Ehrhoff's Rights Head to Long Island

			2010-2011 NHL Statistics				July 1st Status
To Long Island	Position	Age	GP	G	A	P	Years	Cap Hit
Christian Ehrhoff	D	29	79	14	36	50	0	UFA
--------------------------
To Vancouver	Position	Age	GP	G	A	P	Years	Cap Hit
2012 4th Round Draft Pick

On Tuesday night, the Vancouver Canucks dealt the negotiating rights of defenseman Christian Ehrhoff to the Islanders for a mid-round pick in next year's Entry Draft. It sounds as though the Canucks had offered Ehrhoff a deal similar to deals currently on the books in Vancouver, Dan Hamhuis and Kevin Bieksa, but it doesn't look like it met the standards of what Ehrhoff was looking for.

With this deal now being done, the Islanders get the next few days to try and work out a deal for the German defender, likely having to pay in the $5 million range, or else Ehrhoff will head to unrestricted free agency and the Islanders will have given up a draft pick for a failed attempt to sign him.

Ehrhoff finished as the top scoring defender in the 28-to-30 years old range, where the next closest scoring defenseman at that age range is John-Michael Liles, who currently has a deal that pays him $4.2 million per season.  Paul Martin, 30, currently has a deal with a $5 million cap hit per season and he scored half the points that Ehrhoff did.  That all being said, the unrestricted free agent market is not ripe with solid talent like Ehrhoff, so teams will likely be prepared to pay more than market value to add him to the roster.