On the Vancouver Canucks and Dan Hamhuis …
- Ed Willies of the Vancouver Province: The Canucks ended up not trading Dan Hamhuis yesterday. The Stars were one of the teams that was interested in Hamhuis, and Hamhuis would have okay’d a trade to them. The Stars ended up trading for Kris Russell, giving up a conditional 2nd round pick (would turn to a first if they make the Conference Finals), defenseman Jyrki Jokipakka and prospect Brett Pollock.
This is were it gets a little interesting.
A highly placed Stars source said that the Stars and Canucks had a deal in place for Hamhuis. It wasn’t the same as the one for Russell, but similar.
The deal was presented to ownership, who then asked for more. The Stars rejected the idea of giving up more and then made the deal for Russell.The Stars then went back to the Canucks after the Russell trade and made a lesser offer for Hamhuis – possibly a 2017 draft pick – but it was rejected.
“They lost the deal,” the source said. “The deal Calgary got was pretty much available to Vancouver.”
Canucks GM Jim Benning denied the report.
“It’s not true,” the Canucks GM said. “We set out the framework for the deal. The next call we got was from (Dallas) saying they did the deal with Calgary.”
There is “complicated history” between Stars owner Tom Gaglardi and Canucks co-owner Francesco Aquilini, though Benning was given the go ahead to discuss a deal with the Stars.
- Elliotte Friedman: Believe that Dan Hamhuis was willing to waive his no-trade clause for the Blackhawks, Stars and the Kings. The Kings had shown some interest. To go to the Eastern Conference, it would have had to been a top team if he was going leave his family – Capitals, Rangers or Panthers. Hamhuis confirmed that he would have went to the Blackhawks or Stars, but was not really interested in going to the East.
- Canucks defenseman Dan Hamhuis GM Jim Benning … Fast forward to 1:40 for Hamhuis and 32:25 for Benning