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Canucks Interested In Bringing Back Josh Leivo

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Although the Canucks already have 15 forwards on one-way deals for next season (plus Elias Pettersson who is already a front-line fixture on an entry-level pact), they’re still interested in bringing back winger Josh Leivo, reports Sportsnet’s Iain MacIntyre (Twitter link).

The 27-year-old got off to a strong start last season, picking up 19 points (7-12-19) in 36 games and appeared to be well on his way to setting new career highs in goals and points (he had already done so for assists).  Logging just over 15 minutes a game, there was some stability in a middle-six role that he had been craving going back to his time as a depth player in Toronto.

However, a fractured kneecap in mid-December ended his season prematurely and he was not part of Vancouver’s playoff roster either.  As a result, instead of entering the open market with a bit of momentum, Leivo reached unrestricted free agency with some uncertainty and question marks.

At this stage, it seems unlikely that Leivo will be able to land the $1.5MM he made last season but on a one-year deal to prove that he’s healthy, he’s an intriguing buy-low bounce-back candidate.  The Canucks appear to be aware of that although they’ll have some work to do to find a spot for him on their roster and fit him in on the salary cap as by the time they waive some veterans to get back under the Upper Limit, they likely won’t have enough money to bring anyone else in up front.  They’ll soon have a small second buyout window at their disposal following Jake Virtanen’s deal from earlier today but it seems unlikely that they’ll use it given the lack of viable options (as Loui Eriksson’s deal is virtually buyout-proof) so GM Jim Benning will have his work cut out for him if he wants to keep Leivo around.

Vancouver Canucks Sign Jake Virtanen

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The Vancouver Canucks have avoided arbitration with Jake Virtanen, signing the restricted free agent forward to a two-year contract worth a total of $5.1MM ($2.55MM AAV). Virtanen had an arbitration hearing scheduled for October 28 that will no longer be required.  PuckPedia reports that the deal pays $1.7MM next season and $3.4MM in 2021-22 ($3MM salary, $400K signing bonus) which means his qualifying offer in 2022 will be $3MM.

While the other arbitration cases that have settled in recent days may not have a chain reaction across the rest of the roster, Virtanen’s new deal has the potential for one. The contract moves the Canucks over the salary cap ceiling of $81.5MM (to about $83MM with a 23-man roster) while also opening a 24-hour buyout window for them (starting two days from now). As always, Loui Eriksson’s name will be brought up in regards to a buyout, given he is still the highest-paid forward on the team.

The problem, as it always has been, with an Eriksson buyout is that it only reduces his 2020-21 cap hit by $333,333. While the team will save a pretty penny a year from now, it wouldn’t be the answer for their current roster.

Instead, the team seems more likely to complete a trade or go with a smaller roster for the beginning of the season. Virtanen himself has been involved in trade speculation over the summer and with a new contract perhaps that smoke will begin to rise out of Vancouver once again. Teams rarely want to acquire a player with an arbitration hearing scheduled, since they would have to take it over without a ton of time to prepare.

If he stays in Vancouver, a $2.55MM cap hit is certainly not prohibitive given Virtanen did score 18 goals for the team this year. After that improvement in the regular season they expected a lot from the powerful forward in the playoffs, where it seemed his game should be well suited. Instead, he disappointed GM Jim Benning with just two goals and three points in 16 games.

Selected sixth overall in 2014, it’s not the first time that Virtanen has disappointed. Even his post-draft year in 2014-15 was sort of a flop, with the Calgary Hitmen star producing only 26 goals in 64 WHL games. For a player drafted that high (and one that had scored 45 the year before), it wasn’t quite the production expected. Still, Virtanen jumped straight into the NHL the following season and played 55 games, scoring seven goals and holding his own. When that next step was expected, he once again faltered and ended up playing in the AHL for most of 2016-17.

It’s frustrating, given the obvious raw skill, speed and power that Virtanen possesses. In 295 career NHL games he has scored 52 goals and 98 points, a far cry from some of the forwards picked just a few selections after him. At 24 there is still time for him to mature into an impact NHL option, but it will be interesting to see if it happens in Vancouver.

Virtanen will still be a restricted free agent with arbitration rights when the contract expires.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images

Vancouver Canucks Re-Sign Adam Gaudette

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The Vancouver Canucks have re-signed Adam Gaudette to a one-year contract that will carry a cap hit of just $950K. Gaudette was a restricted free agent but was not eligible for arbitration this offseason. Vancouver GM Jim Benning released a statement regarding his young forward:

Adam has been an excellent young player for us and we are happy to have him continue his progress for another year in Vancouver. We look forward to his intensity and compete level continuing to be a great source of energy for our team.

