Grading an offseason of work from an NHL hockey operations department is difficult, especially a month from the start of the next regular season.
While attempting this exercise in previous years, we’ve strained under the difficulty of the assignment. In 2021, after one of the most disastrous Vancouver Canucks offseasons in recent memory, we graded the work of Jim Benning’s team as a B-minus overall. Even if we were wise to the overall, seismic risk profile of the club’s approach that summer, we applauded the overall execution and creativity of the moves. Benning and his team then got fired in December.
Last summer, similarly, we graded the Canucks’ offseason as a C-plus. Though we praised the conservative contract work, especially in unrestricted free agency, we docked the Jim Rutherford and Patrik Allvin-led management team significantly for failing to get a long-term extension done with Elias Pettersson. The Canucks then executed one of the most remarkable year-over-year turnarounds in recent memory, and Pettersson signed a max-term extension ahead of the trade deadline several months later.
Rather than be discouraged by some recent grading failures, we’ll use them as useful reminders. However sage the bets and disciplined the contract work, however creative the trades and sharp the draft picks, the only thing that really matters, and the only thing that a front office will ever really be judged on, is whether the moves work when the team steps onto the ice.
Canucks management faced a unenviable series of difficult choices this summer. As some of Vancouver’s core players became significantly more expensive, the club needed to be dexterous in carving out additional cap space, ruthless in prioritizing which pending free agents to retain and creative in how to reallocate cap space to address a dire need for more offensive pop up on the wings.
With the difficulty of this exercise in mind, let’s recap and grade every move Canucks management made this offseason.
Cap management: B-plus
Canucks trade a 2027 second-round pick and Ilya Mikheyev to the Chicago Blackhawks while retaining 15 percent of his $4.75 million salary, while getting a 2027 fourth-round pick in return: A
When this trade went down in late June, it was a shocking deal.
The Ilya Mikheyev contract was an albatross for the Canucks, an early mistake from this management group. The injury context is crucial here, though, given that we perhaps never saw Mikheyev play a single game at 100 percent after he tore his ACL in his preseason debut for the club. So, Allvin and the team were able to get out of the situation relatively painlessly.
Mistakes are going to happen. And though the club’s belief, in the summer of 2022, that Mikheyev had more to offer offensively was never particularly well-founded, those mistakes are much easier to swallow when they’re tied to the randomness of injuries and bad luck — and when they’re rather tidily and inexpensively eliminated, as the Mikheyev liability was.
Canucks prove unable to retain Nikita Zadorov and Elias Lindholm: C-plus
The contracts for Nikita Zadorov ($5 million AAV over six years) and Elias Lindholm ($7.75 million over seven years) caused understandable sticker-shock reaction in Vancouver when the pair of now ex-Canucks playoff heroes signed with the Boston Bruins on July 1.
Zadorov and Lindholm are both very good and unique players. They brought essential tenacity and playoff know-how to the Canucks’ lineup during their brief Vancouver stints.
Even if their deals are at a level of term and money that probably should exceed a reasonable appetite for risk, it’s not as simple as Canucks management having the foresight to walk away from a pair of overpriced unrestricted free agents.
The Canucks tried very hard to retain both players. With Lindholm, especially, the club was in the same ballpark as the Bruins in terms of the overall compensation.
Ultimately, the club pivoted to taking a higher-volume approach to upgrading their lineup and permitting Lindholm and Zadorov to walk. The outcome was probably the prudent one, even if the departure of Zadorov and Lindholm leaves the Canucks shallower down the middle and less dynamic on the back end.
The club pivoted to upgrading on the wings by making a higher volume of lower-cost bets. The outcome was probably good, but the process and the inability to retain a pair of players that Canucks management, players and coaches were actively lobbying to stay causes us to dock the club’s grade.
Maintaining flexibility to operate outside of long-term injured reserive: A
The Canucks haven’t entered a season outside of long-term injured reserve (LTI) this decade.
LTI space isn’t the same as cap space. It’s less malleable and comes with various inconvenient restrictions. Chief among them is that a team operating in LTI is unable to toll cap space on a daily basis throughout the season, which can limit a club’s flexibility significantly leading up to the trade deadline.
Vancouver is well-positioned to avail themselves of every bit of cap space they can accumulate, especially given that their American League affiliate is based locally in the Fraser Valley now and that this management group is adept at executing trades in-season.
Canucks management deserves a ton of credit for being disciplined enough to have the option to place the final year of Tucker Poolman’s $2.5 million contract on ordinary IR, as opposed to LTI, entering this season. It will take some ingenuity to maximize that space for the benefit of the club, but it’s a sharp plan that could help the Canucks explore some interesting options as the trade deadline approaches.
NHL Draft: C
The Canucks made some intriguing upside selections at the draft in June.
With limited capital to work with, Vancouver’s amateur scouts seemed to target high-scoring profiles. That could pay dividends down the line, with third-round pick Melvin Fernström, fourth-round pick Riley Pattersson and sixth-round pick Anthony Romani being worthwhile dart throws where they were selected.
