Sedins stay, Canucks add four players

Given my earlier post on the situation, I was quite happy to see the Sedins elect to stay in Vancouver [Richard Loat, Canucks Hockey Blog]. Moreover, they did so with a deal that makes perfect sense for both sides. Read on for my thoughts on why this contract works for everyone and the significance of the Canucks’ other moves in free agency so far.

From the Sedins’ side, the twins secured a reasonable amount of money ($30.5 million each) and, perhaps more importantly, a consistent home for the next five seasons in a city they like and are accustomed to. Even moving within a city is never easy, as I know well from my various moves over the years. Moving across the country or to a different country entirely is even more of a hassle. The twins are familiar with Vancouver by now and used to it; it makes sense that they wouldn’t want to give that convenience up for a bit more money.

From the Canucks’ point of view, they locked up two of the most productive players in the NHL at a rate well below market value. According to nhlnumbers.com, the new deals give the Sedins a cap hit of $6.1 million each annually, the 35th- and 36th-highest cap hits in the league, which is superb value given their 82 points each last season (14th- and 15th-best in the league). Ahead of them are luminaries such as Ryan Smyth (59 points last year), Brad Richards (48 points last season), Scott Gomez (58 points last year), Chris Drury (56 points last season) and Thomas Vanek (64 points last year) ─ and those are just the forwards. Such ineffective players as Wade Redden and Dion Phaneuf are also being paid more than the Sedins. Many of the players mentioned above are less effective than the Sedins defensively as well. Moreover, you can bet that they would have gotten more on the open market; there’s a rumour making the rounds that Brian Burke and the Leafs were prepared to offer seven-year, $49 million contracts to the twins, which seems well within the realm of plausibility. It’s great for Vancouver’s salary cap situation that the Canucks didn’t have to go that high.

Moreover, the length of the contract also works well for the Canucks. The twelve-year deals they asked for initially would have worked, but the Sedins would have been 40 in the final year and perhaps less productive by that time. By the end of this contract, they’ll only be 33. Thus, the Canucks get them for five years in their prime, which also gives the team a solid five-year window to try and win a Cup. Given that Luongo is expected to agree to an extension soon, that provides the Canucks with an excellent first line and a world-class goalie, great pieces to build around. If the deal works out and the Sedins stay healthy and productive, they’ll likely get another strong offer from the Canucks in five years and remain in Vancouver until they’re ready to hang up their skates. If it doesn’t, and they face injuries or a drop-off in productivity, the Canucks only face their current salary cap hit for five years. These contracts are also quite tradeable, unlike the 12-year ones, which gives the team even more flexibility.

The Sedins aren’t the only move the Canucks have made so far, though. They also added [Nucks Misconduct] depth defenceman Aaron Rome Wednesday and signed Lawrence Nycholat, Nolan Baumgartner and Matt Pope Thursday [canucks.com]. Baumgartner’s a solid and reliable fifth or sixth defenceman with a lot of experience, and I think he’ll be a valuable guy to have around. Nycholat is a bit more limited from what we’ve seen so far, but isn’t a bad player from a depth perspective; he’ll probably spend most of his time in the AHL next year.

Rome and Pope are interesting additions. Pope has strong local roots; he grew up in Langley and played for the BCHL’s Langley Hornets in 2003-2004, putting up 71 points in 60 games. He had a productive NCAA career with the Bemidji State Beavers (they of the crazy upset of Cornell this year, which Jason Karnosky describes here). Last year, he put up 30 goals and 63 points in 54 games with the Bakersfield Condors of the ECHL and then added another 8 points in 12 AHL games with the Binghamton Senators and the Manitoba Moose. He can score and check, which makes him an interesting player to have in the system and potentially eventually with the big club. He’s only 24, so he still has plenty of time to develop.

Rome isn’t a bad prospect either. He’s 25, but has already carved out a productive WHL and AHL career. He’s more of a defensively-oriented guy, but has put up acceptable point totals in his AHL stints (28 in 48 games with the Syracuse Crunch last season). He hasn’t managed to find a regular job in the NHL yet, but he certainly has a chance at eventually landing one with the Canucks. He’ll probably start the year in Manitoba, but may find himself in Vancouver quickly if the team goes through one of its usual waves of injuries to defencemen.

The Canucks have also lost a couple of players so far, namely Jason LaBarbera and Mattias Ohlund. Neither is a huge loss for the team, though. Ohlund is a good player and one who’s helped the team a lot over his time in Vancouver, but he was out of the Canucks’ price range this time around. A $3.75 million/year deal for seven years [Elliott Pap, The Vancouver Sun] makes more sense for Tampa Bay than it does for Vancouver; Ohlund is probably a top-pairing defenceman for them, whereas he’d be a third or fourth defenceman for the Canucks. Moreover, they need a veteran leader to mentor their new top prospect, Victor Hedman, and Ohlund fits the bill perfectly; he’s also Swedish, he’s got a lot of NHL experience, and he’s shown his leadership abilities over his time with the Canucks. I think they overpaid a bit even considering how much of a fit Ohlund is for their franchise, but even if they didn’t, the Canucks couldn’t afford to give Ohlund anything close to what the market would bear.

LaBarbera’s exit is a bit more of a surprise, as he was widely projected to be Luongo’s backup this coming year. Still, you can’t blame him for going to Phoenix, where he may have a chance to compete for the top job with Ilya Bryzgalov and Al Montoya; his chances of eventually earning a starting role there are much better than they would have been in Vancouver. As Curtis Sanford doesn’t appear likely to come back and Cory Schneider is likely to either stay in the AHL to gain game experience or be traded, this leaves the Canucks in an interesting dilemma with regards to backup goaltending. Richard Loat has a good breakdown of some of the options out there on the free agent market, which include Antero Niittymaki, Marc Denis, Kevin Weekes, and Stephen Valiquette. All of those guys would be decent options. Niittymaki is the best of the bunch, but I think he’s likely to take a job where he has a shot at winning the starting job, so my preference would be Weekes. He put up good numbers (2.42 GAA, .920 save percentage) in New Jersey last season, he was all right in Vancouver in his first go-round (1999-2000), and he’s 34, so he’s at a perfect age for a backup; experienced, but not young and desperate to earn the top job. Moreover, he just spent two seasons behind Martin Brodeur, so he’s used to playing infrequently, as he likely would behind Luongo.

It will be interesting to watch and see what the Canucks do in the rest of the free agency period. We’ve already seen most of the biggest names move, but there are still several intriguing players out there, and I’d bet that we’ll see at least one more defenceman added to the roster as well as perhaps a couple of depth forwards. We’ll have to watch and see.

Tags: Aaron Rome, Antero Niittymaki, Brad Richards, Brian Burke, Chris Drury, contracts, Cory Schneider, Curtis Sanford, Daniel Sedin, Dion Phaneuf, free agents, Henrik Sedin, Jason LaBarbera, Kevin Weekes, Lawrence Nycholat, Marc Denis, Matt Pope, Mattias Ohlund, Moneypuck, Nolan Baumgartner, Ryan Smyth, Scott Gomez, Stephen Valiquette, Thomas Vanek, Wade Redden