Canucks News, Rumours, and & Fantasy GM | Some Like it Hot

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Here’s my spreadsheet for upcoming UFAs, each team’s cap situation, and a trade tracker. I update the spreadsheet daily. I use CapFriendly to create this list and AFP Analytics for the contract projections.

Edit: Spreadsheet has been updated with AFP's latest projections and I added a new section for RFAs.

Spoiler: UFAs By Position

Top-6 Forwards
Sam Reinhart	RW	28	8y/10.25m
Jake Guentzel	W	29	6y/7.94m
Steven Stamkos	LW/C	34	3y/6.30m
Jonathan Marchessault	W	33	3y/6.25m
Joe Pavelski	RW	39	1y/3.94m
Matt Duchene	RW/C	33	3y/6.46m
Sean Monahan	FW	29	3y/2.87m
Tyler Toffoli	W	32	5y/6.53m
Jonathan Drouin	W	29	4y/4.46m
Teuvo Teravainen	W	29	5y/6.13m
Vladimir Tarasenko	RW	32	3y/5.64m
Adam Henrique	LW/C	34	2y/4.60m
Chandler Stephenson	C/LW	30	5y/5.77m
Max Domi	C/RW	29	3y/4.17m
Patrick Kane	RW	35	2y/5.51m
Elias Lindholm	C/RW	29	7y/8.04m
Anthony Mantha	W	29	3y/4.40m
Daniel Sprong	W	27	3y/3.89m
Jake DeBrusk	W	27	5y/5.92m
David Perron	W	36	2y/2.80m
Tyler Bertuzzi	W	29	5y/6.00m
Anthony Duclair	W	28	3y/3.22m
Jason Zucker	W	32	3y/5.46m
Jack Roslovic	C/RW	27	3y/3.11m
Max Pacioretty	LW	35
Alexander Barabanov	W	30	3y/3.03m

Top-4 Defecemen
Shayne Gostisbehere	LD/RD	31	3y/4.38m
Brady Skjei	LD	30	6y/7.39m
Noah Hanifin	LD	27	7y/7.69m
Brandon Montour	RD	30	7y/8.71m
Oliver Ekman-Larsson	LD	32	3y/3.67m
Dylan DeMelo	RD	31	4y/5.07m
Sean Walker	LD/RD	29	4y/4.87m
Matt Roy	RD	29	4y/5.58m
TJ Brodie	LD/RD	34	3y/4.91m
Brenden Dillon	LD	33	2y/3.91m
Alexandre Carrier	RD	27	3y/3.57m
Nikita Zadorov	LD/RD	29	4y/5.10m
Chris Tanev	RD	34	3y/4.68m
Brett Pesce	RD	29	6y/6.72m
Matt Grzelcyk	LD	30	3y/4.07m
Oliver Kylington	LD/RD	27

Bottom-6 Forwards
James van Riemsdyk	W	35	1y/1.50m
Warren Foegele	W	28	4y/3.58m
Stefan Noesen	W	31	2y/3.23m
Danton Heinen	W	28
Tyler Johnson	FW	33
Alexander Wennberg	C	29	4y/4.21m
Jordan Martinook	W	31	2y/2.79m
Dakota Joshua	LW	28	3y/3.00m
Michael Amadio	W	28
Teddy Blueger	C/LW	29	2y/2.56m
Sam Lafferty	FW	29	2y/1.72m
Kiefer Sherwood	W	29
Mike Hoffman	LW	34	1y/1.86m
Tomas Tatar	W	33	1y/2.21m
Kyle Okposo	RW	36	1y/1.96m
Kasperi Kapanen	RW	27
Andrew Cogliano	LW	37
Jakob Silfverberg	W	33	2y/2.78m
Cal Clutterbuck	RW	36
Corey Perry	RW	39
Patrick Maroon	W	36
Yakov Trenin	LW/C	27	3y/3.33m
Dominik Kubalik	W	28	2y/1.34m
Anthony Beauvillier	W	27
Sam Carrick	C/RW	32
Tanner Pearson	LW	31
Zemgus Girgensons	LW/C	30	2y/1.74m
Colin Blackwell	C/RW	31
Brandon Duhaime	W	27
Nick Cousins	LW/C	30
Connor Brown	W	30
Joel Kiviranta	W	28
William Carrier	LW	29	3y/2.68m
Tyler Motte	W	29	3y/2.55m
Samuel Blais	W	28	1y/0.94m
Tyson Jost	C	26

