Edler Extended

The new core.

That’s the statement Gillis is making with this signing.  Edler is now signed out 2 years further than ANY other Canuck player.  He obviously not only believes in him, but in building a team that can be together for years to come. 

And while some had dreams of it being at a price of $2.5m per, I believe that Gillis did a good job with 4 years at $3.25m per.  Consider that his upside is greater than that of Bieksa who’s jumping into his $3.75m 3 year contract this year.  We are going to have Edler here for at least 5 more years.

Secondary Scoring 2008/09 Season

The 2006/07 marked a dramatic shift for the Vancouver Canucks.  Gone was the West Coast Express and the puck moving Jovo Cop.  In came Marc Chouinard and Willie Mitchell, defensive hounds from the defense factory Minnesota Wild.  And a coach with a goal of playing defense first hockey.

Plus one Mr. Roberto Luongo.  All the hopes had been pinned on him and he came through.  While the scoring was down, few questioned the program because they suddenly started winning near Xmas that year.  Goals were tough to come by, but secondary scoring was coming through from an extremely strong back end.

A Competitive Camp 2008

Jason Krog – signed to a one way deal
Jeff Cowan – on a one way deal
Matt Pettinger – on a one way deal

Not one of them made the team.  What does that tell you.

GM Mike Gillis wanted a competitive camp, and wanted guys to work for their jobs.  But more than that, he’s shown he’s willing to pay these guys big bucks to play in the minors.  And with them keeping guys on two-way deals, it tells you that money is not the issue at hand, but rather, that he is going to keep the best player on the main roster and you’re going to need to work for you spot. 

Retribution

St. Louis signed the newly acquired Canuck, Steve Bernier, to a one year, 2.5 million dollar deal.  Less than a week after he was obtained via trade from the Buffalo Sabres for a 2nd and 3rd round pick. 

Clearly the Blues didn’t think that the Canucks would not accept the offer sheet and take a single 2nd round pick in return after just giving up more than that to obtain him.

I think this was a little childish from the St. Louis Blues organization.  I can’t even see John Davidson wanting to do this.  He’s too classy for a move like this.  Look at how swiftly he accepted the offer sheet given to David Backes despite pressure from other GM’s to make Gillis wait out the full 7 days.

Seems like an ownership battle to me.

The Chief Canuck

The Rising Cap

I have a hard time underestanding why the public is SO overly concerned about the rising cap in the NHL.  I hear no complaints from NHL teams, despite the fact the floor is now as high as the Cap was 4 years ago.

Want to know why?

More Revenue and Profit Sharing.  Think about this.  A cap of 40M per team, with a 30 team league, along with a salary spend of 54% of total revenue, equals about (40M * 30 teams / .54) 2.2 Billion in Annual Revenue.  If the Cap is now 54.7M, then the League’s Revenues would be (56.7M * 30 teams / .54) 3.15 Billion.