With all talk of Mats Sundin perhaps joining the Vancouver Canucks, it looks like the Vancouver Canucks might need to focus on a different Swede, or more accurately a pair of them.
According to the Team 1040 radio station, Henrik and Daniel Sedin, who are in the last year of their respective contracts will meet with new Canucks general manager Mike Gillis on Wednesday.
The Sedins are each entering the final year of a three-year, $10.75 million contract. Their agent J.P. Barry told the Team 1040 that the purpose of the meeting is to find out if the Sedins are a part of the club's long term plans.
"I think we just need to discuss where they (the Sedins) fit into the marketplace." Barry told the Team 1040. "We need to get into that kind of detail, and we haven't gotten there. We haven't discussed term; we haven't discussed their intention of what kind of term, or ours. So, until we get thru those discussions and term, we probably won't get to the dollar stage."
While specifics weren't givin by Barry, his other comments point to the Sedins looking for a big raise.
"We just finished an extension negotiation for Shawn Horcoff, who did almost a carbon copy deal of the Sedins last time, and since that was done two years ago, Daniel and Henrik have outpaced him quite a bit offensively," Barry told the Team 1040. "So, we're going to see deals like that in the marketplace – the Gomez, Drury deal - for players who go free. They've outpaced both Gomez and Drury over the last three years. You know, they've outscored those players, and those players went free, so I think the question is 'What's the price to stay, and what's the price to go?'"
Barry also admitted to the Team 1040 that the Sedins would very likely already have signed contract extensions if former general manager Dave Nonis was still in charge.
"Well probably, I mean you've got a manager that's been with them since they were 18 years old." Barry said. "You know, the intention was there, so I would assume, based on our past dealings, that we would have likely gotten something done at that stage."
