Demitra lands in Vancouver

July 10, 2008   ·   Derek Felix   ·   Jump to comments

As expected, former Wild center Pavol Demitra reached agreement on a multi-year deal worth a reported eight million with his top choice the Canucks. It allows the 33 year-old veteran Slovak to stay in the Northwest Division. Only difference is he went from a division winner to a disappointing last place team which melted down the stretch of last season due to lack of scoring and an unsteady Roberto Luongo.

Oddly enough, Demitra indicated that the biggest reason for choosing Vancouver was so he could play with Luongo as they became friendly off the ice. So, is this unlikely duo the Canucks’ version of butt buddies?!?!?!?!?! Inquiring minds want to know or not.

The question is what does he have left to offer? He’s coming off his lowest goal output (15) of a respectable 15-year career. With four different teams (Ott, Stl, LA, Min), he’s produced 281 goals and 418 assists for 699 total points in 750 career games.

Given that Demitra will be earning the same money as former Vancouver captain Markus Naslund who departed for Gotham, it’s obvious that he’ll be compared to how the one year older Swedish vet performs in NYC.

The growing question is replacing Naslund and Brendan Morrison (signed w/ Ana) with Demitra and brand new $2.5 million acquisition Steve Bernier (thanks to Stl) enough to bolster an offense which scored the fewest goals (213) in their ultra competitive division?

Unless Mike Gillis can attract the undecided Mats Sundin to British Columbia, there’s not much to get excited about. Well, at least he added former client and ex-Isle defenseman Rob Davison.

Just remember. They could be the Maple Leafs.