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WestCoastJoe
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JIm Benning is making a lot of moves.

Miller got a lot of money. $6M. But I think we need a guy like him.

Vrbata looks like a scoring forward. Got some good reviews. He was on a $3M per year deal previously. He just got raised up to $5M per. Lots of dough once again. But we need scoring help.

And now three depth players. Sanguinetti, O'Reilly and Jeffrey.

I like what I see from Benning. Thought he did will getting rid of Kesler (especially since Kesler totally narrowed down the teams he would go to) and Garrison. Thought he did well in the draft.
..........

Scouting report on Vrbata ...
John Madden's Team Policies: Be on time. Pay attention. Play like hell on game day.

Jimmy Johnson's Game Keys: Protect the ball. Make plays.

Walter Payton's Advice to Kids: Play hard. Play fair. Have fun.
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WestCoastJoe
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Article on Vrbata from June, 2013 ... He is considered a pretty good scoring forward.

http://www.fiveforhowling.com/2013/6/8/ ... -obscurity
Radim Vrbata: An Elite Goal Scorer in Relative Obscurity

Radim Vrbata's name is almost never mentioned in discussions about the game's best goal scorers. But the Phoenix Coyotes forward could be considered the 9th best goal scorer in the NHL.

Since the start of the 2011-2012 season, Vrbata has scored 47 goals in 111 games played; meaning he scores .4234 goals per game. The stat in it of itself does not underline the magnitude of what that really means.

Only eight NHL players have scored more goals per game (GPG) over the last two combined seasons (minimum 100 games played) than Vrbata. Those players are: Steven Stamkos (.6846), Evgeni Malkin (.5566), Alex Ovechkin (.5556), James Neal (.5083), Jonathan Toews (.4906), Jeff Carter (.4563), John Tavaras (.4538), and Phil Kessel (.4385).

That's it!

What's even more eye opening, are the players below Vrbata on the GPG chart; players touted for their offensive abilities such as: Ilya Kovalchuk (.4211), Corey Perry (.4194), Logan Couture (.4063), Taylor Hall (.4057), Rick Nash (.4048), Jordan Eberle (.3984), and Patrick Kane (.3566).

It's not surprising that a relatively quiet European player that plays his home games in Glendale, Arizona flies under the radar nationally. But even fans that see him play night in and night out may be surprised by the company Vrbata has put himself in over the last couple years.

On a team with a serious lack of impact forwards, the soon-to-be 32-year-old has helped partially fill that void.

"If I have a guy who's the playmaker, I have no problem," Vrbata told Sarah McLellan of The Arizona Republic, "I will try to get open for him and score goals."

The 2011-2012 season was the Right Wing's fourth season with the Coyotes and it marked the best season of his career. The Czech Republic native scored 35 goals (including 12 game-winners) and 62 points in 77 games that season.

He followed that up with a 12-goal, 28-point lockout-shortened 2012-2013 season.

Vrbata had success with Phoenix even before the 2011-2012 season. In his three prior years with the Coyotes, Vrbata scored 70 goals and 147 points in 237 games.

Entering the final year of his contract, the Coyotes fans hope that Vrbata maintains this level of success and leads his team back to the playoffs for the fourth time in the last five years.
At the rate Benning is going, I expect the Canucks should be decent next year. Benning has cleaned house. And now he is putting some pretty good assets in place.
John Madden's Team Policies: Be on time. Pay attention. Play like hell on game day.

Jimmy Johnson's Game Keys: Protect the ball. Make plays.

Walter Payton's Advice to Kids: Play hard. Play fair. Have fun.
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WestCoastJoe
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From the Sun ...
BEST DEALS

Vancouver Canucks sign Ryan Miller for $18 million over three years

Miller didn’t have a strong market for his services, even as the best goaltender available. That allowed the Canucks to bring the 33-year-old in at a reasonable price without giving him too many years like the previous regime did with Roberto Luongo.
John Madden's Team Policies: Be on time. Pay attention. Play like hell on game day.

Jimmy Johnson's Game Keys: Protect the ball. Make plays.

