By Gary Lawless

THE Vancouver Canucks now know what everyone in Winnipeg has been saying for the last week -- Jason Jaffray is a better player than Kris Beech.

The Canucks placed Beech on waivers late Tuesday afternoon and recalled the irrepressible Jaffray.

While the news is on the surface not very good for the Moose -- they've lost six in a row and are now losing their best player -- there is a silver lining.

The Canucks will play tonight and then break until next Tuesday for the NHL's all-star game. Jaffray hinted that he'd like to return to the Moose for their games Thursday and Friday night against the Syracuse Crunch in order to help out his AHL club.

"I'm surprised to have got this call. I was surprised when they claimed Kris Beech off waivers and I'm surprised they put him back on waivers so fast," said Jaffray, waiting for a flight to Vancouver on Tuesday evening. "What would you say if I said I'll see you again on Thursday night? The break starts early for Vancouver and with the struggles the Moose are going through, I'd be happy to come back and see if I can help us get out of this slump."

The Beech experiment -- the former first-rounder is long on promise but so far has been short on results -- lasted just over a week after he was claimed off waivers from Columbus.

Beech's arrival in Vancouver originally spelled trouble for Jaffray, and the Canucks shipped Manitoba's MVP from a season ago back to Winnipeg thinking Beech could supply them with more offence at the centre position.

Jaffray took the news in stride and returned to the Moose for five games scoring a pair of goals and two assists in that time. Meanwhile in Vancouver, Beech, 26, had one goal and one assist in four games with the Canucks.

"I see skill there, but skating for me is a bit of an issue and I'm not sure how much more you can improve that at this stage of his career," said Canucks coach Alain Vigneault on the subject of Beech, in the Vancouver Province on Tuesday. "It's his first couple of steps."

Jaffray, who practised with the Moose Tuesday morning, boarded a plane for Vancouver late in the day and will be available to the Canucks when they host the St. Louis Blues tonight.

Vigneault has come to like Jaffray and the way he plays.

"Jaffs has exceeded our expectations in every way," said Vigneault in a recent interview with the Free Press. "He's come in and done a real nice job for us. I wouldn't say skating is his forte but he gets where he needs to go and when he crosses the other team's blue-line he really knows where to go and where to put the puck. In his time with the Moose we've been able to see him grow as an offensive player and he's learned to be a real responsible player on the defensive side."

Jaffray has 12 goals and 13 assists in 24 games with the Moose this season.

"When I left Vancouver, my exit interview with Alain went very well. He told me to go back to Winnipeg and put up some numbers and he wouldn't hesitate to bring me back if there was an opening," said Jaffray. "Alain told me they were bringing in Beech to have a look at him and they'd see where it went. I'm excited to play wherever I am and I took that mentality into the games I had with the Moose."

Jaffray spent five seasons at different levels of pro hockey before convincing the Canucks to sign him to an NHL contract last summer. Jaffray came to the Moose in 2004-05 and in two seasons climbed from a spare part to the top of the heap collecting 35 goals and 46 assists in 77 games last season. The 26-year-old was named an AHL all-star and at season's end was tabbed Moose MVP.

Jaffray began this season with the Moose and earned his first recall to the NHL on Dec. 11, scoring the winning goal in his first game with the Canucks. In 13 games with Vancouver he scored two goals and three assists.

gary.lawless@freepress.mb.ca