I’ve been thinking lately about former Canucks players… More specifically I’ve been thinking about the success they have had with their new clubs, or rather lack thereof. From what I can tell, there are 14 guys who were on the Canucks roster in the 2005-06 season who did not return this year. I was checking out the stats of a few of the key players, and this is what I came up with. Check it out:
Todd Bertuzzi – (Traded to the Panthers during the off season. Signed (I think) a one year deal for $5.27 million). He got 7 points in his only 7 games this season. Due to recurring back problems requiring surgery, he has been sidelined since Oct. 20th.
Anson Carter – (Signed as a free agent by Columbus to a one year, $2.5 million contract). After under-performing all season he was traded to Carolina for a 5th round draft pick in 2008. Yikes!
Nolan Baumgartner – (Signed as a free agent by Philadelphia to a two year deal. His salary for this season is $1.2 million). After playing only 6 games for the Flyers he was placed on waivers in what I think was an attempt by then-Flyers GM Bobby Clarke to “shake things up”. He cleared waivers and was assigned to the AHL where he spent the remainder of the season until he was placed on re-entry waivers yesterday and claimed by the Dallas Stars today.
Ed Jovanovski – (Signed as a free agent by Phoenix to a five year deal. His salary is $7 million this season). He has recorded 29 points in 54 games, and is a -6 so far this season. Last year he had 4 more points in 10 fewer games with the Canucks and was a -8. These aren’t terrible numbers, but I think Phoenix was expecting him to be more of a contributor offensively, especially considering his salary. On a positive note, he was named to the Western Conference all-star team in place of the injured Scott Neidermayer.
Dan Cloutier – (Traded to L.A. for a 2nd round pick in 2007 and a conditional pick in 2009. His salary this year is $2.55 million). This season Cloutier has a record of only 6 wins and 14 losses, with a goals against average of 3.98, and a save percentage of .860. Furthermore, he has been out of the lineup since Dec. 28 with a hip injury.
Alex Auld – (Traded to Florida in the off season. Signed a one year, $1.475 million contract). Auld has been playing the role of backup to Ed Belfour this year. He has a record of 7 wins and 13 losses this season with a goals against average of 3.34 and a save percentage of .888.
What happened here? In fairness, all of the above-mentioned players did sign with, or were traded to um.. “under performing” teams… But still. I am pretty amazed by these results, especially when I think about what, for example, the Ottawa Senators gave up after last season – most notably: Zdeno Chara (signed with the Bruins, named to the All-Star team, named as team captain, has 38 points so far this season); Martin Havlat (traded to the Blackhawks, has 46 points in 39 games this season); and even Brian Pothier is doing alright this season with the Capitals. (It also may be interesting to note that these 3 players are also on “under performing” teams.)
Now, if someone could just forward this to the Canucks’ unrestricted free agents Sami Salo and Taylor Pyatt, that would be great… 🙂
(Note: Just to avoid confusion here, I am aware that there are also a few other Canucks who will become UFAs at the end of the season, most notably Trevor Linden. I didn’t include him in the comment about Salo and Pyatt because I am confident that if Linden wants to play next year (and I hope he does!), it will be in a Canucks uniform.)
