Vancouver The Vancouver Canucks Thread

It doesn't say anything about an additonal suspension for this season?

 

Nope, he'll be back to start the season. The only additional thing I've heard is that if he does something bone-headed again, the suspension will be substantially more than it otherwise would have. I'd say he got off pretty lucky at that, I was expecting him to get some more games.

Oh ya, and the Canucks signed free agent Richard Park... yay.

 

Well I don't think Todd will be doing anything like that ever again so thats fine. Agreed he's abit lucky to receive no further suspension, the new season will also be a new leaf sort of speak.

Yeah not really impressed with Park's stats over at nhl.com but you never know I guess, I mean look at Naslund when he first came here, lol. And he is coming from Minnesota.

 

Park might be a good replacement for Chubarov, who has decided to stay in Russia.

The Sedins and Cloutier have re-signed with Vancouver, I guess that's not terrible news, but I'd have hoped they would have tried to upgrade in goal. With Thibault going to Pittsburgh for only a fourth-rounder, I guess the Canucks weren't that interested. But I guess he's not a clear upgrade over Cloutier, neither are proven playoff performers and both have had injury problems.

And Ohlund has filed for arbitration, which should be interesting, I wouldn't expect the Canucks will get him for less than $3 million. If that's the case, their payroll will be around $31 million with 8 more players still needed to fill out their roster. Considering the $39 million cap, I don't think we'll be seeing any significant additions unless it's done through a trade of one of their top players.

 

Hmm, Cloutier is still listed as "unsigned," I wonder if there was a snag in the deal. Allen and Salo have both signed, which brings the the total confirmed salaries to over $28 million for 15 players, with still Cloutier, Ohlund, and Cooke unsigned.

Latest rumour has Hamrlik going to Calgary for $3.5 million per year. If true, that's good for the Flames as they're going to have problems scoring again this year and will need all the help they can get.

 

Latest rumour has the Canucks signing Anson Carter to a one year deal. Could be a good fit on the Sedin line as he has a decent scoring touch.

 

Definitly a nice re-placement for May and with the previously mentioned scoring touch.

1 million for 1 year is what TSN is reporting.

 

Ya, I'm actually pretty optimistic about the Canucks so far this off-season. Sure they haven't made huge changes, but they were a pretty good team last year. If they can just bring in another top-four defenseman I'll be satsified. An upgrade in goal would have been nice, but that doesn't look like an option with what's available right now. I think we'll have to pray Cloutier stays healthy for the playoffs this time.

 

Yeah I'll be happy if Nonis locks up the rest of our guys. I know some fans are getting abit restless because Nonis has not done anything in the same vein as Edmonton or Calgary but they will settle down once they see we can still beat them.

Cloutier and Auld combo is a good one and I look forward to seeing Auld getting a decent 20-25 games this season.

 

The thing about Edmonton and Calgary is that those teams had more room to add players than Vancouver had. And even still, I don't see that Calgary has upgraded a huge amount. The signing of Hamrlik is an improvement but they had to pay him $3.5 million a year which is too much in my view. They'll have to hope for another magical year from Kiprusoff or it's going to be a long season for les Flambes.

 

Well the Flame fans definitly have a high opinion of their team at the moment, that much I can assure you of.

But yeah, definitly a good sign to see our team coming back mainly. But Iam hearing from the The Province that we could very well lose Cooke. Losing him would be more of a blow then losing May or the others cause hes such a fan favourite and for good reason. He leads by example by coming to compete every night and is one the grittest players I've ever seen.

 

Huzzah, Ohlund Signed

 

That's good news, although it does put the Canucks precariously close to the cap number. I guess this likely means they'll be going into camp with Allen as a top-four d-man. That makes me nervous.

 

We'll see. With the other D-Men that Nonis has picked up maybe another top 4 guy will emerge from it.

 

That's possible, it just usually takes a long time to develop a reliable defenseman. Next to goaltender, it's the position that is easiest to expose any weaknesses. I don't mind carrying inexperienced guys for the 5-7th d-men because they won't see much ice, but your top four guys are key. I'm not saying Allen is terrible, just unproven, perhaps he'll prove me wrong.

Of course, lot's can change between now and the start of the season. How about that Heatley for Hossa deal yesterday, I was totally surprised by that one.

 

I'm still quite uncomfortable with Cloutier. Phoenix got Joseph at a steal, and we could have signed him, even if it were to be for a year. I'm sure we would make it past the first round of the post season.

 

I'm not Cloutier's biggest fan either, but I'm not sure Joseph is a huge upgrade over Dan. Cujo has put up stellar numbers in the past, even in the postseason, but his teams haven't done much. Still, I am surprised that he went so cheaply to Phoenix, but age probably had something to do with it -- he's almost ten years older than Cloutier. That said, if they had taken a chance on Cujo I'd probably feel a lot better with him in net when someone takes a shot from center ice.

 

Auld is improving nicely tho, it will be good to see him in 20-25 regular season games this season.

 

Auld has put up decent numbers in the few times he's been called up, but for some reason he isn't as good when playing in Manitoba. Last year he lost the number one job to Flaherty -- a career minor leaguer. But it is time to give Auld a shot as backup on the big club, it's time to see what he can do against NHL shooters on a semi-regular basis.

 

Exactly.

 

Plus, it's not like they can afford anyone better at the moment.

 

Sure but neither can alot of teams. When a goalie like Cujo goes for 900,000, you know some players are willing to take a pay cut to play. They know the cap handicaps teams options.

 

True. It's actually quite interesting to watch how the different teams approach the new economic system in the NHL. This is going to make following the league even more compelling; to see which teams' cap strategies work and which ones don't. It adds an extra layer of complexity to managing an NHL team.

 

Yeah Baby!

Sure it's about time but its great to see this is done and over with.

Gotta love the Cooker

 

I like Cooke, but $1.5 mil is a bit much for a third line player -- especially for a long term deal. Yah I know Linden makes that much too, but two wrongs don't make a right.