1. How many of their four major free agents this year do the Canucks want to re-sign?
2. How do the Canucks give Elias Pettersson and Quinn Hughes and perhaps Tanner Pearson new contracts in the following year?
This construction assumes that Vancouver wants to re-up Markstrom, Toffoli, Tanev and Stecher this off-season. Obviously, if the Canucks decide not to, or one of the UFAs goes elsewhere, the second issue virtually disappears.
I’m also assuming that Micheal Ferland is unable to continue his career. If he is, that would complicate matters severely.
The Canucks have the following money coming off the books in 2021: Edler ($6 million), Benn ($2 million), Sutter per this proposal ($875,000), Spooner ($1,033,333) and Baertschi per this proposal ($966,666), for a total of $10,875,000. Add to that the $3.4 million remaining in the bank and that’s $14,275,000 for 2021-2022. Assume it will take $2 million to replace Edler and Benn (but Rathbone and Rafferty might be ready). If Pettersson gets the Rantanen contract, then Vancouver can re-sign Hughes for $5 million and will have to let Pearson go unless Beagle can be moved. On the other hand, if Pettersson can be bridged for $7.5 million ($6.5 million additional) and Hughes for $5 million ($4 million additional) that would leave room to re-up Pearson at $5.25 million or so without having to move Beagle.
Protected in the Expansion Draft: Boeser, Gaudette, Horvat, Miller, Pettersson, Toffoli, Virtanen; Myers, Stecher, Tanev; Markstrom
Exposed in the Expansion Draft: Beagle, MacEwen, Motte; Juolevi, Rafferty; Demko
Exempt from the Expansion Draft: Hoglander, Lockwood; Hughes, Rathbone; DiPietro, Silovs
Yes, this year's draft is a lost cause, but it can be argued that it already was. And even with moving Eriksson, the Canucks retain their first-round pick next summer.
The fantastic problem that VAN has is that Petey and Hughes look so good right now that even their bridge deals will likely have quite a high cap hit. I think the best move for VAN is to leave as much space available for 2021 as humanly possible so they can at least attempt to lock up both of them long term, even if it means not bringing back Tanev and Toffoli in this scenario.
For starters, I really hope they don't give Tanev a contract like that. He's past his oft-injured prime and I think there are younger, cheaper options in free agency to take his spot. I agree it seems like a better than 50/50 chance that Ferland goes on permanent LTIR, which will help open up some room.
McDavid, Connor
$250,000)
OldNYIfan liked this.
CapFriendly
CapFriendly