Hot off the press this morning, the NHL has announced a $50,000 fine for the Vancouver Canucks as a result of the comments Jim Benning made last week about Steven Stamkos and P.K. Subban.
Considering that the Canucks committed nearly $1.7 million on Monday to ensuring that Chris Higgins doesn't play hockey next season, I'd say the fine amounts to little more than a slap on the wrist—especially when it's assessed against the team, and not against Benning personally.
The team has issued a short statement from Benning.
Benning is an honest guy—in this case, to a fault. As I've said before, I hope this doesn't mean that we'll get less information about the team going forward.
Milan Lucic Dines With Canucks Brass
If you missed it, impending unrestricted free agent Milan Lucic was spotted outside Rogers Arena on Monday afternoon.
Of course, like Jim Benning, Edmonton general manager Peter Chiarelli also has the Boston Bruins connection with Lucic—and there's some talk that the Oilers are currently the leading candidate for his services.
Milan Lucic spent most of yesterday being wooed by the Canucks in his hometown. The Oilers are the front-runners though.
So—two new names added to the list: Troy Brouwer and Vern Fiddler.
We've talked quite a lot about Brouwer already. I picked him out fairly early in the playoffs as a good potential free-agent target—another local boy, won a Stanley Cup with Chicago, good size and gritty playing style, but can chip in as a scoring winger. But Brouwer was so good in the playoffs that I fear he has played himself out of a realistic price range.
Brouwer turns 31 in August. He has missed only eight games in his entire career since becoming a full-time NHLer with the Blackhawks back in 2008-09 and has chipped in at least 17 goals and 33 points every year since 2009-10—with Chicago, Washington and St. Louis. He was tremendous in the lockout year, with 19 goals and 33 points in 47 games.
Brouwer is wrapping up a three-year deal that kicked in after the lockout, for the 2013-14 season, which gave him a raise from $2.35 million per season to a $3.67 cap hit. He delivered good value for that money, but I'm afraid that he's going to be looking for something closer to 6x6 this time around.
Now—Vern Fiddler. That's a new name.
Fiddler is a Western Canadian guy who did spend a year with the Medicine Hat Tigers—but it was in 2000-01, well before Willie's time. He's a 36-year-old who went undrafted and didn't make the NHL full time until 2006-07, with the Nashville Predators, when he was 26 years old.
Fiddler has spent the last five seasons with the Dallas Stars, so Willie does know him from his final year as the Stars' associate coach, in 2011-12. He has a reputation as a guy who's great in the room, and is best known around here for his imitation of Kevin Bieksa's "angry face" that threw Alain Vigneault into an uncontrollable case of the giggles back in 2012.
Fiddler's a utility guy. Though he averaged only 11:38 of ice time per game last season, he was Dallas' leading forward on its penalty kill and was decent in the faceoff circle—two attributes that could make him attractive to the Canucks. Interestingly, his two highest-scoring seasons have been his last two, when he has scored 13 and 12 goals, but he's already 36 years old. When I think of "someone to play with the twins," I'm not thinking of someone their age!
As a side note, if the Canucks do acquire a bottom-six free agent, it could still mean the end of the line for Alex Burrows, according to Ben Kuzma at The Province.
"We still haven't decided what we're going to do with Alex," said Benning. "We're going to see how the week goes. I've talked to some teams about him and I love what he's done for the franchise and he's got a great attitude. But the situation is still fluid and it would depend on a secondary piece (free agent) and that could determine more his situation than a first piece that we sign.
"We've identified some players as secondary pieces that we're going to go after and that will relate to Alex's situation."
Emerson Etem Signed, No Qualifying Offer for Linden Vey
To wrap up another busy news day, the Canucks announced on Monday that they've signed Emerson Etem to a new one-year contract.
Etem made $850,500 last season, so the new deal comes in below what his qualifying offer would have been. It's an inexpensive signing for a player who showed some potential, especially towards the end of last season, and who has stuck around Vancouver this summer and seems to be showing a strong commitment to the team.
The news is not so good for Linden Vey, however. Here's Jim Benning, once again via Ben Kuzma, saying there simply wasn't room on the roster to keep Vey around:
“We thought that Gaunce came in the last 15 games and played really well and on the right side where we also have Jannik Hansen and Jake Virtanen and Derek Dorsett, there wasn’t room there,” said Canucks general manager Jim Benning. “We just made the determination that we gave him an opportunity for a couple of years, but we feel the players we have under contract are better.
“I feel for everything he has had to deal with and I hope that he gets to do what he wants to do and has a successful career and I wish nothing but the best for him.”
Kuzma suggests that Europe could be a good option for Vey, where he can get away from the family drama that has dragged him down for the last few years and get a fresh start on the big ice surface that would suit his game.
I echo Benning's sentiment. I hope things get easier for Vey going forward.
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