First off—big thanks to Belcherbd and Bryndog for helping me wade through the CBA yesterday in an attempt to determine next season's eligibility for Vancouver's bubble players.
Jeremy Davis has picked up the torch over at OneCanuck with a much more thorough analysis, which you can check out
here.
Here's how he works things out:
• Davis says Ronalds Kenins is waiver exempt for another 35 games this season.
• Davis says that Alex Grenier will be waiver eligible, because his first pro games were with the Chicago Wolves in 2012-13. That happened before he signed his first NHL contract with the Canucks on April 30, 2013. I didn't think those games would count, but there's another clause that could come into play here:
"The first season in which a player plays his first professional game (NHL or AHL) constitutes the first year for calculating the number of years of waiver exemption that he has."
I'm still fuzzy about whether or not the games with the Wolves would count since Grenier wasn't under an NHL contract at that time. Canucks Army also suggests
here that Grenier would be subject to waivers, so let's assume for the moment that this is correct.
• One other player missing from my list yesterday is Nicklas Jensen. He signed his first pro contract at age 18, so he'll have one last year of waiver-exempt status in 2015-16.
Kesler Signs Six-Year Extension
The big news in the NHL this morning is Ryan Kesler's new contract.
With one year left on the deal he signed with the Canucks that pays him $5 million a season, his new contract will kick in for 2016-17, just after he turns 32, and will carry a cap hit of $6.875 million a season for six years.
But wait...there's more!
Though the Anaheim Ducks didn't win that elusive Stanley Cup with Kesler last season, they did get another round closer, reaching the Western Conference Final for the first time since winning it all back in 2007.
For his part, the oft-injured Kesler played in 81 of 82 regular-season games and all 16 playoff games, and he increased his production from 47 points in the regular season (.58 points per game) to 13 points in 16 playoff games (.81 points per game). In other words, he did exactly what the Ducks hoped he would do for their team.
Corey Perry and Ryan Getzlaf were also both drafted in 2003, and their contracts also run for six more seasons, while Kesler's now under contract for a total of seven years. Essentially, the Ducks have added a third player to their forward core and will see what happens as the group enters its "mature" years.
The biggest question with Kesler is whether his aggressive playing style will allow him to stay healthy enough to be a useful contributor into his late 30s.
One thing we do know—he'll be making a couple of trips a year back to Vancouver to get booed by the Canucks faithful for many seasons to come.
Higgins Not on the Block
If you missed it, Ben Kuzma
ran a story in
The Province earlier this week, debunking the rumour that the Canucks couldn't find a partner for a Chris Higgins trade.
“Chris Higgins is an important player on our team,” Linden said in a statement Monday. “We have not talked to any clubs about trading him. We value Chris both for his on-ice abilities and his leadership in the locker-room.”
Higgins takes a lot of heat for not being a "pure" top-six forward, but he's been pretty consistent throughout his career. His best season was in Montreal in 2007-08, when he scored 27 goals and 52 points. In fact, he was a 20-goal guy three times with the Habs—a feat he hasn't matched since.
With Vancouver, Higgins has recorded seasons of 43, 39 and 36 points, as well as a rough lockout year when he picked up just 15 points in 41 games in 2012-13. He's versatile, defensively responsible and surprisingly good in the shootout considering how many offensive chances seem to die on his stick during regular gameplay.
If Sven Baertschi slots in as projected at left wing on the second line, Higgins will most likely be shuffled into a bottom-six role next season, if he is still with the team.
My guess is that he will be.
What do you make of the rumour?
surveys & polls
Finally, to wrap up today, an update on jersey numbers. Derek Dorsett will take over Braf Richardson's old No. 15, while Brandon Prust really is stepping into Zack Kassian's skates!
And vice versa. It's not like Kassian was going to get Rocket Richard's No. 9 in Montreal!
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