uring the Stanley Cup playoffs last
D= the defence of the Vancouver

Canucks was ventilated by the
Chicago Blackhawks and exposed as slow,
overmatched and inexperienced. This, despite
the early season predictions that Vancouver’s
defence corps was among the deepest and
most seasoned in the league.

Well, changes have certainly been made.
Vancouver General Manager Mike Gillis has
taken steps recently to try and bring the team’s
defence up to speed. After a quick courting
process, Gillis managed to sign 40-year-old
rushing defenseman Mathieu Schneider away
from the Montreal Canadians.

The same day he pulled off a trade with
the San Jose Sharks to bring in Christian
Ehrhoff and Brad Lukowich, both blueliners.
The deal was a salary dump for the Sharks,
who are pressed against the salary cap and
were forced to unload players. Gillis gave up
minor league defenseman Daniel Rahimi and
much-maligned 2007 first round draft choice
Patrick White.

While Lukowich is more of a stay-at-
home defender, both Schneider and Ehrhoff
are offensively minded and have a history
of putting up good numbers. Despite his

   
 
  
  
  
  
  
 
 
 
  
 
  
  
 
 
 
  
  
  
  
  
 
   

 

Brad Lukowich

 

Canucks bulk up on defence, but will it be enough?

advanced age, Schneider doesn’t appear to
have lost any foot speed. He split last season
between the Atlanta Thrashers and Montreal
Canadiens and while he put up just four goals
and 15 points in 41 games with hockey’s
version of purgatory in Atlanta, his play picked
up dramatically once he joined the Canadians.
In just 23 games he posted five goals and 17
points while quarterbacking the power play.
Terms of Schneider’s deal were not disclosed
by the Canucks yet.

The German-born Ehrhoff, 27, has played
his entire career up until this point with San
Jose. Ehrhoff is set to make $3.1 million this
coming season and $3.4 million in 2010-11.
He’s really hitting the prime of his career right
now and could be exactly the type of player
Vancouver needs. He’s a speedy defenseman
who put up eight goals and 42 points last
season, which almost doubled his previous
career best. At 6-2 he’s big and rangy, but still
mobile.

So assuming that Schneider can still play
at a high level, it looks like Vancouver will
have a defence corps that is now an offensive
threat. However, a problem arises out of all
this. With Schneider, Ehrhoff, Lukowich,
Willie Mitchell, Kevin Bieksa, Alexander

     
 

McLennan
sports editor

 

Edler, Shane O’Brian and Sami Salo all on
the roster with one-way deals, the Canucks
now have a glut of eight legitimate NHL
defenseman. That’s not to mention Aaron
Rome and Lawrence Nycholat, both of whom
were brought in on one-way deals this summer
and were expected to compete for jobs as
depth defenders. While it never hurts to be
deep on the back end, this could be a hint that
a major trade is coming. After all, Gillis paid
more money to essentially bring back the
same group of forward from last year, and it’s
no mystery that they need more firepower up
front.

Looking at the situation logically, the
Canucks now have zero salary cap space
with a ton of money invested in defenseman,
at least two of whom will have to sit in the
press box every night. How will that be for
the development of Edler, who needs more
ice-time and responsibility to continue to
progress?

Gillis has indeed made some changes this
off-season. Now, however, is the time to really
step up and be bold.

 

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