Marian Gaborik a Canuck??

The latest rumors coming our of Minnesota and Vancouver is that Marian Gaborik might soon be the property of the Canucks. Although this is just plain rumors posted by forums of both teams. There may be more truth to this than one would suspect.

Gaborik has another year on his contract with the Wild, but he has expressed his discomfort with the defensive playing style of the team, which affected his stats throughout his career. Despite making the playoff this year, the Wild ended their season with a quick exit. Fans of Minnesota have been placing blames on the lack of consistency with their star player. The management of the Wild knows very well of Gaborik's wishes, and if they fail to act quickly in trading him, they may lose him to free agency come the end of next season.

On the other hand, the Canucks are facing similar circumstances with their captain Markus Naslund expressing his concerns with Alain Vigneault's defensive style. As Naslund has hinted that if Vigneault is to return with his old style of play, he will not likely sign back with the Canucks.

With a new GM now implaced, Mike Gillis openly expressed his wish to have exciting hockey back in Vancity, so even if Vigneault is to remain as head coach for next year, the style of play is likely to change. The official rumor now is as following:

To Vancouver:

Marian Gaborik

To Minnesota:

Ryan Kesler
Cory Schneider
10th Overall Pick in 2008

Some suggests that Minnesota wins this trade, in Kesler they get a young 20+ goal scorer who plays a solid shut-down role with huge potential, a solid goaltender prospect - probably the best you can find right now, and a 10th overall pick in this year's epic draft. This may be true if Vancouver is unable to re-sign Gaborik to a long term deal. To do so, Vancouver must paint a pretty picture for the years to come, in terms of style of play, support team and commitment to cup contention.

However, should the Canucks be able to keep Gaborik's interests, this will be a solid deal for Vancouver as well, as they have never had a natural goal-scoring right-wing such as Gaborik ever since Pavel Bure. By trading Gaborik here, and the current rumors of Pavol Demitra visiting Vancouver, chances of signing back free agents such as Naslund and Morrison would be much higher. The roster sure looks pretty good with the Sedins, Naslund, Morrison, Gaborik, Demitra, Ohlund, Mitchel, Edler, Salo and star netminder Luongo.

With all the changes going on in Vancouver right now, one thing they have plenty of is salary cap.

Let's wait and see if there's any truth to this rumor.

I'm Saint Pako from the Hockey Digest.