TEAM Radio News Headlines
Canucks Add in Free-Agency; Hold on to Salo, Higgins
The Vancouver Canucks have signed free agent forwards Marco Sturm, Mark Mancari and Andrew Ebbett.
Sturm gets a one year deal worth $2.25 million.
The 32-year-old spent last season split between the LA Kings and Washington Capitals. He put up 16 points in 35 games.
Mancari has signed a one year deal worth $525,000.
He had 8 points over 20 games with the Buffalo Sabres last season.
Ebbett, a native of Vernon, also signed a one year deal worth $525,000.
He had 5 points in 33 games with the Phoenix Coyotes last season.
Meanwhile, Raffi Torres and Alex Bolduc are both heading out of town. They both signed with the Phoenix Coyotes.
Sergei Shirokov has agreed to a deal in the KHL and will be heading back across the Atlantic. The Canucks retain his NHL rights.
Tanner Glass also won’t be back in Vancouver, he signed with the Winnipeg Jets.
The Canucks also extended the contracts of both Sami Salo, Chris Higgins and Nolan Baumgartner.
Salo’s deal is for $2 million over one year.
The 36-year-old played just 27 games this past season, and is taking a large cut from the $3.5 million he made last season. But when Salo is healthy, he’s a legitimate top-four defenseman – something the Canucks are in need of after Christian Ehrhoff signed in Buffalo.
The 6’3” defenceman also appeared in 21 playoff games, recording five points (3-2-5). Salo notched the game winner of game 4 of the Western Conference Final on May 22, 2011.
The Turku, Finand native concluded the season having played in 497 games in a Canucks uniform (19th all-time in franchise history), ranking seventh in club history as the top scoring defenceman (65-146-211) and tied for fifth for most overtime goals (5).
Salo has played in 12 NHL seasons with the Canucks and Ottawa Senators, collecting 280 career points (84-196-280) in 692 games.
On the international stage, Salo has played in three Olympic Games, winning a silver medal with Finland in 2006. He also collected a silver medal at the 2001 World Championships and 2004 World Cup.
The 28-year-old Higgins is entering his eighth season in the NHL. He was acquired by the Canucks at the trade deadline from the Panthers.
In 62 games split between the two clubs, he scored 13 goals and 15 assists. In the postseason, he worked his way onto Vancouver’s second line, and had four goals and four assists during the Canucks’ Stanley Cup Final run.
Baumgartner signed a one year, two way deal that will see him get paid $525,000 at the NHL level.
Who’s gonna look after our top line when teams like L.A. and Philly and Chicago start using Hank and Danny for punching bags ? the secret’s out to every other team and until the canucks get tougher up front and i don’t mean Rypien they won’t be able to make the final push.