of Malhotra who now seems a whole lot more tentative. I think Torres provided people like Malhotra a comfort zone which made them tougher to play against. Maybe that factor was not considered carefully enough by the team and, at this point, this refusal to get back Torres looks like a mistake by the Canucks 2. Signing Strum ? probably one of the worse signings by any team during the off-season and the person in the organization who initiated this signing has egg all over their face. The signing, especially at the price, never made sense unless someone was reckoning that they could package him to get Booth. Fact that Strum has continued to flounder in Florida ( 3 points in 27 games) confirms that the signing was a huge mistake. 3. Duco for Shirkov. Shirkov is in the top 5 in KHL and getting very good reviews. Duco looks like mediocre AHL player. You have to wonder if the whole Shirkov situation was badly mishandled. Even though he was clearly the best forward in Manitoba, Shirkov was never given any real chance by the Canucks. Instead they messed around and carried the patently weak Tambellini. To me, Shirkov was the obviously superior player and should have been here before Tambellini. At least then they could have made a better judgement on this player. True there were cap implications but you have to wonder if the Canucks let a potentially good player get away. Would not be the first time.