Vancouver Canucks

Now that Mason Raymond is signed, where is the depth at forward that was recognized as being a priority after the Chicago Blackhawks knocked off the Canucks for the second year in a row?

Due to injuries that were later disclosed after the playoffs, the Canucks once again ended up being a one line team.

This year, with Alex Burrows' shoulder surgery expected to keep him from starting the season, where is the supporting cast?

If Mikael Samuelsson plays with the Twins (first line), Kesler and Raymond make up part of the second line and Malhotra plays on the third line.

It was announced today that the Canucks have re-signed forward Mason Raymond to a two-year deal thus avoiding arbitration. In keeping with club policy, terms were not disclosed.

However NHL.com stated that several media reports (including local radio station TEAM 1040) that Raymond will make $2.5 million this season and $2.6 million in 2011-12.

That seems like a reasonable amount when you compare Alex Burrows $2 million and Mikael Samuelsson’s $2.5 million contracts.

For those that haven’t heard, Sami Salo has been injured again . He requires surgery for a torn Achilles tendon. 

Sami Salo just can't catch a break, or at least a good one that is. Salo suffered an Achilles tear during training today and is out indefinitely. News out of Finland says he suffered the injury playing floor hockey.

I actually am starting to feel sorry for Salo. The guy has been in the NHL for 11 seasons and he hasn't played a full 82 games in any of them. He has now suffered roughly 35 injuries.

His games played over his career:

I realize that this process of re-building the third and fourth lines is not complete, as that will not be finished until the season actually begins, but the signings of some of these players is puzzling.

Anyone who watched the playoffs and Stanley Cup Finals knows that the fourth lines hardly got any ice time at all, and so to me, the biggest part of this assembly would be a third line.

This new group would be tough to play against, be defensively responsible, and could also score.

I thought it would be an interesting idea to go through some of these players and see if they fit the idea of

This is going to be a very interesting time for a number of the NHL teams as they try to figure out how to get back in good standing with the salary cap.

There are nine teams that will face cap penalties ranging from $50,000 to $4.1 million due to performance bonuses from the 2009-10 season.

And yes, the Vancouver Canucks are amongst these.

This causes a reduction in this seasons cap space which, in turn, will raises the question: who will be on the trading block or placed on waivers?

No wonder there is no urgency for teams to sign the glut of RFA’s.

The rumor mill is just a spinning these days with what seems to be the inevitable - that Kevin Bieksa will be traded.

There have been a number of teams mentioned with the first one being Columbus Blue Jackets and now San Jose Sharks.

I can’t see why the Canucks would want to trade a gritty type D-man in Bieksa to a team that they have had trouble beating over the last three seasons (2W).

Both have a number of players that would help the Canucks third line and reduce the Bieksa - $3.75 million cap hit.

So with that in mind I took a look at who might be trade material if the other team

After first attending and then writing the article about the Canucks Summer Summit and watching the first inductee to the Ring of Honour, I got to thinking about who should be the other three to be added alongside Orland Kurtenbach.

This took awhile as I reflected back on the number of players I had watched from the time that the team had entered into the NHL.

There have been a number of players that had the criteria of popularity, statistics, community involvement and longevity, so with that in mind I did some further investigation.

This is going to be a very subjective threesome because i

Well, there isn't much to report on the Canucks Prospects (held at what is now called the Rogers Arena) that I looked at, but I did learn a few interesting tidbits that I will disclose later on, so bear with me.

First of all, this was not like last year’s training camp, where we got a one pager outlining the players sweater number, bio, and physical stats.

So, unless you recognized them, you were out of luck on who was who.

By now, you have all heard that Tanner Glass, Jannik Hansen, and Mason Raymond have filed for arbitration after having received qualifying offers as RFA’s.

Now, I can understand Raymond taking this to arbitration as he had a minimum qualifying offer of $700,000.

Glass and Hansen? Not so much.

Sure I can see that Glass and Hansen want one-way contracts, and the team wants two ways. But for Glass, what does he have for an arguing point?