[Durrann1984]

http://communities.canada.com/thepro...t-canucks.aspx

When Pavol Demitra visited the Canucks months before July 1 last year, then-Minnesota Wild GM Doug Risebrough made tampering allegations.

The league investigated and dropped the charges, but not before giving the Canucks a warning.

It's a warning the Canucks have taken seriously. Tampering allegations are not to be messed with. The most famous case involved Scott Stevens when the St. Louis Blues tendered him an offer in 1994.

Even though the Devils matched the offer and Stevens stayed in New Jersey, a tampering investigation, which took five years, ended with the Blues getting busted. It cost them a fortune, both on the ice and off it. Try $1.4 million in cash and a first round draft pick, one the Devils could cherry pick during the next five years.

No one around Gaborik want his investment in Vancouver real estate to even hint at tampering. It's why it shouldn't be surprising that Gaborik's close friend, and former teammate, Demitra apparently told CKNW Gaborik he doesn't think Gabby has bought a house.

Demitra, having already been at the centre, understands just how serious tampering allegations could be in this case.

As someone close to the Gaborik situation said yesterday: "You are dealing with a very delicate, flammable issue here."

It's worth noting that several people close to Gaborik were contacted before the story broke. None denied he had bought a house. Several said they could not comment on the story.