It has taken awhile for the Vancouver Canucks to get back to where they were in net during their Presidents' Trophy years a decade ago — with an acclaimed veteran netminder and a promising heir apparent.
Canucks' general manager Jim Benning made it clear at his season-ending media availability on Tuesday that he wants to have two good goalies as the foundation of his team next season. But as we saw with Roberto Luongo and Cory Schneider back in that day, maintaining that balance comes with its own set of challenges.
And in addition to managing salaries and playing time, this edition of the goalie dilemma also includes the spectre of the 2021 expansion draft, where only one veteran netminder will be able to be protected.
Nevertheless, Benning indicated that his first offseason priority is to try to get a deal done to keep the potential unrestricted free agent Markstrom in the fold.
"Jacob's an important guy in our group because he's a leader," he said. "He was our MVP over the course of the regular season. So we're going to try to figure out a way that makes sense for us and that makes Jacob and his agent happy, to try to figure out a deal to get him signed.
"We want him back. And we're going to start working on that this week."
Benning said he'd already spoken with Markstrom's agent on Monday. And the clock is ticking fast. After I speculated in the last blog that the league might push the date for free agency back, instead it has been moved up.
Instead of Canada Day, the Free Agent Frenzy is set for the Friday of Thanksgiving weekend.
Over last weekend,
Thomas Drance and Rick Dhaliwal collaborated on a story for
The Athletic that included a bunch of juicy "What we're hearing" tidbits — always interesting when the well-connected Dhaliwal is involved.
As far as Markstrom goes, the article acknowledges that the goalie wants to stay in Vancouver and this might be the best situation for him professionally, in terms of both the support that he gets from Travis Green and Ian Clark and that fact that he should have a good chance to win behind the Canucks' rapidly developing young core.
But the two sides weren't able to reach an agreement on a contract extension even before the pandemic complicated matters. And from Markstrom's camp, "there is an understanding that they may have to be willing to bend on no-movement protection."
Benning backed up that idea on the radio, later on Tuesday.
Sounds good in principle, but I feel like this is just kicking the ball down the road, with extremely dangerous potential results. If the Canucks are doing well next season, can you imagine the arguments in this city about whether or not, or how, to cut ties with Markstrom or Demko shortly before the playoffs?
While Benning made it clear that he wants Markstrom to return, he also sounded absolutely tickled when asked about Thatcher Demko's performance last week against the Vegas Golden Knights.
"It was nice to see him get a chance and rise to the occasion," he said. "We've spent a lot of time with his development as a player and I know Ian Clark's worked really hard with him. So, for him to come in and to see him play that well, it's good for everybody involved."
I kicked myself after the presser for not asking for clarification on what happened with Mikey DiPietro, who was training in Vancouver during the return to play but suddenly declared Unfit To Play last week, after Markstrom was injured. DiPietro had a good season last year in Utica — and his 2017 draft contemporary, Jake Oettinger, saw his first-ever NHL action on Tuesday night in the third period of the Dallas Stars' 3-0 loss to the Vegas Golden Knights.
If DiPietro can be a legitimate young backup on an entry-level contract, I think the organization needs to make a decision on Markstrom or Demko, and maximize the return they can extract from whichever player leaves the fold. After he was unable to trade Luongo at the 2013 deadline — the infamous "my contract sucks" moment — Mike Gillis recovered very well a few months later, when he deal Cory Schneider for the first-round pick that turned into Bo Horvat at the 2013 draft.
If Markstrom can be re-signed, is the time ripe for a Demko deal, while his profile is so high?
There has been lots of talk about the glut of quality UFA goaltenders that will be on the market this summer in addition to Markstrom — with Robin Lehner and Braden Holtby leading the list. Goalies like Matt Murray and Freddie Anderson are also on the trade block, but I would assume that a 24-year-old Demko, and his $1.05 million salary for next season, would be a very appealing trade chip for a few organizations.
Asked about Markstrom's playoff injury — believed to be to his groin — Benning said that the big Swede had been back skating and there was hope that he could have potentially gotten back between the pipes during the conference final if the Canucks had advanced.
As far as skaters go, Benning had enough praise for Tyler Toffoli that it certainly sounds like he'd bring him back if he could — and Toffoli seems open to the idea.
Benning was quick to give Toffoli credit for returning from the injury that we believe was a high ankle sprain in half the time that was originally projected.
"He could have given us more, maybe from the scoring perspective," Benning admitted. "When we traded for him, that's where we were hoping for. But then to realize that he when he was back playing so early with the injury he had — he was still good along the walls, went to the front of the net, played hard. I think he was hampered by playing a little bit hurt."
It's hard to imagine the club finding a way to re-sign both Markstrom and Toffoli — especially when it's not even guaranteed that they'll get the green light to spend to the cap ceiling in these troubled economic times.
One forward who did not get the same light touch from Benning is RFA Jake Virtanen, who finished the playoffs with two goals and one assist, averaging 11:16 of ice time.
When Virtanen is on his game, his size and speed should have been tailor-made to make him impactful in the postseason. Instead, he was nearly invisible in Edmonton.
The Abbotsford boy may have hit the end of his hometown road, especially if there's a trade to be made before he takes the team to arbitration during this offseason.
Vancouver Canucks Blogger • 
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