Missing the entire season was never an option over the trivial issues that kept the NHL and their players apart for the last month, so the lockout finally ending early Sunday in New York wasn’t really a surprise.
It had to end this week to get a season together and missing an entire season wasn’t an option for either side so, if anything, this settlement was a shade early for two deadline workers like Gary Bettman and Donald Fehr.
Now the task of getting things on to paper starts and that will doubtless have a few hiccups and protests from both sides, followed by the process of getting things back to normal.
For the Vancouver Canucks, of course, it means a flurry of action right away, not the least of which is the likely move of Roberto Luongo to some team that wants him. The fact the final deal left next year’s salary cap at $64.5 million US won’t be a problem in finding him a landing place and of course many believe he’s on his way to Toronto where a 48- or 50-game schedule won’t leave the Leafs enough time to experiment and determine if their young goalies are good enough.
A slow start could eliminate such a bubble team from playoff contention and that in turn could cost Leafs GM Brian Burke his job, so having a solid goaltender to start is almost certainly one of his priorities. And there have been those persistent rumours, denied by both teams, that the deal has already been done. And if it hasn’t been and Toronto isn’t interested, the same hurry-up concerns for teams in the goaltending market will stand the Canucks in good stead.
Vancouver may get a goaltender in return when a Luongo deal is made but if not they’ll have to find one quickly as Eddie Lack is back in town having his injured groin evaluated and likely won’t be healthy enough to be an option to back up Cory Schneider, who is on his way back from Switzerland.
Some real answers on the condition of centre Ryan Kesler would be a nice way for the Canucks to start making things up to their fans instead of feeding them the normal diet of misdirection on injuries. He won’t be ready to start the season but the club has indicated he’ll be in the lineup sooner than later.
Kesler’s agent Kurt Overhardt has said it’s likely to be closer to the playoffs when he’s next seen. So that leaves quite a bit of room for speculation as to his return.
More important, however, is the question as to what kind of a player will they have when he does get back? Will the star return, will it be a broken down shell of the player we once knew and will the deteriorating relationship between he and coach Alain Vigneault, who gave him a verbal jab after the playoffs, erode whatever type of player does come back? Sadly the answer to that question isn’t known by anyone.
One would presume Jason Garrison and Alex Edler are both ready to play but with so few Vancouver players having been active while the lockout was on, it’s impossible to say if and how much they will be behind other teams who have had more players active in Europe or the AHL. The team is recalling Andrew Ebbett, Zack Kassian, Chris Tanev, Kevin Connauton and Jordan Schroeder from Chicago, but following the comments of Canucks GM Mike Gillis Sunday about having to go with fewer young players than planned, the latter two may as well save themselves the jet lag.
