.5 million dollars which still leaves Gillis some room to play around with signing the likes of Sundin (rumours of his return to the Canucks have resurfaced again) and to go out and sign a free agent like Beauchemin, or absorb the cap hit of a player by the name of Kaberle who’s rumoured to be on his way to Vancouver. Samuelsson is a great pick up by Gillis for a number of reasons,...

Free Agency – The Backup

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Free Agency – The Backup

“The Backup” sounds like a bad parody of the movie “The Hangover” but it’s the tag that belongs to whoever rides the pine behind Luongo. That being said, it’s not a tag many goaltenders want to bear because that tag comes with the expectation of probably as few as 10 games during the regular season and the unfortunate expectation of being a benchwarmer. Jason Labarbera has already left via free agency and is now a member of the Coyotes, and Sanford is not likely to sign with the Canucks. In the event that Luongo signs a contract extension the smart...

The devils he knew

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The devils he knew

The more I absorb the contracts handed out to this year’s group of unrestricted free agents, the more I appreciate the Sedins’ new contract. Committing a combined $61 million over the next 5 years to Henrik and Daniel isn’t peanuts, except when compared to some of the massive terms handed out to lesser players. I’m glad Mike Gillis got this deal done. If the Sedins had walked, Gillis would have been faced with a complete rebuild of the Canucks’ top line. If it had come to that, his options would have been limited – he either has to anoint the...

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