Player Profiles - Christian Ehrhoff
Yankee Canuck
September 27 2010 11:13AM
We continue our series where Canucks Army will profile various players of interest leading up to the new season.
It's not often a team can claim a slam dunk on a trade, but the cap era produces victims left and right. Following a lackluster season with San Jose in 2008-09 where he was dead last with a -12, Christian Ehrhoff became one of those victims. Bundled with Brad Lukowich to clear enough salary to ink Dany Heatley, Vancouver gave up two forgettable prospects in return for what turned out to be their highest scoring defenseman in a single season since Ed Jovanovski in 2002-03.
Player Profiles - Alexander Edler
Yankee Canuck
September 23 2010 07:29AM
We continue our series where Canucks Army will profile various players of interest leading up to the new season.
As the youngest of the top six defenseman, Alexander Edler has long been groomed as the future cornerstone on the blueline. Though he enjoyed his best season point-wise in 2009-2010, there were some negatives sprinkled in here to go along with his season-ending ankle injury (what's that you say? A defensive injury? Who'd a thunk it?!) that came from your friend and mine Dustin Byfuglien. With a summer of healing behind him, can E-Train polish some of his rough edges and take another step forward to being a true #1 NHL defenseman?
Player Profiles - Keith Ballard
Yankee Canuck
September 16 2010 06:47AM
We continue our series where Canucks Army will profile various players of interest leading up to the new season.
Before the free agency party that saw Dan Hamhuis land in their laps, Mike Gillis got the party started at June's Entry Draft by acquiring Keith Ballard and Victor Oreskovich for Michael Grabner, Steve "Death to Scoring Chances" Bernier and a 2010 1st rounder (Quinton Howden). Some fans bemoaned letting Grabner go, but in exchange Vancouver received a player they didn't have in the playoffs: a healthy, all-around defender who has of the few righthanded shots on the team. Now - like Ed Jovanovski and Roberto Luongo before him - the hope is he can come to a hockey mad city and develop into a dependable piece on a winning team.
Player Profiles - Dan Hamhius
Yankee Canuck
September 09 2010 09:33AM
We continue our series where Canucks Army will profile various players of interest leading up to the new season.
This summer marks the end of one BC native patrolling the Vancouver blueline (WIllie Mitchell) and the start of another with Smithers-native Dan Hamhuis. Not since the Mats Sundin signing (*spits, kicks at dirt*) has Mike Gillis gunned for one of the stud free agents in free agency and succeeded (without having to wait until December!). What can we expect from Hamhuis who is now the highest paid blueliner in Vancouver history and will be donning the Orca until potentially 2016?
On Malhotra's Value
Yankee Canuck
August 18 2010 01:57PM
Mike Gillis has been plenty busy this summer, honing in on Keith Ballard during the first night of the draft and delivering a hometown discount (however slight) for Dan Hamhuis once the clock struck noon on July 1st.
One signing that went under the radar - but not before inviting some immediate scrutiny - was the three-year, $7.5 million dollar deal for 30-year-old Manny Malhotra. Some were quick to wave a nagging finger at the deal, including Pierre McGuire who kindly took it upon himself to suddenly become Cody Hodgson's agent. Others questioned why Malhotra was a better choice over similar forwards, particularly at a reduced cap hit and one that wouldn't muddy the waters of the bottom six where there are plenty of existing options (like Hodgson, Jordan Schroeder, Jannik Hansen, Tanner Glass and the newly acquired Joel Perrault and Victor Oreskovich to name a handful).
Make no mistake: not only was Manny Malhotra a smart signing, it was necessary and one that will make the Canucks immediately better in several of their weaker areas.
