Most teams are contented with the current goaltending they have in place, but for the Canucks, it might be a small concern that they have to address sooner rather than later.
Canucks GM Mike Gillis says it will be a priority for the Canucks, but that he will wait for the new collective bargaining agreement to be ratified before discussing a trade with any NHL team.
With the shortened NHL season set to start January 19th (maybe sooner) many feel that Vancouver will deal Luongo, which includes the remainder of his 12-year, $64-million (all figures U.S.) contract.
This allowing last year’s back-up Cory Schneider can take over the starting duties for the club.
Some feel that the Leafs are quite possibly the best fit for Luongo, who at a young age of 33 lost his starting job to the 26 year-old rookie sensation Cory Schneider during the upset playoff loss to the LA Kings this past spring.
Gillis returned home to Vancouver early Sunday from a Hawaiian vacation and states “he needs to digest the new CBA before making any deal.”
Later on a conference call he stated “It will become a priority for us and we’ve got two very good goaltenders. We are very happy with both of them.
“We’ll have to wait and see what happens now that you can begin discussing specifics with teams. It’s probably a very different landscape today than it was before because of the new CBA. We haven’t seen the details of that yet, which may affect everything we do.”
Next year’s salary cap is slated to be $64.3 million per team in the League.
Luongo, who has won back-to-back Presidents’ Trophies with the Canucks has struggled of late in the playoffs, and given his $5.33 million cap hit.
His contract carries through to the 2021-22 season. Last season his record was 31-14-8, plus managing five (5) shutouts and a 2.41 GAA.
Kesler is still on rehab recovering from (off-season) shoulder and wrist surgeries, so the Canucks could be looking for a centre to be thrown in should there be any deal involving Luongo.
The Leafs might offer Tyler Bozak (18 goals and 47 points last year) and slatted to earn $1.4 million in this 2013-14 shortened season.
Gilles expects trade talks to heat up once the CBA is ratified.
“There’s going to be a lot of activity once this deal gets ratified and teams try to plan,” he said. “There hasn’t been any trade discussions while the lockout is on. There’s a lot of teams thinking about a lot of things.”
The Canucks currently have 13 players signed for (almost) $55 million on the roster. Gillis continued said it will be a challenge” for the Canucks to get under the salary cap next season, but nothing different than most other teams.
“We have to work hard and make some very difficult decisions to be in that range and have a very good team,” Gillis stated. “I’m confident we will be able to do the things we need to do to keep our team together and be a very good team moving forward in the years ahead.”
Playing a shortened season no doubt will put more pressure on players, coaches and management alike.“You don’t have the luxury of a full season to experiment,” Gillis said. “We were planning on introducing a number of young players. Now I’m not sure how that’s going to work out with a shortened schedule.”
Injuries are another concern. “Long-term injuries would be devastating,” he said.
The Canucks are the dominant sports franchise in Vancouver but the 113-day lockout took its toll among the players, but mostly the fans!
Gillis said the team experienced some season-ticket cancellations but wouldn’t give an exact number.
“It’s not a significant amount based on where this team is positioned,” he said. “It’s an indication some fans were not happy with this process. It was not a number that would cause us to be overly concerned.”
Regardless it’s GAME ON – BUT WHO DID THE LOCK-OUT REALLY HURT????
