Julien Fired

The New Jersey Devils fired head coach Claude Julien today with three games remaining and announced that general manager Lou Lamoriello will assume the head coaching duties.

This was Julien’s first year as the head coach of the New Jersey Devils.

During the 1999-2000 NHL season, the Devils did a similar thing and fired then head coach Robbie Ftorek late in the season on March 23rd, they would go on to win the Stanley Cup with Larry Robinson as head coach.

Source: TSN.ca

Julien must have done something behind closed doors that really pissed off Lou Lamoriello, so as a result he was fired. 

Pyatt seeking a three-year contract

CKNW 980 is reporting Vanocouver Canucks forward Taylor Pyatt rejected a two-year contract worth $2.4 million and is seeking a three-year contract that will pay him $1.5 million, similar to a contract Matt Cooke got last year.

CKNW in Vancouver is reporting that the Canucks made a two-year, $2.4 million offer to Pyatt, and were subsequently told it would not be enough to retain the services of the 21-goal scorer. The Pyatt camp is apparently looking for a deal in the Matt Cooke range. Cooke, who has just eight goals, makes $1.5 million per season.

According to reports, Pyatt is also looking for a three-year deal.

Source: Sportsnet.ca

It would really suck if we lose Taylor Pyatt to free agency because he wants $300,000 more than the Canucks were willing to offer.

The new CBA is screwing us over……under the old CBA, Pyatt would of been a restricted free agent. But as per the new CBA, to qualify to be a Group III free agent, you need to be 27 or have 7 accrued seasons. Pyatt broke into the league at a young age, so he’s a free agent at 25 years old. To makes things worst, even though there was no NHL season in 2004-05, they made that year count as an accrued season in the NHL. Pyatt would of had only 6 accrued seasons.

Canucks re-sign Sami Salo

The Vancouver Canucks announced today that defenceman Sami Salo has signed a four-year contract extension worth $14 million US.

“We are pleased to have agreed to a long-term extension with Sami today,” said Nonis in a release. “Sami is an elite defenceman who compliments our group very well. We are confident that he will continue to perform at the high level he has established for himself over the next four seasons.”

“His primary motivation was to stay in Vancouver and is secondary motivation was to win in Vancouver,” said Salo’s agent Bill Zito. “If he decided to become a free agent, there is no question he could have got millions more. There aren’t too many players who would do what he did.”

Source: Canucks.com / The Province

This is a great for the Canucks, he’s a very important part of the Canucks and we really struggled last year when he was out of the lineup down the stretch. We also have unconfirmed reports the Canucks have also re-signed defenceman Yannick Tremblay to a contract extension.

Canucks recall Yannick Tremblay

The Vancouver Canucks announced today that defenceman Yannick Tremblay has been recalled from the Manitoba Moose of the AHL.

Source: Canucks.com

Tremblay, 31, has suited up in 10 games in his first season with the Vancouver Canucks so far. He has one goal and two assists all recorded in his Vancouver Canuck debut on December 8, 2006.

Sami Salo must be out again, he admitted yesterday that he wasn’t 100% yesterday in Colorado. Salo is more of an offensive defenceman, so it makes more sense to recall Tremblay who is an offensive defenceman rather than for example Alex Edler, whose more of a defensive defenceman.

Canucks re-assign Alexander Edler

The Vancouver Canucks announced today that they’ve re-assigned defenceman Alexander Edler to the Manitoba Moose of the AHL.

Also, Sami Salo who has missed the last three games with a groin injury will return to the lineup tonight.

Source: TSN.ca

New Lines for the Canucks

After a disappointing loss to the Avalanche yesterday, Vigneault used some new line combinations at practice. Cowan moved up to the second line with Naslund and Smolinski and Bulis moved to the third line with Cooke and Morrison.

Sedin-Sedin-Pyatt
Naslund-Smolinski-Cowan
Cooke-Morrison-Bulis
Burrows-Santala-Linden

Vigneault says he intends to use these lines tomorrow in Colorado.

“I think Cowan with Bryan and Markus might give them a physical presence. You already have that with Mo – Matt Cooke is the physical presence on that line” said Vigneault. “We have two guys doing a little bit of the same thing. We’ll try and see if that might not be a better balance.”

Source: Canucks.com

Kings sign prospect Jack Johnson

The Los Angeles Kings are going to announce that they’ve signed prospect Jack Johnson and will make his NHL debut Thursday against the Vancouver Canucks.

Johnson’s father, Jack Johnson Sr. says his son plans to return to college after playing the final six games of the Kings season and earn a degree.

Source: TSN.ca

Johnson was originally drafted by the Carolina Hurricanes in the 1st round, 3rd overall  in the 2005 NHL Entry Draft. He was traded to the Kings on September 29th along with Oleg Tverdovsky for Tim Gleason and Eric Belanger.

It’s a three-year deal that will pay him the rookie maximum of $850,000 plus bonuses. The Hurricanes got ripped off badly for Johnson, he’s going to be very good for the Kings for years to come.

Hockey Night in Canada to remain on CBC

The National Hockey League and the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) announced today that they’ve reached an agreement that will keep Hockey Night in Canada on CBC until 2014.

• CBC will continue to get exclusive Canadian coverage of NHL games on Saturday nights
• more regional broadcasts
• continue to get exclusive rights to the Stanley Cup Final, NHL All-Star Game, NHL Awards Ceremony
• coverage of all Canadian teams in the playoffs
• live and on-demand video streaming of HNIC will be available online at CBC.ca in the near future. There will be no blackout restrictions online.
• Leafs games will be limited and they will not be on every week

Source: CBC.ca

The best part of this deal is no doubt that we won’t be forced to see the Leaf every fricken week.

“The mix is not going to be what it’s been in previous years,” Bettman said. “We decreased the number of the Leaf games and increased the number of games of the other Canadian teams that can be made available.”

Ohlund out up to one week

Mattias Ohlund will miss up to one week with a sore elbow.

Willie Mitchell is expected to return to the lineup tomorrow against Colorado and Sami Salo has a 50/50 chance of returning tomorrow.

Source: News 1130

We can only hope that Mitchell will be back tomorrow, or the Canucks will most likely recall Yannick Tremblay from the Manitoba Moose. If that’s the case, the pairings will most likely be: Krajicek with Sopel, Alexander Edler with Kevin Bieksa, and Rory Fitzpatrick with Yannick Tremblay. If Mitchell is back, pairings will most likely be: Willie Mitchell with Kevin Bieksa, Lukas Krajicek with Kevin Bieksa, and Alexander Edler with Rory Fitzpatrick. If both Salo and Mitchell are back, expect the pairings to be: Willie Mitchell with Kevin Bieksa, Lukas Krajicek with Sami Salo, and Alexander Edler with Rory Fitzpatrick.

Rahimi to join Moose soon

Daniel Rahimi, the Canucks’ third round pick (82nd overall) in the 2006 NHL Entry Draft is expected to join the Canucks farm team, the Manitoba Moose once his season with Bjorkloven (Sweden) ends.

Rahimi is expected to join the Moose once his season in Sweden ends. Bjorkloven is currently playing in a playoff round to try to earn a spot in the SEL next season and Rahimi should be available in early April.

Source: Hockey’s Future

The article linked above is definitely worth reading, it gives you an update on all the prospects in the Canucks organization as well as scouting reports. It also lists their top 20 Canucks prospects.