Still some items left on GM Benning's to-do list
With Schmidt now in the fold, the Canucks are edging closer to their final 2020-21 roster picture, but the team's salary cap equation remains tight. With arbitration coming up, Patrick Johnston offers a few thoughts on where things stand.
RESTRICTED FREE AGENTS
Jake Virtanen has his salary arbitration case scheduled for Oct. 28. Given his 18 goals and time on the second power-play unit, plus this is his third NHL contract, he seems likely to win a deal in the range of US$3 million, or sign for a similar amount sometime in the next two weeks, before the hearing takes place.
Adam Gaudette also needs a new contract, but because he's played only two seasons of pro hockey, under the terms of the NHL collective bargaining agreement, the five games he played at the end of the 2017-18 season counted as a year on his contract but not as a year toward him gaining the full rights of a restricted free agent.
Like Brock Boeser last fall, because Gaudette hasn't played for three pro seasons, he isn't eligible for an offer sheet from another team or to elect to go to arbitration.
Gaudette's cap hit in each year of this, his first NHL deal, worked out to US$916,667. He also seems likely to win a raise, given he tallied 33 points in 59 games last season.
FIGURING OUT THE SECOND LINE
Losing Tyler Toffoli to the Montreal Canadiens through free agency leaves open a spot on Bo Horvat's wing, assuming Boeser returns to the Lotto Line with Elias Pettersson and J.T. Miller.
Ideally, Canucks general manager Jim Benning would be able to sign a free agent with experience to fill the hole, but every team is looking to find that hypothetical player.
Virtanen could yet be that player; he had some success with Pettersson and Miller last season, but the question is whether he can sustain that over a whole season. And that also means sliding Boeser alongside Horvat, an alignment that hasn't worked terribly well in the past.
SORTING OUT WINGERS BAERTSCHI, ERIKSSON
On a related note, what are the futures of wingers Loui Eriksson and Sven Baertschi? Both are taking up cap space the Canucks would like to use on other players, which would give coach Travis Green more options in setting his top two lines beyond the default move of plugging in Virtanen and hoping for the best.
Eriksson has two years left on his deal, with an annual cap hit of US$6 million, but just US$5 million left to be paid out in actual cash.
Even Benning has acknowledged it's an outsized cap hit for what he brings to the table. Eriksson is a handy enough depth forward, but his hands don't finish like they used to and what speed he might have once had is gone.
If the Canucks or his agent could have found him a new NHL home, he would be there by now.
It's a similar story for Baertschi, whose cap hit for the remaining portion of his deal is a little over half of Eriksson's. Unlike Eriksson, he has some offensive worth left in him, but the Canucks deemed him expendable last season.
Benning said last week that Baertschi still has a chance to win a spot in the lineup in training camp, but given that Baertschi asked for a trade last season after being buried in the minors, it's hard to see him making a grand return to the Canucks.
That said, neither the Canucks nor his agent were able to find a team willing to take him in a trade.
It's unlikely Baertschi or Eriksson will be bought out once Virtanen signs — because Virtanen's opted for arbitration, the Canucks get a bonus buyout window — since the Aquilini owners have never been fans of paying players not to play for the organization.
It's possible, though, that one or both could be waived and sent to the Utica Comets in New York. Doing so would reduce each player's cap hit by only US$1 million, but in this tight cap world Benning's found himself in, every dollar counts and US$2 million in combined cap room could help squeeze another forward onto the roster, or at least account for the cap hits Virtanen and Gaudette will bring with them, once they've signed.
THE NUMBER SHIFTS
The Canucks confirmed Thursday that Braden Holtby will wear No. 49 in 2020-21. He had worn No. 70 in Washington, but Tanner Pearson already wears that number.
It's believed it was a family decision to go with 49; why that particular number isn't known. Holtby wore No. 1 in the WHL with the Saskatoon Blades, but that number hasn't been worn by a Canucks goalie since Roberto Luongo was traded in 2014. No. 1 is also rarely seen in the NHL anymore; only two goalies wore it in a league game during the 2019-20 season: Detroit's Eric Comrie and the New York Islanders' Thomas Greiss.
The team also confirmed that Nate Schmidt will wear No. 88, the same number he's worn with the Vegas Golden Knights and the Capitals.
Gaudette wore No. 88 the last two seasons for the Canucks, but the centre now seems likely to switch to No. 8, the number he wore for Northeastern University and was worn previously by Chris Tanev, who signed with the Calgary Flames last weekend. Gaudette also wore No. 18 for the Cedar Rapids Roughriders of the USHL, but, of course, that number belongs to Virtanen already.
PETTERSSON WORKS OUT
Spotted: Pettersson doing cone drills on the Rogers Arena floor. As many know, the young Canucks star has stayed in Vancouver for the off-season instead of going home to Sweden.
The Vancouver Warriors' lacrosse floor is in place and Pettersson was spotted doing off-ice work Thursday morning on the green surface.