While the Canucks approached the draft creatively and did well to punch above their weight, draft capital tends to rule in amateur scouting. The fact is, the Canucks were short too many picks — from the Lindholm trade, from the trade to shed Jason Dickinson’s contract, and from the Sam Lafferty trade (although the club recouped a late rounder for Jack Studnicka, which roughly cancels out the cost of the Lafferty acquisition) — to have added as much future value to the organization as nearly every other team did at the draft.
UFA work: B-plus
Note that our total grade for the club’s UFA work is slightly higher than our ratings for the individual moves. That reflects our appreciation of the fact that Vancouver made several responsible, intelligent bets in free agency and while individually, the moves may not have been sexy or stood out as major surplus value contracts, the cumulative impact is that the club has taken a smart overall strategy to fleshing out its depth, and that’s captured in the total grade.
Signed Jake DeBrusk for seven years, $5.5 million AAV: B
There weren’t many attractive scoring wingers left on the free agent market that made sense age-, contract- and fit-wise for the Canucks after Jake Guentzel signed in Tampa. Vancouver made the best of a challenging situation by landing DeBrusk at a reasonable cost.
DeBrusk is a certain top-six winger, represents a major upgrade on Pettersson’s wing and is on the younger side of most free agents (he doesn’t turn 28 until next month). He’s prone to inconsistent stretches and he’s not the star-level player the Canucks would have added in a perfect world, but this still profiles as a strong fit.
The seven years of term seems a touch too long; there’s definitely risk on the back end of that deal, but that’s true of most high-profile UFA signings.
Signed Danton Heinen for two years, $2.25 million AAV: B
This was a clear win-win signing.
From Heinen’s perspective, he locked up $4.5 million in guaranteed earnings, which is nearly six times the total value of his last contract.
The Canucks, meanwhile, get a forward who can play anywhere in the lineup because of his secondary scoring and two-way savvy. Both the cap hit and term were fair for a 29-year-old who can realistically chip in with 15-plus goals.
Signed Kiefer Sherwood for two years, $1.5 million AAV: B
Sherwood performed like a premium fourth-line player last season. He provided pace, energy, a fiery play style and was a bottom-six scoring threat. All of these are ingredients that the Canucks’ fourth line, which often lacked identity, will benefit from. Sherwood may even have a little bit of untapped upside, based on how he profiled in Nashville.
Signed Vincent Desharnais for two years, $2 million AAV: C-plus
Between Tyler Myers, Carson Soucy and the Derek Forbort signing, the Canucks already had considerable size and penalty-killing in their bottom-four defence group. Was it necessary to add another hulking defensive defenceman in Desharnais, rather than a puck-mover?
There’s nothing wrong with the player or the contract in isolation, but it’s fair to have concerns about whether Desharnais’ skill set is redundant and if there will be a lack of puck-moving skill on the second and third pairs. If Forbort and Desharnais play together on Vancouver’s third pair, for example, will they be too slow collectively and too limited with the puck to control play effectively?
Signed Derek Forbort for one year, $1.5 million AAV: B
Forbort should effectively fill Ian Cole’s role as a veteran third-pair defender on the left side at a budget price. Cole is a more poised player on the breakout — Forbort’s lack of puck skills led to even-strength blunders in Boston — but the $3.1 million cap hit Utah gave him is also more than double what Forbort signed for. Bang-for-buck, Forbort should provide solid value.
Signed Daniel Sprong for one year, $975,000: B
Sprong is a smart low-risk, modest-upside signing.
The 27-year-old right winger has the potential to produce in the 20-goal, 40-point neighbourhood. He’s one-dimensional, a drag defensively and will likely need to be sheltered in the bottom six, but his shot is high-end and he could provide a significant boost on the power play.
Extended Dakota Joshua to a four-year, $3.25 million AAV extension: A-minus
Big, physical, playoff-style wingers have always been in high demand. In Joshua’s case, his extension already looks like a discount.
Yakov Trenin, a heavy, tenacious forechecking winger who only scored 12 goals and five assists in 76 games last season, fetched a four-year, $3.5 million AAV contract from the Minnesota Wild this summer. Joshua is a better player than Trenin and almost certainly left money on the table based on how many teams were rumoured to be interested in taking a run at him had he hit the open market.
Teams need to be careful about paying depth players, but Joshua’s skill set is unique and would have been hard to replace. He’s one of the few heavy and physical forwards that the Canucks have, Rick Tocchet trusts him defensively in any situation, he’s grown into an above-average penalty-killer, he’s got legitimate net-front offensive chops and his chemistry with Conor Garland is outstanding. There’s a legitimate case to be made that he’s more of a middle-six quality winger than he is a bottom-six one. If that’s the outlook for his future, the Canucks will end up very pleased with the price they paid to retain him.
