Chouinard, Briere and Kariya

The Canucks are intending to buy out Marc Chouinard's contract, which is a way of saying: "We want nothing to do with you. Not on our club and not on the Moose either. That would mean that Nonis will be forced to pay $366,663 to bid adieu to Chouinard.
Rand Simon, Chouinard's agent had this to say:

"We wish things had worked out better in Vancouver and it's unfortunate they didn't. Marc was very excited to go to Vancouver when he signed there last summer and the Canucks were very excited to have him. But, for whatever reason, it didn't work out.

I like how he puts it: "For whatever reason." Does the guy even watch hockey? Chouinard was not a fit in Vancouver. He lacked a scoring touch that was needed. He looked slow and out of place.

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Danny Briere has rejected a rumored 5-year $25 million offer from the Sabres and will test the free agent market. That offer basically matches what he was awarded in arbitration last summer. Strangely enough, he was averaging 1.21 points per game 2 seasons ago (1.05 in the playoffs). This past season he averaged 1.17 points per game(.94 in the playoffs). Just throwing stats at you. Some team is going to pay the guy $6-7 million after July 1st. The question is, WHO???
If George McPhee would stop being such a Dutchman and open his wallet a little, I'd love to see Briere center Ovechkin. Maybe for once the Thrashers are going to get a star forward to center Kovalchuk and Hossa. The Blue Jackets could use a #1 center that isn't Sergei Fedorov. The Oilers, Hawks, Panthers, Kings, Flyers, Flames and Coyotes especially all have plenty of room to absorb a $6-7 million salary.
So come Sunday, let the bidding war begin, as Briere gets richer and richer in the process.
Chris Drury's chances of staying in Buffalo just got a lot bigger though.

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With the fire sale going on in Nashville Paul Kariya has decided to hit the Unrestricted Free Agent market as well.

"He just decided it's best for him to look at alternative options," Preds' GM David Poile said.

T Tags: Canucks +buyout+Chouinard Briere Free+Agent Sabres