Offseason Checklist: Vancouver Canucks
The offseason has arrived for half of the league’s teams that aren’t taking part in the playoffs plus those already eliminated through the first couple of rounds. Accordingly, it’s time to examine what they will need to accomplish over the coming months. Next up is a look at Vancouver.
While there were some questions about the Canucks heading into the season despite a solid showing in 2023-24, this past season was a strange one. From struggles to injuries to in-fighting, the team never found its footing, missed the playoffs, and couldn’t come to terms with Rick Tocchet on a contract extension, leading to a coaching change with Adam Foote being promoted into the top job. Even with that item checked off, GM Patrik Allvin has some work to do in the coming months.
Add Impact Center
With the J.T. Miller situation coming to a head midseason, the Canucks were able to get a center back as part of the return in Filip Chytil. But with all due respect to Chytil, the two players are at considerably different levels. One has been a recent top liner, the other more of a middle-six piece with a concerning concussion history. If they were mapping out more of their ideal center situation, Chytil would probably head into next season as a third liner. They have Elias Pettersson locked up long-term (more on him shortly) but there’s still a need for a top-six middleman.
In terms of internal options, Aatu Raty should be a full-time NHL player soon but he’s more of a bottom-six option himself. Dakota Joshua and Teddy Blueger are capable bottom-six pieces but don’t produce enough to be a top-six piece. Pius Suter acquitted himself quite well this season and stepped into a bigger role, scoring 25 goals. However, he’s a pending unrestricted free agent and his market should be much stronger than it was two years ago when the Canucks got him on a low-cost deal that proved to be quite the bargain. Basically, there is no internal option beyond hoping Chytil can stay healthy and find a level he has yet to reach offensively.
Team president Jim Rutherford suggested earlier this month that the team might look to get the bulk of its spending done before free agency opens up. Accordingly, they may be intending on trying to acquire another middleman via a trade, a lofty goal considering few impact centers are typically made available. Unless the Canucks are looking to make another core-shaking swap, they may have some difficulty finding a fit in a trade.
The good news is that, at least for now, the UFA market down the middle is a bit deeper than usual. There are short-term options like John Tavares and Claude Giroux on expiring deals. Matt Duchene, Brock Nelson, Mikael Granlund, and Ryan Donato could plausibly command multi-year agreements though nothing overly long-term. Sam Bennett will land a lucrative long-term deal that probably won’t age the greatest but he’s out there too. It’s never easy to add a key center but the free agent route may make more sense for them to go here.
Examine Pettersson Options
Having just gone over how Vancouver already needs one top-six center, it feels a little counterintuitive to suggest they also need to look into their options with the one top-sixer they have in Pettersson. But after the way his season went, it feels like this is something they have to look into.
The 26-year-old signed an eight-year, $92.8MM contract in early March 2024, the first season of which is now in the books. At the time he signed the deal in 2024, he had 75 points in 62 games, a pace that would have given him a shot at a second straight 100-point season. After that point, he limped to the finish line with just 14 points in his final 20 outings.
Unfortunately for him and the Canucks, that proved to be a sign of things to come. This season was nothing short of disastrous. On the ice, Pettersson put up the lowest full-season point total of his career with only 15 goals and 30 assists in 64 games. Effectively, he was giving them second-line numbers while playing top-line minutes and making $11.6MM, making him one of the top-paid pivots in the NHL. And, of course, there was the off-ice issue of his feud with Miller that ultimately led to the veteran being moved away while the distraction seemed to linger all season long, even after the trade.
While Pettersson’s value is far from its peak (given the contract, it might be at its worst), Allvin will still likely look into what options might exist. As players who aren’t UFA-eligible aren’t eligible for trade protection, Pettersson still has another month and a bit without any sort of restrictions until July 1st at which point, a full no-move clause kicks in for the life of the contract. At that point, dealing Pettersson would become harder with his ability to veto deals, something that isn’t the case for the next five weeks and change. Getting them to retain significant salary is unlikely with seven years left on the contract but if there’s a big shakeup option out that would see them get an impact center back as part of the return, it would behoove them to look into it at the very least.
Replace Boeser
The last few months have been a little strange when it comes to winger Brock Boeser. He looked like a strong candidate to be moved before the trade deadline with Vancouver being out of the playoff picture and the two sides not close on an extension but a move never materialized. Allvin then took the rare step of admitting that the offers for the pending UFA were not particularly strong, a decision that some interpreted as trying to push back against a higher asking price from Boeser’s camp.
