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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.

Calgary Flames Sign Jacob Markstrom To Six-Year Deal

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The Jacob Markstrom sweepstakes has a winner. The top goalie on the free agent market opted not to re-sign with the Vancouver Canucks but instead to join the rival Calgary Flames. The Flames have announced that they have agreed to terms with Markstrom on a six-year, $36MM contract. TSN’s Bob McKenzie adds that Markstrom’s deal carries a full No-Movement Clause.

Markstrom, 30, picked a good time to have a career year. In a market with numerous teams needing a new starting goalie, Markstrom was the consensus top option after posting a .918 save percentage and .535 winning percentage. Markstrom finished fourth in the Vezina Trophy voting for the best goalie in the league and was voted the Canucks’ team MVP. In a contract year, he established himself as a legitimate long-term starter.

What resulted was a bidding war for the netminder. Even after proclaiming all year that re-signing Markstrom was a priority, Vancouver could not keep up with rivals Calgary and Edmonton, opting instead to sign Braden Holtby to a short-term deal. Edmonton eventually fell out of the race as well and have yet to find a solution in net.

Calgary, who failed to come to terms on an extension with Cam Talbot prior to free agency opening, end up upgrading the position with Markstrom. David Rittich had failed to prove that he could be relied upon as a starter and will now settle into a backup role, if he is not traded away that is. Markstrom will add some much needed security on the back end for the Flames, who could lose defensemen T.J. Brodie and Travis Hamonic to free agency.

Evan Rodrigues Signs With Pittsburgh Penguins

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After being included in a trade earlier this summer, Evan Rodrigues is headed back to the Pittsburgh Penguins. The forward ended up going unqualified by the Toronto Maple Leafs after they acquired him as part of the package for Kasperi Kapanen, meaning he was an unrestricted free agent that could sign anywhere.  Well, he decided to return to Pittsburgh, signing a one-year contract worth $700K. GM Jim Rutherford released a statement on the deal:

We were pleased with Evan’s play during his brief stint with us last season. His versatility and ability to play all three forward positions, especially center, is an asset that gives us options and adds depth to our forward group.

Rodrigues, 27, has shown glimpses of high-end NHL talent over his short career but never quite put things together for a long stretch. An undrafted free agent signing by the Buffalo Sabres out of Boston University, he has 72 points in 199 career NHL games including a career-high of 29 in the 2018-19 season.

In Pittsburgh, he’ll be battling for a bottom-six role but can provide some nice depth for a team that is still trying to win the Stanley Cup. Undrafted college free agents have found a ton of success over the years in the Penguins organization, hopefully Rodrigues can be the next example of that.

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