Canucks Finally Give In, Trade Bure to Panthers

High-scoring, high-priced holdout Pavel Bure, who told the Vancouver Canucks he would never play for them again, got his wish Sunday when he was sent to the Florida Panthers in a seven-player deal.

The three-time 50-goal scorer, who has spent the entire season at his home in Moscow, will join the Panthers in New York for games Wednesday against the Islanders and Thursday against the Rangers.

The Canucks also sent defensemen Bret Hedican and Brad Ference to Florida for defenseman Ed Jovanovski, centers Dave Gagner and Mike Brown and holdout goaltender Kevin Weekes.

The Panthers also will send a first-round draft choice to Vancouver in either 1999 or 2000. At that time, the Panthers will get a third-round pick from Vancouver.

Coach Terry Murray said he would start Bure, 27, on the right wing with center Viktor Kozlov, a fellow Russian.

Bure scored 51 goals last season, one off the league lead. But he demanded a trade during the off-season, citing personal reasons.

“He said management and the organization had not backed him up in the past,” Canuck President Brian Burke said. “He also did not like the fish-bowl effect here in Vancouver. Those were the reasons he gave me. As I said to our fans, I don’t think anyone listening to those reasons at this point will conclude that they add up to a refusal to play in Vancouver.”

The Kings were among the teams trying to deal for Bure. King General Manager Dave Taylor, asked if he was surprised by the trade, said, “Not really. I felt they were getting close to a deal, and I knew Brian was going to try and close it by the weekend.

“We spoke on a lot of different areas but we never came to a situation where would could close it. I don’t think we were ever really close.”

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Times staff writer Jim Hodges contributed to this story.