Bottom-Pairing Defencemen
Erik Gustafsson	LD	32	3y/4.99m
Tyler Myers	RD	34	2y/2.67m
Justin Schultz	RD	33	2y/3.81m
Kevin Shattenkirk	RD	35	1y/1.37m
Jalen Chatfield	RD	28	3y/2.77m
Mike Reilly	LD	30	1y/1.24m
Dmitry Kulikov	LD/RD	33
Alec Martinez	LD	36	1y/1.7m
Tyson Barrie	RD	32	2y/3.72m
Jani Hakanpaa	RD	32	2y/2.38m
Vincent Desharnais	RD	28	2y/1.41m
Ian Cole	LD/RD	35	2y/3.09m
Matt Dumba	RD	29	3y/3.73m
Colin Miller	RD	31
Mark Giordano	LD	40	1y/3.11m
Marco Scandella	LD	34
Calvin De Haan	LD/RD	33
Josh Brown	RD	30
Ilya Lyubushkin	RD	30	1y/1.31m
Joel Edmundson	LD/RD	31
Troy Stecher	RD	30
Derek Forbort	LD	32
Erik Johnson	RD	36	1y/1.13m

Forward Depth
Christian Fischer	W	27
Craig Smith	RW	34
Victor Olofsson	W	28
Trevor Lewis	RW/C	37
Justin Bailey	RW	29
Kevin Stenlund	C/RW	27
Jeff Carter	RW/C	39
Ryan Carpenter	RW/C	33
Nicolas Aube-Kubel	RW	28	2y/1.53m
AJ Greer	W	27
Liam O'Brien	W	29
Chris Tierney	C	30
Mattias Janmark	W	31
Sam Gagner	RW/C	34
Brendan Smith	LD/RD	35
Eric Robinson	LW	29
Zach Parise	LW	39
Kevin Labanc	W	28	2y/1.94m
Fredrik Olofsson	C/LW	28
Alex Barre-Boulet	W	27
Matt Martin	W	35
Radim Zohorna	W	28
Pierre-Edouard Bellemare	C/LW	39
Tyler Pitlick	RW	32
Austin Watson	W	32
Tomas Nosek	LW/C	31
Jansen Harkins	LW	27
Rourke Chartier	C	28
Steven Lorentz	FW	28

Defensive Depth
Jack Johnson	LD	37
Vincent Desharnais	RD	28	2y/1.41m
Anthony Deangelo	RD	28	2y/1.80m
Jarred Tinordi	LD	32
Sebastian Aho	LD	28
Dakota Mermis	LD/RD	30
Jacob MacDonald	LD/RD	31
Dennis Gilbert	LD	27
Nikita Zaitsev	RD	32
Nick DeSimone	RD	29
Travis Dermott	LD/RD	27
Caleb Jones	LD/RD	27
Chad Ruhwedel	RD	34
William Lageson	LD/RD	28

Goaltenders
Cam Talbot	G	36	1y/1.89m
Ilya Samsonov	G	27	2y/3.26m
Alex Nedeljkovic	G	28	2y/2.00m
Kaapo Kahkonen	G	27	2y/2.93m
Scott Wedgewood	G	31	2y/1.57m
Casey DeSmith	G	32	1y/2.02m
Anthony Stolarz	G	30	2y/1.91m
James Reimar	G	36
Antti Raanta	G	35	1y/1.31m
David Rittich	G	31
Kevin Lankinen	G	29	1y/1.58m
Laurent Brossoit	G	31	2y/1.95m
Calvin Pickard	G	32
Martin Jones	G	34

Click to read more...

