Post by Canucks - Admin on Jul 21, 2022 13:56:53 GMT -6
above: Johnathan Toews and Brad Marchand battle for the puck outdoors.
The Vancouver Canucks made their first trade of the offseason last week, bringing in 34 year old veteran elite winger Brad Marchand, while sending 34 year old veteran elite centre Johnathan Toews back to Mike Lafond's Columbus Bluejackets.
The trade was a no-nonsense, straight across deal, that both teams believe to have addressed their own team weaknesses, and both GM's believe their teams are better off for it.
From the Canucks side of things, they lose perhaps the best faceoff guy in the league, along with all of the experience, and elite passing and scoring skills that he brought to the team. What they gain, however, is a player that shoots first, scores often, and saves the team $4.375mil in cap space. Marchand is also expected to provide some grit to go along with that much needed skill on the team's wings.
"I saw a hole on the Jackets roster at Centre, and approached Mike(Lafond) about his needs, and asked if Marchand could be made available if I filled his hole for him..." GM Sanderson quipped "...Mike(GM of the Jackets), couldn't say no to me filling his hole. He told me if I could fill that VERY deep, and VERY wide hole for him, then he would happily fill my hole with a rat in return. Now, I have never had a rat running around that dressing room, but he told me it was worth the trouble, so I obliged. He wasn't lying!"
It was a match made in heaven.
