Steve - the really unfortunate thing about Markus Naslund is that his production has obviously fallen off drastically, yet he's still due $6-million next season and has a no-trade clause in his contract. The likelihood they will be able to find a taker for that kind of a salary is probably in the neighbourhood the Canadiens will find a suitor for the disgruntled Sergei Samsonov.
How's this for a poignant lament for Canucks fans: During the lockout, when GM Dave Nonis was negotiating Naslund's current three-year, $18-million deal, he had the option of pursuing unrestricted free agent Scott Niedermayer, a Cranbrook kid who had always made known his desire to play in Vancouver.
It would have been an awfully difficult call for the first-time GM to bring in the smooth-skating defenceman rather than re-signing his team's captain, but looking at how this series turned out (and at Niedermayer's back-to-back Norris Trophy-calibre seasons), it's hard not to think he made the wrong call there.
Put another elite offensive player on this team and my guess is they'll fare much better than they did in these playoffs.