Then, at the end of the season when pending free agents generally at least say they’d like to return, Boeser stated that it was unlikely that would happen, suggesting he fully intends to hit the open market. While there’s still time for things to change on that front – Allvin suggested as much recently – that doesn’t seem likely to happen. Accordingly, this is an instance where the focus is likelier to shift to replacing the 28-year-old, not re-signing him.
Vancouver enters the offseason with around $16.7MM in cap space, per PuckPedia. With no impactful restricted free agents to deal with and a handful of roster spots to fill (including a spot or two on the back end), they have enough flexibility to make at least one addition of note. However, if their big add is down the middle, they might not be able to aim at a player in Boeser’s tier to replace him, one that’s likely to cost somewhere around the $8MM mark which might take Nikolaj Ehlers off the table.
It wouldn’t be surprising if the Canucks are looking for someone more around the $5MM range, allowing them to spend a bit of money on those final spots on the back end. Options around that price point could include Kyle Palmieri, Jonathan Drouin, Patrick Kane, and former Canuck Andrei Kuzmenko. To be able to afford that top tier on the wing, they’d likely have to commit to re-signing Suter as their other center before getting to July 1st. Otherwise, who they bring in probably won’t be as good as the winger they’ll be losing.
Demko Extension Talks
This was a tough season for goaltender Thatcher Demko. His injury from the playoffs lingered, resulting in him missing the first two months of the season and getting a pretty light workload beyond that point as he made just 23 starts. The 29-year-old also posted a career-low .889 SV% while Kevin Lankinen, brought in early in training camp as insurance, wound up getting a five-year extension in-season, cementing him as part of the plans moving forward.
Demko is entering the final season of his contract next season and considering the year he just had, it would make sense for both sides to see how 2025-26 plays out or at least starts before entertaining the idea of an extension. However, Rutherford made a point of saying back in April (video link) that it’s something they intend to look into:
We would like to extend him. It’s going to be a matter of how much risk is the team willing to take and how much risk is he willing to take as to the term of that contract.
Going into this season, Demko’s contract looked like a team-friendly one. Signed at a $5MM price tag and coming off a year as a Vezina runner-up, it looked like he could be heading toward top-end territory. Based on recent comparables, that would push his AAV past the $8MM mark on a long-term deal. But with the uncertainty around his injury and the year he just had, Demko isn’t in a spot to command that.
While Rutherford expressed optimism that a different approach to training should help keep Demko healthy moving forward, this feels like a case where they’d likely prefer a shorter-term agreement. Speculatively, it wouldn’t be shocking if their target price point was around the current one, keeping their combined goalie spending around the $10MM mark. Unless Demko is worried about his struggles carrying over, it would be surprising to see something get done here but considering it’s a stated goal of the organization to work on this summer, it warrants the final spot on this list.
Photo courtesy of Charles LeClaire-USA TODAY Sports.
Canucks Won't Sign Lucas Forsell
- Per a report from Rick Dhaliwal of The Athletic, the Vancouver Canucks are content with letting 2021 seventh-round pick, Lucas Forsell, join a different organization this summer. Vancouver selected Forsell with the 201st overall pick of the 2021 NHL Draft, and he’s been playing SHL’s Färjestad BK since. Still, it’s unlikely Forsell will gain much traction once his contractual rights expire on June 1st, given he’s failed to score more than 10 points in any SHL season since being drafted.
[SOURCE LINK]
Canucks Agree To Terms With Anri Ravinskis On Entry-Level Contract
4:30 p.m.: According to PuckPedia, Ravinskis will make an NHL salary of $775K in each year of the deal, with a signing bonus of $97.5K, and an unspecified games-played bonus of $102K, bringing his cap hit to $872.5K and his AAV to $975K.
2:09 p.m.: The Canucks announced today they’ve agreed to terms with undrafted forward Anri Ravinskis on a two-year, entry-level contract starting in 2025-26. Financial terms were not disclosed.
Ravinskis, 22, just wrapped up representing his native Latvia at the World Championship. He registered a goal and an assist in all seven group stage games as the Latvians failed to qualify for the quarterfinals for the second year in a row after winning bronze in 2023.
A 6’3″, 201-lb winger, Ravinskis isn’t a stranger to North American hockey. He played U18-level hockey in the Toronto area in the 2019-20 season before returning home when COVID hit. He returned to play at the major junior level with the QMJHL’s Blainville-Boisbriand Armada in the 2021-22 and 2022-23 campaigns, recording a 29-25–54 scoring line in 98 games. He was also on the Latvian Division IA World Juniors team in 2022 that won promotion to the top-level WJC, where the country remains through at least 2026.
