Re-signing Baertschi no easy task
NUMBERS GAME: Canucks are tight against the salary cap with little to spend on former first-rounder Jim Jamieson
The Canucks still haven’t signed winger Sven Baertschi and being tight to the NHL salary cap probably can’t be helping the negotiations.
Clearly, the Canucks intend to re-sign Baertschi, a restricted free agent for whom GM Jim Benning gave up a precious second-round pick to the Flames in this year’s NHL draft.
But, after re-signing young RFA defencemen Adam Clendening and Frank Corrado to one-year, two-way deals earlier this month, they have just under $2 million US of cap room left below the NHL’s $71.4-million salary cap. The Canucks may actually have another $850,000 in space if you don’t count Bo Horvat’s performance bonuses, which may be forgiven depending on circumstances. Still, it doesn’t leave a lot of wriggle room for mid-season moves.
Baertschi spent most of last season in the minors, but his NHL base salary was $833,000 on the final year of an entrylevel deal that paid him $925,000 base his first two seasons. His cap number last season (his cap hit if he’d played a full season in the NHL) was $1.425 million.
Baertschi, 22, had no arbitration rights and saw his window to accept the Canucks’ qualifying offer expire last week, so the two sides will have to grind out a deal before training camp or face the prospect of the player holding out and possibly missing the start of the season. That’s never good for either side.
The Canucks have left a lineup spot open for Baertschi as they have just 12 forwards signed for next season.
It’s expected they will keep eight defencemen on their NHL roster, so that means the number of forwards would be 13 to get to the usual 23-man group.
The Canucks also plan to give 18-yearold winger Jake Virtanen — last year’s first-round pick, sixth overall — a hard look at training camp, but his chances of making the opening-day roster are less likely than Baertschi, who’s also a former first-rounder (13th overall in 2011) and has already spent three seasons learning the pro game in the minors.
A look at the Canucks’ salary cap situation shows a team in transition. They might not be in a position to execute major change at the start of this season, but certainly will be a year from now. Four forwards — including veterans Radim Vrbata and Brandon Prust — will be on expiring contracts.
Young forwards Linden Vey and Ronalds Kenins have been re-signed to oneyear, one-way deals.
On defence, 32-year-old Dan Hamhuis is entering the final year of his six-year deal and Benning said recently there are no intentions to re-sign either the veteran defenceman or Vrbata before the season, as the CBA allows. It’ll be wait and see next season. And it could set up a scenario where both Hamhuis and Vrbata are valuable chips at next season’s trade deadline.
Veteran free-agent defenceman Matt Bartkowski was also brought in on a one-year deal, as was incumbent Yannick Weber.
Promising young D-men Clendening and Corrado, both 22, have played most of their pro careers in the minors, but now are eligible for waivers, so they are expected to stick somewhere in the eight-man defence corps.