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(Article)Botchford: Canucks clear up roster questions but Luongo remains in limbo

naslund.is.king

By naslund.is.king
in Canucks Talk

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naslund.is.king Canucks Franchise Player

naslund.is.king

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http://www.theprovince.com/touch/story.html?id=8625957

Many offseason questions surrounding the Vancouver Canucks have been answered by now.

They have their new coach, and a couple of new centres after signing Brad Richardson and Mike Santorelli on the weekend.

But there is no answer yet to what Roberto Luongo will do next.

People, including Vancouver management, can speculate. But they’re guessing with the rest of us. Luongo hasn’t revealed his intentions, even refusing hockey-related interviews as he prepares for the World Series of Poker, continuing his sponsorship deal with the BCLC.

It’s left the Canucks twisting in the wind just a little.

Most believe the goalie who desperately wanted a fresh start will report for training camp in Vancouver.

In fact, GM Mike Gillis starkly outlined Luongo’s options Friday.

“Play or not play,” Gillis said.

Is that blunt enough for you?

He can play for the Canucks, or he can sit out, turning his back on a contract that’s still worth $40.5 million over the next nine years.

Gillis will travel to Florida to explain to Luongo what most know by now. His contract was unmovable. A big reason why is he, and the Canucks, essentially got screwed by the CBA.

When the new agreement was ratified it included a so-called Luongo Rule, a way of penalizing teams who circumvented the cap with those mega long-term deals.

With cap penalties tacked on near end of those deals, after the player retires, it made Luongo’s contract as appealing as a pine beetle infestation.

“I have the utmost respect for this guy,” Gillis said of Luongo. “I think he’s a fantastic person. He’s done tons in the community here.

“Situations happen in professional sports and we have to learn how to deal with them.”

That is going to take some time.

What Gillis probably won’t be able to sell Luongo on are any noticeable improvements to his club.

He still has a chance to alter the dynamic of the team by trading away one of the Canucks top four defencemen. The Canucks have continued to listen to offers for Alex Edler, and maybe even Kevin Bieksa. This, even after the Keith Ballard buyout.

With their no-trade clauses, it will be difficult to find the right deal. But one can’t help but wonder whether the arrival of John Tortorella has greased the path for players to waive their NTCs to get out of Vancouver.

Until a trade drops, however, the cap-strapped Canucks can only boast about bringing in two depth centres, and a depth defenceman in Yannick Weber. By signing free agents Santorelli, Richardson and Weber, they have managed to replace Andrew Ebbett, Max Lapierre and Cam Barker.

Hands up if you think that qualifies as a “reset.”

Even if those acquisitions are upgrades, the Canucks roster is not definitively better now than it was at then end of the season.

You can make the argument with Derek Roy gone, it’s worse. Then again, what exactly did Roy do in Vancouver?

Richardson, who joins Vancouver on a two-year $2.3 million contract, was told he’d have every chance to be the team’s third-line centre.

“That was a big thing,” Richardson said. “Getting there and sitting down with them and seeing that role could be the third-line centre. I thought that was going to be a great fit for me.”

It’s a hole the Canucks haven’t filled adequately since Manny Malhotra’s eye injury. Richardson will be in tough to hold that job all year, and the Canucks are hoping now one of their prospects earns it by the end of the season.

Richardson is a nice utility player and he could flourish for a while with an expanded role. But he could easily find himself out of his depth if he’s playing consistently in the top nine. He was a healthy scratch in 27 of the LA Kings first 29 games this past season and played just 16 games in all.

“It was really tough,” Richardson said. “They didn’t give me a whole lot of feed back on why I wasn’t playing, which was tough.

“At the end of the year, it turned around. I started playing and played well.”

Santorelli, 27, is from Vancouver and said he signed a two-way deal with the Canucks, with a $550,000 NHL cap hit, to re-establish his career.

In 2010-11 Santorelli put up 20 goals and 21 assists on a line with David Booth in Florida.

At least Santorelli is a shootout specialist, something the Canucks lacked last season. In his NHL career, he’s 10-for-20 in the skills competition for a deadly 50% success rate.

That’s at least some news which could make Luongo smile.

He strikes again

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Neversummer Canucks Second-Line

Neversummer

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No offense to OP but could people who bitch about Botch's writing stop reprinting Botch's article? It just perpetuates and fuels his readership ... it is resulting in the opposite result.

In fact, please everyone stop reposting Vancouver Province/Sun articles. Hands up (or +1) if you agree?

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Batmania Canucks Regular

Batmania

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No offense to OP but could people who bitch about Botch's writing stop reprinting Botch's article? It just perpetuates and fuels his readership ... it is resulting in the opposite result.

In fact, please everyone stop reposting Vancouver Province/Sun articles. Hands up (or +1) if you agree?

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pimpcurtly Canucks Third-Line

pimpcurtly

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No offense to OP but could people who bitch about Botch's writing stop reprinting Botch's article? It just perpetuates and fuels his readership ... it is resulting in the opposite result.

In fact, please everyone stop reposting Vancouver Province/Sun articles. Hands up (or +1) if you agree?

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naslund.is.king Canucks Franchise Player

naslund.is.king

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Posted

No offense to OP but could people who bitch about Botch's writing stop reprinting Botch's article? It just perpetuates and fuels his readership ... it is resulting in the opposite result.

In fact, please everyone stop reposting Vancouver Province/Sun articles. Hands up (or +1) if you agree?

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SamJamIam Canucks Star

SamJamIam

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Oh Botch. More of the same. Does he look in the mirror and go "Haha! I just need to write the same old crap again and I'll get paid. Vancouver is full of idiots!" or does he think "WHAT AM I DOING WITH MY LIFE?!"

I lean towards the former myself but only because I think the latter would require a level of self-awareness which, if Botch possessed it, would drive him to insanity.

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kodos Canucks Rookie

kodos

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No offense to OP but could people who bitch about Botch's writing stop reprinting Botch's article? It just perpetuates and fuels his readership ... it is resulting in the opposite result.

In fact, please everyone stop reposting Vancouver Province/Sun articles. Hands up (or +1) if you agree?

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