Walter Payton's Advice to Kids: Play hard. Play fair. Have fun.
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WestCoastJoe
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Free agent Radim Vrbata signs with Canucks

By Elliott Pap, Vancouver Sun July 2, 2014

VANCOUVER - Badly in need of a right-shot winger, the Vancouver Canucks dipped into the free agent pool Wednesday night to sign forward Radim Vrbata to a two-year contract worth $10 million.

Vrbata, a 33-year-old native of the Czech Republic, was the last 20-goal scorer left standing after Tuesday’s opening of free agency where most of the top available offensive players were scooped up. Nine teams were vying for Vrbata’s services.

Vrbata spent the last five seasons with the Arizona Coyotes. In 2013-14, he netted 20 goals and added 31 assists in 80 games. His best season came in 2011-12 when he scored 35 times and had 27 assists for 62 points.

Vrbata will receive $4 million in salary and $1 million as a signing bonus in each of the two years. There is a limited no-trade clause in his deal. His signing gives the offensively challenged Canucks some wriggle room as they wait for a bevy of winger prospects like Jake Virtanen, Hunter Shinkaruk and Dane Fox to develop.

When the deal came together it was 2 a.m. Czech time and Vrbata was sound asleep in Mlada Boleslav, his off-season home.

“The free agency period can be a very trying process for everyone involved – players, agents and management – and we had so much dialogue the last couple of days that Radim was exhausted,” said Vrbata’s South Surrey-based agent, Rich Evans of Points West Sports and Entertainment. “I just told him to go to bed and if anything really serious popped up, I would give him a call and wake him up. So I woke him up at 2 a.m. his time, went through the deal points with him and then he spoke to Jim Benning (Canuck GM) and had a good discussion with Jim. On that basis, he agreed to the deal, we executed the contract, he was very excited and I told him to go back to bed.”

According to Evans, Vrbata is expecting an opportunity to skate on the team’s first line with Daniel and Henrik Sedin. He found that very attractive, as almost any player would.

“I guess he’s going to have to earn the spot but the opportunity is hopefully there for him to do that,” Evans continued. “The twins play a style of game that is well suited to the style that Radim plays, which is pitch and catch where they move the puck very quickly. The twins are both smart players and he is hoping to recapture some of the success he had when he was playing with Ray Whitney down in Phoenix.”

In addition to possibly playing with the twins, Vrbata could be an option on the Canucks’ first power-play unit, where the team will need to replace the right shot of the departed Ryan Kesler. Vrbata netted 10 power-play goals last season for the Coyotes, who finished fourth in the league with the man advantage. The Canucks, of course, were a dismal 26th.

“I think his history has shown he’s had a lot of success on the power play,” Evans noted. “He hopes to continue that here in Vancouver.”


Vrbata was originally a seventh-round draft pick of the Colorado Avalanche in 1999. After three seasons of junior in the Quebec League with Hull and Shawinigan, he broke into the NHL with the Avs in 2001-02. He's also played for the Carolina Hurricanes, Chicago Blackhawks and Tampa Bay Lightning.

In 792 regular-season games, Vrbata has scored 215 goals and collected 464 points. Last season as a Coyote, he put 263 shots on goal, a total higher than anyone on the Canucks including Kesler, who had 239.

CANUCKS SIGN THREE MORE

In addition to the high-profile signing Wednesday of winger Radim Vrbata, the Vancouver Canucks also turned their attention to organizational depth as they inked a trio of players, centres Cal O’Reilly and Dustin Jeffrey and defenceman Bobby Sanguinetti. All three are on two-way contracts, all will make $600,000 at the NHL level and all are likely headed to the Canucks’ American League farm team, the Utica Comets.

O’Reilly, 27, is the older brother of Colorado Avalanche forward Ryan while Jeffrey, 26, played part of last season for new Canuck coach Willie Desjardins with the Texas Stars. Sanguinetti, 26, was a first-round pick of the New York Rangers in 2006. He spent last season with the KHL’s Moscow Oblast Atlant.
John Madden's Team Policies: Be on time. Pay attention. Play like hell on game day.

Jimmy Johnson's Game Keys: Protect the ball. Make plays.

Walter Payton's Advice to Kids: Play hard. Play fair. Have fun.
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