Vancouver Canucks: Learning the Market for Free Agency

The TRADE MARKET: Salaries, Rights, and Picks

The trade market, as already seen, has set the price for moving contracts. A second-round pick clears $4.5 million in cap hit.

As for a fifth-round pick, it apparently is worth a week-long negotiating right with an unrestricted free agent. That was the case when the Dallas Stars made the decision to acquire the Arizona Coyotes’ fifth-round pick in exchange for negotiating rights to UFA defenseman Alex Goligoski.

The rumor also is that the bid for Steven Stamkos‘s UFA negotiation rights will take far more to get. The Lightning did say that they will make one more offer year next week, but the rumor also states that the price is a 2nd-round pick and a young, NHL ready winger. The Canucks will not pursue, hopefully.

A Market for Hamhuis’s Rights?

Comparing Alex Goligoski to Dan Hamhuis may be a stretch on the Canucks’ end, but with all due respect to Jim Benning’s efforts to let Hamhuis stay, the 33-year-old seems like he does not have a future with the Canucks.

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So is there a market for Hamhuis if Goligoski, the 30-year-old 35-point producer, had one?

The circumstances surrounding Goligoski’s trade, however, is unique. There was no chatter about a competing bid for Goligoski. It seems that Arizona’s new GM is trying to secure foundational pieces for the blueline even if it means giving up low-end picks.

As no other teams seem to be headed in that direction, you can expect Hamhuis;s rights to stay put. Besides, if Goligoski is worth a fifth-round pick, what is Hamhuis worth when he is three years older and 20 points less productive?

The Salary Dumps are Happening

It was Marc Savard’s $4.5 million salary that cost the Panthers a second-round pick. Then the Chicago Blackhawks paid the price for Bryan Bickell‘s $4.0 million contract. The Blackhawks gave up Teuvo Teravainen and Bickell for a second-round pick and a third-round pick.

Teravainen? There’s the potential leading scorer for the Carolina Hurricanes in five years’ time.

With that in mind, I wonder how much more a Pavel Datsyuk contract will demand at $7.5 million?

Courtesy of John Shannon of Sportsnet, the anticipation is that the Red Wings and the Russian star will part ways. With the Red Wings looking to add Steven Stamkos with Datsyuk’s departure, the salary has got to be moved.

So can the Canucks take advantage and eat some of that contract in exchange for a pick or a young player? Teemu Pulkkinen and Tomas Jurco have been floated around. If the Canucks indeed do buyout both Higgins and Burrows, they will have $2.67 million more, pushing the projected salary space to $9.5 million for the Canucks.

If the Canucks want around $7 million going into free agency, they could eat up half of Datsyuk’s contract in exchange for a 2nd-round pick or so. I don’t think that Jurco has a fit in Vancouver where the defensive game from the forwards is so stressed.

TCW Beichler’s Take: Trading for Datsyuk is POSSIBLE

But Pulkinnen, that’s a name that Jim Benning could like. The RFA has yet to be signed, but the Canucks could look to give the 24-year-old forward a “prove it” deal that is inexpensive.

With Ken Holland now saying that he won’t trade away prized prospects to make a salary-dump happen, it will surely be interesting if the Canucks opt to take picks in return.

For the Canucks, a trade in this neighborhood is going to hurt them cap-wise and free-agency wise. Jim Benning likes the pieces that he has, and a trade will surely cut into the cap space.

Next: MARKET: Colorado and Edmonton