Eriksson to Anaheim like Backes

Team: 2020-21 Vancouver Canucks

Initial Creation Date: Jul. 14, 2020

Published: Jul. 19, 2020

Salary Cap Mode: Basic

This construction assumes (1) that Vancouver wants to re-sign all 4 of their big free agents, and (2) that Micheal Ferland is unable to resume his career, or else that Vancouver can find a taker for Beagle or Roussel (in which case the team would go with a 22-man roster) or just not re-up Tanev, or else move Jordie Benn -- there are a lot of possibilities.

The Canucks might prefer to trade Stecher's rights if they deem Brogan Rafferty NHL-ready.

I think that Nils Hoglander gets a 9-game audition this year. Assume that Vancouver can find a cheap free agent 14th forward for $900,000 or less to take his place after his trial.

New Jersey has only Kyle Palmieri and Joseph Anderson under contract at RW next season, and none of the young RWs in the system (Nathan Bastian, Marian Studenic and Fabian Zetterlund) are anywhere near ready for the NHL, so Brandon Sutter would be a good fourth-line C or RW for the Devils for one year.

In order not to expose Thatcher Demko to Seattle in the expansion draft, some onlookers have suggested that Jim Benning may sign Jacob Markstrom to only a one-year contract this off-season, with the assumption that he will sign him to a longer term after the expansion draft. This idea bears some thought, but seems to me awfully risky for the player.

For 2021-2022, Vancouver can use the money from Pearson's, Edler's and Benn's expiring contracts to re-sign Pettersson and Hughes. Note also that the Baertschi buyout reduces to $800,000.

Finally, feel free to substitute Max Jones for Jacob Larsson if you'd prefer a LW instead of a LD. Note that Jones has one more year to restricted free agency, and would cost half of what I have Larsson for here.

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