Despite appearing to be involved in serious talks for Jay Bouwmeester the Vancouver Canucks walk away from the 2009 trade deadline with no additions to their roster.
While Bouwmeester was an exiting (and risky) possibility, Canuck fans have to be pretty disappointed that the Canucks will be heading down the stretch and into the playoffs with Kyle Wellwood as the third line centre and the potential of Darcy Hordichuk playing regularly.
No Jeff Halpern, no Reinprecht, no Pahlsson, no Marchant, no Moore, no help for the 3rd line.
Gillis was unwilling to move a second round pick and obviously couldn't find any takers for anything else.
So much for a bold move. Gillis was unwilling to take any risk despite an obvious weakness in the bottom 6 forward group. Vancouver still has a very solid team, but with this window of opportunity to make some noise in the playoffs it's tremendously disappointing to have a weakness that could be improved with "lesser" assets.
With that said, disappointment doesn't equate to disaster. This team is pretty solid and is capable of beating anyone in a seven game series. Their chances would have been better with an addition or two to the bottom 6, but we'll have to be content with the status quo.
