"Kevin Bieksa is in a very good mood.

You would be too if you could shrug off a landlord throwing you a curveball — a renovation project punting you to a hotel during the Stanley Cup playoffs — by keeping your eyes on the big prize. And that would appear to be a contract extension with the Vancouver Canucks, because the unrestricted free agent defenceman was confidently talking about that Friday and even willing to take a discount.

So, take that, Mr. Landlord.

"An agreement breached and the next thing you know we're in a hotel," chuckled Bieksa. "I'm real happy with him right now, and I'm sure we won't be having too many more conversations in the future. He won't be getting my tickets next year — if I'm back."

Judging by Bieksa's upbeat nature, that seems like a "when" and not "if." And even though he could probably get more on the open market starting July 1 — and his agent Kurt Overhardt won't rush the process to get the best deal — Bieksa will reward franchise loyalty by taking less money to stay with a contender. He sounded like Henrik and Daniel Sedin. And like Alex Burrows and others.

"I think everybody takes less to play here," said the 30-year-old Bieksa, who earned $3.75 million US this season. "It's such a great organization that you want to be here. It's the culture. It's like Detroit. If you want to win, you take less. It's a great team and a great one for a long time, and you want to be a part of that. The bonus is the core guys I've grown up with and the strong friendships there. That factors into the decision-making process.

"There's no need to draw anything out. I'm pretty optimistic we can reach an agreement."

As for other UFA defencemen, the same will likely occur with Sami Salo, but where Christian Ehrhoff slots into salary-cap considerations may be the only true mystery. Unless you want to debate how long it will take Dan Hamhuis to recover from offseason abdominal surgery, and if Keith Ballard can emerge from the doghouse. Or if defenceman Andrew Alberts is coming back in a depth role."