Sundin apartment-hunting / Ohlund open to being traded

SUNDIN UPDATE
While the Canucks travelled to Nashville, Sundin practiced hard at GM Place and looked for an apartment, according to HockeyExpressen. His girlfriend Josephine will be coming to Vancouver soon to check out the place and perhaps live here.
Not sure if he partied with Ryan Johnson at all on New Years, but he said it was a possibility.

OHLUND MAY BE ON THE MOVE

You'll have to translate this Sportbladet article about Ohlund. He said that there is no progress in contract talks and that if the Canucks won't meet his demands he will try somewhere new.
If Ohlund seeks about $7 million per season I am pretty sure management will let him go by the trade deadline. Ohlund is not worth that much, I don't care how long he's been here. The return for Ohlund in a trade would be sweet I'm sure.
The article also mentions that the Sedins do not want to leave Vancouver, but they could demand $6-7 million each.

T Tags: Sundin+update apartment+shopping Ohlund+may+be+traded Sedins+contract+talks

Canucks sign Edler to a 4 year extension **Updated**

Link to TSN story.

Dollar figures?
I'd guess around $1.5 million. A real bargain.

Yeah right. Apparently, Team 1040 has reported it worth $13 million. So about $3.25 per season. To have that kind of talent at that price for that long is a good thing.

T Tags: Canucks+sign+Alexander+Edler contract+extension October+2008

Ohlund may be on his way out

What Ohlund said recently:

"I will be here (in Vancouver) if it is right for me and for the club, I would not be here just because I have been here for ten years."

Link to that article here at Hockeyexpressen.se.
Look for Ohlund to have a big season in the final year of his contract. Also look for his agent asking for $6-8 million per season and Mike Gillis saying: "Don't let the door hit your ass on your way out."
I think Ohlund is due for a raise from his current $3.5 million contract, but he is not worth a $7 million cap hit. That's what other teams will pay him next summer if the Canucks don't work out an extension or trade him.

T Tags: Mattias+Ohlund+contract+talks Canucks trade

Sedins feeling good after meeting with Gillis

"I felt good after the meeting," Daniel said. "I talked to Henrik in the car after and it felt good. Mike is a nice man. I like his ideas on the team. He wants to play a more exciting style of game. We had an open dialogue."

"We didn't talk too much about the contract," Daniel said. "We talked to J.P. and he knows what we want and now Mike knows what we want, too. It's up to them now. J.P. is going to call us when something is close.
"I've always been optimistic."

The rest is up to JP Barry and Gillis to iron out. The Sedins will now focus on hockey.
The rest of the story is here.

T Tags: Sedins+happy Mike+Gillis+meeting contract+extension

Clarification on the Sedins-Gillis meeting

Isn't it great talking about something other than Mats Sundin in Canuckland?
The meeting between Gillis, the Sedins, and JP Barry is more of a "GM getting to know his players" dinner. The Sedins will hear what plans Gillis has for them.

"We're just going to have dinner," JP Barry explained. "It's just an initial dinner. There are no plans for a negotiating session. Mike needs to sit down with Daniel and Henrik, introduce himself, get to know them and talk about the future.
That's probably the best way for all of us to start."

Obviously the twins don't want to go their separate ways either. Does anyone even consider that a possibility? Maybe Gillis does. Maybe. But that is the wrong decision, period. These 2 share are eerliy inseparable.

"No, not for us," Henrik replied to a large scrum of reporters at Burnaby 8-Rinks. "It's not about us being twins. If you look at other tandems in the league that play on the same team, I don't think people are talking that way for them.

"We like it here. We've never been players to take the last dollar to stay here. If it's a little bit less, then we'll take it."

Remember what I said about what agents want and what the players they represent say? The agents want to get their players lucrative deals. Hank Sedin had said they would take a paycut to stay in Vancouver together and remain here longer. Barry of course had to clarify that:

"That's just Henrik being straightforward," Barry said. "Obviously, they know it's a priority to stay together and it's my job to find out for them what's appropriate in that context."

Yeah, you're worse than a blood-sucking lawyer aren't you?
Don't ask Gillis to tip his hat on the matter because he is remaining tight-lipped.