Gaudette, 24, was a fifth-round pick of the Canucks back in 2015 but shot up the prospect depth chart with his incredible collegiate performance in 2017-18. The Northeastern University star led the entire country in scoring with 30 goals and 60 points, winning the Hobey Baker Award as the nation’s best player. He stepped nearly immediately into the NHL and has spent the majority of his career there, suiting up for 120 games over parts of three seasons.

Unfortunately, Gaudette’s scoring touch didn’t immediately follow him to the NHL, with his first 61 games resulting in just five goals and 12 points. The recent season was much better, however, with the young two-way forward racking up 12 goals and 33 points in just 59 games. He was blanked in 10 postseason appearances but should return as a valuable bottom-six player for the Canucks next season.

Whether he can ever climb his way further up the lineup isn’t clear, but at $950K he doesn’t really need to. Gaudette will be arbitration-eligible next offseason as a restricted free agent.

Vancouver Canucks Sign Jayce Hawryluk

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The Vancouver Canucks have added another depth option to the organization, signing Jayce Hawryluk to a one-year, two-way contract. According to Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet, the deal will carry an $800K salary in the NHL, paying $200K in the AHL. Hawryluk became an unrestricted free agent when the Ottawa Senators decided not to issue him a qualifying offer this fall.

The 24-year-old Hawryluk was the 32nd overall pick back in 2014, selected at the beginning of the second round by the Florida Panthers. After becoming a dominant presence in the WHL for the Brandon Wheat Kings, he transitioned to professional hockey and made his NHL debut in 2018. During that 2018-19 campaign, he played in 42 NHL games but wasn’t able to really land a guaranteed full-time spot in the Panthers lineup. After playing in just 15 games for Florida this season, he ended up on waivers where the Ottawa Senators put in a claim.

Down the stretch, Hawryluk took advantage of his opportunity in Ottawa, scoring seven points in 11 games before the season was suspended. The team decided not to keep him around, however, likely because of the fact that he was arbitration-eligible. The Senators let several players reach free agency instead of dealing with arbitration, including Hawryluk and Anthony Duclair.

He’ll have to fight for a spot on the Canucks, but there is certainly reason to believe Hawryluk could land a spot in the team’s bottom-six. With cap issues coming (or perhaps here already), Vancouver will need inexpensive NHL options to fill out their third and fourth lines in the coming years. Importantly, though Hawryluk was an unrestricted free agent this season, he will be a restricted free agent again next offseason for the Canucks as long as he plays in 12 games. Should he fail to play in that many at the NHL level, he would qualify for Group VI unrestricted free agency in 2021.

Canucks Interested In Jayce Hawryluk

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The Canucks are among the teams interested in UFA center Jayce Hawryluk, reports Thomas Drance of The Athletic (Twitter link) who suggests that talks are heading in a positive direction.  However, Rick Dhaliwal of TSN 1040 and The Athletic adds (via Twitter) that there are still other teams vying for Hawryluk’s services.

The 24-year-old split last season between Florida and Ottawa with a brief stop at AHL Springfield as well.  He had a very limited role with the Panthers, playing in just 15 games before being waived and claimed by the Senators in mid-February.  The change of scenery worked wonders for Hawryluk as his playing time jumped up to 13 minutes a game while he chipped in with two goals and five assists in 11 contests before the pandemic shut down the rest of the season.

Despite that, Ottawa declined to tender a qualifying offer to Hawrlyuk last week.  The offer would have been for just over $917K but would have given him salary arbitration rights which was something the Sens clearly didn’t want to go through with him.

Vancouver is a team that looks like they’ll have to clear out some salary in the coming weeks and months to free up room for new deals for Jake Virtanen and Adam Gaudette so they will need some cheap options at the end of the roster.  If they’re able to agree to terms with Hawryluk, he could contend for one of those openings while still perhaps providing a little bit of offensive upside.

Canucks Had Talks With Darren Ferris About Andreas Athanasiou

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The Canucks are among the teams that have spoken to agent Darren Ferris regarding UFA winger Andreas Athanasiou, Ferris told TSN 1040 (audio link).  However, talks didn’t go too far with Ferris suggesting that Vancouver’s preference is to add on their back end first.

