Vey and Markstrom sign new deals
Canucks GM Jim Benning doesn’t make qualifying offers to Weber, Stanton or McMillan
Vancouver Canucks GM Jim Benning signed two of his pending restricted free agents Monday, while opting not to make qualifying offers to some of the team’s other RFAs — notably defencemen Yannick Weber and Ryan Stanton and forward Brandon McMillan — making them all unrestricted free agents.
The Canucks signed forward Linden Vey to a one-year, $1-million US contract and then announced a new twoyear deal with backup goalie Jacob Markstrom that will pay him an average of $1.55 million per season.
Also not receiving qualifying offers as the NHL deadline passed on Monday afternoon were minor-league players Cory Conacher, Mike Zalewski and Peter Andersson.
Benning acknowledged that, in Weber’s case, there was a reluctance to face the possibility of going to salary arbitration with the defenceman — those rights would be triggered by a qualifying offer.
Benning said the Canucks are still working to get a deal done with Weber, 26, but the Swiss rearguard now has the ability to test unrestricted free agency to see what the market offers.
RFA forwards Sven Baertschi and Alexandre Grenier, as well as defencemen Frank Corrado and Adam Clendening, have also received qualifying offers to maintain their rights, but haven’t re-signed yet.
Weber played well in a top-four role when the Canucks were hit with a rash of injuries on their blue-line in the second half of the season. Weber also got a chance to play regularly on the power play and finished with five goals on the man-advantage unit and an NHL career-high 11 overall in 65 games.
Benning said the club might also look at re-signing Stanton, but he had a diminished role last season and made the league minimum $550,000.
Vey, 23, who made $735,000 last season, had a tough rookie NHL year with the Canucks, collecting 10 goals and 24 points in 75 games, while enduring some healthy scratches. He also struggled hugely in the faceoff circle — winning 42.9 per cent.
Vey, who’s neither big nor physical, slots in somewhere in the bottom six and needs to define a role for himself on the team.
“He’s a talented player,” said Benning. “He likes to hang on to the puck, he’s got good vision and his first play is to create offensive chances. He needs to get stronger and work on his first two steps. He’s worked hard this summer.”
Markstrom, 25, has inherited the Canucks’ backup job behind Ryan Miller after Eddie Lack was traded at last week’s NHL Entry Draft for a thirdround pick. He had a tremendous season with the Canucks’ minor-league affiliate in Utica, N.Y., posting a record of 22-7-2 and a save percentage of .934 in the regular season. Markstrom’s cap hit was $1.2 million last season.