Vancouver Canucks: Should they chase Tyler Seguin in 2019?
By Alex Hoegler
The Dallas Stars and centre Tyler Seguin are nowhere close in contract talks. If he hits free agency next year, should general manager Jim Benning chase the superstar that played for him in Boston?
If the Vancouver Canucks are going to be mentioned in the Erik Karlsson trade rumours, we may as well play the fun game and see if another 2019 free agent and franchise star would be a good fit on the west coast.
Dallas Stars centre Tyler Seguin is slated to hit the open market next summer. Per Sportsnet’s Luke Fox, the two parties haven’t had an “advancement toward a new contract,” and Seguin was openly upset about it.
“Nothing’s really going on. It’s been a little disappointing,” Seguin said, per Fox. “I thought I’d have some exciting news to talk about at BioSteel Camp…I obviously have one year left here. I’m just going to focus on that.”
So barring any significant progress between training camp and next June, it’s very likely that Seguin tests the free agent waters. Assuming Karlsson is traded and agrees to re-sign with his new team, Seguin would be the top free agent on the market.
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Would Seguin, 27 in January, be a good fit for the Canucks? General manager Jim Benning was Peter Chiarelli’s assistant when they drafted Seguin with the second pick in 2010.
And yes, Benning was also in Beantown when they made the horrendous decision to trade Seguin to the Stars.
The team that signs Seguin will be getting a dynamic playmaker and scorer in his prime. Seguin has reached the 70-point mark in each of his five years with Dallas, and he’s coming off a career-best 40-goal season.
You’re getting consistency from Seguin, who’s never missed more than 11 games in a season during his career.
Vancouver would have the room to make a play for Seguin, too. Per Capfriendly.com, the Canucks have just over $9.72 million in cap space. The contracts of Alexander Edler ($5 million), Michael Del Dotto ($3 million), and Anders Nilsson ($2.5 million), come off the books, too.
But just because they have the cap space, it doesn’t mean Vancouver should prepare to throw money at Seguin. He’s certainly looking at a contract comparable to the $77 million deal John Tavares got from the Toronto Maple Leafs this offseason.
Canucks should stay away
If the Canucks were in win-now mode, going all in for Seguin would make plenty of sense. But this is a group that’s still rebuilding (we think), and they’re several years away from contention. Not only that, but the Canucks don’t exactly need Seguin.
Bo Horvat and Elias Pettersson figure to form a dynamic 1-2 centre punch up the middle, with Adam Gaudette possibly slotting in behind them. The Canucks could have three great scorers at centre right there, so why dish out that much money to a big-time player in Seguin?
Keep in mind that by the time the Canucks enter Cup contention, Seguin would be in his 30s. Vancouver would probably be paying him top dollar to be a third line centre, behind Pettersson and Horvat.
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So even though we shouldn’t be surprised if the Canucks kick the tires on Seguin in free agency next year, don’t expect them to go after him seriously, which will be the right call. The Canucks have three young, skilled and potential superstars at centre. There is no need to throw large amounts of cash at another one.