August 5, 2008 i a sudden development, The Vancouver Canucks assistant GM and vice-president of hockey operations Steve Tambellini departed for the General Manager’s position with the Edmonton Oilers. Previous Edmonton GM Kevin Lowe will move upstairs to become the team’s president of hockey operations. Tambellini, 50, has been with the Canucks in some management capacity for 18 years. He had a vast array of duties with Vancouver, including overseeing the scouting departments, the running of the minor league franchises, handling player contract negotiations and player personnel decisions. Tambellini, who was born in Trail and signed a four-year contract with the Oilers, has worked with Kevin Lowe numerous times in the past, so the job Tambellini leaves for Edmonton By Garth McLennan, Sports Editor was a natural fit. Tambellini was on the management team with Lowe, Wayne Gretzky and others for the Canadian entry that captured the gold medal at the 2002 Winter Olympics, and he served in a similar capacity for the Canadian championship team at the 2004 World Cup of Hockey. Tambellini, Gretzky and Lowe next teamed up for the 2006 Winter Olympics in Italy, though that outing was far less successful. Perhaps Tambellini’s greatest achievement was as the outright General Manager for Team Canada at the 2003 World Hockey Championship. He guided the team to a gold medal in that event. Upon further thought, it shouldn’t be a big shock that Tambellini received a GM’s position. He has been widely considered for years to be one of the best candidates for the job in any NHL city. It will be more than difficult for the Canucks to replace him, and it is yet another blow to a team that hasn’t exactly delivered the blockbuster summer it promised when newly minted GM Mike Gillis joined the organization. Gillis swore that there would be change, and there has been that, although almost all of it has been negative. Picking up winger Steve Bernier was good, but Gillis failed miserably in landing a major free agent like he promised, despite having over $20 million in cap space to spend. He did sign Pavol Demitra, but he let captain Markus Naslund go. They both got $4 million in their respective cities, but when you look closer, it isn’t much of an upgrade. Naslund had more points than the injury prone Demitra did last year. At press time, dithering Swede Mats Sundin still hadn’t made up his mind about where he wanted to play. He had set a firm deadline of August 1, but then reneged on that and said he needed even more time. The Canucks have offered $20 million over two seasons for the center’s services. Where Are They Now sy csisissns, spor tao Dave Nonis Burnaby boy Dave Nonis, 42, was just relieved of his general manager duties with the Vancouver Canucks, but it didn’t take him long to find another job. He resurfaced shortly after his April 14th dismissal with a new team, the Anaheim Ducks, as the senior advisor of hockey operations. He was hired by the Ducks on June 20th. Nonis served for years under Anaheim GM Brian Burke when Burke headed the Canucks organization. Now, Nonis rejoins Burke, his mentor. Nonis didn’t waste any time upon his arrival in California. He helped Burke bring in even more of a Vancouver flavor by signing long time Canuck center Brendan Morrison to a one year contract worth $2.75 million for the season. The Ducks also signed franchise cornerstone Cory Perry to a five-year deal that will pay Perry $26.625 million. Artem Chubarov Artem Chubarov, 28, played parts of five seasons with the Vancouver Canucks. However, his NHL tenure was wiped out along with the entire 2004-05 season by the owner’s lockout. Despite his brief stay in the big league, Chubarov did have some memorable moments. He is the only player in NHL history to score game winning goals in four consecutive games. After the players returned to the ice, Chubarov refused to return to Vancouver. He went back to his native Russia during the lockout and never came back. Chubarov suited up for the famous Dynamo Moscow club in the Russian elite league for the lockout season, and then signed as an unrestricted free agent with Avengard Omsk, another prolific Russian team, where he’s played for the past three seasons. Murray Baron Another ex-Canuck, retired defenseman Murray Baron, 41, has come a long way from Prince George, BC. He called it quits from professional hockey after fifteen years in the NHL and stints with five different teams, including Vancouver, the Montreal Canadiens and the St. Louis Blues. Baron played five seasons with the Canucks, and now operates a restaurant in his hometown of Prince George. Aside from food and hockey, “Bear” has a passion for motorcycles. He is the proud owner of a Harley Davidson and participates every year in the Iron Horse Motorcycle tour, which is meant to raise awareness for helmet use. It is hosted by ex-NHL tough guy Tony Twist, who is a good friend of Baron’s. Brett Favre On April 4th, 2008, one of the greatest quarterbacks of all time, 38 year old Brett Favre, retired from football, having played in the NFL since 1991. Aside from his rookie season, where he played for the Atlanta Falcons, he is most remembered for his tenure with the Green Bay Packers. Favre played a record setting 275 consecutive games, including playoff efforts, with Green Bay. He’s a legend there, so when he retired, all that was left was for him to ride off into the sunset, right? Not quite. Favre has decided that he doesn’t really want to stop playing football just yet. However, Green Bay has said that they don’t want him back in anything more than a back up capacity, as they want to move on to a new era.