It’s still unclear just how active the 麻豆传媒映画Canucks will be once free agency opens on Tuesday.
It seems unlikely the Canucks will make a big splash given their cap constraints, but bargains could be hard to find. With the salary cap going up, teams will have more money to throw at even mediocre free agents, so teams could make some costly mistakes in the coming days.
Perhaps that’s why the rumour mill surrounding the Canucks has largely centred around contracts for players currently on their roster rather than free agents. Thatcher Demko and Conor Garland are expected to sign extensions to their deals that expire next year, while the Canucks are also rumoured to be making an earnest effort to re-sign Pius Suter.
The Canucks could still catch everyone off guard in free agency with a surprise signing. But to know what might be coming, we have to look at what they need.
Let’s start at forward, where the Canucks’ needs are most obvious.
Something missing in the middle for Canucks
The Canucks have been clear: they need to add a top-six centre. Whether they’ll be able to add one in free agency is the question. General manager Patrik Allvin and president of hockey operations Jim Rutherford have suggested they’ll have to trade for a centre, but have thus far been unable to do so.
(Note: players highlighted in yellow do not have a contract for next season)
The Canucks do have Filip Chytil, but with his injury issues, relying on him to be the second-line centre doesn’t make sense.
If Chytil is the team’s third-line centre, they’re sitting pretty: Chytil can produce from the third line and fill in on the second line when needed and, if and when he gets hurt, it’s a lot easier to slot another centre in on the third line than to ask a centre to play a top-six role.
The Canucks’ rumoured efforts to re-sign Suter, however, suggest they’re settling for a middle-six solution with Suter and Chytil rather than looking for a legitimate top-six centre.
Suter has shown he can play up and down the lineup and has been an excellent complementary player on the first or second line, but asking him to drive a top-six line is a stretch. Of course, that's assuming the Canucks can even get a deal done with Suter, whose 25 goals last season have upped his asking price.
Aside from centre, the Canucks’ wings could use some work. Evander Kane could potentially score 30 goals, but he’s coming off multiple surgeries in the past year, so it’s just as likely that he could get injured again, leaving a gap in the team’s top-six.
Jake DeBrusk led the Canucks in goals last season but is a streaky scorer, while Nils Höglander has the potential to break out but only scored 8 goals last season.
Conor Garland was the Canucks’ most consistent forward last season, but the team was at its best when he was playing on the third line.
Perhaps the Canucks can hope that Jonathan Lekkerimäki can be called upon next season, but the young winger still needs seasoning in the AHL, especially considering he was a healthy scratch during Abbotsford's Calder Cup run.
In other words, there are a lot of question marks about this forward group, and it will be interesting to see if the Canucks try to answer some of those questions in free agency.
Otherwise, the Canucks’ forward group will look significantly worse than last season, as the primary changes will be swapping J.T. Miller and Brock Boeser for Filip Chytil and Evander Kane.
Do the Canucks need to add a defenceman?
Compared to the forwards, the Canucks’ defence is a picture of stability. The biggest question is which young defenceman (or defencemen) will step up to seize a role at training camp.
The Canucks’ top prospect, Tom Willander, will push for a spot on the roster, but he’ll be competing with Elias Pettersson, Victor Mancini, and Kirill Kudryavtsev, all of whom can play on the right side.
That’s healthy competition among the team’s young defence, so you have to wonder if the Canucks will add a veteran defenceman to that mix or if they’ll refrain from doing to avoid blocking a young defenceman from making the team.
The Canucks could use some more defensive depth on the right side after letting Cole McWard go unqualified. A veteran AHL defenceman with some NHL experience could make sense in free agency.
In an ideal world, the Canucks would have the cap space to add a bonafide top-four defenceman on the right side to push Tyler Myers down the depth chart, but they’ll likely hope that Willander seizes that role at some point this season.
What will the Canucks do with their goaltending?
The odds of the Canucks signing a goaltender in free agency are low. Instead, they likely need to get rid of one.
With the Canucks rumoured to be signing Thatcher Demko to an extension, one has to think that Arturs Silovs’ days in the Canucks organization are numbered. After all, they’re not going to trade Kevin Lankinen after just signing him to a long-term contract.
Silovs will be eligible for waivers next season and seems likely to get claimed after an MVP performance in the Calder Cup Playoffs for the Abbotsford Canucks. At the same time, the trade value for goaltenders is never quite as high as one might hope.
If Silovs does get moved, the Canucks will still have competition in the AHL with Nikita Tolopilo, Aku Koskenvuo, and Ty Young competing for starts, with Jiri Patera waiting in the wings.
