The Vancouver Canucks signed one of the biggest names on the market on the first day of NHL free agency, but it still felt like they had a quiet day.
That’s because the big name they signed was one that has already been on the back of a Canucks jersey for over eight seasons.
It seemed like the door was closed on Brock Boeser returning to the Canucks, but, as the saying goes, when God closes a door he opens a window. Canucks general manager Patrik Allvin clambered through that window and with a cap hit of $7.25 million.
That’s a lower cap hit than the reported five-year, $40 million deal the Canucks offered Boeser during the season, a trade-off for the additional two years of term.
“From our end, it was a little bit unknown in the season where our cap projection was going to be,” said Allvin of their earlier offers to Boeser. “We talked about several different options for Brock, and Brock expressed his interest in staying in Vancouver long-term, which was very important for him.”
Allvin suggested that the reality of July 1 and actually becoming an unrestricted free agent may have played a role in Boeser returning to the negotiating table, though that wasn’t the only factor.
“That’s where the realization of becoming a UFA and you start thinking about, ‘Should I leave?’” said Allvin. “I also think he had a vacation trip overseas, then he got back here the other day, and we got talking again. The conversation between me and [Boeser’s agent] Ben Hankinson has always been good. Ben is very professional, very transparent, and I know probably a couple of players reached out to talk to Brock.”
One of those players was Conor Garland.
“I’m sure he’s happy he’s done getting my phone calls,” said Garland. “I probably called him more than my wife the last week. He’s just the best guy. He’s the ultimate teammate, a fantastic player. I was very excited when I saw that news. I was away from my phone for about half an hour, but I had five texts from [Tyler Myers] and five texts from [Boeser], so I knew it was good news.”
Bringing the band back together after a disastrous tour
Between the new contract for Boeser and , Allvin spent a lot of Francesco Aquilini’s money on Tuesday, but didn’t bring in a single new player. Considering the Canucks missed the playoffs last season and have talked openly about their significant roster needs, that’s somewhat surprising.
The Canucks will at least make some minor additions in the coming weeks, but it doesn’t seem like any drastic chances are forthcoming. There’s still plenty of time left, of course, before the start of the 2025-26 season, but, for now, it looks like they’ll be starting the season with much the same roster that ended the last one.
Of course, the Canucks did add Evander Kane via trade earlier in the week, a move that, at the time, looked like a potential replacement for Boeser, who was expected to depart in free agency. Instead, they’ll have both wingers on the roster, but likely at the expense of being able to add a centre. At this point, they simply don't have the cap space.
Allvin and president of hockey operations Jim Rutherford were very clear at the end of the season: . With Elias Pettersson needing to bounce back from last season’s struggles and Filip Chytil’s health in question, adding another centre was supposed to be the number-one goal for the offseason.
“Getting that centre ice strengthened, then you can do a lot of different things with your wingers,” said Rutherford at the time. “That will be Patrik's priority. And if we can do that, it's going to make it easier to make our forwards better.”
The NHL Entry Draft passed without Allvin making a trade to add a centre, and now the Canucks have spent enough money in free agency that adding a top-six centre seems impossible.
Allvin said this inability to upgrade at centre wasn’t an issue at all, as rookie head coach Adam Foote is happy with the centres he already has.
“Part of the decision here is our communication with Adam,” said Allvin. “Adam felt very confident starting the season with Petey and Chytil as the number one and two. We have a couple of younger centres: [Aatu] Räty, [Max] Sasson — I forgot his name here, [Ty] Mueller! — that are playing really well in Abbotsford and deserve a chance too.”
With all due respect to Mueller, there’s a reason why no one from the media corps jumped in to help Allvin when he forgot his name, because no one had any idea he was talking about Mueller, a player who isn’t even close to NHL-ready.
As for Sasson, he has yet to prove that he can stick in the NHL as a fourth-line centre, while Räty seems more likely to land in the bottom-six. That means banking on Chytil to stay healthy all season and be a legitimate second-line centre. That seems like a risky bet for the Canucks to make.
