Mitchell a King, Torres a Canuck

It’s August, and we still manage to talk hockey, this country is crazy when it comes to the sport of hockey. This city seems to get hungrier and hungrier for Canuck and hockey news day by day, and this week provided some nourishment.

Willie Mitchell, who was introduced as a big signing for the Vancouver Canucks a few years back, and was considered a key piece of the leadership group with the organization, and probably the leader out of the blue line signed with the LA Kings this week. A two year 7 million dollar contract for a player who hasn’t played since January of this year. The guy is supposed to be a quality guy on and off the ice, a d man, who uses his stick and toughness quite effectively. Many say that the Kings overspent, that while Mitchell was quality when he played, his injuries, more notably two concussions pose a serious concern. The LA Kings seemed willing to take the chance, a team that has gotten even better over the summer since their first round exit to the Canucks. While rumors swirl around Los Angeles about the change of Ilya Kovalchuk arriving, I’m going to say it’s all for nought, the salary cap simply won’t allow LA to add that big of a piece at this time. I hope Mitchell has a couple of great seasons, I was always a fan of his when he played here, hopefully he doesn’t fall victim to any concussions or cheap shots, like he did with Evgeni Malkin.

The Canucks lost a d man, so they added a forward, gotta love the logic eh? The Vancouver Canucks signed forward Raffi Torres to a 1 year, $1 million dollar contract. The signing falls into the ‘Why the hell not?’ category. The 6 ft, 218 pound left winger has been plagued by the label of being an inconsistent player, but even when he doesn’t produce on the score sheet, has always seemed to use his size effectively. While he split his last season with Columbus and Buffalo, he’s probably best known for his time in Edmonton. You almost get the sense that he’s going to be our ‘most bang for the buck’ signing of 2010-2011.