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Other teams probably could have offered Radim Vrbata $10 million over two years. What the Vancouver Canucks had that the competition didnt was the chance to play with Daniel and Henrik Sedin. So when general manager Jim Benning suggested it, Vrbata took it as another reason to sign with the Canucks. "He was saying that they were looking for somebody to play with Sedins and that they think I could be the guy," Vrbata said on a conference call Thursday. "I feel like with the way they play and the way they see the game, its something that would probably suit my game. Yeah, it was real interesting to have that chance." Itll be up to coach Willie Desjardins to form the lines, Benning said, but it was part of the plan to give Vrbata an opportunity with the Sedins. Benning likes that Vrbata can read plays and jump into holes. Vrbata, who had 20 goals and 31 assists in his final season with the defensive-minded Arizona Coyotes, will be counted on to produce more if hes Vancouvers top-line right-winger. He doesnt mind that pressure. "If you play with players like Sedins, you know that you will get your chances," Vrbata said. "When I think about the way they play, that kind of suits my game, I think. They like lots of give-and-gos and they like to get open for each other. I think thats something that I like to do, too." The addition of Vrbata could push Alex Burrows out of that spot. The 33-year-old who had been a regular linemate with the Sedins since 2010 had just five goals and 10 assists in 49 games this past season. Benning sees Burrows as the second-line right-winger alongside centre Nick Bonino -- acquired from the Anaheim Ducks in the Ryan Kesler trade -- and either Zack Kassian or Jannik Hansen. "We want to have balance amongst our four lines. We want to have scoring, we want to have scoring depth," Benning said. "Now we have depth at the forward positions where every line can contribute in the scoring, and thats one of the things that we set out to do." Signing Vrbata could be the last major move in unrestricted free agency this summer for the Canucks, who got veteran goaltender Ryan Miller on Tuesday for $18 million over three years. "For the most part were done," Benning said. "We wanted to address a couple things to make our team a complete team going into this next season, and I think weve done that. ... Were going to probably go into the season with this team and were going to see where we stand and go from there." Vrbata fit on that checklist because the Canucks wanted to add a scorer. Benning said there were some possibilities on Day One, but when they didnt materialize, the 33-year-old Czech became a priority. "For us, he plays a 200-foot game," Benning said. "He plays in all three zones and hes got real good hockey sense and hands to finish. Hes going to help us on our power play." And in the shootout. Vrbata had five goals on 12 attempts last season. But its the goals he could help produce alongside the Sedins that made Vrbata particularly attractive to the Canucks, and vice-versa. Vrbata understands he might not spend 80 games with Daniel and Henrik but doesnt sound like hed complain about doing that. "Im a big, big believer in chemistry and kind of synergy," Vrbata said. "I feel like when you have chemistry with somebody, that helps so much in todays league where sometimes its so tight and if you can really trust and gain advantage by knowing the guys youre on a line (with)." Notes -- The Canucks lost Mike Santorelli in free agency after the centre signed a US$1.5-million, one-year deal with the Toronto Maple Leafs. Benning said Vrbata got the nod over Santorelli because he has been a more consistent scorer over a longer period of time. ... Benning confirmed on a conference call with reporters that Travis Green would be back as coach of the Canucks AHL affiliate, the Utica Comets. Air Jordan 3 Cheap Australia .com) - The surprising Calgary Flames host the winless New Jersey Devils at the Scotiabank Saddledome on Friday. Wholesale Air Jordan 3 Australia . According to a report from ESPN, sources said Manuels college coach Jimbo Fisher told teams he didnt think Manuel had the tools to be an NFL starter. http://www.airjordan3australia.com/. Now he has a complete game. Scherzer tossed a three-hitter in his 179th career start for his first complete game and Victor Martinez hit his 16th homer to lead the Detroit Tigers a 4-0 win over the Chicago White Sox. Air Jordan 3 Australia . He was attracted by the punishing defence, the strong running game and a coaching staff he trusted. The 49ers announced Thursday that Manningham had signed a two-year deal to join the team he helped knock out in the NFC championship game two months ago in their latest offensive