Canucks re-sign Alex Burrows to four year extension

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Getting some deals done before midnight on Saturday, the Vancouver Canucks have re-signed winger Alex Burrows to a four-year contract.

Though terms were not announced, several reports suggested the deal is worth $18-million, which would be $4.5-million a year.

Burrows, 31, notched 28 goals and 24 assists for 52 points last season, mostly playing on the first line with the Sedins. The late-blooming left winger had one year remaining on a four-year $8-million deal. That contract was a substantial bargain for the Canucks at $2-million a year for a first-line winger scoring about 30 goals a year in the past four seasons.

The Canucks have also been trying to sign defenceman Alex Edler to a new deal but have yet to announce anything. Edler is entering the final year of a four-year, $13-million deal that pays him $3.25-million annually, significantly less than he is now worth, having scored 49 points in 82 games last season, seventh among all NHL defencemen.

In other moves just ahead of a lock out, the Canucks assigned 27 players -- including several who put in significant minutes in the NHL last year -- to various clubs, in junior, Sweden and the American Hockey League.

The most notable names sent to play for the Chicago Wolves of the AHL are defenceman Chris Tanev, a 22-year-old who late last year earned a spot among the teams top six defencemen. Also going to Chicago is Zack Kassian, a 21-year-old forward who came to Vancouver in February in a trade with Buffalo for Cody Hodgson.

Andrew Ebbett, a 29-year-old journeyman who played 18 games for the Canucks last year and in the off-season signed a two-way deal, will also go to Chicago. Prospects Jordan Schroeder, a first-round pick in 2009 who played in Chicago last year, goes back to the Windy City. Second-round draft pick (2012) Alexandre Mallet will also go to Chicago.

First-round draft pick (2012) Brendan Gaunce will go back to junior with the Belleville Bulls in the Ontario Hockey League. First-round draft pick (2009) Nicklas Jensen, a right winger who had a good shot at making the Canucks this season, goes to AIK in the Swedish Elite League after playing for the Oshawa Generals of the OHL last year.