Team adds pieces it hopes will make it more competitive in tough Pacific Division
The Vancouver Canucks clearly had a game plan heading into the first day of National Hockey League free agency. And to their credit, they appear to have stuck to it. The club showed discipline with its reduced spending capacity limiting both dollar and term in the signings of defensemen Carson Soucy and Ian Cole along with depth centre Teddy Blueger.
Soucy was the team's largest splash in the free agent waters landing a three-year deal worth $3.25M per season. While Cole ($3M) and Blueger ($1.9M) each agreed to one year contracts. Without question, all three players were added with the intention of bolstering the league's worst penalty kill from last season.
The Canucks were 32nd in the NHL killing just 71.6% of all short-handed situations. The team was better in the 36-games under Rick Tocchet, but at 78.4% were still 21st in the league over that span. So it was no surprise the Canucks made upgrading their penalty kill a priority.
The hope is that the newcomers along with Filip Hronek, acquired from Detroit in a March trade, will give the Canucks a more robust presence while a man short. The club is also helping that Ilya Mikheyev can return to form after knee surgery and provide key penalty killing utility.
It's worth noting that the Canucks felt they had spent significantly on the penalty kill a year ago when they committed to both Mikheyev and Curtis Lazar. Mikheyev got injured in the preseason and was never at his best prior to being shutdown for the season in January. While Lazar, signed as a centre, never found a fit in the middle in Vancouver and ultimately was dealt to New Jersey months after signing with the Canucks. So simply throwing money at the issue doesn't necessarily solve it.
The Canucks should be better with the additions of Soucy, Cole and Blueger. But make no mistake, all three are complementary pieces. As their price points suggest, these are not game changers. The hope is that they are upgrades on the players the team in place last season. And perhaps they will be.
Soucy will likely be offered the opportunity to partner with Hronek and form a solid second pair while Cole could find himself in the plum position of playing alongside Quinn Hughes. If that's how things shake out, that could very well be the Canucks top four to start next season. Again, it may be an upgrade on the various combinations that comprised the team's top four at any point last season, but will it grade out as a legitimate top four by NHL standards?
For his part, Blueger should be able to chip in offensively in a third-line capacity although some of that will depend on his wingers. He registered a career-best 28 points in 65 games in Pittsburgh in 2021-22. Ideally, top teams would like a little more of a bottom line from a true third-line centre and maybe Blueger will level up. But his real contribution is likely to come on the defensive side of the puck winning face-offs and shoring up the penalty kill.
Based on the work completed by the hockey club Saturday, the Canucks have reason to believe they'll be better next season. But so much of that hope remains on the shoulders of the players already in place. They'll once again need star performances from Elias Pettersson, Quinn Hughes and Thatcher Demko. They'll also require Andrei Kuzmenko to back up his strong first NHL season with another, will need JT Miller to remain a top point producer as his new contract takes hold and will hope Ilya Mikheyev regains full health and is ready for the start of training camp in September.
However, the questions that existed about the likes of Brock Boeser, Conor Garland, Nils Hoglander and Vasili Podkolzin all still linger. And nothing the team did on the first day of free agency changes any of those conversations. Simply put, the Canucks likely need three of those players to take significant strides offensively to help this club close the gap in the tough Pacific Division and Western Conference.
Due to cap constraints, the Canucks are likely to start into the season with a handful of unproven players in depth roles on defence. Only time will tell if they can hold up their end of the bargain to push this outfit forward.
The Canucks will also need 10-15 wins from the back-up goaltending position -- whether that is from one individual or by committee. And that could be a challenge.
Perhaps an upgrade in penalty killing alone will help them win a handful of hockey games next season. That seemed to be the strategy as the NHL's free agent period started. The Canucks did well to address a couple of areas of need on Saturday and they did so in a manner that shouldn't hamper future moves. So for that they should be applauded.
However, it is fair to wonder if the team has done enough to put itself in playoff contention. The feeling here is that there is still significant work to be done in that regard.