upgrade at wide receiver. Cheap Air Jordan 3 Australia . Expensive. The NFL fined Tomlin $100,000 on Wednesday for interfering with Baltimores Jacoby Jones on a kickoff return in the third quarter of a 22-20 loss to the Ravens on Thanksgiving night.Toronto’s second line stars against Dallas, a Flames rookie – no, not that one – has a big night and shoutouts for shutouts; lineup news, Fantasy tips and more in Scott Cullen’s Statistically Speaking. HEROES Kadri, Lupul, Santorelli – Toronto’s second line had a big game against Dallas. C Nazem Kadri had a goal and two assists, with 13 shot attempts (6 SOG), giving him seven points (2 G, 5 A) in the past seven games. In his third game since returning from injury, LW Joffrey Lupul scored two goals, his second consecutive multi-point game. RW Mike Santorelli added three assists, giving him seven assists during a four-game point streak. Kadri is the most intriguing of the group, as the debate rages over relative values of Toronto’s centres. I wrote about Tyler Bozak’s hot start to the season a couple days ago and he scored another goal against Dallas, but Kadri continues to produce at a high level during 5-on-5 play: KADRI PRODUCTION YEAR GP G A PTS CF% CorsiRel% PTS/60 2012-13 48 18 26 44 47.1% +3.3% 3.18 2013-14 78 20 30 50 45.3% +3.1% 1.71 2014-15 24 6 8 14 50.1% +3.8% 2.45 Kadri’s come under criticism this season, particularly because he hasn’t done much on the power play – his assist on Phil Kessel’s second-period power-play goal was Kadri’s first power-play point this season – but his 4.68 points-per-60 on the power play over the past three seasons is certainly respectable, ranking 30th among centres who have played at least 300 power play minutes over the past three seasons. In any case, Kadri is going to bring the Maple Leafs to a decision soon enough. He’s a restricted free agent at season’s end and continues to have his name mentioned in trade rumours. Given the difficulty teams have acquiring scoring centres, if Kadri is available, there will surely be a market for his services. Josh Jooris – The Flames rookie centre scored three goals in a 5-2 win over Arizona, giving him 12 points (8 G, 4 A) in 19 games. An undrafted free agent out of Union College, Jooris is scoring on a league-leading 27.6% of his shots (8-for-29), so that’s not going to continue and, like most Flames is struggling in possession (43.4% Corsi), but any contribution from an undrafted rookie free agent is pretty valuable, especially considering Calgary’s injuries at the centre ice position. Shoutouts for Shutouts Marc-Andre Fleury – The Penguins goaltender recorded his league-leading fifth shutout, stopping all 29 shots he faced in Pittsburgh’s 1-0 win against New Jersey. He has a career-best .928 save percentage this season and, according to War On Ice, he’s facing closer-than-average shots, so his adjusted save percentage (.930) is even better. Jonathan Quick – Turned aside all 31 shots he faced in the Kings’ 2-0 win over Boston and now has a career-best .933 save percentage, which has only been moderately helped by shot distances, with a War on Ice adjusted save percentage of .931. ZEROES Mike Smith – The rough season continues for Arizona’s goaltender, who allowed five goals on 23 shots against Calgary. He has a career-low .891 save percentage and while he’s facing closer-than-average shots, his adjusted save percentage (.897) isn’t great either. Olli Jokinen – The veteran forward was stuck in the defensive zone (7 shot attempts for, 14 against, 33.3%) in a 2-1 loss at Carolina, failing to register a shot attempt in 14:56 of ice time. After scoring 43 points in 82 games for Winnipeg last season, Jokinen has one goal and no assists in 24 games this year. His points per 60 is worst among forwards with at least 300 5-on-5 minutes this season. FEWEST POINTS PER 60 MINUTES, 5-ON-5 FORWARD TEAM PTS/60 Olli Jokinen Nashville 0.20 Jarret Stoll Los Angeles 0.39 Dainius Zubrus New Jersey 0.40 Chris Stewart Buffalo 0.73 Reilly Smith Boston 0.87 Justin Williams – Gasp! The analytics star didn’t register a shot attempt in 17:46 against Boston, finishing the night with 43.3% possession (13 attempts for, 17 against). He’s still a strong puck possession player (54.2% Corsi), but that mark is his lowest since the 2008-09 season. LINEUP NEED TO KNOW Chris Kunitz – Injuries keep decimating the Pittsburgh forward ranks as Kunitz is out for a couple weeks with a broken foot. With Kunitz joining Pascal Dupuis on the shelf, Sidney Crosby had Patric Hornqvist and Nick Spaling on his wings, leaving Blake Comeau and Jayson Megna to skate with Evgeni Malkin. Jaromir Jagr - Before getting knocked from the game by a hit from Penguins D Robert Bortuzzo, Jagr had a stellar possession game (15 shot attempts for, 3 