Lapierre joins Canucks workouts
Posted January 7, 2013 3:55 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
VANCOUVER (NEWS1130) – The Vancouver Canucks skating at UBC were still wearing NHLPA practice jerseys but that will change once the new collective bargaining agreement is ratified this week. The team should begin training camp this weekend but nothing has been confirmed.
Centre Maxim Lapierre has re-joined his teammates for workouts and is eager for the season to begin, but, he can sympathize with the fans.
“Sometimes people forget that we were hockey fans as well, so I remember if I was young and there were no hockey I would have been pissed but I would have been the first one in the stands to see a hockey game,” admits Lapierre who added that the Canucks will offer fans a good show on the ice.
Lapierre, the penalty leader last season for the Canucks and could be the number two centre with Ryan Kesler expected to miss some time due to his off-season shoulder and wrist surgeries.
Meanwhile, goaltender Roberto Luongo skated in Florida today where he says he is prepared to return to Vancouver and start training camp unlike general manager Mike Gillis tells him otherwise. It is fully expected that the Canucks will ship Luongo out of town with the Toronto Maple Leafs still the favourites to swing a trade for the veteran goalie who has nine years left on his current Canucks deal. Luongo said today that playing in a hockey market like Toronto would “not be something new to him.”
Teams cannot complete trades until the new collective bargaining agreement is ratified by both sides.
