NHL player offered $20 million for two-year contract

Gillis's offer to Sundin, who is being courted by at least 10 teams and seriously by the Canucks, Leafs, Montreal Canadiens and New York Rangers, gets close to that line.

Sundin is 37 years old -- a year older than was Mark Messier when the Canucks signed him 11 years ago at the cusp of his decline to what became a three-year deal for $20 million US when the Canadian dollar was like the peso, only bilingual.

Gillis is close to the line. But not over. His unsuccesful bid Tuesday for restricted free agent David Backes -- a three-year, $7.5-million deal almost immediately matched by the St. Louis Blues -- was approaching that line, too.

More than two months since becoming the Canucks' boss and pledging change, Gillis is still looking for his first impact acquisition. Sorry, claiming Kyle Wellwood on waivers and signing five-minute-man Darcy Hordi-chuk as a free agent doesn't count.

That could change today if Sundin wakes up in Stockholm and decides moving to Vancouver as the NHL's highest-paid player isn't such a bad thing.

At the very least, Gillis has demonstrated with the offer that "we've gone a long way to indicating we're trying to get players in here who play at the highest level."