Luc Bourdon - 3 year contract with Canucks

(CP) -- The chances of Luc Bourdon wearing Vancouver Canucks colours next season got better with the NHL club's announcement Thursday it had signed the 19-year-old defenceman to a three-year rookie contract.

The Canucks drafted Bourdon 10th overall in the 2005 draft. The big blue-liner played so well at training camp in September that Vancouver gave him a long look before sending him back to junior.

"Without being under contract, you can play as well as you want, but you can't play in the league without a signed standard players' contract," Canucks GM Dave Nonis said Thursday in a conference call. "It gives him a clear opportunity to come in here and have the best camp he can possibly have and be in a position to stick."

Right now, there's room on the blue-line with Sami Salo and Mattias Ohlund the only other Canucks defencemen under contract for next season, although Nonis has the rest of the summer to address that.