The latest Vancouver Canucks’ free agency news
Thomas Drance and Rick Dhaliwal of The Athletic: The Vancouver Canucks face a lot of decisions when free agency opens. Can they sign their prospective UFA’s? It’s an excellent question. There remains a possibility they could lose all of them.
Oddly, the Jacob Markstrom negotiation looks to be the only active one with Chris Tanev and Tyler Toffoli heading to free agency. Negotiations with Markstrom’s agent are ongoing and are going down to the wire.
Then, there is Oliver Ekman-Larsson. Vancouver and the Arizona Coyotes are locked in discussions but nothing has happened. Thatcher Demko is a dealbreaker and until Arizona comes off some of its demands, a deal will never get done.
Vancouver is expected to be conservative in free agency while at least appearing to kick the tires on some big names. Their spending habits fail to mesh with some of the rumors out there. Expect some players to see expanded roles from within as opposed to bigger splashes made.
The Chicago Blackhawks free agency update…
Mark Lazerus of The Athletic: As the Dominik Kubalik and Malcolm Subban negotiations turn, one thing is clear. Kubalik may be had for a fairly cheap price. Reports from Lazerus suggest that the 30-goal scorer may only cost an AAV of $3.5 million. Even if that number goes to three years at near $12 million, that is still not a bad number.
Chicago will be spending around $2 million on goaltending as opposed to $11 million. This is to give more younger players the chance for expanded playing time. Dylan Strome appears poised to get a bridge deal of around two years and an AAV of $2.5 million. After that, Chicago will not look much to free agency unless it is very cheap.
They expect to remain more conservative while developing the younger players. Selling at the deadline this upcoming year will be far more inevitable a reality than last season.