After an overtime win on Friday night, the Tampa Bay Lightning have a chance to win the 2020 Stanley Cup on Saturday.
And yet — a big photo of Jake Virtanen sits atop Sportsnet's NHL page on Saturday morning.
With Bobby Ryan no longer in the picture, the @Senators have a grand total of three NHL forwards under contract.@lukefoxjukebox discusses the fallout from Ryan's buyout and more in the latest Quick Shifts ⤵️ https://t.co/1lQmvNz65r
Gone are the days when Canucks fans could complain about not getting attention from national sports media. Sportsnet and TSN now both prioritize all seven Canadian teams, and the Canucks earn their fair share of ink — particularly this year, when they were the last team standing from north of the border in the playoffs.
Kevin Bieksa has spent the last couple of months sharing compelling Canucks stories with the national audience on Hockey Night in Canada, and the likeable young stars who make up the Canucks' core don't hurt, either.
Elias Pettersson continues to prove himself to be a master of social media.
I'll be back in Vancouver soon, and will be keeping my eyes peeled for a wiry blonde juggling on a unicycle when I'm on the seawall.
In the last blog, I talked about this year's buyout window, which opened on Friday with the announcement that the Ottawa Senators are parting ways with Bobby Ryan. No new names were added to the buyout list on Saturday.
Virtanen's being discussed because he's a restricted free agent with arbitration rights — who happened to score 18 goals last season, with a team-high six of them being game winners.
Jim Benning admitted that he was disappointed with Virtanen's playoff performance — just three points in 16 games as his ice time dropped to 11:16 from 13:05 in the regular season. But if you're Jake's agent, those regular-season offensive numbers could make for a compelling case in arbitration.
Here's the list of upcoming critical offseason dates:
• Sept. 25 – Oct. 8: first buyout window opens
• Oct. 6-7: 2020 NHL Draft
• Oct. 7: deadline for qualifying offers for restricted free agents
• Oct. 9: free agency opens
• Oct. 10: deadline for player-elected arbitration
• Oct. 11: deadline for club-elected arbitration
• Oct. 18: expiration of qualifying offers
As a reminder, Jake's not alone. The other Canucks roster players who are set to become RFAs with arbitration rights are Troy Stecher, Zack MacEwen and Tyler Motte. Adam Gaudette has 10.2(c) status, which essentially makes him an RFA without arbitration rights, and who can't be signed to an offer sheet.
If the Canucks issue Virtanen his qualifying offer, he'll immediately become eligible to file for arbitration. If that happens, the Canucks will be stuck with that salary, unless it's more than $4,538,958. If the award exceeds that number, they can walk away, which would make Jake an unrestricted free agent.
If they don't issue a qualifying offer, Virtanen would also become a UFA.
In the six years since Jake was drafted, he has never been much of a stress on the Canucks' salary-cap situation. When his entry-level contract expired at the end of the 2017-18 season, he had just completed his first full season back in Vancouver after his year in Utica, putting up 10 goals and 20 points. That earned him a two-year deal that paid him $1 million in 2018-19, then $1.5 million last year.
$100,000 of that salary came in the form of a signing bonus, so the Canucks must match Virtanen's 2019-20 base salary of $1.4 million if they wish to retain his rights.
Over the past few years, we have seen the club choose not to issue qualifying offers to some young players. It was just last year that the team didn't qualify Ben Hutton off his $2.4 million base salary. He ended up signing a one-year deal with the Kings at $1.5 million and is set to become a UFA again in two weeks.
Before that, the Canucks worked out a deal with Derrick Pouliot's agent where, rather than qualify him and give him arbitration rights, they agreed to let him become a UFA, but then signed him to a new deal for the 2018-19 season. When that contract expired, they declined to issue him a qualifying offer again. He found a new home with the St. Louis Blues on a two-way deal that saw him spend most of the year with the San Antonio Rampage.
This never-ending 2019-20 season makes it seem like way more than one year since Pouliot and Hutton were regulars on the Vancouver blue line, doesn't it??
But when I look at how the Canucks have moved forward without them, it reminds me that, as far as Virtanen goes, this too shall pass. His size and speed make him unique among Vancouver forwards, but there are plenty of other wingers in the mix, who could be ready to step in before long.
The last time I saw Daniel and Henrik was a couple of weeks after their jersey retirement ceremony, as they were shepherding a gaggle of boys around B.C. Place ahead of the Whitecaps' home opener on Feb. 29. That was one of the last times I was in a jam-packed elevator. Oh, the things we used to do!
Like other parents, I'm sure they've had their challenges, navigating their kids' school and sports needs. And they haven't had their usual outlet of endurance races to blow off steam — or to pop up on our social feeds every once in awhile.
So — best wishes to them. This is still one of my favourite memories.
Vancouver Canucks Blogger • 
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