Martin Gelinas is a happy man. After being tossed away by the likes of Los Angeles, Edmonton, and finally Quebec, a team that treated a bucket of pucks better than Martin Gelinas, Marty has found a home in beautiful British Columbia. Gelinas has confidence, spark, grit, but most importantly, heart. He has learnt that good things come to people who wait........or do they?

Gelinas brings so much to this team, and the Canucks wouldn't have a sub-par record without him. Without him, they would be making the Cheifs look like the Avalanche. So Martin, being a very valuable asset to this hockey club, should be getting paid the big bucks when contract negotiation time comes around. Right? Heh heh heh. Wrong.

The Shawinigan, Quebec native was offered a fairly low amount, which then eventually got raised to 750K Canadian dollars. Gelinas was assured by Canuck management that only the blue chip Canuck players would be getting American dollars from now on, because of their budget. Gelinas trusted them, thinking only the Bures, the Mogilnys, the Lindens, the McLeans would be getting dead presidents from now on. However only several days after Gelinas signed his new contract, Dana Murzyn was signed, in American dollars, for 1 million dollars a season. Some blue chip player eh?

Another factor that must bother Gelinas is that he, along with Gino Odjick, are the only 2 regular Canucks who are making Canadian dollars. I'm sure there are more disturbances that are hidden deep instide Martin Gelinas, but aren't we glad he keeps it deep inside.

Be that as it may, Pat Quinn is lucky this is Martin Gelinas and not Esa Tikkanen, and while I'm sure Marty isn't too thrilled about what happened, Gelinas wants to play hockey, and for him that is more important than the money right now. I've watched Marty closely ever since he came to Vancouver through waivers, and he impressed me in his first game, (a 5-4 OT win oer Edmonton in which Bure had a hat trick and Gelinas played on his line.) I have come to this conclusion: The hockey world would be perfect if they were all like Martin Gelinas.

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