Vancouver Canucks: Learning the Market for Free Agency

The buyout window is open, the trade market is hot, and the draft is just around the corner for the Vancouver Canucks.

With the offseason transaction window swinging wide open this past week, the Vancouver Canucks seem to be involved in every facet of roster management. The buyouts are happening, the draft is happening, the salaries are getting dumped, and even the UFAs are getting their contracts made into assets.

There really isn’t an offseason for the GMs, eh?

The draft is just one week away. The window for teams to talk with other teams’ UFAs about potential fits is also just one week away. Free agency is two weeks away when the buyout window also closes. Two weeks may sound like a lot of time in the modern NHL, but with so many pieces moving around, GM Jim Benning does not have room for error.

Especially with this year’s draft and free agency gearing up to be one of Vancouver’s finest, the buyout market and the trade market will need to be tested and tested thoroughly to make sure Vancouver does exceptionally well to take advantage of the opportunity.

With Sven Baertschi being resigned on Thursday and the ECHL affiliation being settled with the Alaska Aces, now the club’s absolute top priority should be addressing the buyout, the draft, and all the trade offers that Trader Jim is getting.

In wrapping up the Free Agency Friday series, let us explore what the Canucks could do in the buyout market, the trade market, and at the draft to set themselves up for a great July 1st.

Here we go, with a projected $7M in cap space as of today. That sum, unlike the ones on most popular cap-tracking websites, includes the load of to-be Canuck, Anton Rodin.

Next: BUYOUTS: The Waiting Game