You can't have enough depth heading into the playoffs. Especially at center.
That is obviously Mike Gillis' thoughts as the Canucks General Manager has acquired center Sami Pahlsson from the Columbus Blue Jackets in exchange for two 4th round draft picks in this Summer's Entry Draft (we had the Islanders 4th round pick too).
Pahlsson won a cup in 2007 with Anaheim, so he knows what it takes to win in the playoffs. He is a defensive-minded center who is good on the faceoffs. He has virtually zero offensive ability - he has only 2 goals and 9 assists in 61 games this season - and will certainly be used in a defensive role.
The 34 year old Swede has a cap hit of 2.65 million and is an Unrestricted Free Agent at the end of this season, so you'd have to imagine that he's a rental and won't be resigned in the offseason. With that said, if he proves to be a valuable player, Gillis may opt to resign him just as they did with Max Lapierre and Chris Higgins whom were signed last summer after being acquired at last year's trade deadline.
Vancouver now has six natural centers on their roster with Henrik Sedin, Ryan Kesler, Cody Hodgson, Manny Malhotra, Maxime Lapierre and Sami Pahlsson.
Malhotra has been playing on the wing already, and now one would assume that one of the aforementioned centers will have to move to the wing too. Obviously Henrik and Kesler will stay as the #1 and #2 guys, so who will move to the wing?
Maybe Hodgson will play wing on the 2nd line with Booth and Kesler?
More to come later.
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