"We're going to have dinner and we'll see where it takes us," said the GM. "I really don't want to say too much about it because I'd like to speak to these guys first-hand and tell them what I'm thinking. I'm not going to do it through the media."

We'll see what both parties have to say after a few rum and cokes, swedish meatballs and chit chat.

Check out the Sun article for more on the story.

T Tags: Sedins+dinner+with+Mike+Gillis JP+Barry contract Canucks

Sedins let the cat out of the bag before the meeting with Gillis

A no-trade clause. The Sedins want to stay in Vancouver. From Ben Kuzma of the Province:

The trade-off is a no-trade clause.
In return for less than market value in the first year of multi-year contract extensions, Henrik Sedin wants the professionalism and production that he and twin brother Daniel have provided the Vancouver Canucks to be rewarded with peace of mind.
And while money and term are important, a no-trade clause is imperative.
"We would like to have that for sure," Henrik stressed Tuesday in advance of today's dinner meeting with general manager Mike Gillis and agent J.P. Barry.

"We want to be here long-term. Our families love it here, and we like it here, so that's something we really want to have.

"We'll never be players who'll take the last dollar to stay here. If it's a little bit less, we'll take it."

And then JP Barry, the Swedes' agent piped in:

"There's no question, if you look at all these deals with free agents of this magnitude, no-trade clauses are a really important part of the discussion," Barry said of the twins, who can become unrestricted free agents July 1.

"Generally, in these deals you see a pretty standard term ... in the range of four to seven years. We'll look across the spectrum of comparables, and they're from $5 to $7 million (US) if the player is staying with his team or going to another."

I'm cool with each making somewhere between $5-7 million. But the big question now will be what Gillis has in mind. Does he want to build the team around Hank and Dank? Will he risk allowing a no-trade-clause? God, those clauses are tricky. It's fair to say that the Sedins have been consistent offensively most of the time. Just not in the playoffs. Daniel only has 5 goals and 18 points in 43 playoff games. Hank has played the same number of playoff games and only has 10 goals and 20 points. I think I just talked myself out of agreeing they should have a no trade clause. Where are these guys when we need them the most? They need to shed their image as lackluster playoff performers. After all, they are our top line.
Stay tuned. This could get really interesting in a hurry. Or....nothing will happen in the meeting and this will drag out all season.

T Tags: Sedins+want+no+trade+clause meeting+with+Gillis Canucks

If JP Barry has his way, the Sedins are in for a huge raise **UPDATED**

From TSN: JP Barry told Team 1040 today:

"We just finished an extension negotiation for Shawn Horcoff, who did almost a carbon copy deal of the Sedins last time, and since that was done two years ago, Daniel and Henrik have outpaced him quite a bit offensively," Barry told the Team 1040. "So, we're going to see deals like that in the marketplace – the Gomez, Drury deal - for players who go free. They've outpaced both Gomez and Drury over the last three years. You know, they've outscored those players, and those players went free, so I think the question is 'What's the price to stay, and what's the price to go?'"

Shawn Horcoff's extension will see him get paid $7 million in 2009-10 and $6.5 million in 2010-11 and it slowly descends drom there. Scott Gomez makes $8 million per season over the next 3 seasons and Chris Drury makes $7.1 million this season and $8.05 million next season. So you get what kind of money Barry and the Sedins are going for here: somewhere between $7-8 million for each sister.
Barry had also mentioned that the deal would probably have been done already had Dave Nonis still been the GM, as he had been in management with the Sedins since they were 18. Well isn't that special?
If Gillis doesn't acquire anyone else in the near future, he can barely absorb the Sedins' potential raise. But it will be close. But you have to keep in mind that Lukas Krajicek, Alex Edler, Mattias Ohlund, and probably even Steve Bernier will all become free agents next summer and will be wanting a raise. The near future doesn't look so damned rosey does it?
If the Sedins don't get the $8 million here, they'll get it somewhere else. Then the questions become: does Gillis want to build the team around them? If yes, then who does he trade away to save salary? Bieksa or Ohlund?
If he chooses NOT to extend the Sedins and a deal falls through, would it not be wise to flog the twins and get some value in return? If they leave next summer and we save all that money, what is it going to matter? Vancouver cannot attract big name players anyways.
Well, this will get interesting. Look for the Swedish twins to really step it up this year to boost their market value.

