Jyrki Lumme was on such a high through the months of May and June that he could almost forget he was playing with a broken bone in his ankle.
Actually, Lumme�s performance wasn�t quite as dramatic as Bob Baun�s, the Leaf defenceman who fractured his leg late in the sixth game of the �64 Stanley Cup finals, had it taped and scored the winner in overtime.
Lumme�s injury was more of a chip than a break. But he�s still one tough Finn, no doubt about it.
The Canucks� defenceman blocked a shot in the third game of the Western Conference final against the Leafs with his skate and played the rest of the playoffs with a painful fragment of broken bone moving around in his foot.
�It was irritating whenever I thought about it, so I just tried not to think about it,� said Lumme, whose signing to a new three-year, plus option contract was announced Tuesday by the Canucks.
�I finally had an operation to open up the ankle and clear it out on Saturday and it�s still sore,� added Lumme, a free agent who had no intention of leaving Vancouver. �I won�t be moving around much for a while.�
Lumme said he was so exhausted after the Stanley Cup finals that he nodded off every time he sat down for a moment.
Tender ankle and all, however, he was ready to do a post-operative jig when he saw the numbers on his new deal with the Canucks.
He�ll be earning at least $1.2 million US next season, slightly more than Finnish countryman Teppo Numminen, the Winnipeg Jets� defenceman who entered the NHL at the same time and whose skills are roughly comparable.
�I think Teppo�s contract helped quite a bit,� said Lumme, who turns 28 next Saturday. �When I first came into the league I couldn�t have ever imagined making this amount of money to play hockey. What can I say? I�m really fortunate. It�s a great time to be a hockey player.�
You said it, Jyrki. Al MacInnis became the NHL�s highest paid defenceman for about an hour on Monday after agreeing to terms on a four-year, $13.7 million US contract with the profligate-spending St. Louis Blues. Then the Blues signed free-agent Scott Stevens to a four-year, $16 million US offer sheet.
�We were talking about that yesterday,� Lumme said. �Only a couple of years ago, the idea of paying a defenceman $2 million a season seemed so far away. But their deals didn�t affect my negotiations. You have to be realistic, too. My numbers aren�t up there with MacInnis or (Steve) Duchesne or (Phil) Housley (the player the Flames acquired in exchange for MacInnis).�
George McPhee, the Canucks� director of hockey operations, suggests the Blues� salary structure is so out of whack that it doesn�t accurately reflect the actual market.
�I don�t think Jyrki necessarily benefited from what�s going on in St. Louis because the Blues, for whatever reason, are spending far more than anyone else is prepared to pay,� said McPhee. �No one has any idea where the money is coming from.�
MacInnis may have uttered the most ludicrous comment of the off-season so far when he said his decision to leave Calgary after 11 years wasn�t about money. Toronto and Anaheim backed off when both teams shook their heads at the dollars the Blues were prepared to dole out. MacInnis turns 31 next week and could be starting on the downside of his career.
�There�ll probably be a ripple effect, no question,� said Lumme�s agent, Don Baizley. �But MacInnis is in a different stratosphere than most other defencemen and it will take a while for his contract to work through the system. Jyrki was greatly helped by Numminen�s and Steve Duchesne�s ($1.4 million, plus a $500,000 signing bonus) contracts. The Canucks were very fair and never, at any point, did the negotiations develop into an acrimonious situation.�
McPhee said the Canucks are making a determined effort to retain core players such as Lumme, though the team might have to make cuts in other areas to afford them.
Indicating a willingness to keep together their Stanley Cup finalist roster, the Vancouver Canucks announced the signing of free agent defenceman Jyrki Lumme to a long-term deal on Tuesday.
The Canucks and the skilled Finnish blueliner have agreed to a three-year-plus-option contract that should make Lumme the Canucks� second highest-paid player behind Pavel Bure and put him in the same pay-scale stratosphere as countryman Teppo Numminen-- who inked a four-year deal with Winnipeg last season for $1.2 million US per annum.
Lumme�s lofty position in the salary pecking order isn�t likely to last too long, however. The signing also further establishes a pay scale for other core players--such as team captain Trevor Linden, who will certainly surpass Lumme when that deal is done. Linden, entering the option year of his contract, is expected to be looking for something in the $2-2.5-million US range.
Jeff Brown, entering his $1.1-million US option year, will likely be aiming at about $1.5 million US.
�I�m really happy about it,� said Lumme from his Kitsilano home.
�I�m really fortunate to be in a class organization, a great city and a good team.
�It really wasn�t the money so much. I just wanted to stay in Vancouver. We had some talks in January, but we couldn�t get the deal done. But then we sat down yesterday (Monday, with agent Don Baizley and Canucks GM Pat Quinn) and everything went well.�
Although the Canucks struggled during the regular season, Lumme had a career year, with 13-42-55 in 83 games. The puck-handling wizard also was one of the Canucks� top players in their run to the Stanley Cup final.
The 27-year-old Lumme, who became a Group 2 free agent on July 1, played out his option this season for a salary of $650,000 US. The Canucks� other unsigned free agents are forward Murray Craven and defencemen Brian Glynn and Adrien Plavsic. All three are Group 2 free agents.
But Canucks director of hockey operations George McPhee said the relatively prompt signing did not mean there would be an avalanche of new contracts in the short term.
�Jyrki didn�t want to play anywhere else and he indicated an interest in sitting down and getting it done,� said McPhee. �Generally, most players want to wait and see how the market unfolds. We have people who we consider core players, but it doesn�t matter whether we sign them in July or September as long as it gets done.�
Other Canucks entering their option year include: Centres Cliff Ronning and John McIntyre; left wingers Geoff Courtnall, Greg Adams, Sergio Momesso and Gino Odjick; defencemen Jiri Slegr, Gerald Diduck and Bret Hedican; and goalie Kay Whitmore.
The club must make a qualifying offer (a minimum 15 per cent increase) by Aug.10 in
order to retain its right to match offers by other teams.