On J.T. Miller
Rick Dhaliwal: Rutherford on forward J.T. Miller: “We are not frustrated, a month before the trading deadline if he is not moved is stressful, not right now.
We have had no offers for JT and no one has asked to talk to his agent about a contract.”
Taj: Frank Seravalli on DFO Rundown on Miller: “The other thing I heard on Miller was, not as many teams were in on it as you think. Significant interest but not as many teams.”
On Canucks UFAs
Rick Dhaliwal: Rutherford on UFAs Brandon Sutter, Alex Chiasson and Brad Richardson: “We will discuss those players later in free agency. Chiasson played very well for the Canucks, we are not opposed to bringing him back at some point.”
On free agency
Rick Dhaliwal: Vancouver Canucks Jim Rutherford on free agency: “We are looking to balance our forward group. Do we get a top 6 forward who pushes someone down. We want to make the top 12 better. We will look at some defenseman but most likely improve the blueline through trades.”
Iain McIntyre of Sportsnet: The Vancouver Canucks don’t have much salary cap space so they may not be that active in free agency.
Needs are a third-line center, right side defense (long-term) and bottom half speed, size and skill.
The Canucks had been hoping to clear out more salary cap space by the start of free agency. Rutherford said they will be active in free agency but not after the big names – complementary and depth players.
“You can clear cap space if you’re giving up assets,” Rutherford said. “But we’re trying to build assets. So, you know, we get a little bit caught up here. At this point, we’ve just decided to let it run its course until (a trade) potentially could come along to do that. But it’s not going to come along prior to the first day of free agency.”
The Canucks still hope to extend Miller and Rutherford denied that they were close to trading him to the Islanders.
Potential free agent targets:
Calle Jarnkrok
Vladislav Namestnikov
Ilya Lyubushkin
Victor Rask
Canucks can officially sign Andrei Kuzmenko
Rick Dhaliwal: The Vancouver Canucks can announce the signing of Andrei Kuzmenko today.
Dan Milstein said last night that the contract is not signed but the agreement is in place.
Puck Pedia: The maximum that Kuzmenko can sign is:
$855,000 NHL Salary
$95,000 Signing Bonus
$80,000 Minors
$850,000 “A” Performance Bonuses
Salary Cap Hit $950,000 and an AAV $1.85 million