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Alain Vigneault Announces Retirement From Coaching

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After a 19-season head coaching career spanning four teams, seasoned NHL bench boss Alain Vigneault has declared his retirement from coaching in an interview with the Journal de Québec, according to a report from French-Canadian outlet RDS.

Vigneault, still under contract with the Flyers after being fired in December of 2021, made it clear that his last contract would be his final one and that he has no intention of returning to coaching. Pierre LeBrun of TSN and The Athletic reported last summer that Philadelphia was likely Vigneault’s final stop as an NHL head coach.

The 62-year-old Canadian coach leaves behind a rather illustrious coaching career – Vigneault’s 1,363 games behind an NHL bench places him 15th in NHL history for most games coached. He accumulated over 700 wins throughout his coaching journey, a feat achieved by only nine other coaches in NHL history.

However, he didn’t quite reach hockey’s pinnacle, never getting his name engraved on the Stanley Cup. Although he made the playoffs in 12 of his 19 seasons, he advanced twice to the Stanley Cup Final, losing in both tries.

Vigneault’s coaching tenure in the NHL began in the 1997-98 season when he took the helm of the Montreal Canadiens. He then went on to coach the Vancouver Canucks, New York Rangers, and finally, the Philadelphia Flyers.

Vigneault’s primary piece of individual hardware came in 2006-07, winning the Jack Adams Award in his first season with the Canucks after guiding the team to a 49-26-7 record and Northwest Division title. Vancouver would bow out in the second round to the eventual Stanley Cup champion Anaheim Ducks, thanks to a relatively innocuous double-overtime winner in Game 5 from Ducks defender Scott Niedermayer (video link).

Vancouver was undoubtedly Vigneault’s most successful stop, as he would win back-to-back Presidents’ Trophies with the team in 2010-11 and 2011-12. The Canucks made their first Stanley Cup Final appearance in nearly two decades in 2011 but fell to the Boston Bruins in seven games after taking a 2-0 lead in the series.

Vigneault made it back to the Final three seasons later with the New York Rangers but lost all three overtime games in the series en route to a 4-1 defeat at the hands of the Los Angeles Kings.

Before starting his coaching career, Vigneault had a brief playing stint as an NHLer. He played 42 games as a defenseman for the St. Louis Blues in the 1980s before transitioning to coaching at just 25 years old.

He does boast an all-time playoff record of 78-77, a rare mark above .500 for a coach without a Cup victory. With his longevity placing him in the upper echelon of all-time NHL coaches, as well as a Jack Adams and two conference championships, it wouldn’t surprise many to see a call from the Hockey Hall of Fame in his future.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images

Extension Talks For Pettersson On Hold Until End Of Summer

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In an appearance on CHEK’s Donnie and Dhali (video link), J.P. Barry, the agent for center Elias Pettersson, indicated that he doesn’t expect to have any discussions about a possible contract extension for his client until the end of the summer.  It’s not a matter of early discussions not going well but rather a decision to just take a break for the summer and reassess closer to training camp.  The 24-year-old is eligible to put pen to paper on a new deal now and is certainly coming off a great showing in 2022-23, notching 39 goals and 63 assists (both career highs) while finishing tenth in league scoring.  The Canucks owe him a qualifying offer of $8.82MM next summer and his performance last year coupled with an anticipated jump in the salary cap could have his camp looking to surpass $10MM on his next agreement.  That’s a deal that is going to take some time to put together.

Vancouver Canucks Name New Head Athletic Therapist

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  • The Vancouver Canucks announced today that Roman Kaszczij has been named the team’s Head Athletic Therapist, earning this major role after five seasons in the Canucks organization. The team wrote that Kaszczij “played an instrumental role in establishing” their AHL affiliate, the Abbotsford Canucks’s medical department, and now he’ll play a similarly important role on the off-ice staff in Vancouver.

Vancouver Canucks Re-Sign Akito Hirose

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The Vancouver Canucks have announced a two-year contract extension for young defenseman Akito Hirose, a relatively recent signing out of college hockey. The deal carries a $787k cap hit for each year, and is a two-way deal with a $350k AHL salary in 2023-24 and a one-way deal in 2024-25.

