Weber to Vancouver!!!! (JawPu5) ;-)

But seriously though...

If Weber wants to leave NSH for VAN specifically, then it won't even take a player like Alex Edler to nab him IMO. VAN GM Mike Gillis will have the leverage to pry him loose without sacrificing a core piece. And I'm sure Gillis has planted the seed long ago with NSH GM David Poile (perhaps around the time of the O'Brien trade). Smart GM's plan well in advance for ripe circumstances like this. And as we know, Gillis is a smart GM.

This won't be about Gillis trying to convince Poile to trade Weber to VAN -- it will simply be a game of chicken where Poile will try to get as much as he can from VAN before Aug 2 (Weber's arbitration hearing). And getting a deal done before that date is important because Gillis will want the opportunity to sign Weber to a longterm deal this summer. At arbitration, Weber will get an automatic one year deal, which reduces his trade value since the next window to sign him to a longterm won't start until Jan 1, 2012.

It all depends on what Weber wants though. If he truly wants VAN this season, the cost will be non-critical pieces IMO...

-Cody Hodgson

-1st rounder 2012

-Cory Schneider (or more accurately, what he's converted into via trade)

-Keith Ballard (Gillis will have the leverage to make NSH eat that contract)

July 28, 2011 Update:
@RealKyper Nick Kypreos Twitter: #NHL news #Canucks Jannik Hansen settles his case and agrees to a new 3 year deal.

@reporterchris Chris Johnston Twitter: Jannik Hansen gets $4.05 million from #canucks over three years: $1.6M next season followed by $1.35M and $1.1 M.

@tinfoiltuque Cam Twitter: Jannik Hansen got a $1.35m cap hit. I said on July 5th he'd get 1.4m/yr for 3 yrs. http://bit.ly/o2qoMH

Rumor is that the Canucks are going to sign LW Brad Winchester (UFA) as well. RW Blake Comeau (RFA) looks as though he is going to arbitration (Aug 4) which opens up the possibility of that speculated trade. And RD Shea Weber (RFA) also looks as though he's headed to Arbitration on Aug 2. If VAN was to acquire these three players (and add the third member of the Kelowna Connection, LD Josh Gorges next season to replace Salo), here is the scenario's team cap implication:

	Vancouver Canucks
Left Wing	Center	Right Wing
Daniel Sedin ($6.100m)	Henrik Sedin ($6.100m)	Alexandre Burrows ($2.000m)
Marco Sturm ($2.250m)	Ryan Kesler ($5.000m)	Blake Comeau ($2.250m*)
Chris Higgins ($1.900m)	Manny Malhotra ($2.500m)	Mikael Samuelsson ($2.500m)
Brad Winchester ($0.850m*)	Maxim Lapierre ($1.000m)	Jannik Hansen ($1.35m)
Mark Mancari ($0.525m)		Victor Oreskovich ($0.575m*)
Left Defense	Right Defense	Goalie
Alexander Edler ($3.250m)	Shea Weber ($6.500m*)	Roberto Luongo ($5.333m)
Dan Hamhuis ($4.500m)	Kevin Bieksa ($4.600m)	Eddie Lack ($0.900m)
Sami Salo ($2.000m)	Andrew Alberts ($1.225m)
Aaron Rome ($0.750m)
Carry Over	$15,000	Bonus Penalty
Salary Cap	$64,300,000
Cap Payroll	$63,948,333	Bonuses: $210K
Cap Space	$776,666	Roster Size: 23 players

Courtesy Capgeek.com | * estimate

Aug 14/11 Update:
Blake Comeau got $2.5M x 1Y and Shea Weber recieved $7.5M x 1Y. However, Weber's long-term deal will more reflect Duncan Kieth's most recent contract, with a more manageable cap hit than this arbitrators award. I explain in the Aug 14 update, here.