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Pettersson, Hughes absences loom larger during break between Canucks games |
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After a whirlwind first week of training camp, the Vancouver Canucks have had a minute to catch their breath this week, before part of the group travels to Calgary for the third preseason game of 2021 on Friday.
After their travel group dropped a 4-2 decision to the Canucks on Monday in Abbotsford, a more veteran-laden Calgary lineup fell 4-3 to Seattle in a shootout in Wednesday night's home game. Former Flames captain Mark Giordano rubbed salt in the wound of his departure by opening the scoring in the game for the Kraken, and one-time Edmonton Oiler Jordan Eberle logged two assists plus the shootout winner.
The Flames will be on a back-to-back this weekend, facing Seattle once again on Saturday night in Kent, Washington. So I'd expect we'll see a good number of veterans on Friday against Vancouver.
Maybe even Jacob Markstrom? He has not dressed for any of Calgary's three preseason games to date.
After their win in Abbotsford on Monday night, the Canucks took Tuesday off before returning to practice on Wednesday — with another practice set for Thursday.
In Abbotsford, Travis Green mentioned that he expected to start sorting his players into something resembling NHL and AHL groups. Here's how the main squad rolled out on Wednesday.
There's certainly some experimentation still at play, especially with the forwards. Green is sticking with his Podkolzin - Miller - Garland combo, which seems promising and could carry over into the season. Seems like he wants to take a longer look at Alex Chiasson, who showed quite well in the game in Abbotsford, as well as Phillip Di Giuseppe. And while Nic Petan and Brock Boeser are showing on the fourth line, that's two-thirds of what had been a first line in its earlier training group, with Nils Hoglander on the wing instead of Justin Dowling.
As for the defense pairs — that could very well be what ends up rolling out to start the season if Quinn Hughes remains unsigned and Travis Hamonic doesn't report. In essence, everybody moves up one spot on the depth chart.
Still no update on the negotiations — and none of the insider reports are suggesting that deals are imminent.
At this stage, critics are starting to wonder why Jim Benning left his two most important contracts until the end of a very busy summer.
I'm somewhat sympathetic: he executed successfully in the past on the Horvat and Boeser deals, with Bo signing his six-year deal on Sept. 8, 2017 and Brock inking his three-year bridge contract on Sept. 16, 2019.
Yes, preseason started a little later this year, but we're now two weeks past Boeser's signing date.
But on the other hand, I don't think it's unreasonable to say that Benning — and probably the entire Canucks organization — miscalculated market forces by not being a first mover on these contracts.
Extensions could have been signed any time after the beginning of the 2020 free agency period last October. For most of last season, the organization was pinching its pennies — part of the reason why the contract extensions for Travis Green and Ian Clark took so long to get done.
Benning was able to get Thatcher Demko and Tanner Pearson to agree to contract extensions late in the season.
Those deals were both officially announced during the Canucks' Covid shutdown in April, not long after the trade deadline. Of course, Pettersson and Hughes' reps at CAA may have always wanted to wait until the end of the season to get serious about their clients' negotiations. I wonder if there might have been a chance that the sides could have agreed to terms earlier if the organization hadn't been thrust into such turmoil by the viral outbreak?
Covid has caused inflation in the real world, as the cost of delivering goods and services has risen and those costs have been passed on to consumers. Despite the flat salary cap, we've also seen inflation in the NHL this summer, after organizations pinched their pennies and were reluctant to make long-term commitments in the face of tremendous uncertainty during the 2020 offseason.
Young players, in particular, became more and more valuable commodities. As each deal was announced, I could feel the price tags for Pettersson and Hughes rising.
In terms of comparables, the last two big contracts that were signed might have done the most damage to the Canucks' bargaining position.
Kirill Kaprizov got $9 million on a five-year term — big money on a medium-term deal, and holding firm on his refusal to go the full eight years with the Wild. Like Pettersson, he's also a Calder Trophy winner and an exciting player who brings fans out of their seats. But even with his injury history, Pettersson's body of work is much more substantial — 153 points in 165 NHL games, plus 18 points in 17 playoff games, compared to just 51 points in 55 regular-season games and three points in a seven-game playoff series for Kaprizov.
Because he's older, Kaprizov was set to become a UFA in 2024, so the Wild bought two of his free-agency years with this contract.
Pettersson has four years left until he can become a UFA in 2025. That's why the talk all along has been to either sign him to a three-year bridge which would allow for another long-term contract before he reaches UFA status, or something that's six years or more, but would require a higher cap hit.
If the Canucks can't deliver the dollars that Pettersson and CAA are asking for, they may be forced to settle on a term that would walk their client straight to unrestricted free agency — obviously, a most undesirable outcome.
As for Hughes, his negotiating position got a boost when Rasmus Dahlin signed for three years at $6 million in Buffalo.
The first-overall pick from 2018 has more games played — 195, compared to 129 for Hughes. But Quinn's points per game are significant better — .75, compared to just 0.54 for Dahlin. And even if you want to argue about Hughes' defensive liabilities last season and his -24 rating, Dahlin was even worse — lowest in the league at minus-36.
By playing those five games at the end of the 2018-19 season, Hughes burned through his entry-level contract more quickly than if he'd started in the fall of 2019. But he didn't play enough games to earn a full year toward unrestricted free agency. So he has five years to go until reaching UFA status in 2026.
Meanwhile, we wait to see how the Travis Hamonic situation plays out. Friday is the deadline for players to opt out of the season, so hopefully there will be some clarity on his status by then.
Vancouver Canucks Blogger • 
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