The Vancouver Canucks have some more disappointing news, announcing that Tanner Pearson suffered a setback in his recovery and needed a second hand surgery. He will miss the rest of the 2022-23 season.
It’s a season to forget for Pearson, who will end the year with just a single goal and five points. Through 14 games it was already evident that he wasn’t going to live up to the $3.25MM cap hit he carried, but at the very worst would be a reliable veteran piece for the bottom six.
Now, he very well could have played his last game in a Canucks uniform. Pearson’s seven-team no-trade clause will expire at the end of the season, meaning he no longer has any protection in his contract. If the team can’t find a taker, they could also choose a buyout, which would reduce his cap hit to $1.42MM for the 2023-24 season at the cost of a $917K penalty in 2024-25.
Of course, he needs to be healthy for the team to execute a buyout, meaning this hand surgery will have to go well for the team to have any chance of getting out from the last year of his deal.
Interestingly though, at 30 years old, Pearson may end up as a buy-low candidate in the offseason. It wasn’t working in Vancouver anymore and his currently salary makes him a difficult piece to build around, but at a lower cost, he could be a valuable depth piece. If he heals well this time, there could still be plenty of hockey left in the ten-year veteran, who scored 21 goals as recently as 2019-20.
For now, he can be moved to long-term injured reserve to give the team some extra cap flexibility if they end up needing it.