 

[TruGr1t]

he logged 3rd most minutes in the post season. 3rd total, 3rd ES, 3rd SH. He's a 2nd pair defender all day long IMO.

we have $26.25 MM in cap space $31MM if we can jettison Mikheyev.

Hughes-Tanev
Zadorov - Chatfield
Soucy - Myers
Juulsen

Running with this D probably eats up $16MM (5+5+3.25+2.75)

People are way under-valuing Myers next deal, I bet he gets close to $4M AAV on reasonable term from someone who wants veteran right-side defensive presence following the playoffs (spoiler: he was by and large, quite good in the post-season). Maybe he takes a serious haircut to stay here, but I doubt it's that steep. Zadorov at $5M AAV is now probably a "best case scenario" given most of the playoff teams in the league with any cap space will be looking to sign him.

I also think Tanev is getting close to $5M AAV, so he won't be much if any cheaper than Zadorov. I also expect he stays in Dallas since it's probably his best opportunity to win a Cup before he retires. That being said, if Dallas wins it this year, I could see him coming to Vancouver or Toronto on a cheaper deal to basically retire on that contract.

 

[Mr. Canucklehead]

People are way under-valuing Myers next deal, I bet he gets close to $4M AAV on reasonable term from someone who wants veteran right-side defensive presence following the playoffs (spoiler: he was by and large, quite good in the post-season). Maybe he takes a serious haircut to stay here, but I doubt it's that steep. Zadorov at $5M AAV is now probably a "best case scenario" given most of the playoff teams in the league with any cap space will be looking to sign him.

I also think Tanev is getting close to $5M AAV, so he won't be much if any cheaper than Zadorov. I also expect he stays in Dallas since it's probably his best opportunity to win a Cup before he retires. That being said, if Dallas wins it this year, I could see him coming to Vancouver or Toronto on a cheaper deal.

I could totally see Tanev staying in Dallas, it seems like he and the team are really happy with the fit. I think the Canucks badly want to pursue him, but I don't know that he makes it to free agency for them to have a shot.

 

[theguardianII]

he logged 3rd most minutes in the post season. 3rd total, 3rd ES, 3rd SH. He's a 2nd pair defender all day long IMO.

we have $26.25 MM in cap space $31MM if we can jettison Mikheyev.

Hughes-Tanev
Zadorov - Chatfield
Soucy - Myers
Juulsen

Running with this D probably eats up $16MM (5+5+3.25+2.75)

Tanev is short lived but still decent
They can do better than Chatfield for not much more if 3.25 is the number you assigned him.

Do you think the Canucks make the playoffs with Myers, Zadarov, Soucy as their top 3 D?

Didn't they just make the playoffs with them in the top three of four? You think it was Hughes and Hronek that stopped McD and Dreadnought from scoring in some of those games? Or played against the best playoff power play in the series ? I am sure Kane was just shaking in his boots over the thought of having Hughes bounce off him or pin him to the boards.
I think they should add to the size if anything. The easy season is just that, the easy season and making the playoffs isn't as hard as you think, they only have to be better than 6 other teams in the division and with SJ and Anaheim still rebuilding that means the 4 other teams.

 

[Lindgren]

If the decision on which free agents to keep is a close thing, with good arguments on both sides for the different players, doesn't it make sense to trade Hronek and get at least some assets back? If, say, the Canucks can keep one of Lindholm or Hronek, and they'd get nothing back for Lindholm, in contrast with meaningful assets for Hronek, isn't the choice obvious?

 

[Pure West]

Of the prominent must moves:

UFA's we're gonna lose.

