Canucks GM Mike Gillis made the biggest trade of all Canadian teams on Friday.

BY MARK SPECTOR
sportsnet.ca

LOS ANGELES -- The Vancouver Canucks did as we expected, dealing their No. 25 pick. The surprise came in that they didn't recycle it into second- and third-round picks, but instead landed defenceman Keith Ballard instead.

"Last year in the playoff our Achilles heel was … we had defenceman get hurt, and we didn't have enough depth," said Canucks GM Mike Gillis. "If we're going to get past the second round and into the Conference finals, we're going to have to have more defencemen than less."

He says he'll keep looking for a D-man, but getting Ballard now takes some pressure off when free agency opens July 1. The tough part? Vancouver spent its first-rounder, and doesn't draft again until No. 115, in the fourth round.

"You begin to look around at Top 3, Top 4 defenceman, they come at a very steep price. Guys who can play 20, 22, 24 minutes," Gillis said. "We have a number of young development players, we've signed college free agents. Our pick was at the end of the first round, and we didn't feel there were players there who would be able to help us for a number of years.

"We're trying ... to get to the Stanley Cup final today."

In Ballard they get a 35-point guy with good skills. Gillis was touting him as the physical presence that the Canucks lack, but we're not sure Ballard makes you incrementally tougher to play against. He's a good D-man, but not one who punishes you.

"He's a good puck handler, puck mover. He's aggressive -- he's a good hockey player," Florida GM Dale Tallon said. "We try to make deals that are fair for both clubs. I think will work out well for both clubs."

The Canucks dealt away Michael Grabner and Steve Bernier, getting 6-3 right winger Victor Oreskovich as well. He's a Whitby, Ont. kid who played at Notre Dame University and for the Kitchener Rangers. He had six points in 50 games for Florida last season.

Ballard is signed for five more years at $4.2 million. Bernier is off to another organization, trying to live up being drafted at No. 16 by San Jose in '03.

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Suck It Up

The reality on the Jason Spezza situation is, there is no market for a $7 million player with five years remaining on his contract, who wants out of Ottawa because he can't stand the pressure.

And, there is that little matter of a $4 million salary advance due July 1. Like a team is going to take all that on, and give Senators GM Bryan Murray any kind of value in return.

Asked if he was still working to trade Spezza Friday, Murray said, "We're not going to, at this time. We've talked enough about Jason. Hopefully we'll talk to Jason as I get back to Ottawa and continue to get this back into place so that all of this speculation goes away."

Murray's owner forbids him to trade Spezza after the Sens give him the $4 million, after they did that last summer with Dany Heatley. So Spezza will have to suck it up and be back at camp this fall in Kanata.

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Standing On Guard

It was, overall, a quiet day for Canadian teams.

None of Toronto, Calgary, Ottawa or Vancouver made selections in Round 1 of the 2010 draft. Of course, Vancouver made the Ballard deal, while Ottawa dealt their pick to St. Louis for the Blues' 17th overall pick last year, Swedish defenceman David Rundblad.

Montreal made a nice trade up to get Jarred Tinordi at No. 22, the son of fearsome defenceman Mark Tinordi. "It was a reads and react situation," said Montreal GM Pierre Gauthier. "So we had to make a call, and we got a guy we wanted."

Ottawa landed a guy Murray has liked for some time.

"He's an offensive, real smart puck mover. A playmaker. One of the people who fits today's game," Murray said. "I remember sitting down beside Al MacInnis a year ago at the World Juniors, I said, ‘Boy, you've got a helluva player there.' He said ‘I know.'"

Rundblad will play one more season at Skelleftea next season, his fourth in the Swedish Elite League at just 20, come October.

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No Calgary Stampede

Darryl Sutter tried, like everyone else, to get himself a decent pick in the first round. It just never panned out for the Calgary Flames.

"We had to move up and give up too much for it, I think," he said. "It's not a draft of stars. It's a deep draft. You're not giving up someone off your roster for low in the first round. We've got seven picks (Saturday), and we're not going to give (those) picks away today."

His picks on Saturday are in Rounds 3,3,4,4,5,6,7. They won't select until No. 64.

"It'll be fun. We've got seven picks," Sutter said. "Hopefully some of those kids that we thought would be middle to late firsts will still be there tomorrow. We'll work to get up higher again."