It has been a week since free agency opened ahead of the 2022-23 NHL season, and contract activity has already slowed to a trickle.
For the most part, teams are now continuing to chip away at getting their restricted free agents under contract. Tuesday's most interesting deal was Vitek Vanecek's three-year contract with his new team, the New Jersey Devils, at a cap hit of $3.4 million per season. Now 26, he had just finished a three-year contract with Washington that was close to league minimum, with a cap hit of $716,667. So that's a nice raise for him — nearly double the wage of his old partner from the Capitals, and with more term as well. Ilya Samsonov is getting just $1.8 million on a one-year deal in Toronto, after which he'll still be a restricted free agent.
The other big news is Calgary choosing to take Matthew Tkachuk to club-elected salary arbitration. That means he's now ineligible for an offer sheet and can't hold out — like William Nylander did with Toronto back in the day. The Flames may only get Tkachuk on a one-year deal, after which he'll become an unrestricted free agent. But they will have cost certainty no later than August 11, the last day of the arbitration hearing schedule. And while they're currently OK for cap space thanks to not having to pay Johnny Gaudreau, their RFAs Andrew Mangiapane and Oliver Kylington both filed for player-elected arbitration. They won't be at Tkachuk's $9 million-plus level, but they'll both earn raises from their previous cap hits of $2.425 million and $750,000, respectively.
At 25, Kylington finally blossomed into a full-time top-four defense role last season, with Chris Tanev as his frequent partner. Taken late in the second round in 2015, he was a long-term draft-and-develop project who is now ready to get paid.
Mangiapane was drafted even later in the same year — in the sixth round. His goal-scoring promise has been on display for awhile now, but he had a true breakout last season with 35 goals.
Mangiapane's stat line is actually pretty similar to Adrian Kempe (35-19-54), who's also about the same age. Kempe just re-upped with L.A. for four years at $5.5 million per season, so that's probably a reasonable comparable as both sides try to strike a deal before their arbitration hearing.
If the Flames and Tkachuk do end up signing a one-year deal, it would make sense for both sides to start exploring trade possibilities in the wake of last week's disappointment with Gaudreau. As I've been writing this blog,
The Athletic has just posted a story saying that Tkachuk's team has informed the Flames that he won't be re-signing long term. So he's now a big trade chip in the marketplace.
That's probably not great for J.T. Miller's trade value. Tkachuk doesn't play centre, but he's nearly five years younger — still just 24! He has more games played than anyone from his draft class — just ahead of Patrik Laine and Auston Matthews — and his 104 points last season were eighth overall in the NHL, five points ahead of Miller.
So Tkachuk's role isn't identical to Miller's. But his age, production and durability could make him a very tempting target for a club that has the assets and cap space to engineer a big trade and offer a long-term extension.
It's a bit ironic that after years of lamenting how the Canucks could have selected Tkachuk instead of Olli Juolevi back in 2015 draft, now he is an elite player in the perfect age range to fit with the Canucks core as they look to build to their next peak.
I'm guessing Vancouver is not on Tkachuk's preferred list of destinations. But it's amusing to imagine, for a second, after the Flames' big raid of Canucks talent two years back.
This is all a preamble to another story from The Athletic —
Harman Dayal's new interview with Miller's agent, Brian Bartlett.
After nobody made the Canucks an offer they couldn't refuse to part with Miller at the draft — and with UFA Nazem Kadri still sitting on the open market as an unrestricted free agent, presumably available to any contending team that's willing to pay him, Bartlett sounds like a man who's realizing that Miller's best deal may end up coming from Vancouver. Job 1 could be to do his best to maximize that offer.
"I do think there’s a realistic path for an extension with the Canucks," Bartlett said. "J.T. loves it in Vancouver. He feels like the team is improving, he loved his role there, his family likes the city.
"He would be on board with an extension. The part that we can't answer is at what value or level the team places on him. From our end, from J.T.'s end, there’s a path forward on an extension but it takes two to tango, I guess."
Canucks management has previously said that it wouldn't rule out the possibility of bringing Miller back, if it made sense within their overall budget. As things currently stand, next summer will also see Bo Horvat potentially hitting unrestricted free agency and second contracts needed for Andrei Kuzmenko (UFA) and Nils Hoglander (RFA).
After 2023-24, Jason Dickinson, Tanner Pearson and Tyler Myers come off the books, while Elias Pettersson's bridge contract will expire.
If the Canucks can get through these next two summers, they should start to get more wiggle room. While giving his state of the union address at the beginning of the Stanley Cup Final, NHL commissioner
Gary Bettman said "within two, possibly creeping into three years, we anticipate resuming the more regular increases that people had been growing to expect from the salary cap."
Bartlett isn't as high profile as some of the other agents in the NHL. But he's second-generation — he and his brother Scott work with their father, Steve Bartlett, who started what was originally called Sports Consulting Group and eventually morphed into Bartlett Hockey in 1984.
Brian is a former player, with a law degree from Boston University. He joined the family business in 2005, so he's closing in on two decades of experience himself.
According to
PuckPedia, Brian currently represents 24 NHL players. Top names on his client list include Cale Makar, Justin Faulk, Bryan Rust and Blake Coleman.
Vancouver Canucks Blogger • 
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