- Zadorov: I think he's gone. After his playoffs he's just going to be too expensive, you can see the drool coming from Toronto already. Great player and person and I wish him well.
- Lindholm: ditto, too expensive. Probably top center available that is willing to sign for the most money
- Lafferty: Faded through the season
- Cole: Open to keep as a 7th but he looked washed. I know this Edmonton series everyone blamed him, but I think he was more unlucky than bad
- Desmith: Gone. He proved he's a capable backup and will find a home, just not here.
- Blueger: Gone. I like him, but he's earned a bigger contract.

Keep:
- Joshua - 3.5 m x 4. Tocchet guy, solid unique skillset.
- Hronek - 7 m x 6. Was a really nice fit, even with the underwhelming playoffs
- Myers - 3.5 m x 2 years. Was a beast in the playoffs and had a great season. He wants to be here and you gotta take advantage of that.

Lastly, we're gonna have to buy out Mikheyev. The Arizona dumping ground is gone, and we're not going to like the price of ditching 2 years of that contract. As a buyout its 1.15 in dead cap next year. Rather than spend a 1st round pick to get 1.15 in cap space, we can hopefully use that 1st to get another piece to add.

So we'll have a core of up front of Miller, Boeser (I hope), Petterson, Garland, Joshua, Hoglander, Suter and some plug and play guys like Aman, PDG, hopefully some Abby guys etc. On the backend Hughes, Hronek, Soucy, Myers, and Demko and Silovs in net. Roughly 13 million to round out the roster. We'll need at least another top 6 forward, and probably another 4/5 defenseman in terms of expensive adds, and then mine the scrap heap to put together a 4th line and round out the defense.

I like taking advantage of players who want to be here and have some familiarity. So signing Myers is an example, and perhaps targeting some older UFA's like Tanev and Toffoli might be advantageous. They might be willing to come here as temporary stop gaps who don't need giant long-term deals that compromise our ability to keep core players.

 

[TruGr1t]

If the decision on which free agents to keep is a close thing, with good arguments on both sides for the different players, doesn't it make sense to trade Hronek and get at least some assets back? If, say, the Canucks can keep one of Lindholm or Hronek, and they'd get nothing back for Lindholm, in contrast with meaningful assets for Hronek, isn't the choice obvious?

The situation on Hronek will largely be dictated by his demands. They already reportedly offered him $6.5M AAV and he declined. I'd imagine through negotiation they may go up to $7M-ish AAV (which I'm lukewarm on), but if he sticks to anything higher I'd wager they move him.

 

[Mr. Canucklehead]

On Cole - in fairness, I thought he was better near the end of the series. Had a freakish run of both bad luck and bonehead plays in Games 1-4.

But yeah, I don't think he can be counted on to be in the regular rotation in fast paced games anymore.

 

[Lindgren]

The situation on Hronek will largely be dictated by his demands. They already reportedly offered him $6.5M AAV and he declined. I'd imagine through negotiation they may go up to $7M-ish AAV (which I'm lukewarm on), but if he sticks to anything higher I'd wager they move him.

Clearly, yes, his demands will figure in in a major way. But I have to believe that his status with management is different from the UFAs, and his trade value should absolutely be part of the assessment. If it isn't, there's a problem with management thinking.

My guess is that Hronek will be gone. My guesses on such matters are worth very, very little (in case there are new forum members reading this who are unaware).

 

[Bourne Endeavor]

A Mikheyev trade is going to be particularly onerous. It will cost picks or assets that the Canucks simply don’t have.

The most likely outcome is still a buyout—even if Dhaliwal says Vancouver doesn’t want to do that. They said the same thing about OEL last year, too.

The only other outcome I could see is if Vancouver chooses to trade Mikheyev for a player like Kotkaniemi where there is still potential upside but significant long-term risk.

I really don't see it being that tough to move Mikheyev so long as we're adding a sweetener. Teams like San Jose, Chicago, Utah and such aren't expected to do much of anything with a lot of available cap space. San Jose, in particular, would probably love the draft pick or prospect we toss them.

The bigger issue could be Mikheyev nicking any deals to those teams.

