Jordan Schroeder during the 2009 Entry Draft, being selected by the Vancouver Canucks in the first round

The Young Stars tournament will be an 8 game round robin tournament, featuring some blue chip talent from the Vancouver Canucks, Calgary Flames, San Jose Sharks, Anaheim Ducks and Edmonton Oilers.  Dan Ashton, Mayor of Penticton, spoke to the upcoming event.  ”When we built our events centre, part of our vision was to have the Canucks come and utilize it as a training facility… now to have  five NHL teams come to Penticton for five days… this is a tremendous opportunity for us to showcase our facility and community.”

At this time, the details of which prospects will be playing has yet to be announced, but it figures to be an important proving grounds.  With the possibility that some of the prospects looking for regular NHL jobs this fall will be involved, there is the potential for several nigh-household names.  Jordan Eberle, Taylor Hall, Mikael Backlund, Nick Petrecki, Luca Sbisa, Jake Gardiner – all prospects that might be involved in the tournament.

Cody Hodgson: Vancouver's number one prospect (all photos courtesy of Yardbarker.com)

From a Canucks fan point of view, the real draw will be witnessing the unfolding storyline between Prior Lake, Minnesotan Jordan Schroeder and Markham, Ontario’s Cody Hodgson.  The two centers will look to make an early impression on Canucks’ brass, meanwhile competing for what should essentially be the 4th line center position with the club.  With Manny Malholtra’s tenacious, time-proven checking track record, it appears that’s the slot available.  One has to factor in, though, Hodgson’s $1.6 M cap hit into the equation, which might be enough, provided he has a solid camp, to make him the incumbent fourth line center.

Canucks President and General Manager Mike Gillis commented on the Young Stars tournament that precedes the Veteran camp (which starts Sept. 18).  ”Penticton has a deep hockey history and we look forward in continuing to celebrate that legacy with our NHL players and prospects this fall.”  A tournament package, which starts at $66 plus applicable taxes (www.valleyfirstTIX.com), receives a ticket to each of the eight games, and the first 1000 fans to purchase tickets also receive an exclusive pass to the Canucks Veteran’s Training Camp, providing reserved seating and priority access to the Veteran’s Camp.

Jordan Eberle should be in the hunt for a roster spot with the talent-strapped Oilers

The hockey world is Mikael Backlund's oyster... he's the Flames equivalent of Hodgson

Nick Petrecki (6'3, 220 lbs) has a heavy shot, and hits even harder, could crack the Sharks' lineup this year

To be frank, though I’m very interested in how things shake down during Veteran’s Camp, I’m salivating to see how the neophytes perform during the Young Stars tournament.  Of course, I’m wary of another Sergei Shirokov-esque performance:  One of the prospects performs very well, has a great pre-season, and then fades shortly after.  But make no mistake about it, there are a couple of jobs up for grabs, and with Michael Grabner being shipped to Florida, the door is open.  The only remaining question:  Who will walk through?

According to Team 1040, at least 6 teams are bidding right now to obtain Bieksa

With the somewhat surprising additions of Dan Hamhuis and Keith Ballard to the Vancouver defensive core, Kevin Bieksa looks to have played his last game as a Canuck.  After losing in the second round to the cup-winning Blackhawks, the situation wasn’t as transparent.  Everyone knew changes were on the way, and probably to the defensive structure, but initially Bieksa was only one of a few names bandied about.   But the impending Free Agent arbitration meeting next week over Mason Raymond has given Bieksa’s position a more cellophane appearance.

Because Arbitrators used in the process are not “hockey” people, but rather “numbers” people, it would appear that Mason Raymond will be set to receive at least $3 M per season, with Jason Botchford and Ben Kuzma hinting that number could gravitate closer to $4 M per season.  Players such as Atlanta’s Clarke MacArthur, who was awarded a $2.4 M per season ruling in arbitration (that ATL declined the option on) for his 16 goal, 19 assist campaign, as well as Toronto’s Nikolai Kulemin who has been signed to a 2 year, $2.35 M per season deal (78 games, 16 goals, 20 assists)  had inferior seasons to Raymond.  Raymond scored 25 goals, added 28 assists for 53 points and played all 82 games.   But with the departure of Michael Grabner in the Ballard deal, Mike Gillis’ hands are tied to whatever the arbitrator decides.  Unlike Atlanta, the Canucks cannot afford to let go of a top 6 forward, which is exactly what would happen if they don’t accept the decision next week.  Mason Raymond would become an Unrestricted Free Agent, with the caveat that the team that signs him would have to pay the amount decided in arbitration.

