Canucks Trade for Steve Bernier

KuklasKorner : Canucks and Beyond : Canucks Trade for Steve Bernier:

Vancouver Canucks General Manager Mike Gillis announced today that the club has acquired right wing, Steve Bernier from the Buffalo Sabres in exchange for a second round Draft pick in 2010 and third round pick (Los Angeles’ selection) in 2009.

“Steve Bernier is a highly regarded young player who’s enjoyed success early in his career,” said Gillis. “With his right-handed shot he will be a great addition to our top six forward group and an asset to our power play.”

Alanah just posted a pointer to this. I find it — curious.

Steve Bernier is a young player with good talent and a lot of potential, yet when the Campbell trade was made, the Sharks considered him expendable. His problem: games and shifts where he played without intensity. It got him sat a few times, but at his age, that’s not unusual, and very teachable.

Even recently, Bernier was being touted as a key cog in the Buffalo future.

And now he’s off to Vancouver for a 2nd and a third draft pick?

Alarm bells are going off here. When a player starts becoming the pass-around pack, unless it’s Mike Sillinger, you have to wonder why; especially when teams say nice things about them and then trade them.

It’s more alarming when the value for that player is decreasing, and let’s be blunt: a 2nd and a third here mean’s Bernier’s stock isn’t exactly peaking. And (sorry, Alanah), when these things happen and the player is being moved to teams lower in the pecking order? Vancouver isn’t Buffalo or San Jose; this isn’t Brad Stuart going to Detroit.

So I have to wonder what is happening with Bernier, that teams not only find him expendable, but now in Buffalo, moved him for mid-level draft picks. It’s little more than a salary/depth dump here; maybe they’re freeing up room to make a signing of some sort, but Steve Bernier shouldn’t be a player that’s moving around for draft picks — at this point in his career. Or moving around this often.

If he goes to the Canucks and becomes the Bernier I think he can be, Vancouver gets a bargain; he wouldn’t be the first player to be traded into the right organization, or get his head on straight (think Brad Boyes). On the other hand, he also wouldn’t be the first player to get bounced around a bit and then fade to black, never to be heard from again (think Jeff Jillson).

Canucks fans, however, should see this kid as a project, not a solution, because Ottawa dumping him off makes me believe they decided his negatives outweighed his positives. Steve, if you read this — don’t be Jeff Jillson. Get back in the weight room…

(historical sharks scuttlebutt: both Boyes and Jillson were sharks prospects who, if rumors prove correct, earned their way out of the organization by not being committed to the Sharks idea of “game shape”. Boyes is rumored to have basically taken a summer off from his weight training and coming into camp in poor shape, Jillson, I was told, arrived in camp something like 15 pounds overweight. Boyes bounced around the league a bit, grew up, got his act together, and is a pretty good player today. Jillson — well, not so.

The biggest complaint I’ve ever heard about Bernier is he loses focus and his head isn’t always in games. that’s eminently trainable, if a player wants to be trained. But now, two teams have basically decided not to wait for him to mature. Canucks fans should be a bit careful about their expectations for the kid. I sincerely hope he makes the Sharks regret he came back into the west, but he’ll have to prove it)

(update: buffalo, not ottawa. my bad…)

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