The Vancouver Canucks have signed three of their restricted free agents, inking Reid Boucher, Brogan Rafferty and Josh Teves to two-way contracts. Boucher’s deal is just for one season, while Rafferty and Teves have each re-upped for two. That leaves the team with just Brock Boeser and Nikolay Goldobin still to sign among RFAs.
News came out this morning that Boucher was close to a deal with the Canucks, and now the 25-year old has indeed re-signed to bring a level of minor league offense to the club. He registered 62 points last season in just 56 AHL contests and should help the Utica Comets tremendously once again if he can’t crack the NHL lineup out of camp. Boucher has 133 NHL games under his belt, meaning he very well could be the first call-up in case of injury concerns.
Rafferty, 24, signed out of Quinnipiac just a few months ago and got into two games with the Canucks down the stretch. Coming off his short-entry-level contract the undrafted defenseman was unlikely to get a big deal, but the Canucks have done well to at least secure two years of his services. Still a complete unknown at the NHL level, Rafferty will be competing in camp for a spot on the right side but has some tough competition now that the team has added Tyler Myers and Oscar Fantenberg. He’ll more likely start in the AHL given his waiver-exempt status.
So too will Teves in all likelihood, who was also signed out of the NCAA recently. The undrafted 24-year old defenseman played four years at Princeton before making the jump to the NHL for one game down the stretch. Another player who will battle for a job in camp, the left side is just as crowded in Vancouver with Quinn Hughes likely staking a claim and Jordie Benn coming in on a two-year deal.