Demitra-tastic!

Around and around the players go, what will happen next season? Nobody knows. So for an extra $1.25 million the Canucks basically replaced Brendan Morrison with Pavol Demitra (so the whole Naslund-Demitra Summit in June at a local watering hole was about Pavol taking over Markus's house for a couple of seasons?).

Obviously, Demitra finds it hard to stay healthy averaging 66 GP over the past three seasons but at least when he's in the lineup he averages close to a point per game. How much of that is playing with Marian Gaborik, we'll soon find out here, but he'll get his powerplay chances for sure being a right-handed shot.

Keeping Morrison was never on the cards even if he was cheaper. There is a reason he's a bargain. He did not produce the goods offensively (basically he's a 56-point guy over 82 GP) as in his West Coast Express prime. Add to that his nagging injuries finally caught up with him and he only got into 39 games in '97/08 after two straight 82 GP seasons.

The strange thing in all this is the Burkster is proving a perfect fit for the make Beliefs and really the soap opera in T.O. needs the Artist Formerly Known as Lardass and now known as simple "The Moron" (and I am quoting Kevin Lowe). The genius in his own mind somehow has parlayed Andy McDonald into Doug Weight and now Brendan Morrison just to save a few bucks. Given McDonald is only two years younger than Morrison and had 163 pts in his last two seasons with the Ducks, what's a few million more for McDonald?

Sure, it was all done to re-sign Scott Niedermayer and Teemu Selanne, but was it really worth re-signing Selanne without keeping the center he had great chemistry with?

On that note, all the best, Brendan...except vs. the Pavolian one.

Markus Flavius of New York

So much for that "Mats Sundin can be on a line with Markus Naslund" idea. Unless, of course, the Make Belief who fiddles while Gillis burns is actually headed to Manhattan, also. Hey, who wouldn't want to live in New York, let alone get paid to do so?

Just a quick look at how other recent big-name centers did at Mats's age, 37, for the start of this season:
Joe Sakic
82 GP 100 pts
Wayne Gretzky
70 GP 62 pts
Mike Modano
82 GP 57 pts
Steve Yzerman
16 GP 8 pts

So more Sakic than Yzerman one hopes for Mats in '08/09. Then again, all four had those Stanley Cup rings already so you gotta ask yourself, Mats, do ya feel lucky...and what team is it gonna be?

Does Gillis Have Too Many Enemies Out There?

To those who may not have read the Mike Gillis excerpt from Bruce Dowbiggin's book on the world of NHL player agents, it's a great inside look into Gillis's life before the Canuck job.



A few things do stand out:
--Gillis apparently orchestrated Pavel Bure's departure from Vancouver to Florida.
--He's obviously made a few enemies of GMs who are still working in the NHL, but
I guess that goes with the agent's territory.
--Although he orchestrated monster deals for many of his clients, he is a frugal guy
for better or worse.

Take all these together and draw your own conclusions. All I know is offering $10
million per year to any player this side of 35, let alone turning 38 in early '09, is
clearly a huge risk. Even so, we all know Mats Sundin is not coming here to improve
his Cup chances unless you believe all you need is a New Jersey West system to beat
the Red Wings or the Ducks for the Western crown.