Why the Canucks want to sign Nikolay Goldobin to a two-way deal

After a tough season with the Vancouver Canucks, Nikolay Goldobin remains unsigned and in need of a contract. The stalemate is likely due to the team wanting a two-way deal.

Most Vancouver Canucks fans seem to be in agreeance that the new contract for Nikolay Goldobin should be a one-year “show me” deal, similar to the one Josh Leivo received from the Canucks earlier this offseason. Leivo’s deal carries a cap hit of $1.5 million, and from what I’ve seen and heard from others, I don’t think anyone believes Goldobin’s deal should have a higher dollar amount than Leivo’s.

To me, the perfect deal for Goldobin is a one-year deal at around the one million dollar mark –preferably at somewhere less than a million. If everyone seems to be on the same page about the dollar amount and the term of the deal being one year, then it’s simple, that’s the perfect deal.

So why hasn’t a deal been made yet? It’s important to remember that there’s more than just money and term that goes into these contracts, and I believe that the reason we haven’t seen a deal yet is because the Canucks are trying to negotiate to make Goldobin’s deal a two-way deal.

More from The Canuck Way

• Which team won the Bo Horvat trade?
• What to expect from newcomers Anthony Beauvillier, Aatu Räty
• Back to the future: How the skate uniforms became a regular Canucks’ feature night
• Canucks kick off 2023 with disappointing 6-2 loss to Islanders
• 2nd period penalty trouble sinks Canucks in 4-2 loss against Winnipeg

It’s a common misconception that the difference between a one and two-way deal is that a player can be moved freely from the AHL to the NHL without being required to clear waivers before being sent down if he’s signed to a two-year deal.

While this is technically not completely false, one and two-way contracts signify what a player will be paid by his team depending on if he is in the NHL or the AHL, and contrary to popular belief has hardly anything to do with if a player is waiver exempt.

Waiver exemption, on the other hand, is determined based on the age of a player when they sign their first NHL contract, along with how many games they have played in the league. Here is a table straight from the NHL CBA, section 13.4.

Josh Leivo for example, had a minors salary of $70,000 on his last deal signed by the Toronto Maple Leafs. Had he been sent down, however, he would still have to pass through waivers before going down to the minors, due to Leivo signing his ELC at the age of 20 (based on how old the player is on December 31st of that season). His new deal with the Canucks, however, is a one-way deal, so even if Leivo was sent down to the minors, he would still make the same amount of money as he would playing in the NHL.

Now where all of this matters. Goldobin, regardless if he signs a one or two-way deal will be required to pass through waivers if he is sent down to the Utica Comets at any point in the upcoming regular season. Even “older” players who will almost certainly be playing most of their seasons in Utica such as Justin Bailey and Tyler Graovac are all required to pass through waivers if they are sent down during the regular season. This does not apply during the preseason, which is why these types of players will likely be among the first sent down to Utica from training camp.

Now we’re getting closer to understanding why a two-way deal is the type of deal that the Canucks should strive to sign Goldobin to. They currently have 14 forwards on their roster and something’s got to give — that 14 isn’t even including Adam Gaudette, either. Canucks’ head coach Travis Green was honest with Goldobin about what he needed to do this summer in order to earn his coach’s trust back and earn a spot in the Canucks’ lineup.

With the additions of Micheal Ferland and J.T. Miller, that task becomes a heck of a lot harder for Goldobin to do than it was before. There’s a very good chance that if he doesn’t impress his coaches in training camp that they send him down to the minors before the season begins, so if he’s on a two-way deal, the Canucks won’t need to pay him the same amount as if he was playing in the NHL.

So, contrary to popular belief, a two-way deal doesn’t mean that Goldobin won’t hit waivers if he’s sent down during the regular season. Instead, the two-way deal is the perfect way for the Canucks to not be forced to commit an exorbitant amount of money to a player playing in the minors.

With these recent signings, Goldobin is going to have to have the absolute best training camp of his life, because you already know that the Canucks will be more than happy to send him to Utica to develop further before getting another shot with the Canucks — especially if he is on a two-way deal. I like Goldobin, but I could very well see him start the year in Utica if he fails to do what the Canucks are asking of him.