[panoo]

TSN.ca Staff
7/5/2006 4:14:22 PM

Just a week after signing new No. 1 netminder Roberto Luongo, the Vancouver Canucks have bid farewell to their former starter.

The Canucks and Los Angeles Kings have completed a deal that sends goaltender Dan Cloutier to L.A in exchange for a second-round draft pick plus a conditional draft pick.

The move reunites Cloutier with former Canucks head coach Marc Crawford, who was hired by new GM Dean Lombardi last month.

Cloutier suffered through a difficult season in 2006. After getting off to a 5-2-1 start in Vancouver, he was forced to miss five games with a concussion. Four games into his return, he suffered what was initially diagnosed as a sprained knee and was scratched for the next seven games before the team confirmed he had suffered a partially torn anterior cruciate ligament.

Cloutier will earn $2.55 million US next season, the final year of a two-year deal he signed with the Canucks.

More to follow

 

[panoo]

It was expected. I didn't know it would come so fast though. Only 2 days ago Nonis ws talking about how Cloutier won't be with the team come September, and the very next day he's gone to the Kings.

I never thought of Cloutier to be that good of a goaltender to be honest. He's very overated IMO, and it was only the team in front of him that made him look barely above average at best in Vancouver.

He was SO ready to prove to the team and the fans that he was a #1 goalie last year...then he got injured in November....and never made it back to the team.....I felt bad for him when that happened!