- The Vancouver Canucks confirmed the expected news that defenseman Tucker Poolman will begin the season on long-term injured reserve and won’t attend their training camp. Poolman has suffered from migraines stemming from concussions for multiple seasons and last suited up for the Canucks at the beginning of 2022-23. He’s played in just 43 games for the Canucks since signing a four-year, $10MM contract with them in free agency in 2021.
Canucks Rumors
Montreal Canadiens Acquire Tanner Pearson
After being hinted at for most of the morning, in order to become salary cap compliant for the upcoming season, the Vancouver Canucks have traded Tanner Pearson and a 2025 third-round draft pick to the Montreal Canadiens for goaltender Casey DeSmith.
After the trade, the Canucks will have freed up $1.45MM in cap space if no salary is retained, making compliance with the salary cap a much more manageable endeavor. Also, by acquiring DeSmith in the deal, as well, Vancouver has a much more capable backup netminder to put behind Thatcher Demko, something the team did not have last season.
From the standpoint of Montreal, they also worked out their own dilemma, no longer having three playable goalies on the roster to start the season. After acquiring DeSmith from the Pittsburgh Penguins in the same deal that would land Erik Karlsson in Pittsburgh, it had been rumored for weeks that the Canadiens would eventually look to move out DeSmith as well.
All-in-all, simply for their involvement in the Karlsson trade, Montreal has acquired Pearson, Gustav Lindstrom, Nathan Legare, a 2025 second-round pick, a 2025 third-round pick, and a conditional 2025-fourth round pick in exchange for Mike Hoffman and Rem Pitlick.
This is a solid trade haul for Kent Hughes and the Canadiens, but after finding a solution to one problem, another has been created entirely. Now with Pearson in the mix, the team already has a projected 12 forwards on the roster according to CapFriendly, with Cole Caufield, Juraj Slafkovsky, and Sean Monahan, still to return from injury. Even aside from those players, players such as Sean Farrell and Owen Beck also appear close to being NHL-ready.
At any rate, both teams solved issues for the time being with this particular trade and should alleviate some concerns heading into training camp.
Darren Dreger of TSN was the first to report Pearson was heading to Montreal.
Chris Johnston of TSN was the first to report no salary had been retained by the Canucks.
Dreger was the first to announce the trade details.
Frank Seravalli of Daily Faceoff was the first to report the full trade details.
Canucks Looking To Move Pearson
Officially being activated from the injury reserve earlier today, Vancouver Canucks forward, Tanner Pearson, may not end up spending very long with the team, anyway. Rick Dhaliwal of The Athletic passes along a note from Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet that the Canucks are looking to move Pearson to a different team.
Now with Pearson activated, the Canucks are approximately $1.7MM above the cap, even factoring in Tucker Poolman on the LTIR to open up the year. With a glut of players at the forward position, several surgeries, and noted dissatisfaction with the organization, Pearson does project as the likeliest player to be moved in order for Vancouver to become salary cap compliant.
As of right now, there are only about eight teams that could comfortably fit Pearson’s $3.25MM salary into their current roster, with teams such as the Detroit Red Wings, Nashville Predators, and Anaheim Ducks in a position to acquire a boost to their secondary scoring. However, with limited availability due to his injuries, and the Canucks bargaining from a weakened position as a seller in this scenario, it is tough to project a hypothetical return for Pearson’s services, if any at all.
Tanner Pearson Officially Activated Off Of LTIR
CapFriendly has reported that the Vancouver Canucks have officially activated veteran forward Tanner Pearson off of long-term injured reserve. In their post on X, CapFriendly writes: “This is significant because it means that he is no longer considered an LTI candidate, and tentatively leaves the club $1,709,167 over the cap” even if they place defenseman Tucker Poolman on LTIR.
Canucks Not Among Teams Pursuing Phil Kessel
- While the Canucks checked in on free agent winger Phil Kessel earlier in the summer, they’re not believed to be one of the teams pursuing him at the moment, reports CHEK’s Rick Dhaliwal (video link). As things stand, Vancouver is going to need to trim its payroll if Tanner Pearson is indeed cleared to play at the start of the season so getting another player at the NHL minimum salary of $775K to replace someone making a bit more than that would help in that. However, the Canucks also have a fair bit of forward depth so it’s not entirely surprising that they’re not in on Kessel for now.
Quinn Hughes Named Canucks Captain
After trading away Bo Horvat to the New York Islanders before the trade deadline last season, the Vancouver Canucks had a decision to make regarding their captain moving forward. Today, that decision has been made, as the team announced defenseman Quinn Hughes would be the 15th captain in franchise history.
In the end, for head coach Rick Tocchet and the rest of his staff, the decision likely came down to Hughes, Elias Pettersson, and J.T. Miller. All three players have leadership capabilities and thorough experience in the league up to this point, and all three players would have been realistic choices to take over the captaincy. Hughes will become the first defenseman for the Canucks to wear the ’C’ since Doug Lidster during the 1990-91 NHL season.
