In an appearance on Sekeres and Price (video link), Daily Faceoff’s Frank Seravalli discusses the importance of the Canucks avoiding salary arbitration with pending RFA defenseman Filip Hronek. The team may view Quinn Hughes’ $7.85MM cap hit as a ceiling they don’t want to surpass when it comes to spending on their defensemen. However, Hronek has already set career highs in assists (40) and points (45) this season while logging over 23 minutes a night. Arbitration-eligible for the first time this summer, the two sides going to a hearing could push Hronek’s award past the $7MM mark. Accordingly, settling before it gets to that point should be high on Vancouver’s priority list this offseason.
More from the Western Conference:
- Jets center Gabriel Vilardi returned to practice today as he works his way back from an enlarged spleen. Murat Ates of The Athletic notes (Twitter link) that the 24-year-old is expected to skate with the team every day this week as he works on getting back into playing condition. When healthy, Vilardi has been a key producer for Winnipeg this season, notching 16 goals and 14 assists in just 38 games so far.
- Coyotes head coach Andre Tourigny is expected to serve as Canada’s head coach at the upcoming World Championship although it’s not yet official, TSN’s Darren Dreger reports. Tourigny served in that role last year, helping lead Canada to the gold medal.
- Avalanche prospect Zakhar Bardakov intends to sign with Colorado and play in North America after next season, his agent Shumi Babaev told Evan Rawal of Colorado Hockey Now. The 23-year-old was picked up from New Jersey in the Kurtis MacDermid trade and had a dozen points in 51 games with SKA St. Petersburg this season. Bardakov’s KHL deal is expiring and Babaev noted that Bardakov intends to play next season in that league; it remains to be seen if that will be with SKA or another organization.