Since being appointed AGM, Brian Burke had been burning the midnight oil crossing the "t's" and dotting the "i's" on various contract extensions. Immediately after his promotion, we huddled together for a few days, to develop budget goals and a list of key players that we wanted to retain for next year and beyond. Getting the two to mesh would be a challenge, and since then Brian had been nose deep in negotiations with player agents.
One of the first, (and fastest) to align was third-pair defenseman Gerald Diduck. 'Dids' was a hard-nosed character player, and a great shutdown defenseman who gave you everything he had. He was the kind of player you could throw out on the PK, and trust him to take care of his own end, with no qualms. Gerald loved playing in Vancouver, and it was our pleasure to have him (and keep him) on the team.
Diduck's existing contract called for 140k per year. Starting from there, Brian negotiated an extension for another three years at 155k per. That represented a 10.7% increase, or in layman's terms, a number we were very happy with.