**UPDATE- Sept. 9**
From the Province today: Dan Sedin said:

"We're not looking for the last amount of dollar. It's about our family being happy and us being happy -- that's the most important thing. But we haven't talked about anything, so we'll see what happens."

If the Twins aren't looking for the last amount of dollar, JP Barry IS. If the Sedins took any kind of discount I would be impressed. I just have a hard time believing any player who says that it's not about the money. Heard that one many times before.
The Swedes, along with Barry, are going to meet with Mike Gillis tomorrow to see what Gillis thinks about having them in the Canucks' plans going forward.
NOTE: Back in April, Gillis said of the Twins:

"I don't think the group of forwards right now are ready to compete. I don't know if they [the Sedins] are players the team will be built around moving forward. That evaluation process will go on."

A statement he later retracted. The Sedins were taken aback by that statement but stated that they have been used to that kind of criticism since Day 1.



T Tags: JP+Barry+Canucks+negotiating+Sedins+extension

Devils put Vishnevski on waivers / Marcus Nilson can't leave Calgary

Looks like Lou Lamorielli is trying to shave some salary, to the tune of $1.4 million as the rough and tough Vishnevski was put on waivers today. Any takers? We'll see. He was a career-worst -12 with the Devils last season. He was benched by coach Sutter, and was basically the 7th defenceman.
He's not known for putting up a lot of points, but he can sure kill guys pretty well.

VishTube

- Brett McLean feels the wrath of Vishnevski.

- Boyd Gordon turns around to play the puck and bango! Vitaly shows him how to lay down real quick-like.That was a suicide pass wasn't it?

- Vishnevski sends Tjarnqvist into the boards.

- Karma. Ovechkin runs over Vishnevski. What a collision! Vitaly can take that kind of hit though. He's tough.

---

Marcus Nilson wants to get away from the Calgary Flames and Mike Keenan, but he just can't get out of his contract. According to HockeyExpressen.se, a team from the KHL is interested in Nilson, but he has one more year (at $1 million) left with the Flames.
According to the article, Nilson wanted to have his contract bought out but the Flames are not willing to do so.

"They do not want to buy me out. It was a little pity. But they can do whatever they want."

This change in attitude from Nilson contradicts how he was talking about playing in Calgary and under Keenan early last season (November). By December, he was a healthy scratch about 6 times.
He finshed the season having only played 47 games, scoring 3 goals and 5 points. He also suffered a concussion injury, by the way.
The gritty winger was mostly reduced to checking-role duty. At one point he was complaining about not being allowed to play enough 5-on-5 and was being used as a penalty killer mostly.
I don't think this news has not even hit the North American papers yet, but I'm sure it will soon.

MarcusTube

- Nilson drops the gloves with Marty "beyond all" Reasoner.

T Tags: Devils+put+Vitaly+Vishnevski+on+waivers Marcus+Nilson+wants+out+of+Calgary buyout

Pyatt rejects Nonis' offer

From Canucks and Beyond:

CKNW in Vancouver is reporting that the Canucks made a two-year, $2.4 million offer to Pyatt, and were subsequently told it would not be enough to retain the services of the 21-goal scorer. The Pyatt camp is apparently looking for a deal in the Matt Cooke range. Cooke, who has just eight goals, makes $1.5 million per season.
According to reports, Pyatt is also looking for a three-year deal.

So it could be the Anson Carter saga all over again. I don't blame Pyatt for wanting more than Matt Cooke, as he has accumulated 21 goals and 14 assists in 71 games to Cooke's 8 goals and 17 assists in 77 games. Pyatt is not going to care what happened to Carter after he got his raise elsewhere either. He is going to tell Nonis to 'show him the money.' Time will tell just how much Pyatt wants.
But it is the usual story. A pylon could put up points on the Sedin line. Nonis is not going to cave in. If Pyatt will get more money elsewhere, then I'd tell him to not let the door hit his ass on the way out. There's plenty of other guys who can play with Dan and Hank.

Tech Tags: Pyatt
Contract
Negotiations