Turning Cliff Ronning into Mark Messier

Many know that Gretzky almost signed here in the summer of  1996, after his brief stint with St. Louis, and for a cruel consolation prize the Vancouver Canucks signed Mark Messier the following year instead.
Of course with the planned run at Gretzky in the works, the Canucks decided not to tender a certain little sparkplug named Cliff Ronning a decent offer, and he signed on the first day of free agency with Phoenix, July 1, 1996.


After the Canucks pressured Gretzky, reportedly in the middle of the night, and he backed away from signing in Vancouver,  he then signed on with the NY Rangers (July 21, 1996) and joined Messier for a season. The following year, Messier decided to take the huge contract the desperate to make a splash Canucks threw at him (20million - 3 years + options), and Messier was a Canuck for 3 miserable, losing years.


Gretzky played 3 years in New York, and then retired.


Messier never played another playoff game, and after 3 years in Vancouver, returned for 4 more in New York.


Ronning (a hometown boy from Burnaby) went on to play another 8 seasons (7 of them 50+ points) , and led the Nashville Predators in scoring there first 4 years in the NHL.


Ronning Stats

The end for Mason Raymond?

David Booth may spell the end of Mason Raymond on the Canucks, and that's a good thing.

Mason Raymond = speed, a nice shot, slight, perimeter player, non hitter, good PK
David Booth = speed, nice shot, good size, will go to the net, will hit.

But what might not be known, is that Raymond has only had brief spurts with numbers anywhere near 2nd line production, and has a habit of declining as the season progresses and the checking gets tighter.

Raymond, now 26,  has had 3 full seasons with the Canucks. His quarterly Points-per-Game avg.

2008-09 - 1st) 0.50  2nd) 0.43  3rd) 0.07  4th) 0.18

2009-10 - 1st) 0.50  2nd) 0.90  3rd) 0.71  4th) 0.45

2010-11 - 1st) 0.60  2nd) 0.90  3rd) 0.48  4th) 0.42

as you can see, he fades every year, and in only 4 of 12 quarters does he produce at 0.60 avg (49 pts in a full season) which has to be at the very low end of a 2nd line scorer, especially on a high scoring team.

His playoffs aren't exactly sparkling either.....

with Booth, Higgins, Hansen and possibly Hodgson ahead of him on A.V.'s winger depth chart for the 2nd and 3rd lines, it might only be injury that gets Raymond back on the second line.
And does anyone think Raymond, with his penchant for staying out of the dirty areas, and not punishing anybody on the ice, combined with lackluster production, really an A.V. type of player?

Good luck with the back Raymond, you've got some work to do when you get healthy.

Mason Raymond Stats