 

[Izzy Goodenough]

It was noted that EP40 was the last guy off the ice in game 7 and was lingering and saluting the fans.

It may mean nothing, but it is something guys who are not returning sometimes do.

 

[Mr. Canucklehead]

I really don't see it being that tough to move Mikheyev so long as we're adding a sweetener. Teams like San Jose, Chicago, Utah and such aren't expected to do much of anything with a lot of available cap space. San Jose, in particular, would probably love the draft pick or prospect we toss them.

The bigger issue could be Mikheyev nicking any deals to those teams.

I think the only issue with a sweetener is...what do we offer up? We don't have a ton of picks or prospects to part with.

 

[Jerry the great]

People are way under-valuing Myers next deal, I bet he gets close to $4M AAV on reasonable term from someone who wants veteran right-side defensive presence following the playoffs (spoiler: he was by and large, quite good in the post-season). Maybe he takes a serious haircut to stay here, but I doubt it's that steep. Zadorov at $5M AAV is now probably a "best case scenario" given most of the playoff teams in the league with any cap space will be looking to sign him.

I also think Tanev is getting close to $5M AAV, so he won't be much if any cheaper than Zadorov.

I had Tanev and Zadorov both at $5MM. We'll see re Myers. I thought he was pretty good all year....I've been one of a very small group of fans that has advocated for bringing him back at what will almost surely be a significant pay cut. I doubt he gets $4MM, but the market for free agents is small and comically inefficient....as we saw over the better part of a decade, it only takes one moron to phuck everything up.

If they can't get Zadorov signed, I think Soucy gets bumped up to LD2 and they try and bring in Brendan Dillon as the LD3.

 

[Bourne Endeavor]

On Cole - in fairness, I thought he was better near the end of the series. Had a freakish run of both bad luck and bonehead plays in Games 1-4.

But yeah, I don't think he can be counted on to be in the regular rotation in fast paced games anymore.

Despite how dreadful he was early on in the Edmonton series, I still like Cole. If he wants to come back however, it must be in a 7th role at 1.5M or less. Even then, it really comes down to who we manage to sign and how much available space there is.

 

[ManVanFan]

Tanev is short lived but still decent
They can do better than Chatfield for not much more if 3.25 is the number you assigned him.

Didn't they just make the playoffs with them in the top three of four? You think it was Hughes and Hronek that stopped McD and Dreadnought from scoring in some of those games? Or played against the best playoff power play in the series ? I am sure Kane was just shaking in his boots over the thought of having Hughes bounce off him or pin him to the boards.
I think they should add to the size if anything. The easy season is just that, the easy season and making the playoffs isn't as hard as you think, they only have to be better than 6 other teams in the division and with SJ and Anaheim still rebuilding that means the 4 other teams.

We'll agree to disagree. Clearly you and I see things in a very different manner.

 

[TruGr1t]

Clearly, yes, his demands will figure in in a major way. But I have to believe that his status with management is different from the UFAs, and his trade value should absolutely be part of the assessment. If it isn't, there's a problem with management thinking.

My guess is that Hronek will be gone. My guesses on such matters are worth very, very little (in case there are new forum members reading this who are unaware).

Yes, given what we've heard I think he's after his money. It will come out shortly he was dealing with a pretty serious injury over the final bit of the season (plus playoffs) and he'll try to value himself on his pre-injury first half of the year.

Long story short, as much salary inefficiency as the Canucks were carrying around this year, they were probably benefitting even more from certain salary efficiencies that won't exist next year.

 

[Tact]

First, we need to dump Mikheyev. Then we need to hire a PP coach.

Defence and goaltending has been a bright spot imo. I would try to keep it together and let Cole walk for Tanev.

Hughes - Hronek
Soucy - Tanev
Zadarov - Myers
*Juulsen

Demko
Silovs

Spend the money on Hronek, Zadarov, Tanev, Myers.

