One strike Keith Ballard. Two strikes David Booth. Three strikes Jason Garrison? After the Vancouver Canucks signed Garrison to that whopping six-year, $27.6 million contract, skeptics were asking if this will be another “sour” deal with a former Florida Panther. Ballard is grossly overpaid with a cap hit of $4.2 million on a contract that continues until the end of the 2014-15 season. It’s too early to call Booth a bust, but he certainly did not live up to expectations in his first season with Vancouver (29 points in 56 games and just one assist in five playoff games) with a cap hit similar to Ballard at $4.25 million per year for the next three seasons. Now, Garrison will cost $4.6 million per season, a fancy raise over the $700,000 he
Canucks haven’t had luck with ex-Panthers
Friday, July 6, 2012
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went all-in on Garrison, crossreceived from Florida. ing their fingers that they are In total, the Canucks now in a better situation. invested more than $13 million In addition, Gillis needed in these three aforementioned to make a move after Panthers. losing out to the Garrison is Hart Edmonton Oilers on arguably the bigBeat the Justin Schultz gest gamble for sweepstakes. He had Mike Gillis since HARTLEYMILLER no interest in matchhe took over as ing the ridiculous GM. He is coming two-year, $7.5 million deal that off a break-out season with 16 Tampa gave to 37-year-old goals and 33 points and a plus injury-prone defenceman Sami six rating in 77 games with Salo. In addition, Vancouver Florida. That’s the good news; wisely did not want to re-sign however, the former Nanaimo 28-year-old Aaron Rome, who Clipper has only played 190 somehow received an outraNHL games with just 59 points geous three-year, $4.5 million to show for it. In other words, deal from Dallas. he wasn’t much more than a The 27-year-old Garrison depth defenceman with the wanted to play in his home Panthers prior to the 2011/12 province and on a winner. The season. Canucks certainly needed a top As well, when entering the blue liner so there was an obvifree agent market, you either ous fit for both sides. dive in or stay out. There’s no Expectations will be high middle ground. The Canucks
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for the White Rock native, who will be given plenty of opportunity on the power-play. He did not face this kind of pressure while playing in the relative hockey obscurity of Florida. Once Roberto Luongo is traded, he will be, along with Kevin Bieksa, the fourth highest paid player on the team, behind only the Sedins and Ryan Kesler. Yes, Garrison will earn even more (by $100,000) than another B.C. product, Dan Hamhuis of Smithers. Is it just me or is something not adding up here? The former Prince George Cougars captain has seven solid NHL seasons to his credit, yet will earn less than a teammate who has played 439 fewer games and just the one bona fide year. Naturally, money isn’t the only measuring stick, but how often does a player who
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gets more than a 600 per cent raise in hockey live up to the contract? In this case, Gillis is banking his reputation on it. After the failures of Ballard and Booth, it’s just about time for Garrison to silence the critics by stepping up to the plate and not go down swinging. From the Quote Rack: SF 49ers star rookie Aldon Smith apparently sustained minor injuries when he was stabbed at a party near San Jose. This comes five months after a DUI in Florida. What’s Smith trying to do? Get traded to the Bengals? Contributor Janice Hough of Palo Alto, California (www. leftcoastsportsbabe.com)
Hartley Miller is the sports director for radio stations 94X and the Wolf@97fm. He also writes for the Opinion 250. Send along a quote, note, or anecdote to hmiller@94xfm.com. Visit kia.ca to learn more.