Since heading back to Europe following the conclusion of his junior career with Blainville-Boisbriand, he’s spent time in Finland in the HPK organization. After splitting the 2023-24 season between the junior level and the professional second-tier Mestis, he made his top-level Liiga debut this season and impressed with an 8-9–17 scoring line in 27 games. Over the last two seasons, he’s also scored 22 goals and 51 points in 68 games with Kettera, HPK’s Mestis affiliate.
Ravinskis was under contract for two more years with HPK. It’s unclear if his deal carries a European assignment clause that would force the Canucks to loan him back to HPK if he spends too much time in AHL Abbotsford without an NHL call-up. Regardless, it’s unlikely he’ll go straight from logging significant time in second-tier European professional hockey to even limited NHL minutes the following season.
Ravinskis will be a restricted free agent when his deal expires in the 2027 offseason. Vancouver will control his rights through the 2029-30 season.
Rutherford: Canucks May Spend Cap Space Before Free Agency
- The Canucks have $16.72MM in cap space to burn this summer and no notable free agents to retain outside of forwards Brock Boeser and Pius Suter, both of whom are unrestricted. The former appears set on testing the market despite Vancouver’s desire to talk extension, meaning Vancouver will have a decent amount of flexibility to improve their stagnant offense this offseason. Speaking on Canucks Central today, president of hockey operations Jim Rutherford told Dan Riccio and Satiar Shah that “we’re going to be in the free agent market if we still have cap space at that time – but we may get our work done before then.” Reading between the tea leaves – expect some trade rumors from Vancouver this summer.
Canucks Plan To Hire Two Assistant Coaches, Romani Makes College Commitment
- At his introductory press conference today (video link), new Canucks head coach Adam Foote indicated that they intend to add two new assistant coaches to their staff. One will take Foote’s previous role running the defense while they hope the other will be able to help on the offensive side of things. The two new hires will join assistant coach Jaroslav Svejkovsky and goalie coach Marko Torenius.
- Still with the Canucks, prospect Anthony Romani announced on his Instagram page earlier this week that he has committed to Michigan State for next season. The 19-year-old was a sixth-round pick last year, going 162nd overall. Romani battled injuries this year but picked up 35 points in 35 games between North Bay and Barrie in the OHL before adding 12 goals and 12 assists in 16 playoff contests for the Colts.
Sam Gagner Confirms Retirement, Joins Senators’ Front Office
Longtime NHL forward Sam Gagner has confirmed his retirement and will join the Senators as their director of player development, the team announced.
“Sam had an incredible career as a player and we look forward to launching his next chapter,” Ottawa general manager Steve Staios said. “A true character individual, Sam has contributed to the success of his organizations, both on and off the ice.”
Gagner, 35, last played in the league during the 2023-24 season when he appeared in 28 games for the Oilers, his third go-around with the team that drafted him sixth overall in 2007. He cracked the 1,000 game plateau a few years ago. He finished his career with 1,034 regular-season appearances but played just 11 postseason contests over 17 years in the NHL, only reaching the Stanley Cup Playoffs with the Flyers in 2016 and the Blue Jackets in 2017.
After tantalizing with 118 points in just 53 junior games with the OHL’s London Knights in his draft year, the 5’11” center never arrived as an elite scoring presence in the pros. He was still a consistent yet sometimes injury-prone 40-point scorer, especially early in his career with Edmonton. He averaged 17 goals and 50 points per 82 games over the first seven years of his career with the Oilers and averaged north of 17 minutes per game.
One season into a three-year, $14.4MM contract he signed with the Oilers as an RFA, Gagner was flipped to the Coyotes via the Lightning in the summer of 2014 after underwhelming with 37 points and a -29 rating in 67 games the year prior. So began the journeyman stage of Gagner’s career as his offensive production fluctuated wildly from year to year, even resulting in some time in the minors. Between 2014 and 2020, Gagner would suit up for the Flyers, Blue Jackets, Canucks, the Oilers for a second time, and the Red Wings in addition to his year in Arizona. During that run, he scored a career-high 50 points in 81 games with Columbus in the 2016-17 campaign.
Gagner got a modicum of stability to end his career, spending two full seasons with Detroit after they acquired him from Edmonton at the 2020 trade deadline. He spent the 2022-23 season with the Jets before signing his final NHL deal with the Oilers nearly two years ago. The versatile right-shot pivot finishes his career with 197 goals, 332 assists, 529 points, and a -139 rating, averaging 15:37 per game and a 45.6 FO%. He earned approximately $38.1MM in salary throughout his career, per PuckPedia.
