Jason Dickinson's arbitration hearing with the Vancouver Canucks is now set for August 20, according to the schedule released
Thursday by the NHL Players' Association.
But as we know, most players will settle on contract terms with their teams before their hearing date. We've seen three settlements off the list so far: goaltender Adin Hill signed with San Jose for two years at a cap hit of $2.175 million
according to CapFriendly. Defenseman Victor Mete took a one-year deal with Ottawa at $1.2 million, and forward Zach Sanford agreed to a one-year deal with St. Louis at $2 million.
Sanford's a winger, while Dickinson primarily plays centre. But both players are 26 and had nearly identical production last season — 16 points in 52 games for Sanford and 15 in 51 for Dickinson.
Dickinson is eligible for unrestricted free agency in 2023, so I'd assume the Canucks will try to stay away from a two-year deal that would walk him straight to the open market. I'd expect either a one-year 'prove it' deal in that low $2 million range, or a longer deal that buys some free-agency years — and gives Dickinson some security — at a somewhat higher cap hit.
As a reminder, he's coming out of a two-year deal that carried a cap hit of $1.5 million and paid him $1.6 million in real dollars last season.
Also worth noting — Iain MacIntyre of Sportsnet caught up with Travis Green this week, to talk about the Canucks' offseason changes and what he's looking forward to in 2021-22.
Jim Benning has been pushing the idea that the Canucks should be in position to return to the playoffs next season. Green acknowledges that "our long-term goals are to be in the playoffs next year," but emphasizes that result only comes from work that's put in throughout the year.
"There's definitely a process to everything," he said. "Right now as coaches, we want to get our team prepared for Game 1."
Green sounds pleased about all the personnel changes that have been made, and made no bones about the fact that inside the organization, they're trying to put the dour 2020-21 campaign behind them.
"It was a very hard season last year, emotionally, physically," he acknowledged. "Especially after the season before when we had such positive energy at the end of the year, and everyone was looking forward to the next season, last year was miserable quite honestly. I think it really left a mark on our players, on our coaches and our management team and our ownership.
"It took me a while to even have year-end meetings, just because I wanted to make sure that the message was right, and I just felt like I needed some time and I think the players needed some time to even talk about season."
He also emphasized that the players who have departed should not bear the weight of the poor results.
"I don't put any of the blame (for last season) on anyone that has left our team," he said. "I think everyone's part of the blame. As a group, we just did not have a very good season."
That's probably as good a place as any to jump off and review the players who have left and where they've landed so far.
This list is ordered by the final player stats from the 2020-21 season:
• Nate Schmidt - 15 pts in 54 games - traded to Winnipeg for a third-round pick in 2022
• Jordie Benn - 9 pts in 31 games - traded to Winnipeg at the deadline for a sixth-round pick in 2021 (Connor Lockhart); currently a UFA
• Alex Edler - 8 pts in 52 games - signed a one-year contract with Los Angeles worth $3.5 million on July 28, with a full no-move clause
• Adam Gaudette - 7 points in 33 games - traded to Chicago at the deadline for Matthew Highmore; was not qualified by the Blackhawks off his $950,000 contract but signed a new one-year deal at $997,500 on July 26
• Jake Virtanen - 5 points in 38 games - bought out on July 25; currently a UFA
• Jayce Hawryluk - 5 points in 30 games - was not qualified off his $800,000 contract; currently a UFA
• Jay Beagle - 5 points in 30 games - traded to Arizona in the Ekman-Larsson/Garland deal
• Tyler Graovac - 4 points in 14 games - signed with Dinamo Minsk in the KHL
• Antoine Roussel - 4 points in 35 games - traded to Arizona in the Ekman-Larsson/Garland deal
• Jimmy Vesey - 3 points in 24 games - UFA
• Travis Boyd - 2 points in 19 games - signed a one-year contract with Arizona worth $750,000 on August 3
• Brogan Rafferty - 1 point in 1 game - signed a one-year, one-way contract with Anaheim worth $750,000 on July 28
• Loui Eriksson - 1 point in 7 games - traded to Arizona in the Erkman-Larsson/Garland deal
• Jalen Chatfield - 1 points in 18 games - signed a one-eyear, two-way contract with Carolina on July 29, worth $750,000 at the NHL level and $225,000 at the AHL level
• Braden Holtby - 21 GP - 7-11-3 - 3.67 GAA, .889 save percentage - bought out on July 27 - signed a one-year deal worth $2 million with Dallas on July 28
• Kole Lind - 0 points in 7 games - selected by Seattle in the expansion draft
• Marc Michaelis - 0 points in 15 games - was not qualified off his $700,000 contract; currently a UFA
Let's close out today with a bit of actual hockey action, courtesy of Brock Boeser:
According to the stats page for Da Beauty League, Wednesday night's outburst brings Boeser up to nine goals and eight assists in seven games so far this season, with a shooting percentage of 30%. He's second in scoring on team Bic behind Derek Stepan (23 points in eight games), and is tied with Erik Haula for eighth overall in the league.
After eight games, Team Bic currently sits in a three-way tie for third place in the six-team league, with a 4-4 record along with Nor-Sun and Tria. Two more weeks of action remain, with games on Mondays and Wednesdays.
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