Hirose, 24, was signed out of Minnesota State University after a successful three-year stint there. The former top defender in the BCHL scored 68 points in 104 games at the college level and stepped right into the NHL after signing from college.

Hirose got into seven contests for the Canucks and scored three points, averaging nearly 17 and a half minutes per game. He’s more of an offensive defenseman and will likely need a little bit of time in the AHL before he’s ready for full-time NHL duty.

The one-way portion of this contract is an indication that the Canucks are very much believers in Hirose’s NHL potential, and now with his contract secured he’ll head to training camp hoping to compete for an NHL roster spot or secure a premier offensive role in the AHL.

Vancouver Canucks To Sign Carson Soucy

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The Vancouver Canucks are signing defenseman Carson Soucy to a three-year deal worth $3.25MM per season, reports Daily Faceoff’s Frank Seravalli.

It was well known even before free agency started that Soucy was going to be heavily targeted by the Canucks. The team needed to dramatically improve the caliber of its blue line, and Soucy is on the heels of two impressive seasons.

After being selected by the Seattle Kraken in the 2021 Expansion Draft, Soucy got quite a bit more access to ice time. In two years with Seattle, Soucy scored 13 goals and 24 assists in 124 games played, averaging just under 17 minutes a night. He became a solid sixth defenseman for the Kraken, and will likely take on the same role in Vancouver.

Two of the biggest attributes that the Canucks were attracted to with Soucy are his ability to use his body, and his above-average work on the penalty kill. In those 124 games in Seattle, Soucy tallied 216 hits, and 169 blocked shots, providing some much-needed physicality to the blue line. On the penalty kill, after finishing with a league-worst 71.60%, Soucy will be another asset the Canucks can employ to dramatically improve that number next season.

 

Vancouver Canucks Sign Five Players

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The Vancouver Canucks have signed defenseman Ian Cole, center Teddy Blueger, and AHL forward Tristen Nielsen to contracts, per the team. Cole will earn $3MM on a one-year deal, Blueger will earn $1.9MM on a one-year deal, and Nielsen signed a two-year entry-level deal. They’ve also signed veteran blueliner Matt Irwin to a one-year, two-way contract. They’ve also added goalie Zachary Sawchenko on a one-year, two-way deal.

One of the primary focuses for the Canucks heading into free agency was upgrading their defense, and it’s tough to do much better than Cole in that aspect of the game. Regularly blocking over 100 shots a year, and averaging one of the better Defensive Point Shares in the league, the induction of Cole marketably improves the quality of the team’s defense headed into next year. Pair that with the signing of Irwin, and the Canucks defensive depth chart has improved considerably in the last 24 hours.

With Blueger, the Canucks should be expecting somewhere in the range of 20-30 points from him next season. A recent player for the Stanley Cup-winning Vegas Golden Knights, Blueger now brings playoff experience to a team that is in desperate need of getting there. Aside from his playoff experience, the addition of Blueger will tremendously help the Canucks penalty kill, a unit that carried a league-worst 71.6% success rate last season.

Florida Panthers Expected To Sign Oliver Ekman-Larsson

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Veteran defenseman Oliver Ekman-Larsson is landing on his feet after getting bought out by the Vancouver Canucks earlier this month. Per TSN’s Darren Dreger and CHEK’s Rick Dhaliwal, he’s expected to sign a one-year deal with the Florida Panthers worth $2.25MM.

Ekman-Larsson hadn’t at all lived up to expectations in Vancouver, but the decision to buy him out with four years left on his deal surprised many. It is the largest non-compliance buyout in NHL history, and the Swede will now earn an additional $2.25MM this season on top of the $2.13MM he’s slated to receive in real cash from Vancouver and $290K from Arizona. It’s still less money than the $10.5MM base salary he was owed from his previous contract in 2023-24.

For the Panthers, this signing represents a low-risk, medium-reward move. Ekman-Larsson is a former All-Star and Olympic medalist, but he’s been wildly inconsistent in the past few seasons and has played long stretches of being a defensive liability in both Vancouver and Arizona, where he was a captain for three seasons between 2018 and 2021.

Now 31, Ekman-Larsson could slot into Florida’s top four to start the season and maybe longer. For now, he serves as a direct replacement on the left side for veteran Marc Staal, who’s on the UFA market. He does find himself with the best opportunity to win in quite a while, joining a Panthers team fresh off a miracle run to the Stanley Cup Final.

