Buy him a Moose Jersey.

Mats seems like a great leader and is focused on taking the Canucks to the next level from listening to his interview on TSN.ca

says 15 on TSN

we can do what buffalo did a couple years ago and have 4 "scoring" lines
with the 4th line being a mix of johnson, hordi, raymond, pyatt and brown depending on the game.

3rd line still isnt a "scoring line"

theyre a checking line with great transition game and a bit of finish....main focus is still defense

same with the 4th line

Winners and losers in the Mats Sundin Derby....


WINNER: Mike Gillis, GM, Vancouver Canucks

As we said last night: His dogged pursuit of Sundin bordered on unrequited love at times, but Gillis's unwavering commitment to signing Sundin at any cost and refusal to balk at the duration of and competition in the Derby is admirable -- now that he's won it. He was harshly criticized for being so public in his desire to sign Sundin, along with other negative baggage carried over from Dave Nonis's dismissal. For the moment, the impact of this move quells that criticism, along with the fact that the Canucks still have some financial wiggle room under the cap.

LOSER: Glen Sather, GM, New York Rangers

The New York Rangers lost a big name free agent to the Vancouver Canucks. OK, for the second time. The reason Sundin isn't a New York Ranger is a rather simple one, which is that the Rangers couldn't afford him. And they couldn't afford him because Sather has inflated the payroll with redundant role players and regrettable signings, like Wade Redden for $6.5 million per season. Sundin would have had to take less to play in New York, and Sather's the reason why Rangers fans are still waiting for Sundin.


cont.........

http://sports.yahoo.com/nhl/blog/puc...urn=nhl,130383

not true. if there's a shorthanded goal scored, then the plus/minus for both teams change accordingly.

Pyatt isnt as useless as everyone makes him out to be. If he can chip in with a goal here or there, and i think hes contributing. Of course hes not earning his 1.8mil? salary that hes getting, but hey still better than a plug that cant score at all.

Wellwood - Sundin - Demitra
Sedin - Sedin - Hansen
Burrows - Kelser - Bernier/Raymond
Pyatt - Hordichuk - Bernier/Raymond

Johnson will be back later on too

i think its cause when theres a specific # of games left in the season at the trade deadline. im guessing about 25% left, and we land a player with a 12million dollar salary. We only have to pay him 25% of his annual salary and that equals 3million, which is how much we have left in our cap space. So basicaly we can land anyone we wanted and still be within the cap.

i think thats wat he meant

anyone plz tell me if im wrong here

Hodgson is doing pretty well so far in the world juniors - granted, it's only preliminaries but so far 1 goal, 2 assists.

i think thats about right reg. trade deadline/sal. cap

I was thinking of these lines, but listening to the guys talk on the radio, one issue that was brought up was that both Wellwood and Sundin are good at taking faceoffs. I didn't follow the Leafs as much as the nucks so I am not sure how much truth there is to that, but watching Wellwood this year I would agree he is a pretty good faceoff guy.

I think AV will mix up the lines a lot to see who goes well with whom. One things for certain, Sundin on the top line. The twins on the second line, Burrows and Kesler on the third line, and Ryan Johnson will play with Hortichuk on the 4th line when he is healthy.

Some other options could be :

Wellwood - Sundin - Raymond/Bernier/Demitra
Sedin - Sedin - Hanson/Wellwood/Pyatt/Raymond/Demitra
Burrows - Kesler - Hanson/Bernier
Hortichuk - Johnson/Jaffary - Bernier/Wellwood/Pyatt/Raymond

Jaffary will only be in until Johnson is healthy again.
Since Salo is out for 4 weeks, the team should still be at 23 skaters. When Salo comes back, someone will have to go down to the minors with the addition of Sundin.
Hortichuk might even have to sit is the Nuck's play against a weaker team where they do not need as much toughness, ie Chicago, Toronto, Dallas, etc...