Little did Kevin know at the end of the second round of the playoffs...

... that his fate would be so closely tied to Mason Raymond's because of salary arbitration and cap concerns

Word out of Anaheim Wednesday night was that, because of the interest of at least six teams, that the asking price on Bieksa has inched upward.  Essentially, Gillis has stated that he’ll move Kevin to the highest bidder.  Initially, it was a higher draft pick, but now the price has reached a high draft pick and a prospect.  With the retirement of Scott Neidermeyer, Anaheim really needs to bulk up their defense, and appear to be the front-runners for his services.  Other interest has come from Columbus, as well as Washington, and ideally Gillis would like to move him to the Eastern conference.  But as was pointed out in the Team 1040 interview, time is of the essence.  It is true,  that with a type of bidding war starting to take place for Kevin Bieksa (who Botchford referred to as a “poor man’s Pronger”) that Mike Gillis currently “holds the cards”.

Though others felt he had a mediocre playoffs, I enjoy the grit/skill mix "Boom-Boom" Bieksa brings to the table

In theory, it’s best to try not to ‘leave anything on the table’ when it comes to renumeration for a player of Bieksa’s calibre.  But with rosters, contracts and new signings changing the NHL landscape daily, it’s imperative not to price yourself out of everyone’s market.  I believe the time to square away a deal for Bieksa is very soon, because team needs are shrinking.  Gillis said he wanted to “Make a hockey deal”, and is probably part of the reason why he’s got a good response from other GM’s.  But interest is there, and it seems the competition has stepped up.  Now, all Canuck fans can hope for is that the ‘closer’ in Mike Gillis, the former player agent, steps up and makes a decision soon.  He certainly holds the cards, but as Barry MacDonald said, “You can’t hold the cards forever”.

Kevin gave CFOX radio listeners really entertaining interviews; especially when he singled out Adam Burish

It’s not easy being a Vancouver Canuck defenseman these days.  In the 2009/10 season, the Canucks lost the most man games for blueliners.  The competition arising from those stifling injuries is intense, with Keith Ballard and  Dan Hamhuis being brought into the ranks.  Willie Mitchell was hit from behind January 15th by Evgeni Malkin, and missed the remaining 48 regular season games, as well as two rounds of the playoffs, due to being concussed.   Gary Bettman’s inability to put together proper discipline for headshots and dangerous play was a direct contributor to Willie Mitchell’s plight.   There’s a certain amount of travesty, if not irony, stemming from the fact that players like Willie Mitchell lose money (which I’ll get to briefly) while the professed Commissioner gets a pay hike.

If Willie Mitchell has this picture up on his wall, it surely has a dart board right behind it

The fact remains that, because of Bettman’s indifference to the headshots issue, players like Willie Mitchell, ie – the “product”, are set to lose money.   Do you really think that Mitchell will land the kind of contract now that he would have been looking for this offseason?  Perhaps more importantly, will he get the number of years that he was looking for?

Mitchell would rather take a punch from Pronger than watch Bettman twiddle his thumbs on the headshots issue

Please don’t misread this; I am not a ‘bleeding heart’, nor do I secretly have a man-crush on Willie Mitchell.  But I do sympathize with him, and particularly with his sentiments uttered at a press conference approximately 6 weeks ago.  He is now considered “damaged product”, and has been labelled the same way Eric Lindros was after his concussion.  Essentially, fairly or unfairly, there are concerns regarding his health, and some GM’s would probably be thinking that he’s one big hit away from retirement.

My last muse on the matter:  The biggest pity is that Canucks fans will almost certainly never know what could have been.  If you don’t believe that losing your best shutdown defenseman before the playoffs is a big deal, then the Stanley Cup winning GM Stan Bowman’s words won’t hold any meaning for you.  ”I think you win with defense.  I think the success of our team is that we’ve got some very skilled forwards, but they get the puck a lot.  We want to keep that part of our game intact.”

With all that said, I truly hope Willie will again play meaningful hockey, be it in Vancouver, or even Edmonton or Washington for that matter.  He knows full well that Mike Gillis’ hands were tied at the beginning of Free Agency, and with 3 (defensive) contracts expiring at the end of next season, he had to make a move.  Believe me, should you ever read this Willie, that we WOULD have waited for you to heal if we could have.   It sure would have made Round 2 very interesting.  But time waits for no man… perhaps except the Commissioner.  Sometimes it looks like he’s got all the time in the world.