Marian Gaborik a Vancouver Canuck? By Garth McLennan Brey time July 1* rolls around, Vancouver Canucks fans go crazy about which superstar could be coming here as the unrestricted free agent gates open and players are free to sign with any team they want. And every year, it seems nothing significant happens. This year’s talk around the city swirled endlessly about Mats Sundin signing here for $20 million over two years, but that never panned out. Inevitably, similar rumblings about megabucks offers will be heard and one that appears to actually have a chance of working, at least at this point, is the Minnesota BROOKLYN PUB WATERFRONT LOUNGE 250 Columbia St. 604.517.2966 www.brooklyn.ca ve : THURSDAY ; , is STUDENT NIGHT! THURSDAY, — FRIDAY & SATURDAY Party With: $5.50 Double Long Islands y $10.95 7oz Sirloin Steak DJ tig my y wi Caeser Salad, Garlic toast, & Prawns : TUNE TWISTER Daily $3 Shot Special! Wild’s Slovakian sniper, Marian Gaborik. Gaborik, 26, is one of the league’s fastest and most explosive skaters. The hard- charging right winger, who hails from the hockey factory of Trencin, Slovakia (a town that has produced the likes of Marian and Marcel Hossa, Zdeno Chara, Zigmund Palffy and Vancouver’s Pavol Demitra) has played his entire NHL career with the Wild since they drafted him third overall behind Rick DiPietro and Dany Heatley in the 2000 NHL entry draft. During that time, he’s established himself as one of the league’s truly elite players. In 487 games, he’s scored 207 goals and chalked up 415 points, which makes him far and away Minnesota’s all-time leading goal and point scorer. The only reason that Gaborik isn’t routinely mentioned in the same breath as Sidney Crosby and Alexander Ovechkin is because of his injury woes. When healthy, Gaborik is easily in the top three most talented players in the world. He can make jaw-dropping plays at top speed, has an absolutely lethal shot, and has breathtaking deking skills. Overall, he’s one of, if not the, most dangerous players in the NHL. Just look at some of his career highlights. In his seven years in the NHL, Gaborik, the Wild’s first-ever draft pick, has scored at least 30 goals five times, while last year, he notched 42 with 83 points to finish 12" in league scoring. On December 20", 2007, against the New York Rangers, Gaborik became the first player in Wild history, and the first player in 11 years, to score five goals in one game. He also added an assist. Remember, all these accomplishments came under the coaching of Jacques Lemaire, who is largely responsible for the prominence of the trap system. In other words, Minnesota plays one of the most monotonous, boring, offensively-challenged styles in the entire league. Recently, however, Gaborik’s tenure in Minneapolis has grown rocky. This is the final year of the three-year, $19 million pact that has paid him $6.3 million per season, and contract talks have ground to a standstill. It has been said that Gaborik has grown weary 16 of Lemaire’s tedious style of play that flies in stark contrast to the way Gaborik plays the game. Plus, the Wild don’t have a history of winning and that is clearly one of Gaborik’s top priorities. Gaborik, who is a regular on the Slovakian national team at almost every international competition, has balked at signing several lucrative offers from Wild management. This isn’t the first time Gaborik has had contract troubles with the team, but it does appear to be the last. Gaborik has stated repeatedly that negotiations are going nowhere, and there have been rumors from the organization that they are trying to deal their biggest star. One rumored destination has been the Canucks. While it is fairly obvious that Minnesota won’t trade one of the game’s most dynamic players to a division rival, it is becoming more and more possible that Gaborik might sign here in the off-season. For starters, we have one of the best goalies in the NHL with Roberto Luongo. The prospect of Gaborik playing in a more offensive system with tons of cap room, as Mike Gillis has promised and on a line with the Sedin twins, might be too great to pass up. Needless to say, with a player of Gaborik’s calibre, the Canucks would instantly vault into contender status. It would certainly give them the one major thing that they’ve been lacking for a few years now: a bona fide game-breaker. Gaborik in Vancouver would be a match made in heaven for all involved.