Offseason to-do list for the Vancouver Canucks
Thomas Drance of The Athletic: Offseason to-do list for the Vancouver Canucks.
Extend Elias Pettersson – He’s eligible for a contract extension on July 1st and a long-term deal should be a priority. It’s going to be a huge deal as he’s a top center.
Clarify J.T. Miller‘s future – He’ll have a full no-movement clause when his extension kicks in on July 1st. The Canucks were listening at the trade deadline and could they revisit talks? They were talking to the Penguins. His extension is for seven years at $8 million per.
NHL Rumors: Vancouver Canucks Pending RFA Nils Hoglander
Shed cap commitments as painlessly as possible – Their cap hit for next season is currently higher than any other team. Tanner Pearson and Tucker Poolman could be LTIR candidates. The Canucks may only have $5 million in cap space and RFAs Ethan Bear, Nils Hoglander and Vitali Kravtsov. They may consider buyouts but that comes future cap issues. Pettersson and Filip Hronek will need extensions in the future.
Don’t trade the 2023 first-round pick – They may be tempted if they don’t jump up in the lottery to the one or two slot. Trading down to acquire more picks could be acceptable.
The Washington Capitals won’t rebuild while Ovi’s there but they could make some tweaks
Dan Rosen of NHL.com: (mailbag) While Alex Ovechkin is chasing Wayne Gretzky for the most goals in NHL history, the Washington Capitals won’t go through a rebuild. Ovechkin could be 70 goals away by the season’s end. Ovechkin and defenseman John Carlson are signed through 2025-26.
NHL Rumors: The Washington Capitals and Evgeny Kuznetsov
The Capitals would consider trading forward Evgeny Kuznetsov if they could get fair value back. He’s 30 years old and having a bit of a down season. Would guess that Ovechkin, Carlson, Kuznetsov, Nicklas Backstrom and T.J. Oshie are back for one more year.
The Capitals could move forward Anthony Mantha, and possibly Tom Wilson who would be entering the final year of his contract.
