- The Vancouver Canucks have hired former NHL center Jason Krog as a skills and development coach for the NHL and AHL rosters (Twitter link). Krog played in four games with Vancouver to end a 202-game career in the NHL that was largely spent with the Anaheim Mighty Ducks. Krog scored 22 goals and 59 games across his career, including a single-season high of 25 points in 2002-03. He flaunted fantastic agility and skill as an undersized pivot in a physical era of the NHL – and will now look to bring those lessons to a young Canucks organization.
Canucks Rumors
Canucks Notes: Lindholm, Chatfield, Zadorov
Elliotte Friedman reported on the Jeff Marek Show today that it doesn’t appear that the Vancouver Canucks will be able to hang on to pending unrestricted free agent center Elias Lindholm. Friedman referenced recent reports that the Canucks were willing to offer Lindholm a seven-year deal for $7MM per season but adds that the Canucks are reportedly looking to their next options as Lindholm’s departure becomes more of a reality.
The Canucks gave up a massive package to acquire the 29-year-old sending a first-round pick in 2024, a conditional fourth-round pick in 2024, as well as two prospects and Andrei Kuzmenko to the Calgary Flames and aren’t likely to find a suitable replacement in free agency.
In other Vancouver Canucks notes:
- Rick Dhaliwal spoke today on Donnie and Dhali about Carolina Hurricanes pending free agent defenseman Jalen Chatfield. Dhaliwal said that if Chatfield reaches free agency the Canucks will have interest, however, he has also heard that the Hurricanes are pushing to re-sign him. Chatfield started his NHL career with the Canucks, dressing in 18 games during the 2020-21 season and registering one assist. He then signed with Carolina as a free agent in 2021 and has been with the team the past three seasons. Last year the 28-year-old posted eight goals and 14 assists in 72 games and averaged 15:12 of ice time per game.
- Dhaliwal also reported that all is quiet when it comes to contract negotiations between the Canucks and pending free-agent defenseman Nikita Zadorov. The 29-year-old was also acquired at the trade deadline and reportedly hasn’t spoke with Vancouver over the past few days. The Canucks have just over $24MM in cap space available but have pending extensions to sign in the next three seasons for Quinn Hughes, Brock Boeser, and Thatcher Demko and will need to be careful how they allocate long-term cap space. Reports have surfaced previously that Zadorov is looking for a six-year deal at $6MM per season.
No Extension Talks Between Canucks And Tocchet Yet
- Canucks head coach Rick Tocchet is heading into the final guaranteed season of his contract next season though there is a team option for 2025-26 as well. The bench boss told reporters including Steve Ewen of the Vancouver Province that there have yet to be any discussions about a contract extension, nor is he concerned about that. Tocchet led Vancouver to a surprising first-place finish in the Pacific Division with 109 points, helping him earn the Jack Adams Award last month.
Casey DeSmith Expected To Test Free Agency
After being acquired right before training camp, Casey DeSmith had a solid season between the pipes for Vancouver. However, it appears it will be one and done for his time with the Canucks as Rick Dhaliwal of CHEK and The Athletic reported in a recent appearance on Sportsnet 650 (audio link) that there have been no contract talks for the pending unrestricted free agent and that the team is likely to go with Arturs Silovs as their backup next season.
Vancouver acquired the 32-year-old from Montreal in mid-September, sending winger Tanner Pearson and a 2025 third-round pick the other way. In doing so, they were able to get an upgrade behind starter Thatcher Demko while also freeing up $1.45MM in cap space.
DeSmith played in 29 games during the regular season where he posted a 2.89 GAA and a .895 SV%, the latter number being a career low. Nonetheless, that still represented a considerable upgrade over the .871 mark from Spencer Martin and .882 from Collin Delia back in 2022-23. DeSmith also made a pair of playoff appearances following Demko’s injury before being injured himself. That gave the net to Silovs who took the net and ran with it for the rest of Vancouver’s postseason.
While Silovs is also a pending free agent, it stands to reason that he’ll earn a fair bit less on his next contract than DeSmith. Silovs is only eligible for restricted free agency and with just 19 career NHL appearances (regular season and playoffs combined), they should be able to get him signed on a short-term bridge contract around the $1MM range. Those savings could be useful as they look to try to re-sign some of their key pending unrestricted free agents, highlighted by Elias Lindholm and Nikita Zadorov.
As for DeSmith, despite his lower save percentage, he could be in line for a raise from the $1.8MM he made in each of the last two years. It’s not a great free agent class for goaltenders and there’s a good chance several backups will be moving around. That should create enough openings for there to be a market for DeSmith’s services once the market opens up on July 1st.
Morning Notes: Lindholm, Blackhawks, Larsen
The Vancouver Canucks are reportedly willing to offer pending unrestricted free agent center Elias Lindholm a contract extension around seven years and $7MM annually (as per Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman on 32 Thoughts). The deal if signed would be a replica of the deal Nazem Kadri signed with the Calgary Flames in August of 2022 and would be a substantial drop from his contract expectations last fall when many thought Lindholm could fetch a $9MM AAV.
