Vancouver Canucks doesn’t re-sign defenseman Christian Ehrhoff, trades rights to New York Islanders
After a series of failed negotiations between Vancouver Canucks’ management and defenseman, Christian Ehrhoff, the team has traded his negotiation rights to New York Islanders in exchange for a fourth-round draft pick in the 2012 National Hockey League (NHL) Entry Draft.
Ehrhoff was one of the last players due to become a free agent on Friday, July 1, while Vancouver had dealt with majority of the players like defenseman, Kevin Bieksa, still in the negotiation process, which did not turn out as planned.
The 28-year-old was up for his third season with Canucks after making a huge contribution for them during the 2010-2011 regular season with 50 points, 14 goals, 36 assists, in 79 games played.
Being a defenseman, he still puts up 12 points in the 2011 NHL Playoffs, 2 goals, 10 assist, in 23 games.
According to sources, Ehrhoff was offered nearly a similar deal like Bieksa’s which was a five-year, $23 million contract, but he refused and demanded more from the team, and Vancouver’s general manager, Mike Gillis, was not ready at all to meet the bumped up demands.
"We're still talking about different possibilities, but like I said earlier, playing on this team is more important than individual compensation", Gillis said on Tuesday. "That's our expectation with everybody. It works with some but it may not work with others. I can't tell you what I expect”.
A German from Moers, Ehrhoff was drafted in the 2001 NHL Entry Draft as the 106th overall pick during round-four by San Jose Sharks. He continued to play with San Jose from 2003-2009 until being traded to Vancouver.
In his seven year NHL career, Ehrhoff has played 500 games and put up a total of 226 points, including 53 goals and 173 assists.
Vancouver will surely need to fill a huge gap created by the valuable defenseman as soon as possible before the start of the new season. Looking into the free agency pool which officially starts on Friday will give Canucks many opportunities.
New York also has up till Friday to negotiate and sign the defenseman, otherwise teams will surely be looking to grab him and making offers he might not be able to refuse.
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