Impromptu Return of Headshots: July 24th

For those of you that are unfamiliar with it, our "Headshots" series is a staple here at Canucks Army. We essentially use it as a platform to shine a light on good, insightful work done by the various blogs and writers that make up the Smylosphere on a daily basis. It’s also a tool – for fans that may have been away from their computer throughout the day – that can be used to catch up on all of the day’s most important happenings. It’s essentially a links dump, with bits of commentary provided in-between.

Now, if you’re a regular reader of this blog, you’ve probably noticed that our "Headshots" series has been on a summer hiatus in recent weeks; in fact, the last one came nearly a month ago, on June 28th. The reason for that is that relevant news has simply been few and far between in the past month. It’ll likely continue to be that way through the end of August, so don’t expect it’s permanent return until then. But for today, we’ve made an exception with there being some recent developments worth discussing.

Read past the jump for more on today’s Canucks news, and some links.

The Canucks held their annual "summer summit" last night inside the friendly confines of Rogers Arena, as the likes of Mike Gillis, John Tortorella, Victor de Bonis, and Bill Daly answered questions from the team’s season ticket holders. In case you weren’t able to follow along last night, we’ve got you covered with a relatively succinct summary of all of the key talking points.

One of the questions that came up had to do with the open roster spots, and the remaining moves to be made by Gillis. He was quick to point out that he expected all three of the team’s most important restricted free agents – Jordan Schroeder, Dale Weise, and Chris Tanev – to be signed to contracts very soon. Well, it turns out that he wasn’t kidding. The team announced that they’ve come to terms with both Weise (1 year, $750k) and Schroeder (1 year, $600k), leaving Tanev as the lone remaining priority.

I found Weise’s comments in Jim Jamieson’s post (linked above) to be rather interesting. I totally buy that he believes in his head that he could be destined for a big year in the team’s top-9, that will get him a heftier contract next summer. Unfortunately, I don’t think that’s all that realistic. But hey, he’s still a useful player on the 4th line, and considering he’s making the same amount as one Tom Sestito, things could be worse (though that probably speaks more to Sestito’s deal than anything else). And he’s just about to turn 25 years old, so the idea of him improving as a player isn’t out of the question.

I’m a big fan of the Schroeder deal. The Canucks are in a cap bind, and they just secured themselves their 3rd line centre for quite a team friendly price. Schroeder had an interesting year last season, as he showed impressive flashes in spurts while being yo-yo’d to and fro. Some stability, and last year’s experience, should do wonders for him. Yet the fact still remains that he has to be considered the favourite to get buried in John Tortorella’s infamous doghouse this season (with Alex Edler probably coming in 2nd).

In other news, word broke today that Roberto Luongo has decided to switch agents, as he dropped former agent Gilles Lupien in favour of JP Barry and Pat Brisson. I’ve seen people try to make a big deal of this, hypothesizing that it’s a sign he’s trying to get out of the current situation he’s in. Jason Botchford – who knows a thing or two – has held firm with his belief that Luongo still wants out of Vancouver, even after the Schneider trade and the coaching change. This could support that, or it could mean absolutely nothing. I hate speculating on such things without having any inside knowledge on the matter.

For what it’s worth, it’s a distinct possibility that Luongo dropped Lupien because he was sick and tired of being associated with a guy whose Wikipedia page reads: "Gilles is one of professional hockey’s top agents, representing stars such as Steve Bernier.."

And finally, probably the biggest news coming out of last night’s summit was the news that Pavel Bure’s number 10 will be going up into the rafters at some point next season. This news lit a fire under Jeffler (whose work can routinely be found over at Leafs Nation), who graced this blog with his presence in the form of a guest post. A pleasant surprise. 

Oh yeah, Yann Sauve – our 16th ranked prospect last summer – was re-signed by the team as well. Fun fact: at no point was there any sort of inclination felt to write up a post solely dedicated to this news this morning. Mostly because I think only Sauve’s friends and family would actually take the time to read it.

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