While the potential offer is $7MM annually, there is no guarantee that Lindholm will sign for that, and Friedman isn’t sure that the Canucks can get a deal done at that number. The Canucks reportedly want Lindholm to return, but with the sheer volume of free agents on their roster it might be difficult to get a deal done with the 29-year-old.
In other morning notes:
- Elliotte Friedman has heard from sources that the Chicago Blackhawks would like to expedite their rebuild and may target top free agents this summer to speed things along. Friedman mentions Jake Guentzel as a possibility and also drops the name of Martin Necas. The Blackhawks have a good mix of young emerging players and veterans in their lineup but don’t have many high-end veterans on long-term deals outside of Seth Jones. Guentzel would require a huge long-term commitment from Chicago and would mark a major change in mindset from previous summers where they have dealt impact veteran players.
- Aaron Portzline of The Athletic tweeted that former Columbus Blue Jackets head coach Brad Larsen is expected to resurface soon after taking time away from hockey following his firing in April 2023. Larsen coached the Blue Jackets for two seasons and lost 102 of the 164 games during that time. Prior to being named the head coach, Larsen was an assistant in Columbus for seven years and even beat out several experienced head coaches to get the top job with the Blue Jackets. Portzline doesn’t specify where Larsen is going to go but does add that an announcement is expected in the next few days.
Canucks Announced Young Stars Classic Tournament
Adam Kimelman of NHL.com is reporting that Philadelphia Flyers defenseman Jamie Drysdale should be ready for training camp in September after undergoing significant surgery in April. While the exact procedure is unknown, Flyers general manager Daniel Briere had said back on April 18th that Drysdale might need to have a procedure on his lower body.
Drysdale was acquired by the Flyers from the Anaheim Ducks along with a second-round pick in early January in exchange for Cutter Gauthier. He struggled after the trade, posting just two goals and three assists in 24 games, however, he suffered a significant injury in late February that looked to affect his left shoulder and caused him to miss 16 games. Briere did add that the former sixth overall pick would be better able to show his skillset after the most recent surgery and the latest ailment was in no way related to the previous shoulder injury
In other evening notes:
- The World Junior Summer Showcase has officially been announced by USA Hockey (as per Steven Ellis of DailyFaceoff). The games will be held in Plymouth, Michigan between July 26th and August 3rd and will feature Team USA, Canada, Sweden and Finland. Teams will practice daily during the event and a total of nine international games will be played as part of the showcase. The event is a precursor that will offer players the opportunity to showcase themselves for their national teams prior to the 2025 IIHF World Junior Hockey Championship in Ottawa, Ontario. That tournament will be played from December 26th, 2024, through January 5th, 2025.
- The Vancouver Canucks have formally announced that they will host the Young Stars Classic rookie tournament in Penticton, British Columbia beginning on September 13th. The four-day tournament will feature four teams as the Edmonton Oilers, Calgary Flames, and Winnipeg Jets will participate alongside Vancouver in a six-game round-robin format. The tournament began in 2010 and regularly features players who get into NHL games the following season.
Latest On Nikita Zadorov
Earlier Thursday, it appeared there might be some progress on extension talks between the Canucks and pending UFA defenseman Nikita Zadorov, according to Sportsnet’s Iain MacIntyre. However, that was quickly refuted by Zadorov’s agent, Dan Milstein, and additionally by a report from CHEK’s Rick Dhaliwal, who said the likelihood of Zadorov remaining in Vancouver was looking “bleak.”
Zadorov, 29, was successful in his short stint with the Canucks. Picked up from the Flames via trade in late November, he finished the year with 14 points, a +6 rating and a whopping 102 PIMs in 54 games in a Vancouver sweater while averaging 17:04 per contest.
The legend of the 6’6″, 250-lb defender grew in the postseason, where he was arguably the team’s second-most valuable blue liner behind Norris finalist Quinn Hughes. He exploded for four goals and eight points in only 13 games, supplementing that with a +3 rating and good underlying metrics while averaging over 20 minutes per night.
That certainly boosted his value as he wraps up a two-year, $7.5MM contract he signed with Calgary in 2022. The hulking Russian has now logged at least 20 points in three consecutive seasons, posted a career-high 125 PIMs this season, and posted strong possession quality numbers during his previous two seasons in Calgary.
Frank Seravalli of Daily Faceoff reported last month that Zadorov would likely seek a six-year, $36MM ($6MM AAV) deal should he hit the open market. For a player without a lengthy history of playing top-four minutes, though, that’s a prohibitively expensive price tag.
Evolving Hockey projects Zadorov to receive a three-year deal at a $4MM cap hit, more in line with what shutdown defender Erik Gudbranson received from the Blue Jackets two summers go. In all likelihood, his next deal will likely fall somewhere in the middle of those two figures.