While Gagner didn’t play in the NHL last season, he was still active on an AHL deal with the Senators’ affiliate in Belleville, giving some context for his joining the front office of a team he never suited up for in the majors. He recorded 10 assists in 19 games for the B-Sens, appearing in his last game on March 5.
Ottawa also announced they’ve hired Matt Turek to serve as Belleville’s GM while taking a player personnel role with the parent club. He arrives in Ottawa after spending the last decade with the Hamilton/Brantford Bulldogs of the OHL as a scout and, later, their GM. Senators majority owner Michael Andlauer also owns that club, and Turek also worked under Staios as a scout when the latter was Hamilton’s GM before succeeding him upon his departure.
Turek will take on most of the responsibilities vacated by former assistant GM Ryan Bowness, who the Senators told clubs earlier this month won’t be back with the team next season.
Image courtesy of Ed Mulholland-Imagn Images.
Conor Garland Believes The Canucks Should Add More Forwards
- Vancouver Canucks winger Conor Garland believes this year was a fluke, and thinks the Canucks will compete for a playoff spot next season (Article Link). Garland tied for first with Brock Boeser in scoring among Vancouver forwards with 19 goals and 50 points in 81 games. In his view, the Canucks should add a few forwards this offseason, saying, “We need some additions up front; we were thin. We had a hard time scoring down the stretch.“
[SOURCE LINK]
Canucks Sign Tom Willander To Entry-Level Contract
The Canucks announced they’ve signed Tom Willander, the organization’s top defense prospect, to a three-year, entry-level contract beginning next season. The deal carries a $950K cap hit with an $855K base salary and a $95K signing bonus each year, per PuckPedia.
It’s been a rocky few months for Vancouver and Willander, whom they selected No. 11 overall in the 2023 draft. After a repeat performance of his strong freshman performance at Boston University in his sophomore year in 2024-25, most expected he’d turn pro with the Canucks as soon as BU’s season ended.
That didn’t happen, and reporting quickly indicated a rift in contract talks related to how much they were willing to give Willander in Schedule A performance bonuses. General manager Patrik Allvin even said shortly thereafter that Willander informed them he planned to return to BU for his junior season. Rick Dhaliwal of CHEK reports Willander’s ELC affords him up to $800K in A bonuses each season, short of the $1MM max but above the $475K they entered talks with, Dhaliwal said last month. PuckPedia confirms his deal averages $800K in A bonuses per season – up to $500K in 2025-26, $900K in 2026-27, and the maximum $1MM in 2027-28.
Willander, 20, will now have the chance to make the Canucks’ roster out of camp in the fall. He’ll begin his professional career with AHL Abbotsford if he doesn’t. Signing his contract prohibits him from returning to college, and since he’s a first-round pick, Vancouver doesn’t have to offer the Swede on loan to the Swedish Hockey League team that owns his rights (Rogle BK) before assigning him to the minors.
A 6’1″, 190-lb righty, Willander has good offensive tools but isn’t an all-out point producer. He plays more of a well-rounded game and racked up a +57 rating in 77 games over two years with the Terriers, including six goals and 43 assists for 49 points. He was named to Hockey East’s Second All-Star Team in each of his two collegiate seasons.
Willander has also done well for his country at the last two World Junior Championships, posting eight points and a +12 rating in 14 games. While Sweden didn’t medal at this year’s tournament, he won a silver medal with them last year. He ranked as the No. 2 prospect in the Canucks’ system behind winger Jonathan Lekkerimaki in Scott Wheeler of The Athletic’s most recent team-by-team breakdown. He’ll first be eligible for restricted free agency in 2028.
Canucks To Name Adam Foote Head Coach
12:27 p.m.: Vancouver made Foote’s hiring official in short order. General manager Patrik Allvin had the following statement:
Adam is a strong leader, good teacher and person who knows what it takes to build a great culture and winning attitude. His past experiences on the ice have translated nicely into a coaching style that fits our organization’s goals and vision. He has worked extremely hard the past few years, gaining our players respect and trust for his strong communication and honest straight forward opinion. He knows this group better than anyone else we interviewed and has inside knowledge and understanding of what it will take to get us back to where we want to be. Adam brings structure, accountability, and a detailed oriented approach to his coaching, a process that will send a clear message to our group about the way we want to compete, practice, and play hockey. We are very happy to have him take over as the new Head Coach of the Vancouver Canucks.