The seventh overall selection for Vancouver in the 2018 NHL Draft, Hughes would join the Canucks at the end of the 2018-19 season, finishing off his college career at the University of Michigan. A year later, in his first full season, Hughes thoroughly showed what he could do at the NHL level, scoring eight goals and 45 assists in 68 games. In that first full year for Hughes, he would finish second in Calder Memorial Trophy voting and even garnered some Norris Trophy votes at season’s end.
Since then, it has been much of the same for Hughes, racking up a high amount of assists, and generating quite a bit of offense from the blue line for Vancouver. This past season, in what would be his most impressive year up to this point, Hughes would score seven goals and 69 assists in 78 games, becoming a point-per-game player as a defenseman.
A three-time All-Star already in his career, one of Hughes’s best improvements has been his defensive metrics. At the beginning of his career, there were some questions surrounding his defensive proficiency from the blue line, improving his takeaway numbers, and holding strong possession numbers for much of his career.
Now, at almost 24 years old, Hughes will be tasked with being the leader for the Canucks, both on and off the ice. As Vancouver continues to build and restructure their team into a playoff contender, it will be much of Hughes’s responsibility to lead this team into their next era.
Senators, Canucks Could Be Teams To Watch On Trade Market
Speaking on today’s edition of the 32 Thoughts podcast, Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman believes trade talks are beginning to heat up across the league once again, mainly incited by teams looking to clear players off their roster pre-season to alleviate roster or salary cap crunches. To that end, he identified the Ottawa Senators and Vancouver Canucks as significant players to watch over the coming days as training camps approach.
In Ottawa’s case, this is, of course, influenced by their lack of flexibility to re-sign RFA center Shane Pinto. The 22-year-old remains without a contract for this season after potting 20 goals in 2022-23, and he commands more than the paltry $895K in salary cap space Ottawa has remaining, per CapFriendly’s projection. It’s drawn out long enough that trade speculation is beginning to arise about Pinto’s signing rights, but Senators general manager Pierre Dorion would obviously rather retain their 2019 32nd overall pick.
As Friedman notes, Pinto has very little leverage in negotiations, as he carries a 10.2(c) designation and is ineligible to sign an offer sheet. That means Ottawa likely won’t need to clear massive amounts of cap space to sign Pinto to a bridge deal, but a move still needs to be made – that $895K projection already figures a bare-minimum roster of 18 skaters and two goaltenders. Evolving Hockey’s contract projection model predicts a two-year, $1.88MM AAV deal for Pinto, assuming it’s signed between August 1st and the start of the regular season. If Pinto holds out into the season, that projection drops slightly to a $1.805MM AAV on a two-year deal.
Vancouver’s potential activity spurs from the health of Tanner Pearson, who fortunately projects to be healthy for the 2023-24 campaign after a persistent (and controversially handled) hand injury nearly cost him his career last season. His availability creates both a roster and cap crunch for Vancouver, as his $3.25MM cap hit would suddenly factor into their day-to-day picture and not sit on LTIR as previously expected.
He would also likely factor into a third-line role, potentially alongside Conor Garland and Pius Suter. Pearson’s trade value will likely be minimal with other teams wary of his health, so shopping a depth player like Garland (and his $4.95MM cap hit) would likely return better value for general manager Patrik Allvin. While some have criticized Garland’s tenure in Vancouver, he’s a winger who consistently puts up between 40 and 60 points, can play a top-six role, and is cost-controlled through 2026 without trade protection. He’s the type of player a few teams looking to fill gaps in their forward group would be interested in.
Garland also seems like the most likely candidate because the Canucks’ realistic trade options are limited beyond him. They just signed Teddy Blueger in free agency, players like Dakota Joshua have shown to be reliable bottom-six presences and are on cost-effective deals, and they’d be selling low on younger prospects like Nils Höglander or Vasily Podkolzin.
At first glance, however, it seems like a tough time in the offseason to perform cap-clearing maneuvers. Most teams already have their rosters relatively set, and some teams close to contention with obvious holes don’t have the space to make maneuvers. Of teams with cap space to spare, the Chicago Blackhawks jump out as a lone destination where acquiring a veteran wouldn’t cost a spot for a younger player needing significant NHL ice time – they still could use a few more bodies to fill out their opening-night roster.
Image courtesy of USA Today Sports.
Ilya Mikheyev May Miss Preseason; Still In Recovery From ACL Injury
Speaking on NHL Network, Friedman said he “really thought [Bo] Horvat was going to be the comparable at 8×8.5, and I think it’s possible Lindholm now actually comes in higher than that, potentially… I think the number is going to have to be above Horvat, I’ve heard it might be closer to 8.75 or 9.” He, of course, is referring to Horvat’s eight-year, $8.5MM AAV extension signed with the New York Islanders after being acquired from the Vancouver Canucks this past season. While he does have multiple years of experience as a defensively solid first-line center, that would be quite a lot of money to pay someone who’s cracked the 70-point mark just twice in his career and the 30-goal mark only once.