against, 83.3%) in New Jersey’s 1-0 loss.dddddddddddd Jagr figuratively beat up on the defence pairing of Bortuzzo and Paul Martin with 10 shot attempts for and none against vs. Bortuzzo and 11 for with none against vs. Martin. Cal Clutterbuck – The Islanders’ mucker played 5:48 against Ottawa before leaving with a lower-body injury. Michael Ryder – The Devils made Ryder, their fourth-leading scorer (with 12 points in 24 games) a healthy scratch for Tuesday’s game against Pittsburgh. Scott Gomez – Returned to the Devils for the first time since 2007, centering Jaromir Jagr and Tuomo Ruutu. More remarkably, he played 22:10, his most in a game since March 18, 2011, and had solid possession (23 shot attempts for, 12 against, 65.7%). Alec Martinez – Returned to the Kings blueline after missing three weeks with a broken finger, pushing Jamie McBain to the press box. SHORT SHIFTS Islanders D Thomas Hickey had a goal and an assist, while playing a season-high (and team-leading) 23:08, in a 3-2 win over Ottawa. He has five points (1 G, 4 A) in the past six games…Canucks LW Daniel Sedin had two goals and an assist, C Henrik Sedin had a pair of assists and RW Radim Vrbata notched a goal and an assist in Vancouver’s 4-3 win over Washington…Hurricanes RW Jeff Skinner put up a goal and an assist in a 2-1 win over Nashville…Maple Leafs D Cody Franson had a pair of assists in a 5-3 win over Dallas, giving him 14 points (3 G, 11 A) in the past 13 games…D Dion Phaneuf added two assists, and now has five assists in the past six games…Panthers RW Jimmy Hayes contributed a goal and an assist in a 4-3 win at Detroit. Hayes has 11 points (5 G, 6 A) in his past 12 games…C Vincent Trocheck notched a goal and two assists, giving him 11 points (2 G, 9 A) in his past 10 games. Red Wings LW Henrik Zetterberg recorded an assist, 11 shots on goal and game-best possession (26 shot attempts for, 10 against, 72.2%) in a 4-3 loss to Florida…Flames LW Johnny Gaudreau had a couple assists against Arizona, giving him seven points (1 G, 6 A) in the past seven games…RW Jiri Hudler picked up a pair of helpers, leaving him with 10 points (5 G, 5 A) during a five-game point streak…The Capitals line of Eric Fehr, Brooks Laich and Joel Ward carried better than 76% of possession against Vancouver, led by Ward (27 shot attempts for, 7 against, 79.4%)…The Canucks primarily used the defence pairing of Alex Edler and Chris Tanev, with the line of Nick Bonino, Chris Higgins and Alex Burrows, to hold Capitals LW Alex Ovechkin to one shot on goal in 22:41 of ice time in Vancouver’s 4-3 win. Hurricanes G Cam Ward stopped 32 of 33 shots in a 2-1 win over Nashville…Sabres G Jhonas Enroth turned aside 26 of 27 shots, backstopping the Sabres to a 2-1 shootout win over the Lightning…Bruins G Niklas Svedberg stopped 33 of 34 shots in a 2-0 loss at Los Angeles. Bruins rookie RW David Pastrnak had nine more shot attempts in a 2-0 loss at Los Angeles. Through his first four games – way too soon to put stock in the results -- Pastrnak is generating shot attempts at an amazing level. Among players with at least 40 minutes of 5-on-5 play this season: INDIVIDUAL SHOT ATTEMPTS PLAYER TEAM SHOT ATTEMPTS/60 David Pastrnak Boston 28.3 James Neal Nashville 23.9 Alex Ovechkin Washington 22.1 Brendan Gallagher Montreal 21.6 Jeremy Morin Chicago 21.5 FIRSTS Scott Wilson – A seventh-round pick of the Penguins from 2011, Wilson made his NHL debut, playing just 4:21 against the Devils. He had 12 points (3 G, 9 A) in 21 AHL games before getting called up. Brendan Shinnimin – Missed his NHL debut over the weekend, but the undrafted free agent has now played a couple games for Arizona after getting promoted from the AHL, where he had 14 points (4 G, 10 A) in 19 games with Portland. FANTASY FOCUS Four games tonight, four players to consider for your fantasy lineup: Marco Scandella – With injuries/illness befalling the Minnesota blueline, Scandella is playing big minutes, more than 20 minutes in eight of the past nine games. Antti Raanta – With Corey Crawford hurting, the opportunity is there for Chicago’s backup goaltender to get some reps. Raanta has stopped 84 of 90 shots (.933 SV%) in three appearances this season. Nail Yakupov – The world is crashing down around the Oilers right now, and Yakupov – currently mired in a nine-game point drought – has mostly been a mess, but he played 17:35 last game and is probably overdue for something good to happen. Matt Beleskey – Making the most of his opportunity to play with Ryan Getzlaf and Corey Perry, Beleskey has four points (3 G, 1 A) in the past four games. Much of the data included comes from www.war-on-ice.com, www.puckalytics.com, www.hockeystats.ca and www.naturalstattrick.com Scott Cullen can be reached at scott.cullen@bellmedia.ca ' ' '