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By Garth McLennan, Sports Editor

s the NHL trade deadline
approaches and unrestricted
free agency looms on July 1",

Vancouver Canucks’ General Manager
Mike Gillis will be facing his first real
and significant tests at the helm of the
franchise.

With his team seemingly solid
in the playoff hunt, Gillis first has
to decide his position at the trade
deadline. This year there are plenty of
premiere players available to teams
willing to pay the price but for Gillis,
what he does on the March 4" deadline
will largely determine his position
heading into the free agent season.

While Jay Bouwmeester would
certainly bolster Vancouver’s playoff
hopes and solidify the back end, Gillis
will surely be reluctant to pull the
trigger on a blockbuster deadline deal if
he can only keep the player he acquires
for a few months. Still, Bouwmeester is
a legitimate possibility. Rumours have
linked the big, smooth skating Florida
Panthers rearguard to Vancouver in a

deal that would send the Canucks’ top
goalie prospect, Cory Schneider, and
winger Taylor Pyatt to South Florida. A
high end draft pick would definitely be
part of the deal on Vancouver’s end.
Then there is the question of what
to do with all of the upcoming free
agents Gillis already has. None are
more prominent than the Sedin twins,
but they may price themselves out of
Vancouver’s market. Recent rumours

five years. Where exactly do they think
they’re going to get that? The only
team that would give them that is the

New York Islanders and there is no way

they head to the league’s dump in the
prime of their careers.

The Sedins aren’t Gillis’ only
task though. Long-term defenseman
Matthias Ohlund is set to hit the open
market if he isn’t re-signed before July
1“ and while it would be great to retain

have the him, I
twins “With his team seemingly solid in the playoff hunt, Gillis firsthasto— woy|dn’t
asking decide his position at the trade deadline.” count on
for it

five-year contracts at $6.5 million per
season with no-trade clauses. Now that
is just a rumour, but if it turns out to be
true, then good luck finding takers for
that one. As strong as the Sedins are,
they have made it perfectly clear that
they want to play on the same team in
perpetuity, and very few teams in the
league would be willing to pay that
kind of money with that kind of term to
two players who while clearly skilled,
are not in the NHL’s elite. That type of
money is, guaranteed, $13 million for

Ohlund is obviously a solid
blueliner, but he isn’t spectacular, and
consider Vancouver’s defence group
right now; with a salary cap that is
only expected to shrink in the coming
years, the team is already paying Willie
Mitchell $3.5 million, Sami Salo $3.75
million, Kevin Bieksa $3.5 million and
Alex Edler will see his new deal kick in
next year when he starts bringing home
$3.75 million. With the salary cap, you
can only allocate so much money to
certain areas and if things don’t work

Gillis has some tough decisions ahead

out with the Sedins, can Gillis really
justify paying a declining Ohlund $4
million for five or six years, as he’s
rumoured to want?

Plus, there is plenty of high impact
forwards set to hit the market this
summer. Just to name a few, Marian
Gaborik, Jairomir Jagr, Marian Hossa,
Mats Sundin, Saku Koivu, Alexei
Kovalev and Alex Tanguay will all
presumably be available.

Then you have Alex Burrows, who
is enjoying the season of his career
right now. Along with Ryan Kesler, he’s
easily been a strong candidate for one
of the team’s best players and is also
one of the best bargains in the NHL this
season as he’s making just $525,000.
Expect to see his salary quadruple at
the very least.

So it is abundantly clear that
Gillis has his work cut out for him.

The decisions he makes in the coming
weeks will go a long way in dictating
the future of this team for years to
come.

 

 

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