- Vancouver Canucks winger Ilya Mikheyev is still recovering from an ACL injury that was aggravated and then operated on in late January, and CHEK’s Rick Dhaliwal reports it may keep him out of preseason action. Mikheyev initially sustained the injury in preseason action for Vancouver last season but only missed a handful of weeks before being cleared to play in mid-October and recording 28 points in 46 games for the Canucks. He is still expected to be ready to go for opening night, however, and could very well begin his second season in British Columbia’s biggest city in a top-six role after averaging almost 17 minutes per game last season.
Michael Del Zotto Announces Retirement
Longtime NHL defenseman Michael Del Zotto announced his retirement via Instagram today, ending a 13-season NHL career.
Del Zotto, 33, was drafted by the New York Rangers with the 20th overall pick out of the OHL’s Oshawa Generals in 2008. He would jump to professional hockey after one more season in juniors, recording 37 points in 80 games in 2009-10 and earning All-Rookie Team honors.
Unfortunately, while Del Zotto would turn into a serviceable NHL defenseman for over a decade, he didn’t develop into the potential bonafide top-pair player he hinted he could be at the beginning of his career. He would only beat his rookie totals once in New York, recording ten goals, 31 assists and 41 points in 77 games in 2011-12 before dropping to a bottom-pairing role in the 2013-14 campaign. Then-Rangers general manager Glen Sather dealt him to the Nashville Predators for shutdown defender Kevin Klein in a one-for-one swap in January of that season.
Things didn’t go much better for Del Zotto in a brief stint with Nashville to close out the season, which saw his ice time continue to decrease as he recorded five points in 25 games and a -4 rating. He was due a qualifying offer of $2.9MM that season with his contract expiring, which the Predators didn’t issue, and he signed a one-year, $1.3MM contract with the Philadelphia Flyers in August 2014. It turned out to be a prudent choice for Del Zotto, who, for a brief time, recaptured his former glory in Philadelphia. He notched 32 points in 64 games during his first season there while averaging nearly 22 minutes per game, but again fizzled out over the following two seasons with the Flyers.
After signing as an unrestricted free agent with the Vancouver Canucks in 2017, Del Zotto would play stints with the Anaheim Ducks, Columbus Blue Jackets, Ottawa Senators, and St. Louis Blues in depth roles until the 2021-22 season. While he didn’t appear in any postseason contests, Del Zotto was on the Blues’ roster for their 2019 Stanley Cup championship.
2021-22 was when it became clear Del Zotto’s days of playing at the highest level were drawing to a close. Despite recording a respectable 13 points in 26 games with Ottawa and posting decent possession numbers, the Senators waived him. They assigned him to AHL Belleville, where he managed over a point per game. It was enough to land him another NHL contract for 2022-23 with the Florida Panthers, but they waived him pre-season and didn’t include him on the opening night roster. He would record two goals and 10 points in 25 games with their AHL affiliate in Charlotte before they traded him back to Anaheim in the days leading up to Christmas in a three-way swap of minor-league players, including the Detroit Red Wings. Del Zotto closed the season with a strong 31 points in 40 games for AHL San Diego.
But without ever getting a callup to the NHL throughout the season despite a paper-thin defense in Anaheim, Del Zotto has opted to step away from the game. His 736 games rank 18th among players from the 2008 draft class at the time of his retirement, during which he recorded 63 goals, 199 assists, 262 points, and averaged 20:03 per game over the years. PHR congratulates Del Zotto on his lengthy career in the pros and wishes him the best in retirement.
Image courtesy of USA Today Sports.
Brad Maxwell Passes Away
Longtime Minnesota North Stars defenseman Brad Maxwell passed away Sunday after a battle with lung cancer, the Minnesota Wild said today. He was 66 years old.
Born in 1957 in Brandon, Manitoba, Maxwell played his junior hockey for the WCHL’s New Westminster Bruins before going seventh overall to the North Stars in the 1977 NHL Amateur Draft. As a rookie the following season, he was arguably the best player on a team that managed just 18 wins, recording 47 points in 75 games while hitting 100 penalty minutes, a mark the physical playmaker would hit six more times in his career. He would go on to become a premier defender for parts of nine seasons in Minnesota, spending some later career stops with the New York Rangers, Quebec Nordiques, Toronto Maple Leafs, and Vancouver Canucks.
In his 613-game career spanning from 1977 to 1987, Maxwell spent years quarterbacking the North Stars’ power play and finished with 98 career goals, 270 assists and 368 points. He would add a -83 rating and 1,292 penalty minutes. His final entire season as a North Star, 1983-84, was his best. It was the only season of his career that earned him All-Star consideration, recording career-highs across the board with 19 goals, 54 assists and 73 points in 78 games.
Maxwell would become a mainstay in the Minnesota community after retiring, starting a business and making the state his post-hockey home. He would go on to become the Minnesota NHL Alumni Association president and was responsible for bringing the alumni contingent that represented the North Stars against the Chicago Blackhawks at the contest preceding the 2016 Stadium Series game in Minneapolis between the Wild and Chicago.
We at Pro Hockey Rumors extend our condolences to his family, friends and the Minnesota hockey community.