The issue for the Canucks is that no one is willing to trade a top-six centre for the assets the Canucks are willing to move, and there are no centres in free agency that fit what the Canucks need. While the Canucks have failed at completing their number one goal for the offseason (so far), but it’s understandable why.
Allvin did imply that the Canucks would look to upgrade at centre during the season, but that feels like an echo from last season, when they need they needed to fix their defence, didn't do so until the season was already four months old, and by then it was too late.
“The best goalie tandem in the league”
Ultimately, coming back with the same group could prove to be the right move. The Canucks were only six points out of a playoff spot last year while dealing with multiple significant injuries, as well as plenty of off-ice drama. If the Canucks can avoid similar injuries and drama in the coming season, they could very well have a much more successful season.
“Looking back, there were pockets where we were healthy, and we played really good hockey,” said Allvin.
But hoping for health can be a fool's errand in the NHL, especially when dealing with Thatcher Demko, who has had several significant injuries over the last few seasons. Those injury concerns didn’t do much to bring down the cap hit of Demko’s extension, but it did affect the term.
"That was part of where we were settling on a three-year deal," said Allvin. "That was part of it for Thatcher as well. At the end of it, Thatcher's going to be 33 years old. If you see the combination of what Thatcher and [Kevin] Lankinen are making, I think a lot of teams are up towards that same amount. Having those two quality goalies locked in here definitely makes our team competitive."
The Canucks will be paying Demko and Lankinen a combined $9.5 million next season, then $13 million for the three seasons after that. It definitely is not the case that a lot of teams are paying their goaltending tandems that much money.
Only six other teams in the NHL have a goaltending tandem with combined cap hits over $10 million, and only one other team is over $11.5 million. That would be the New York Rangers, who are the only other team with $13 million in goaltenders.
The Rangers are paying Igor Shesterkin and Jonathan Quick a combined $13.05 million next season, but that’s only for one year, as Quick will be in the final year of his contract. Still, with Shesterkin alone costing $11.5 million per year, the Rangers’ tandem will at least be close to the combined cost of Demko and Lankinen.
If Demko and Lankinen are both healthy and the team can manage their starts to keep them at the top of their games, the cost could potentially be worth it. If not, their combined cap hit could keep the Canucks from upgrading at other positions.
“I think we have, in my opinion, the best goalie tandem in the league,” said Allvin. “This is definitely a strength of our team.”
Can the Canucks find the offence they need with the same core?
What wasn’t a strength last year was offence. The Canucks finished 23rd in the NHL in goalscoring, a costly deficiency considering how many one-goal games they lost over the course of the season.
Since the Canucks didn’t upgrade at centre, there are lingering concerns about the Canucks’ ability to put the puck in the net. Ultimately, they’re putting a lot of faith in players bouncing back, as well as an infusion of offence from Kane — another player with injury issues.
Allvin suggested the offence will improve because of the upgrades they made at defence over the past year.
“Part of it is I don’t think we had our D corps intact starting last year,” said Allvin. “With the addition of Marcus Pettersson and some of the younger players, I believe we are able to probably move the puck a little bit quicker and spend less time in our own end.”
Will that be enough for a core group that has a lot of belief in themselves but hasn’t produced a lot of results?
The Canucks have made the playoffs just once in the last five seasons and no longer have the player who led them in scoring in the one season they did. Core players like Boeser, Demko, and Garland believe in this group enough to re-sign in Vancouver; now it will be up to them to prove this core can win.
“We felt that it was enough tweaks,” said Allvin. “With our group not having a healthy Thatcher to start last year, not having Marcus Pettersson and [Drew] O’Connor — with the addition of Evander Kane — and I think the players are excited.”
“I think all of us, including myself, can grow and get better,” he added. “Adam and the coaching staff have done a really good job interacting with the players in the summer and bringing the leadership group together, raising their standard and their awareness that it’s going to be the players that are going to drive it.”
Can this group finally put all the pieces together to not just make the playoffs, but go on a significant playoff run? Perhaps. But they have a lot of work to do in order to silence their doubters.
