Mike Gillis had a busy day on Friday, signing Mathieu Schneider and acquiring Christian Ehrhoff and Brad Lukowich in exchange for Daniel Rahimi and Canuckz.com favourite, Patrick White (that was sarcasm by the way). Lets take an in-depth look at everyone they acquired and everyone they let go:

Who did they let go?

Patrick White

Drafted in the first round in 2007 by former GM Dave Nonis, White appears destined to be yet another first round bust. The Canucks went off the board a bit to take him (he was projected to go in the 2nd round), and it looks like a mistake. In two years with the University of Minnesota, White has 26 points in 81 games. Last season he finished 10th in scoring on his team. If White turns out to be an NHL player, it’ll be a shock, if he turns into a star, it’ll be a miracle.

Daniel Rahimi

A third round pick from the 2006 draft, Rahimi hasn’t shown much promise. He hasn’t been exactly knocking on the door fighting for an NHL spot, and was probably let go because they don’t see him making much of an impact in his career.

Who did they acquire?

Christian Ehrhoff

Ehrhoff was the key to the deal with the Sharks. The smooth skating 27 year old German has been a consistent point producer over the last four seasons. He’s a “puck moving defenceman”, and excels on the power play. The Sharks got rid of him to shed salary, even though he has a pretty fair deal, paying him $3.1 million per season for the next two years.

Brad Lukowich

Brad Lukowich will bring experience, dependability and two Stanley Cup Rings to the Canucks blue line. He has one year left on his deal with a cap hit of $1.567 million. Not bad for a guy with his experience who is still only 32 years old. He’s also a BC boy.

Mathieu Schneider

Old man Schneider is now 40 years old, but he had a very productive season last year. Once re-acquired by Montreal, he kick-started their power play until getting injured. That’s the key with Schneider, how much gas does he have left in the tank, and can he stay healthy? Time will tell. Still a good signing, as it’s low risk (a one year deal worth reportedly $1.5 million) and potentially high reward. Schneider is a proven power play specialist, something the Canucks desperately needed. He also has a Stanley Cup ring, which now gives the Canucks three players on their roster that have won a Stanley Cup. I can’t remember the last time the Canucks were able to say that.

What now?

So what’s next? The Canucks now possess 8 NHL d-men making more than $1.5 million and 14 NHL calibre forwards. They’re also over the salary cap. This means that someone has to go, and probably a defenceman. You can’t have two defencemen sitting in the press box making more than $1.5 million a season. So who is on the way out? Some were speculating Bieksa on the radio Friday afternoon, but I can’t see Gillis getting rid of a guy like that. It remains to be seen who goes, but don’t count out Gillis asking Mitchell or Salo to waive their no-trade clauses.

Meet “THE GERMANATOR”!

The 2009 NHL entry draft did not offer a lot of surprises in terms of players selected (Tavares, Hedman and Duchene went in predictable order), but did offer a couple of interesting trades.

Chris Pronger was traded from the Ducks to the Flyers (along with Ryan Dingle) for Joffrey Lupul, Luca Sbisa, two first round picks and a conditional third round pick. Interestingly enough this will be a return to Anaheim for Lupul, and the second time that he has been traded for Chris Pronger. If you ask me, the Flyers gave up too much for Pronger. Pronger only has one year left on his current contract, and is getting up in age. Don’t get me wrong, he will be a force for the Flyers this year, but those two first rounders will come back to haunt the Flyers in the long run. Another thing to ponder about this trade is how in the world are the Flyers going to make this work under the cap? They currently have a cap hit of $17.5 million for their top three centres (Briere, Richards and Carter), Simon Gagne ($5 million), Scott Hartnell ($4.2 million), and over $13 million for three defencemen (Timonen, Rathje and Carle). They must believe that Ray Emery can be a difference maker in goal with his cap hit of only $1.5 million, that is when he’s not coming late for practice or punching out a trainer.

Speaking of team acquiring high priced defencemen they can’t afford, the Calgary Flames acquired the negotiation rights to Jay Bouwmeester, and gave up a third round pick to do it. Now call me crazy, but giving up a third round pick just for the right to speak to a player for an extra week makes no sense to me. Some very good players are found in the third round, for instance, Steve Mason, Cal Clutterbuck, Kris Letang, Kris Russell, Jonathan Quick, Alex Edler, Johan Franzen and Dustin Boyd were all third round picks between 2005 and 2007. Even if the Flames are able to sign Bouwmeester before July 1, how in the world are they going to fit him under the cap? Bouwmeester should command at least $6 million per season, which should require the Flames to have to offload a significant part of their team.

As for how the Canucks fared on draft day, they didn’t make any major trades, istead choosing to keep all of their picks. I, for one, am very optimistic about their first round selection, Jordan Schroeder. Schroeder is a small, speedy centre compared to Patrick Kane. He slipped down from the original projections by NHL Central Scouting and Bob McKenzie. He is small (5’8″), which suggests to me that teams were scared off by his size.

The reason I like this pick, is because he seems like a guy that will either become the next Steve Kariya or will become the next Patrick Kane. When you’re picking in the first round, I believe you ought to be trying to pick a future all star, and not a future third liner. You should try to pick 3rd liners in the second and third round of the draft. Continuing Canuckz.com’s hating on Patrick White (for a good laugh, check out his stats here), here’s a look at Patrick White’s scouting report by TSN before he was picked in the 2007 draft: “A skilled forward with the ability to make a difference. Strong player with a physical presence. Plays tough in the corners and in traffic. Is good on the right wing and gets his wrist shot off with ease. Sometimes lacks urgency in his play”. Sounds like a future third liner to me. Contrast with what they have to say about Schroeder: “He’s a dynamic player, a leader and a type of player that has developed into a complete offensive and defensive threat every time he is on the ice. He has a rocket of a wrist shot and he can beat you by putting the puck in the net, going around a defender, or freezing the goaltender and passing it off to one of his wingers”. That sounds like a future all star to me.

Today is a day of optimism in the NHL. Every team will get “the guy they wanted” and willl have “picked the best player available”. Every player is going to be the next [insert Hall of Famer]. So before you believe whatever spews out of the mouths of GMs today, remember that the fact of the matter is that outside of the top three picks this year, it’s a bit of a crap shoot.

This year the Canucks pick 22nd. Mike Gillis will continue to try to prove to Canucks fans everywhere that the Canucks draft day woes are behind them. While most of you are no doubt already having flashbacks of Libor Polasek, Josh Holden and Nathan Smith right now, remember that this is a new era under Mike Gillis. Last year he chose the smaller but smarter Cody Hodgson (92 points in junior last year) ahead of the bigger and more enigmatic Kyle Beach (63 points in junior last year).

To get an idea of what diamonds in the rough you can find at #22, here’s a look back at some of the better players picked at #22 since 1990:

Claude Giroux (2006)

Simon Gagne (1998)

Brian Boucher (1995)

Anders Eriksson (1993)

Dean McAmmond (1991)

Not getting you excited? I don’t blame you. I could show examples of bad picks with the #22 pick (Maxim Ouellet), but you get the point. It’s a crap shoot.

Got to love the positive spin on this pick!