Canucks should cash in on cap space
Instead of chasing UFAs, Vancouver could acquire picks by taking on a bad contract
This off-season, the Vancouver Canucks find themselves with a significant amount of cap space and because of it they should think about doing something wild. Like, not spending any of it.
At least, not on or around July 1 — and definitely not when it comes to bringing in expensive, veteran free agents already in their 30s or close enough to them.
And, yes, that includes staying away from goaltender Ryan Miller.
The Canucks sit more than $17 million under the NHL cap, a number that will admittedly shrink some when Bo Horvat, Erik Gudbranson and Nikita Tryamkin sign new contracts. But there will still be plenty left to play with and ways to create more, including the intriguing option being floated in some circles of exposing $4.375-million-per-year centre Brandon Sutter in the expansion draft.
The Canucks have tried bringing in free agents like Miller and Loui Eriksson already and that got them to 29th overall. They can get there just fine with Jacob Markstrom as their starter and a cheap backup.
All of this is important because the Canucks have strongly suggested they are all-in on a “rebuild,” of course without using that particular word — wink, wink, nudge, nudge.
If that’s true, they are in the mode of acquiring draft picks and prospects. One effective tool teams are using in the last half of the 2010s is weaponizing cap space.
The Arizona Coyotes did just that last June, trading picks Nos. 20 and 53 for the right to acquire Pavel Datsyuk’s NHL cap hit while he spent the season winning a league championship in the KHL.
It was a transaction hailed by some as a win for Detroit GM Ken Holland, but in return the Coyotes moved up four spots in the first round of the 2016 draft and took, with the 16th overall pick, defenceman Jakob Chychrun.
Many believed at some point or another he was the best blue-line prospect in the draft.
Chychrun went on to play 68 games for the Coyotes as an 18-yearold and in a recent mock re-draft of 2016 done by The Hockey News, he went fourth overall.
Now that’s how you use cap space and draft resources to trade up to get an impact player. There is a plausible scenario where this could happen again and the Canucks could have the cap space and picks to make it happen.
Corey Pronman, an ESPN prospect analyst, reported this Wednesday: “Several NHL execs expressed skepticism that (Timothy) Liljegren will be in their top 10.”
It’s true, Liljegren struggled to find his groove this year partly because he came down with mono, but he’s a right-shot Swedish defenceman and one of the best skaters in the draft.
You could easily make the case he has the most skill of any of the defencemen available and that should make him a target for the Canucks, especially if they first get a centre with their top-five pick.
Liljegren is promising enough. In fact, Shane Malloy, author of The Art of Scouting, suggested Wednesday the Canucks should consider trading their 2018 first-round pick if there’s a chance they can get him.
That’s steep for a lottery team, but it gives you an idea of the kind of talent Liljegren has.
He could still go early, but even if he does, there are others the Canucks should be considering for a possible move, trading back into the first round in June.
One of these four defencemen — Liljegren, Juuso Valimaki, Cale Makar or Miro Heiskanen — could fall to, say, No. 14 where Tampa is drafting and the Lightning are one example of a team that could be looking to make a deal, possibly in part to clear cap space.
Among forwards, Nicholas Suzuki, Lias Andersson and Kailer Yamamoto could be all worth trading up for.
The Canucks could have picks to do it, as they’re expected to have two in the second round after the Columbus Blue Jackets surrender the price they agreed to pay for signing John Tortorella (their second-round selection).
The Canucks could use that and their cap space to make something dynamic happen in June. Should they? They should consider anything that gets them a top prospect.