First of all, I hope all readers are having an excellent trade deadline day. Hopefully whatever team you cheer for made a good trade and if your a Panthers fan, well, I hope the boat arrives soon with your new roster of 20 players.
As for my Canucks, I was led to believe that today would be fairly quite. Which it was; relatively. Personally I thought that the Canucks should have closed up shop and Mike Gillis could just sleep in. BUT, that did not happen. The magician that is Mr. Gillis had a few tricks up his sleeves.
RUNDOWN:
Trades - 2
Players Lost - 2
Draft Picks Lost - 2
Players Acquired - 3
Draft Picks Acquired - 0
Biggest Name In - Chris Higgins
Biggest Name Out - Evan Oberg
Like I said before I'm a strong believer with "if you got something good, don't mess with it!" Apparently, Mike Gillis felt otherwise. Mike has done a wonderful job in the free agent pool and in past trades to get the Canucks to the competitive level they are at currently. Let's see how Mike did today:
TRADE #1
To Anaheim: Joel Perreualt
2012 3rd Rounder
To Vancouver: Maxim LaPierre
MacGregor Sharp
Joel Perreualt has played less than a handful of games in the NHL this season and has done next to nothing while he has been in a Canucks jersey. That being said, not a huge loss. The pick is more of the worry for me. Anything from the first or second round is considered a good pick, while the third rounders are usually ones that get kicked around the most. These third round players though, can come back to bite you down the road. Fingers crossed that doesn't happen. Overall, this trade is definitely a short term stint. Maxim LaPierre is in the last year of his contract and was acquired to fill in the permanent spot of the fourth line centre that the Canucks seem to be missing. Tanner Glass has been the only consistent fourth liner for the Nucks, and hopefully LaPierre will get us one step closer to a "puck controlling" fourth line.
TRADE #2
To Florida - Evan Oberg
2013 3rd Rounder
To Vancouver - Chris Higgins
Remember this card?
I got this card in a trade a while back and got a double from my 3rd box of Score. This was the only Canucks Hot Rookies of the set. Well I should now say former Canucks rookie. I was pumped to get this card because I truly believe that next season Oberg could find a nice place on an NHL team, perhaps as the 6th defenseman. He got sent all the way to Florida today. Am I complaining about the return? Not so much, but I would like to wish Evan all the best in his career! Coming the way of the Canucks is former Hab/Flame/Panther Chris Higgins. So far this year he has 23 points in 48 games (about a point every 2 games). Here is the problem, where does he fit? Is he truly going to get stuck as a 4 liner? I think he has earned his spot on a third line but I really don't think the Canucks have any space there. Perhaps Chris will line juggle along with Raymond and Hansen who seem to be jumping lines every few shifts. Higgins numbers mimic Manny Malhotra's and Raffi Torres' point total (24 and 25 respectively) although Manny and Raffi have both played 15 games more than Chris this season. The way I look at the team is this...
D. Sedin - H. Sedin - Burrows
Raymond - Kesler - Samuelsson
Higgins - Malhotra - Torres
Hansen - LaPierre - Glass
That is a team I am happy with going into the play-offs! When our few injured defensemen come back in mid March and late April. This is what our back 6 will look like...
Hamhuis - Edler
Salo - Bieksa
Erhoff - Ballard
That is even more impressive than the top 12! If all the Canucks d-men stay healthy and Luongo plays the way he has lately, I have a hard time seeing a lot of teams running up the score.
GO NUCKS GO!
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