| Not really racist! | 06-06-2013 04:56 PM |
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Ankle injury means no buyout for Booth
That Canucks ‘reset’ won’t include David Booth, who can’t be paid off while injured
BY JASON BOTCHFORD, THE PROVINCE JUNE 5, 2013
Canucks fans will get to cheer Vancouver Canucks forward David Booth for at least another season, as the team won’t be able to use an amnesty buyout on the injured winger.
David Booth is continuing to recover from surgery and it’s unlikely he’ll be cleared in time for buyout season, taking one option off of the Canucks “reset” tote board.
He underwent surgery in March to repair his broken ankle, needing screws to re-attach his fibula and tibia and hold them in place. It’s made for a long rehab.
Booth was cleared to put away his walking boot only within the past two weeks.
For two months, the ankle was essentially immobilized, except for therapy.
Buying out of Booth’s contract was one of the few “reset” opportunities the Canucks had this month.
Any plans to change the team’s dynamic are limited because the Canucks are already over the salary cap.
Getting out of the Booth deal was one of the ways the Canucks could have had freed up spending room for free agency. Without it as a backup, the pressure is on now to unload Roberto Luongo, Keith Ballard, or both.
For a buyout, Booth needs to be healthy, because a player’s contract is protected against injury. He would have to be cleared to play during the window which opens 48 hours after the Stanley Cup final ends. It lasts until July 4, the eve of free agency.
“It is my sense that David will not be cleared to play at that time,” said his agent, Mike Liut.
In a way, this makes things easier for the Canucks. The team was loath to buy his contract out, even if he scored just one empty-net goal this year.
He’s big, he’s fast, and on paper he’s exactly the type of player the Canucks critics keep saying they need more of.
Replacing him in free agency threatened to be problematic. Sure, the New Jersey Devils David Clarkson would be great. But he could get $6 million a year if he even makes it to the open market. Ryane Clowe lacks Booth’s speed, and scored just three goals in 40 games. When he was traded at the deadline, he was asking for eight years, $34 million.
Nathan Horton could easily be another $6 million-a-year guy with the postseason he’s having. He made a pro-rated $5.5 million salary this past season. He’s not going to be asked to take a pay cut. Hello, Jay Feaster.
So when you start surveying the landscape, suddenly Booth doesn’t look so rotten.
While many have tagged the Booth trade as a disappointment, the Canucks see a player whose biggest problem has been bad luck.
Just look at who he was playing with this year sandwiched between his two long-term injuries. In the 12 games he played, he had three different centres.
Max Lapierre was his the guy for six of them. Chris Higgins, a winger trying to play centre, was the guy for three of them and rookie Jordan Schroeder was his pivot for the other three. That’s not exactly the Three Musketeers of top-six NHL playmakers.
Booth’s best five games as a Canuck may have been in December 2011, leading up to Kevin Porter kneeing him in a game against the Colorado Avalanche.
He scored three goals, added two assists and had 21 shots on net. For a brief flash, it looked like the Canucks finally had someone to play with Ryan Kesler.
By the end of the 2011-12 season, Booth had 16 goals in 56 games with the Canucks.
Now, the Canucks have to hope he cannot only match that, but improve on it, while staying healthy for an entire season. That’s a lot of finger crossing.
This year, before the season, Booth suffered a severe groin strain during the team’s physical testing. He had spent the day before duck hunting just south of Vancouver with a Canucks fan he hooked up with on twitter. He may not want to repeat that plan after missing the first 14 games of the season.
The broken ankle was a fluke play. He won a race to a puck in the corner to beat an icing call, but he got tangled up along the boards. His ankle was awkwardly crushed in the pile up.
With Booth seemingly a lock to come back now, it doesn’t leave the Canucks with many possibilities to change things up in their top nine.
In fact, the top six looks set already. The Sedins aren’t going anywhere. Alex Burrows just signed a four-year extension, and won’t likely be traded, although his no-trade clause doesn’t kick in until July.
Ryan Kesler is set to be the second-line centre and Zack Kassian is already pencilled in to play on the top two lines.
Factor in Chris Higgins and Jannik Hansen on the third line, and it sure seems like the only change the Canucks will make is to their third-line centre.
He better be some centre.
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