From a financial standpoint, the one-year, $2.25MM deal is a decent bit of work for the Panthers. It provides them with a cost-effective option to bolster their defensive depth without committing to a long-term contract – something they’d reportedly prioritized achieving.

Last season, Ekman-Larsson logged two goals and 22 points in 54 games with the Canucks, averaging just over 20 minutes per game. He’ll likely see a reduction in those minutes as the season progresses for Florida and they return to full health on the blueline.

Sharks And Canucks Have Discussed Tyler Myers Trade

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There has been an expectation for a while now that the Canucks will look to move the final year and $6MM that Tyler Myers has remaining on his contract in an effort to free up some cap space this summer.  In a recent appearance on Sportsnet 650 (audio link), Daily Faceoff’s Frank Seravalli reported that the Sharks are a team that’s believed to have discussed a Myers trade with Vancouver to the point that there has been a deal on the table for several weeks now.

It’s worth noting that Myers has a $5MM signing bonus that is payable in the new league year.  For many players, the payment date for those bonuses is July 1st.  However, Myers is one of the exceptions with his bonus believed to be payable in mid-September.  With that in mind, it’s possible that this could be the hold-up in a swap although Seravalli suggested that this isn’t necessarily the case.

The 33-year-old looked to be a two-way threat when he first came to the NHL with his best two offensive seasons coming during his first two years with Buffalo.  However, he has become more of a defense-only player, especially in recent years as he has managed just a single goal in each of the last two years with Vancouver.

However, he has logged more than 20 minutes per game throughout his career and while he may be better suited for a lower role at this point, the fact he can still cover tough minutes might be appealing to a team like San Jose which isn’t exactly loaded with proven blueliners and is trying to move their top one in Erik Karlsson.  In-season, he’ll have a prorated salary of just $1MM which could only help from a trade value perspective.

Considering what the market has been for teams looking to dump salary, Vancouver shouldn’t be expecting much of a return, if any, to clear Myers off the books.  But if they do have a viable option on the table to take on the contract, it wouldn’t be surprising to see them take it, either now or even if they have to wait until closer to training camp when the bonus is paid off.  If a deal is either done or agreed on in principle, Vancouver could be a team to watch for when the market opens up less than 24 hours from now.

Vancouver Canucks Sign Noah Juulsen

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The Vancouver Canucks have agreed to terms with defenseman Noah Juulsen on a two-year, two-way contract, the team announced today via Twitter. CapFriendly reports Juulsen’s deal carries a $775K average annual value with the following structure:

2023-24: $775K NHL salary, $450K AHL salary
2024-25: $775K NHL salary, $475K AHL salary

Juulsen, a former first-round pick of Montreal, appeared in 12 NHL games for the Canucks this season, his highest total since he skated in 21 with the Canadiens in 2018-19. Between Vancouver and AHL Abbotsford, the 26-year-old played 61 regular-season games in 2022-23 – his most since turning pro in 2017. Once a highly touted two-way defense prospect, Juulsen’s pro career has been derailed by multiple severe injuries.

Playing in 49 regular-season games with the Abbotsford Canucks, Juulsen recorded a career-high 17 assists and 20 points, good enough for third on the team among defenders. Vancouver/Abbotsford is Juulsen’s third stop in his NHL career after the Florida Panthers claimed him on waivers to begin the 2020-21 campaign. Vancouver acquired him in a swap involving another first-round pick that failed to pan out, Olli Juolevi, nine months later.

Juulsen likely doesn’t have much of an NHL future ahead of him, but it’s a good story to see him get significant compensation and (hopefully) continue a major role in the minors. That’s what Canucks general manager Patrik Allvin expects of the British Columbia-born defender over the next two seasons:

We are happy to have Noah back with our hockey club. He showed last season that he can step up and compete for a spot at the NHL level and also was a key leader and contributor in Abbotsford both on and off the ice.

Along with reigning AHL defenseman of the year Christian Wolanin, Juulsen will provide a high-end veteran presence to Vancouver’s developing defense prospects, including recent undrafted college free agent signings Cole McWard and Akito Hirose.

Canucks Have Interest In Carson Soucy, Looking To Move Tyler Myers

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