Cooke if he's not signed...

[Mozy]

Since there is so much talk about Cooke being on the trade block since he wont sign at a reasonable price where the hell does everyone think hes going? at 2.5 the only people that are going to be able to pick him up are the low budget teams like minny...whats your take on where he would end up? certainly not with a philly or a detroit kind of team

[mindbender]

I'd like to think we can sign him but with Ruutu on the verge of signing this week and the cap room left I just don't see how we can pay more than 1.2 for this guy. We need some guys with grit who can skate etc. and Matt is an extraordinary role player (one of the best in the league at what he does). He's a fan fave too and this will look bad if we move him but Nonis has his hands tied. It's starting to look more and more like he will be driving him to the airport. If we do trade him, it won't be to a west coast team is possible. I say he would end up somewhere like Carolina or Florida. With that said, we still have plenty of time to make a decision and wait for the right offer.

[Madcombinepilot]

at 2.5, he should sit out the year....

[Mooger35]

Morris was on Mojo again


thinks that Sedin-Sedin-Carter is not necessarily going to be our 2nd line

Morris: "No one else was tapped on the shoulder to fill Bertuzzi's minutes, Matt was."
Farhan: "He got that opportunity because of a suspension. It's illogical for the Canucks to pay him for a role he likely will not fill."
Morris: "Well, that will get sorted out at training camp..."

Again, said Ruutu should not be uttered in the same breath as Cooke.

Morris: "I've had some discussions with some attractive teams, and situations that are attractive to Matt. Certainly Matt Cooke being a free agent is making other teams salivate."

Farhan: "Will Matt Cooke be in Whistler during camp?"
Morris: "If he's on a vacation with his family, perhaps."

Morris: "Unless we get Marc Crawford on the line, I will not believe there is a set second line. I know there is a solidified first line in Vancouver, but after that, it's all speculative."

Compared Cookes salary to linden's, saying if it was 1.520 million he would be signed already

[Mozy]

Salivating teams...for mat cooke??? there is some major exaggeration going on here...

[Flanker Leader]

wow - where can i get the same drugs morris is smoking? that surreal dream world he's in sounds like a great place to live! mabe i'll look into buying a house there, if it's not more than 100 light years away from earth...

[Kikbutt_10]

Trade him, picks or a solid Dman, I love watching Cooke burn around and forecheck but he's looking for second line time obviously and he's unlikely to get it here. Just make sure Nonis that you trade him to an eastern conference team!!

[Mozy]

i doubt you are going to get a solid D man for cooke, i mean here we are saying that he isnt worth 2.5 so where do you think you are going to get a solid Dman from that someone is willing to trade for a second liner? flanker you must be real sad that they arent signing the pressure cooker huh?

[mindbender]

And where exactly did Cooke play during last years lockout season? Oh yeah, that's right, he "didn't". No points etc. So basically he hasn't played in two years?
I don't know what Matt and his agent are on but clearly this is not the same thing everyone else in the province is smoking. I've been hearing he has turned down as much as 1.5 for one year. I'm past the point of caring anymmore and he can sit his butt for the season. Let's sign Ronning and maybe a guy like Blake Sloan who is a UFA and a bit of an agitator.

[yammi]

Where is all this talk about Cooke wanting 2.5 coming from?

Nonis said in an interview that if their offer was increased to 1.5, Cooke would bite and they would be working out the details of the contract right now.

2.5 is a red herring ... probably spread by someone who wants to see Cooke traded ... when the deal is done, it will probably be for Sedin money (about 1.2).

[magnum44]

Cook is definately second line material on most teams in the league, and probably has the potential to be a first liner on a couple. The guy is gritty, has a lot of hustle, plays pretty smart, and is very versatile. In Vancouver he has been used primarily in a checking role, but he has demonstrated he has the ability to step up and be an impact player. I think if he gets traded we'll all regret it when we see what he will become when given the opportunity to develop into more than just a role player. I really hope this is just posturing for the sake of negotiations, and that we can retain cook. He'd be really hard to replace and we'd really miss him in the playoffs, but I can see his point. He really stepped up to fill Bertuzzi's skates, has been underpaid and overworked for how many years, and his resigning seems to have almost been an afterthought, taken for granted that he could just be cheaply resigned and shoved back on to the third line. I hope we can keep him, but I don't blame him if he goes somewhere where they can afford to "appreciate" him more.

[Mooger35]

Where is all this talk about Cooke wanting 2.5 coming from?

Cooke's agent

He brought up the number a couple days ago on Mojo by comparing Cooke to Lapointe and Scatchard.

[yammi]

If Nonis is telling the truth, then the Canucks are offering significantly less than 1.5 ... and he implied that Cooke would be ready to talk if the offer was increased to 1.5.

So the 2.5 floated by Cooke's agent is a red herring.

Cooke would take 1.5 (and will probably take less).

[yammi]

Magnum ... I think you've hit on something ... maybe the Cooke contract delay is tied to 2nd line play.

Cooke clearly has aspirations to be more than a 3rd liner but the Sedins are getting the 2nd-line ice time (and Nonis will continue to push for that if he wants them to be happy enough to re-sign with Vancouver next summer ... because the twins will definitely be looking to move to another team if they are demoted to 3rd liners here this season).

If Cooke is paid less than the 1.2 the Sedins get, this fits with his 3rd line status ... but if he gets more than the Sedin's 1.2, then this logically indicates that he is more valuable than the twins and warrants more ice time ... perhaps the solution is to give him the same contract as the twins (which he'd probably take once he holds out for awhile and starts thinking about Peter Schaefer's year in Turku when that guy tried the same gambit with Burkie).

[mindbender]

This deal has to be about the term (length) of the contract. I just can't see how Cooke could turn down 1.2 Mil.