| Harvey Specter | 02-05-2009 03:37 AM |
Quote:
How do you say Snuffleupagus in Swedish? Apparently, you don’t.
J.P. Barry, the agent for Vancouver Canuck Mats Sundin, said he had to explain the Sesame Street character to his client after Sundin was compared to a slow-moving Snuffleupagus in a critical column here on Monday.
The next night, naturally, Sundin played easily his best game as a Canuck, scoring once, drawing an assist and dominating the faceoff circle with a 15-4 record during Vancouver’s 4-3 win against the Carolina Hurricanes.
The victory ended the Canucks’ record nine-game home losing streak.
“They don’t have that in Sweden,” Barry said, adding that Sundin isn’t angry about the criticism he has received during his slow transition back to the National Hockey League. “Mats knows he needs to be part of the solution here.”
The Calgary-based agent was at GM Place for Tuesday’s game and joked maybe he should come back for the Canucks’ tilt Saturday against the Chicago Blackhawks.
Barry met with Vancouver management Wednesday morning, but insisted no signing is imminent for Canuck scoring leaders Daniel and Henrik Sedin. General manager Mike Gillis has said he hopes and expects to re-sign the twins, who want to stay, but economic uncertainty is giving everyone pause.
Asked if he thinks the Sedins will re-sign here, Barry said: “I don’t know. We had a pretty good idea where we were last summer, but what has changed is the financial landscape. The market is still going to pay them because there’s a scarcity of product. It’s supply and demand. But there’s a lot of uncertainty swirling.”
Neither side has divulged numbers being discussed, but it’s likely the Sedins’ value as consistent top-20 scorers is $6 million to $7 million US each per season. The bigger issue, however, is contract length.
Until this fall’s economic collapse, it was conventional for teams to lock up their best players before unrestricted free agency with contracts of five or six years or longer.
But the Canucks, understandably, are wary of committing huge money long-term when the salary cap could be in the mid-$40-millions two years from now, down from $56.7 million this season and nearer the current minimum of $40.7 million.
The question for Barry and the Sedins is whether they’ll get “market value” from another team and, if so, whether it will be enough over what the Canucks’ offer for the brothers to foresake a city they like and a team they consider theirs.
The Sedins may need to go to July 1 to find out, but I think they will remain Canucks at a slightly discounted rate and for a couple of years less than what they might have received on an extension last summer. Five years and $30 million apiece?
SOME NOVOCAINE PLEASE: Gillis used the day off to go see his dentist. He must have felt that the last three weeks was one long un-anaesthetized root canal. The Canuck losing streak was Gillis’s first crisis as a NHL GM, and he was subjected to daily stories/demands about him firing coach Alain Vigneault or shaking up his team with a trade.
“The hysteria in the marketplace, if we react to that, then we’ll be reacting every day to something,” Gillis said. “It’s not really in my demeanor to do things rashly without giving something much thought and asking the right questions. We try and stay immune from the hysteria, but at times it becomes challenging. At times, I really think it becomes detrimental to the good of the team and the performance of the team.
“If I get hysterical, then there’s absolutely no return.”
ANOTHER STREAK ENDS: There were no stories Wednesday about Vigneault getting fired. Gillis has been staunch and consistent in his support of the coach, leaving himself no wriggle room if he changes he mind. There seems little chance of that.
“Responsibility doesn’t get apportioned to one particular person,” Gillis explained. “We didn’t have a full lineup and I think responsibility is apportioned differently when you don’t. I was partly responsible. We faced a fairly serious injury crisis which really tested the depth of the organization, and the depth of the organization is my responsibility.”
EARTHQUAKE OR TRADE? That seismic shift you felt Wednesday afternoon was the balance of power changing in the Western Conference as the Canucks improved their defensive depth by re-acquiring defenceman Nathan McIver for little used forward Mike Brown.
The Canucks waited for McIver to clear waivers before acquiring him from the Anaheim Ducks, which allowed Vancouver to send the 24-year-old to the Manitoba Moose. After being claimed from the Canucks on waivers before the season, McIver played 18 games for the Ducks, averaging 9:23 of ice time. Brown, 23, averaged 5:29 in 20 games with the Canucks.
“We just needed more depth on defence,” Canuck assistant general manager Lorne Henning said. “Nathan is a great character kid. We all speak highly of him. We hated to lose him in the first place. He’s going to go down to Manitoba and play some games and we’ll see where it goes.”
| . |
