Report: Canucks interested in UFA Ian Cole

Word is the Vancouver Canucks have their eye on pending unrestricted free agent Ian Cole

According to Rick Dhaliwal of Donnie & Dhali on CHEK 6 television, the Vancouver Canucks may be preparing to take a run at veteran blueliner Ian Cole when National Hockey League free agency opens on Saturday.

Cole is a 34-year-old left shot defenseman who played 78 games for the Tampa Lightning last season recording three goals, 17 points and 61 penalty minutes. He was third on the Bolts defenders in overall ice time behind Mikhail Sergachev and Viktor Hedman. What may be of particular interest to the Canucks, however, is that Cole led all Tampa skaters in short-handed ice time and was second only to Erik Cernak in penalty killing time per game.

The Canucks 32nd ranked penalty kill absolutely needs a boost. Cole is listed at 6'1" and 225 pounds. The former first rounder (18th overall by St. Louis in 2007) has been durable throughout his career and has missed just 15 games over the past three seasons. 

Cole has strong ties to the Canucks front office having won a pair of Stanley Cups in Pittsburgh in 2016 and 2017 when Jim Rutherford was the general manager, Patrik Allvin and Derek Clancey were in the Penguins front office and Rick Tocchet was an assistant coach. In fact, his best statistical season in the NHL came in 2016-17 when Cole posted five goals and 26 points in 81 games and added nine assists in 25 games en route to a successful title defense with the Penguins.

Even at this advanced stage of his career, Cole carried positive possession metrics across the board in Tampa Bay last season. He held a 51.6% individual Corsi, a 51.5% goal share and the Lightning controlled 53.6% of expected goals at 5-on-5 with Cole on the ice.

Cole was suspended briefly before being reinstated by the Lightning to begin the 2022-23 NHL season after on-line allegations of sexual misconduct involving a minor surfaced. The National Hockey League investigated the matter and concluded it could find no evidence to substantiate the allegations.

While price and term are likely to be factors for Cole, he is coming off an expiring one-year deal worth $3 million. It featured $2.5M in salary with a $500K signing bonus. That deal represented a $100K raise over his previous deal signed with Carolina the previous season.