The Vancouver Canucks have announced that the team has acquired forward Steve Bernier from the Buffalo Sabres in exchange for a second round draft pick in 2010 and a third round pick in 2009.
“Steve Bernier is a highly regarded young player who’s enjoyed success early in his career,” said Canucks GM Mike Gillis in a statement. “With his right-handed shot he will be a great addition to our top six forward group and an asset to our power play.”
Habster:
The Canucks don’t lose any roster players for Steve Bernier but do give up a little bit of the future with the draft picks.
Mike Gillis will have his work cutout for him to bring more offense to a team that averaged only 2.52 goals per game (ranking them 23rd overall) and truly struggled to score on a nightly basis.
When your top six forwards consist of Kesler, Sedin twins, Bernier, Pyatt and Burrows , then you will have a serious problem generating much offense. Losing Markus Naslund will definitely hurt and put more pressure on Daniel and Henrik Sedin to produce goals. The other option is to hope Roberto Luongo and a deep defense corp can stand on their heads the entire season.
Thus far, Gillis has not impressed me with his odd ball moves to this point. Gillis doesn’t seem too overly concerned about the entire situation,
“Why panic?” Gillis told the Globe and Mail. “I think we will be better when the season rolls around because we’re actively working on a number of things now.”
His attempt to sign St. Louis Blues RFA David Backes to an offer sheet for 3 years/$7.5 million is very puzzling to say the least while his highly overpriced offer of $20 million over two years for Mats Sundin reeks of desperation.
This former player agent better get his act together quickly or Canucks fans will have a long season without any playoff aspirations heading into the 2008-09 season.