Canucks Promote Yogi Svejkovsky To Assistant Coach
Jaroslav “Yogi” Svejkovský will join the Canucks’ bench next season as a part of Rick Tocchet’s coaching staff, the team said in a release Wednesday. The former first-round pick of the Capitals fills the role vacated by Mike Yeo, who mutually parted ways with the club last week. The Canucks also said that Daniel Sedin and Henrik Sedin will take on more responsibility next season from their existing development roles and will have more day-to-day involvement with the NHL and AHL coaching staff.
Svejkovský has been with the Canucks organization for three seasons in skills coaching roles, working with their AHL affiliate in 2021-22 before being promoted to the NHL staff for the past two campaigns. The 17th overall pick in 1996 never managed to stick around as a full-timer in the NHL and had his playing career end at age 24 due to concussions. He finished his major-league career with 23 goals and 42 points in 113 games with Tampa Bay and Washington across four seasons.
He began his coaching career in the Vancouver area with the WHL’s Vancouver Giants as an assistant in the 2006-07 season and has remained there since. Svejkovský served as an assistant and skills coach through 2018, taking a few years to head coach academy teams in British Columbia before joining the Canucks.
Canucks’ Ian Cole Expected To Test Free Agency
The Canucks are not expected to come to terms on a new contract with defenseman Ian Cole before he reaches unrestricted free agency next month, CHEK’s Rick Dhaliwal reports.
Cole, 35, is one of four blue-liners headed toward UFA status that Vancouver had on its NHL roster at the end of the season. With Tyler Myers and Nikita Zadorov positioned as higher-priority targets to re-sign, as well as a big-name pending UFA up front in Elias Lindholm, it’s not terribly surprising to see Canucks general manager Patrik Allvin turn his attention away from Cole over the next few weeks.
That’s not a knock on the season Cole had in British Columbia, though. He may have ended his Canucks tenure with a disappointing stretch of postseason play, but he gave them solid bottom-four minutes throughout the regular season after signing a one-year, $3MM pact in free agency last summer.
A first-round pick of the Blues back in 2007, Cole has settled in as a useful third-pairing or complementary second-pairing shutdown defender for teams as he enters the twilight of his career. He put up two goals and nine assists for 11 points in 78 contests for the Canucks this year, averaging 18:41 per game while doing well to control the majority of quality scoring chances despite playing difficult defensive minutes. Vancouver controlled 53% of expected goals with Cole on the ice at even strength, his third straight season with an xG% above 50.
Now a true journeyman, Cole has suited up for five teams in the past four seasons and could make it a sixth in a few weeks. He’s now eligible for a 35+ contract, allowing a team to sign him for a reduced initial cap hit while awarding him additional compensation via performance bonuses, but they would need to have the cap space to accommodate those bonuses if he hits them to avoid a penalty the following season. Evolving Hockey projects him to land a one-year, $2.5MM commitment on the open market.
Canucks Open Talk With Myers, Hoping To Extend Blueger
Elliotte Friedman reported on the 32 Thoughts Podcast that the Edmonton Oilers may need to go through the NHL entry draft with an interim general manager if they don’t extend current GM Ken Holland. If Holland does move on, the Oilers wouldn’t have enough time to conduct a search before the draft later this month and might need to lean heavily on their scouting staff to get them through a busy time of year.
Holland has not signed an extension in Edmonton despite having the team in the Stanley Cup Finals and would be highly sought after if he hits the open market given his resume with both the Oilers and the Detroit Red Wings. Holland has won three Stanley Cups as a general manager and a fourth as assistant general manager and goaltending coach. All four Stanley Cups victories came with the Red Wings.
In other Pacific Division notes:
- Edmonton Oilers forward Corey Perry is set to collect an additional $50K in performance bonuses after the Oilers reached the Stanley Cup Finals last night (as per Puck Pedia). Perry’s bonus brings Edmonton’s final penalty for overages this season to $3.55MM which will be added to their cap for next season. The 39-year-old reached another milestone last night becoming the first player in NHL history to reach the Stanley Cup Finals with five different teams, including four times in the last five seasons.
- David Pagnotta of The Fourth Period writes that the talk of a Tyler Myers extension with the Vancouver Canucks might be a bit premature as the two sides have just started talking about extending their deal. Pagnotta notes that both the Canucks and Myers have an interest in getting an extension done, but the talk surrounding a new contract is “noise” at this point. Myers is coming off his most productive season in Vancouver and reportedly lives in nearby Kelowna during the summer which is certainly part of his desire to stay in British Columbia.
- Pagnotta adds that the Canucks have interest in bringing back forward Teddy Blueger. The 29-year-old had one of the most productive seasons of his career with Vancouver, posting six goals and 22 assists in 68 games tying his career-high in points with 28. The Riga, Latvia native signed a one-year $1.9MM contract with Vancouver on July 1st, 2023, and provided good value to the Canucks that extended well beyond his offensive contributions. Pagnotta notes that the Canucks plan to circle back to Blueger later in the month, which makes sense given the quality and quantity of pending free agents the team will have to deal with over the next month.