“Left-winger David Booth may be another candidate for buyout as he hasn’t come close to a return on his $4.25-million salary, mostly because he has missed so many games through long-term injury (knee, groin, ankle) since joining the team. Can the Canucks afford to gamble he’ll remain upright and become a 30-goal scorer again? Or do they inject a younger and cheaper player, like Nicklas Jensen, into his spot and live with the growing pains?”

Both Ballard and Booth are under contract until 2015. The Canucks are already over next season’s salary cap of $64.3 million. If the defenseman and forward are bought out, and goalie Roberto Luongo is traded, the club will have nearly $14 million of open space.

“From my perspective and this organization, it has been a terrible season for us,” Gillis told reporters today at his year-end press conference. “The macro look at this team is changes have to be made. We need to get different, and we’re going to do that.”

The Canucks were swept by the San Jose Sharks from the Stanley Cup playoffs for the first time since 2001, and Vancouver is 1-10 since getting within one game of the Stanley Cup in 2011.

Gillis said the review within the organization will be based on the Canucks’ failure in the last two playoffs and the clear trend in the NHL towards bigger, stronger teams.

“We’re going to review everybody,” Gillis said. “We’re going to review everything we do.

“Changes have to be made, but I’m not going to commit today to what those changes will be.”

Pressed as to how he might change the roster given that most senior players have no-trade clauses, Gillis said his first choice will be to add to the group.

A recurring issue in the Canucks’ last three playoff eliminations — against the Sharks, Los Angeles Kings and Boston Bruins — is Vancouver’s relative lack of size among its top three forward lines.

Gillis said Vigneault “is a great coach” but everyone and everything is under review.

Vigneault is the most successful coach in franchise history, amassing 313 wins and six Northwest Division titles. But the team was easily beaten in the last two playoffs and has lost six straight post-season games at home.

The playoff underachievement has cost owner Francesco Aquilini millions, and Gillis may be under pressure to change his coach after seven seasons of Vigneault in Vancouver.

Gillis said he expects to trade deposed No. 1 goalie Roberto Luongo over the summer, but was non-committal about buying out defenceman Keith Ballard or forward David Booth.

“Trading Alex Edler to a team like Philadelphia, for instance, a squad desperate for help on the back end to help them get back into the mix in the East. They have some outstanding frontline offensive talent they might be persuaded to part with for a player like Edler — who, upon hearing a different coach’s voice giving different directions, might develop into that great defenceman he looked like he could become in the Stanley Cup playoffs two years ago.”

Signed through until 2019, Edler earns an average-annual salary of $5 million. The 27-year-old Swede was a disappointment this regular season, notching only 22 points in 45 games.

The series will start with the annual Winter Classic, recently confirmed for Ann Arbor, Mich., on January 1, 2014, and will continue with games in Los Angeles, New York, Chicago and Vancouver.

The league hopes to unveil the additional games in the next two weeks.

The details of the various games significant undertakings for the NHL and the teams involved — remain fluid and there remains the potential for change based on team approval, licensing and contractual issues with the various facilities.

Among the new games will be the first outdoor regular-season game in California, with the Anaheim Ducks and the Los Angeles Kings set to do battle at Dodger Stadium on January 25.

That game will be the first of three outdoor games planned for the days leading up to Super Bowl XLVIII on Feb. 2, 2014, at MetLife Stadium in New Jersey.

The ambitious plan would latch onto the media and fan attention in the New York area during Super Bowl week by having the New York Rangers play two outdoor games at Yankee Stadium against the New Jersey Devils on January 26, and New York Islanders on Jan. 29.

The Rangers will be the visiting team for both games, a source told ESPNNewYork.com.

The final two outdoor adventures would take place during Hockey Weekend Across America, which runs Feb. 28 to March 2. The Pittsburgh Penguins will take on the Chicago Blackhawks at Soldier Field on March 1.

That game would mark the second time Chicago will have hosted an outdoor game, with Detroit in the Winter Classic at Wrigley Field in 2009. Pittsburgh also has hosted a Winter Classic in 2011 and played in the first one in Buffalo in 2008.

A day later, on March 2, the Canadian-based Heritage Classic will return for its third go-round (second as a full-fledged NHL event) with the Vancouver Canucks hosting the Ottawa Senators at B.C. Place. The last Heritage Classic was held in Calgary between the Flames and Montreal in 2011.

Canadian broadcaster TSN reported similar information regarding outdoor game plans Tuesday evening.

As ESPN.com’s Craig Custance reported earlier this month, NHL chief operating officer John Collins has indicated the league was looking at putting on multiple outdoor games, in addition to the annual Winter Classic.

There are some concerns about diluting what has become the league’s signature event. It also will be a challenge to meet the standards and expectations set in previous years, especially with the undertaking of multiple outdoor games.

“We set the bar pretty high on all these. If you’re going into a market that’s had [a Winter Classic], the bar is high,” Collins told Custance. “If you’re going into a market that hasn’t had it & they’ve seen it, they’ve heard about it and they want to experience it. The bar is possibly even higher for them.”

The Toronto Maple Leafs and Detroit Red Wings were scheduled to play at the “Big House” at the University of Michigan this season in the Winter Classic, but the game was postponed by the NHL lockout. The two teams will play there next Jan. 1, the NHL has confirmed.

Higgins, 29, has registered 14 points (9-5-14) and 10 penalty minutes in 35 games with the Canucks this season. In 120 games with Vancouver, the Smithtown, NY, native has collected 62 points (29-33-62) and 32 penalty minutes.

Higgins has appeared in 517 career games, recording 253 points (132-121-253) over the span of nine NHL seasons with the Montreal Canadiens, New York Rangers, Calgary Flames, Florida Panthers and Canucks.

The 6’0”, 193 pound left winger was originally selected 14th overall in the 2002 NHL Entry Draft by the Montreal Canadiens.