No, nothing to get excited about. Peter Zezel is off to Anaheim for future considerations. Not much more to say here...


Keenan out, Crawford in

Mike Keenan got his wish. Keenan, who earlier this year suggested that a coaching change might be needed was fired by Brian Burke on Sunday with Marc Crawford set to take over the struggling Canucks. Burke said that Keenan’s heart did not appear to be in coaching as he made the move that many felt would be innevitable when these two stuborn men were forced to work together at the start of the year. Crawford has been out of work since resigning as Avalanche coach after their playoff loss to Edmonton last year. Crawford had an impressive 165-88-41 record with Quebec and Colorado and he spoke positively about this Canucks team which is third to last in the Western Conference; "The Vancouver Canucks have a great mix of youthful enthousiasm and veteran leadership. Our ultimate goal is to be among the elite teams in the National Hockey League." Even if Crawford is a great coach, he didn’t come cheap. The Canucks reportedly gave 200,000$ US and a second round pick to Colorado in addition to the 1.1 million anual salary which Crawford will reportedly make.

One fear in Vancouver is the reaction Mark Messier might take to this. With Messier getting on in age, a lot of people speculated that Keenan was the only reason Mark was staying in Vancouver where it appears a rebuilding process is taking place. There’s a chance Messier may ask to be traded or that the Canucks will deal him themselves for some young talent.