Vancouver Canucks

Hey-ey-ey, Goodbye?

As July 1 slowly approaches, the Canucks are still not close to re-signing the Sedins. Both JP Barry and Mike Gillis headed to Stockholm to resume contract talks after the draft, but ended up bumping into each other at the airport in perhaps one of the most awkward moments.

Either way, it seems as though Gillis needs to move on to Plan B - that is, replacing the Sedins’ production via free agency or trades, which seems less likely considering the few trade pieces the Canucks possess. There is lots of talk about Marian Gaborik coming to Vancouver, although the possibility of the Sedins walking and then signing the oft-injured Gaborik have incensed some a few observers. Iain MacIntyre makes the Sedins’ imminent departure seem apocalyptic, but personally I don’t share the same view.

There is the belief that to remain competitive, the Canucks would have to replace all of the Sedins’ production this summer. I disagree. There’s no denying that without the Sedins the Canucks would be worse, in part because the odds of replacing their production via free agency is quite low. Gaborik, Marian Hossa, and Mike Cammalleri will all have multiple suitors. Gillis has promised he would be aggressive once again on the market, but Hossa and Gaborik have already turned down very lucrative offers in the past. The crop of free agents this year just isn’t that good, especially if you consider that re-signing the Sedins post-July 1 is unlikely. Right away, that knocks off two of this year’s top 15 free agent forwards.

But before we push the panic button, we should consider the fact that the Sedins took four NHL seasons and one in the SEL to get to where they are. Even if the Canucks fall a bit this upcoming year, they will have a chance to continue to dip into the free agent market in 2010 provided that they leave enough room this year for next year. I don’t believe there should be a hurry to immediately replace all of the Sedins’ 160 points. Rushing into free agency never did any teams any good. There is no simple, short-term fix for the Sedins, but if Gillis does this right, targets the right players for the right price, we could all be better off in the long run.