Then I would look for high end talent if there’s any money left over upfront. Then at the deadline we can acquire depth for cheap. This should be the strategy. Also, bigger forwards with speed seems to be effective in the playoffs, so that’s what we should be targeting

 

[Bourne Endeavor]

I think the only issue with a sweetener is...what do we offer up? We don't have a ton of picks or prospects to part with.

It depends on how much we have to offer. I'd love to think we could get away with our 3rd and a bunch of lower picks but I doubt it. Which leaves our 1st or 2nd in 2025. That or a prospect like Karlsson or Bains. The latter might be harder to swallow but I really just don't see any scenario where we can keep Mikheyev.

Obviously, there does need to be a plan set in play here. No sense paying a price to dump Mikheyev only to hope we sign someone. But if we already know Toffoli, Bertuzzi or whomever wants to sign here, then it's probably worth biting whatever bullet we have to.

 

[Peen]

Use whatever you get for Hronek to dump Mikheyev.

I also just wonder about a team like SJ wanting to better support a guy like Macklin. Maybe they’d be interested.

Hronek had a combined 14 points in the second half of the season (40 games) + playoffs (13 games) – and was a minus player.

 

[Flik]

Use whatever you get for Hronek to dump Mikheyev.

I also just wonder about a team like SJ wanting to better support a guy like Macklin. Maybe they’d be interested.

Hronek had a combined 14 points in the second half of the season (40 games) + playoffs (13 games) – and was a minus player.

That's f***ing mind blowing considering who his partner is lmao. Just a total no show for months. Almost certainly he's nursing some kind of injury, but if not, f***ing yikes man, what a drop off.

 

[ManVanFan]

Use whatever you get for Hronek to dump Mikheyev.

I also just wonder about a team like SJ wanting to better support a guy like Macklin. Maybe they’d be interested.

Hronek had a combined 14 points in the second half of the season (40 games) + playoffs (13 games) – and was a minus player.

A Mikheyev buyout saves 3.6M and 2.6M than costs 1.5M for two more years. That would be a lot better than paying to get rid of him. Canucks have already used enough assets.

 

[Bourne Endeavor]

Use whatever you get for Hronek to dump Mikheyev.

I also just wonder about a team like SJ wanting to better support a guy like Macklin. Maybe they’d be interested.

Hronek had a combined 14 points in the second half of the season (40 games) + playoffs (13 games) – and was a minus player.

Unfortunately, trading him puts a massive hole on our right side. I want to see whether injuries played a factor in his enormous decline. He is also only 26 and defensemen are notorious for taking time to develop.

So long as he gives up on any notion of being close to an 8M dollar man, I think we have to bring him back.

 

[Bourne Endeavor]

A Mikheyev buyout saves 3.6M and 2.6M than costs 1.5M for two more years. That would be a lot better than paying to get rid of him. Canucks have already used enough assets.

It really wouldn't. Buying out Mikheyev means we have nearly 7M in dead cap the season after next. Basically, buying him out will cost us any sort of depth come 2025-26 or Boeser.

No prospect we draft is worth that loss barring a complete steal we have no way of knowing exists.

 

[ManVanFan]

Unfortunately, trading him puts a massive hole on our right side. I want to see whether injuries played a factor in his enormous decline. He is also only 26 and defensemen are notorious for taking time to develop.

So long as he gives up on any notion of being close to an 8M dollar man, I think we have to bring him back.

Hronek isn't an 8M defender, Zadorov isn't a 7M defender. They were good and Van was able to get them all together because of what they are currently being paid.

 

[Jovofan]

If we keep Hronek over Zadorov I'm really going to question this management's intelligence.

 

[TruGr1t]

If we keep Hronek over Zadorov I'm really going to question this management's intelligence.

Either guy immediately becomes substantially more cap inefficient, and I question whether you really want either guy at the reported cap hits, but you need to ice a blue line one way or another. Management is in a tough spot, because they're going to be asked to "take the next step" without really any impact ELCs and a lot of the cap efficiencies that allowed them to overachieve this year won't exist moving forward.