Re-signed Tyler Myers to a three-year, $3 million AAV extension: C-plus
Myers bounced back and performed like a solid No.4/5 defender last season. However, there are a couple of lingering questions surrounding his ability to maintain that level of performance.
The first is simply age: Myers will be 37 by the time his deal expires. Secondly, Myers has shown a volatile track record of alternating between good and bad seasons during his five years in Vancouver. He was arguably the club’s best right-handed defender in 2019-20, but saw his play fall apart in the 56-game shortened 2021 campaign. In 2021-22, he held his own remarkably well alongside Oliver Ekman-Larsson in matchup minutes under Bruce Boudreau. He and OEL struggled mightily as a pair the following year in 2022-23. Then, last season, Myers found his stride under Tocchet.
You can make a case that the coaching, system and improved team environment should help Myers maintain the reliable level he found last season. But history has shown that he’s a volatile player, and he’s entering his mid to late 30s, which makes it difficult to project what exactly his performance will look like over the next three years.
Re-signed Teddy Blueger to a two-year, $1.8 million AAV extension: B-plus
There were only five pending UFA forwards who played centre full-time and outproduced Blueger last season. The Canucks deserve a ton of credit for keeping the cap hit on his extension below $2 million, while simultaneously limiting the term to just two years given how shallow the UFA centre market was. Losing Lindholm and Blueger would have been a devastating blow to the club’s centre depth and penalty kill.
Signed Jiří Patera to a one-year, two-way deal with a veteran minimum cap hit: C
Intent on giving Artūrs Šilovs the opportunity to run with a full-time NHL job, the Canucks opted to bring in a third goaltender-type in Jiří Patera, as opposed to a more experienced backup.
Patera fits the bill as organizational depth, especially because he’s got some meaningful NHL experience and played well behind a porous defensive team in Henderson in the AHL over the past few years. Given some of the uncertainty that still lingers around Thatcher Demko’s status, and the club’s continued exploration of goaltending options heading into training camp, however, it’s fair to wonder whether the club should’ve swung a bit bigger than Patera earlier in the offseason.
RFA work: B-plus
Re-signed Filip Hronek to a max-term, $7.25 million AAV extension: A
Prioritizing locking up Filip Hronek, who played top-pair minutes and helped drive elite results on a pair with Quinn Hughes in his first Canucks season, was the right decision. That the outcome was positively Devon Toews-like on a max-term extension, which was always the club’s preference, makes this deal something of a home run.
Even though Hronek’s production and impact slowed somewhat in the second half of the season, and he appeared to be battling injury during the playoffs, he’d still built a strong and difficult arbitration case with a brilliant platform campaign in Vancouver last season. This negotiation could’ve been a lot more difficult, and the outcome could’ve been far less team-friendly than it ultimately was.
That Hronek wanted to remain in Vancouver and that the team was able to get him locked up on a max-term deal with a reasonable cap hit, was some of the best work from Canucks management this summer.
Re-signed Artūrs Šilovs to a two-year, $850k extension: B
Šilovs’ two-year pact is something of a paint-by-numbers exercise for Canucks management. It’s a deal that gives the club a very affordable goaltending tandem that seem like a good bet, pending Demko’s health, to provide the club with at least league-average goaltending this season at a well-below-NHL-average combined cap hit.
Trade market: B-plus
Note that this grade factors in the grade for the Mikheyev trade, which was grouped under cap management earlier.
Vasily Podkolzin traded to the Oilers for a 2025 fourth-round pick: C-plus
After adding several depth forwards this summer, it’s easy to trace the thought pattern behind the Canucks’ decision to trade Podkolzin. He was likely on the outside looking in on a roster job and would have required waivers to be sent down — which he almost certainly wouldn’t have cleared — so it makes sense that the Canucks would want to get at least something for him.
The trade return was quite modest, though, and it would have been preferable to send him further away than Edmonton since there’s still a chance he can work out as a bottom-six winger.
Overall grade: B-plus
It’s probably safe to say that club leadership didn’t position this Canucks roster to be significantly better on paper entering this season.
That said, the club certainly isn’t worse on paper, either. It may be better, in fact, relative to some of the other top teams in the Western Conference, many of which dealt with more significant departures and rely on older core groups.
That’s a neat trick. Running in place with a division-winning team, given the significant raises that key players such as Pettersson, Hronek and Joshua earned year-over-year, is commendable. Doubly so when the Canucks were able to achieve all of that and position themselves to potentially maximize their flexibility to further augment their lineup in-season.
There’s still some fragility in this Canucks lineup, particularly given the uncertainty in net, and you wouldn’t expect this group to have as pure a runout as they managed throughout the 2023-24 regular season from a shooting efficiency standpoint, either. Still, Canucks management appear to have given this group an opportunity to repeat as a playoff-calibre team for a second consecutive year and, potentially, to enter the playoffs as a force to be reckoned with.
(Top photo of Jake DeBrusk: Maddie Meyer / Getty Images)