^ i doubt Jaffary will be taking any long term position

You are right. I meant Jaffary will be in until Johnson is healthy.

oh man....too many quotes....*takes deep breath*...here goes..

yup. saw that too and that was my first reaction. he seemed so choked that not only the canucks are doing better than last year, they also landed sundin. either that or he's agitated that he's still answering questions about the canucks.

he turned to protect the puck. yeah, he should've just taken the hit but if he lost the puck and the canucks get scored on, who gets the blame? when you go into the boards to get and protect the puck you don't expect to get hit from behind, especially like that. i got hit the same way in coast hockey a couple weeks ago, i had a mild sprained shoulder. a main "rule of thumb" at the boards, turn your body so your shoulder takes the force cause its either your shoulder or your head. you take the pick.

i've noticed that recently as well. besides having the best shooting % in the league means he'll make the most of his chances with less ice time

haha....i listened to it on my way to work this morning. its what supposely drew sundin here, the fact that the lineup won't drastically change and having cap room to improve after he signs here.

oh goodie, what i said about his contract was true then. :) yeah, brown said he's honoured to give his number up to sundin and he's not expecting anything back for giving up #13. he's now gonna don #15. also during the summer when gillis informed luongo about going after sundin, luongo contacted sundin to lure him here

Damien Cox raining on our parade:

http://sports.espn.go.com/nhl/column...ien&id=3781362

Along with the NY Post:

NO SHOCK, SUNDIN FOLLOWED THE MONEY

By LARRY BROOKS

Last updated: 9:14 am
December 19, 2008

IN the end, Mats Sundin made like Woodward and Bernstein following Deep Throat's advice. He followed the money.

The 37-year-old free agent center followed the money to Vancouver, accepting a pro-rated $10 million deal from the Canucks instead of less than that to live in New York and play for the Rangers New York Rangers .

Sundin followed his wallet instead of his heart. Good for him. Just one more mercenary the way pretty much professional athletes essentially are. They get it while they can, like most of us would.

Scott Gomez Scott Gomez wanted to play in New York, but the Rangers had to pay a $51.5 million toll in order to get him across the Hudson. Chris Drury Chris Drury always wanted to play in New York, but it took $35.25 million and a full no-move clause to get him into the Blueshirt he always dreamt of wearing.

It doesn't make any of them into Bernard Madoff, doesn't make any of them into villains, but of all the big-name athletes who have wanted to come to New York, only one took less to do so, and he is Brendan Shanahan.

Sundin will be playing approximately 55 percent of the season. He will earn $5.5 million from the Canucks. Had he taken the pro-rated $5.5 million from the Rangers that we're told GM Glen Sather advised Sundin's camp the Blueshirts would get to, the former Leaf captain would have earned $3.025 million.

The Rangers may not be a better team than the Canucks, but they sure play in a weaker conference and sure have at least an equally good shot at Vancouver at getting through their half of the playoff draw. Without question, Sundin would have made the Blueshirts a far more formidable opponent.

Sundin would have given the Rangers a presence they do not have. He would have given the Rangers a force opposition coaches would have had to game-plan against. He would have given the Rangers the sizzle they simply cannot capture.

No question there would have been a period of adjustment, but the Rangers would have emerged as a much stronger team on the other side had Sundin been willing to take what the Blueshirts would have been able to give him by deleting automatic scratches Petr Prucha and Dan Fritsche.

Let's face it, though. The Rangers didn't lose Sundin yesterday. They lost Sundin on July 1 when Sather had perhaps the worst day on the market since people were jumping out of windows on Black Friday of Oct. 25, 1929.

The Rangers are going to lose any chance of competing for players who become available the rest of the year unless the general manager gets down to work and begins to create cap space for the rest of the season beyond the $1 million the Blueshirts now own.

Sundin went for the money. The Rangers didn't have enough of it. Sather had better create cap space - and now - so that his team has enough of it when the next guy becomes available.

sundin is now public enemy #1 in calgary

http://calsun.canoe.ca/SAP/Home/

about that NY Post article:

they're just sore losers :D

lol so much hate on the rainy city now ..

they're sore losers..eastern media...blake price is rippin them on 1040 now

if it was about the money only he wouldve signed the 20 mill over 2 years in the summer!

I love how reporters and everyone from so many different cities are ripping Sundin so hard and are saying he was all about the money. Definitely bitter people here. He took it for just the money are you fucking kidding me. If it was just purely about money why didn't he just take the 2 year 20 million offer from the start. Why did he wait and in addition asked for a pay cut and only signed a 1 year (well half year or so) deal. Wow these bitter mofos are just hilarious.

fuck NY and Calgary

LOL why is Calgary hating.