Vancouver Canucks Re-Sign Jake Kielly

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The Vancouver Canucks have re-signed Jake Kielly to a one-year, two-way contract. The undrafted goaltender was signed out of Clarkson University in 2019 and spent most of last season in the ECHL with the Kalamazoo Wings.

Ineligible for arbitration, Kielly was a restricted free agent after his one-year entry-level deal expired this offseason. The 24-year-old goaltender is fourth on the Canucks depth chart behind Thatcher Demko, newcomer Braden Holtby, and top prospect Michael DiPietro.

Where Kielly plays this season is still unclear, given the Wings won’t start until January 15 at the earliest. They are not among the 13 ECHL teams that are scheduled for a December 11 start. The AHL meanwhile last gave a December 4 start date, but that was a goal back in July and is certainly not likely at this point.

The 6’2″ goaltender did post a .923 save percentage in his two appearances at the AHL level last year, but is just organizational depth at this point.

Vancouver Canucks Re-Sign Ashton Sautner

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The Vancouver Canucks have reached an agreement with Ashton Sautner, signing the defenseman to a one-year, two-way contract. Sautner had qualified for Group VI unrestricted free agency and could have signed with any team, but will be returning to the only professional organization he has played for.

An undrafted free agent signing out of the WHL, Sautner worked his way up the Vancouver depth chart and has played in 23 games for the Canucks over the last three seasons. While he will certainly spend the majority of 2020-21 in the minor leagues, he serves as valuable depth for a team that has their eyes on the Stanley Cup playoffs.

The 26-year-old defenseman scored 12 points in 51 games for the Utica Comets this season but is still looking for his first goal at the NHL level. The contract details were not released, but the deal is likely for the league minimum of $700K at the NHL level.

Canucks Acquire Nate Schmidt

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It was only a matter of time before Vegas made a move to shed some salary to fit in Alex Pietrangelo’s new deal which is now official.  That trade has now been made as the Canucks announced that they’ve acquired defenseman Nate Schmidt from the Golden Knights for a 2022 third-round pick.  GM Jim Benning released the following statement on the acquisition:

Nate has been one of the top defencemen in our division in recent years.  He’s a dynamic player who competes hard all over the ice. I think he will be a really good fit in our group.

The 29-year-old joined Vegas via the expansion draft and went from a depth defenseman to a core player along the way.  Last season, he had seven goals and 24 assists in 59 games, the highest point-per-game average of his career while logging 21:41 per night.  He played even bigger minutes in the playoffs at just over 23 minutes a game in 20 postseason contests.

While serving a 20-game suspension for violating terms of the NHL’s performance-enhancing substances policy back in 2018, Schmidt signed a six-year, $35.7MM contract extension of which five years remain on it heading into next season.  That deal also contains a 10-team no-trade clause.  Vegas is not retaining at all on the contract, meaning that Vancouver will be absorbing the entirety of the deal.

It has been a tough offseason for the Canucks so far with the free agent departures of Jacob Markstrom and Chris Tanev (Calgary), Troy Stecher (Detroit), and Tyler Toffoli (Montreal) with Braden Holtby taking Markstrom’s spot between the pipes.  Schmidt should step in nicely into the spot vacated by Tanev inside Vancouver’s top four.

Both teams appear to have some work to do still when it comes to their salary cap situation.  Vancouver has just under $2MM in cap room per CapFriendly with forwards Jake Virtanen and Adam Gaudette needing new deals.  Meanwhile, Vegas is still nearly $1MM over the cap per CapFriendly and that’s only with carrying the minimum number of forwards on their roster.  Assuming that they’ll want a spare, that will only add to what they have to try to clear in the coming weeks and months.  Marc-Andre Fleury has been a speculative trade candidate for a while now but his market may be thin with most teams have their tandems in place already.

TSN’s Darren Dreger was first to report that Schmidt was heading to Vancouver.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

Jake Virtanen Files For Arbitration

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  • The deadline to file for arbitration is at 4:00 PM CT today but Jake Virtanen isn’t waiting that long as Sportsnet’s Irfaan Gaffar reports (Twitter link) that the Canucks winger has already filed. The 24-year-old had 18 goals and 18 assists in 69 games this season despite a drop in playing time but he was much quieter in the playoffs, tallying just twice with a lone assist in 16 contests while spending some time on their fourth line.  Virtanen was tendered a $1.4MM qualifying offer earlier this week and should come in considerably higher than that with or without his case going to a hearing.

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