Canucks Sign Demitra

The Minnesota Wild have been quite busy in free agency.

One thing they never bothered to do was re-sign free-agent center Pavol Demitra. Instead, the Wild watched as the long-rumored deal between Demitra and the division rival Vancouver Canucks was finally made official Thursday. Demitra gets $8 million over two years.

"Throughout his NHL career, Pavol has proven himself to be an offensive contributor wherever he has played," Vancouver general manager Mike Gillis said in a statement. "Pavol is a strong two-way hockey player with excellent quickness and finish. His play-making abilities will be an asset on our power-play and make him a great addition to our top six forwards."

It's worth noting that Gillis is Demitra's longtime agent, so there may be some bias in the above.

I'm a Wild fan, so there may be some bias here, too. That's okay. We're all biased in our own little way.

I don't begrudge Demitra for leaving. In fact, I'm kind of glad he did. He was generally useless offensively for Minnesota in 2007-2008, despite it being a contract year. The 15 goals he scored marked his lowest full-season total as an NHL player, and his 54 points were the lowest he'd tallied in eight seasons.

That said, Demitra is a solid veteran addition for a team in Vancouver that is practically devoid of serious offensive upside. It's likely he will rebound from what was really not much of a season for him in Minnesota.

(Tap of the stick: Dr. Mirtle)