11:50 a.m.: The Canucks will promote assistant coach Adam Foote to fill their head coaching vacancy, according to Darren Dreger of TSN. Foote’s deal will run for three seasons, per Rick Dhaliwal of CHEK.
Foote joined the Canucks’ bench midway through the 2022-23 season, hired alongside Rick Tocchet – the man he’s replacing as bench boss in Vancouver. It was his first NHL coaching job in a sparse staff resume since ending his playing career in 2011. Before being hired by Vancouver, Foote’s only behind-the-bench experience came with some of the Avalanche’s youth programs in 2014-15 and the WHL’s Kelowna Rockets from 2018 to 2020.
The 53-year-old Foote’s duties under Tocchet, who’s now landing a head coaching role with the Flyers, mainly revolved around team defense. Of course, Foote was a top-20 rearguard in his prime for the Avalanche around the turn of the century, routinely averaging upwards of 25 minutes per game and leveraging his 6’2″, 220-lb frame to be one of the league’s most effective two-way defenders. As for his success in Vancouver, the Canucks played an extremely low-event style this year – but it did yield above-average results defensively.
While Vancouver ranked 18th in the league with 3.06 goals against per game, other metrics were quite promising. Their 82.6 penalty kill percentage this year ranked third, and they also ranked in the top 10 in shots, shot attempts, expected goals, scoring chances, and high-danger chances against per game at 5-on-5.
Generating enough offense was the Canucks’ biggest issue last season, making a defense-focused hire in Foote an eye-opening decision at first glance. It seems they’ll do the heavy lifting to fix that problem later in the summer with player personnel changes, not coaching staff ones.
With the Canucks promoting Foote, four coaching vacancies remain ahead of the 2025-26 season: the Blackhawks, Bruins, Penguins, and Kraken.
Image courtesy of Ron Chenoy-Imagn Images.
Canucks Coaching Race Coming Down To Manny Malhotra, Adam Foote
The Vancouver Canucks are nearing the final days of their search for a new head coach after Rick Tocchet opted to part ways with the club this summer. The race for next-man-up has come down to NHL assistant coach Adam Foote and AHL head coach Manny Malhotra, per Rick Dhaliwal of CHEK News. The report was seconded by Patrick Johnston of The Province on Bluesky.
No matter which candidate Vancouver chooses, these reports emphasize the club’s desire to promote an internal candidate rather than search externally. That sentiment can definitely be appreciated, after Vancouver hired Tocchet and Malhotra, promoted Jaroslav Svejkovsky to NHL assistant coach, and added two AHL assistant coaches all just one year ago.
Neither Malhotra nor Foote have had much work behind a pro bench. Malhotra’s coaching career started in an assistant role with Vancouver in 2017-18, just three years after he spent his final NHL games in Montreal. Malhotra served behind the Canucks bench for three years before moving back across Canada to join the Toronto Maple Leafs for four years of the same role. He returned last summer and inspired a strong push from the Abbotsford Canucks this season. With Malhotra at the helm, Abbotsford pushed to a 44-24-4 record – good for second in the AHL’s Western Conference. They’re set to take on the only Western Conference team to outperform them – the Colorado Eagles – in the AHL’s Pacific Division Finals. That playoff race might delay, or dictate, any incoming promotion for Malhotra, despite Johnston suggesting he was the slight favorite.
Foote finds himself in a spot that’d be familiar to Malhotra – currently fielding coaching offers after spending three years as a Vancouver assistant coach. The past three seasons have been the first of Foote’s pro coaching career, and come over 10 years after he retired from the NHL in 2010-11. Foote was a hard-nosed and calculated bruiser during his playing days. He pushed to two Stanley Cup wins and 142 games of playoff experience with the Colorado Avalanche from 1995 to 2004. Foote served a perennial top-four role and, while he never scored more than 31 points in a single season, his presence was simply imposing for the opposite team – evidence by his 1,534 penalty minutes in 1,154 career NHL games. He’s now a fundamental guard of the troops who would bring Cup-winning experience and 1,000 games of experience to Vancouver’s head coach role. Malhotra can’t claim either benefit, with 991 career NHL games and a 2000 Calder Cup win standing as his only pro championship.
No matter which candidate they land on, Vancouver seems destined to invest in a rookie head coach for the 2025-26 season. Their options range in playing and coaching expertise, but both have deep roots in the Canucks organization. That fact could keep the loser of the head coaching race in the organization as an NHL assistant, unless they find new options elsewhere.