Canucks sign prospect Jack Rathbone to three-year contract

The Vancouver Canucks have finally signed defenceman Jack Rathbone to an entry-level contract. Here’s what he brings to the table.

Following months of speculation, the Vancouver Canucks have signed prized defensive prospect Jack Rathbone to a three-year, entry-level contract.

The news was broken on Tuesday afternoon by Rick Dhaliwal of TSN 1040 and The Athletic, with the Canucks’ confirming it soon after.

Rathbone, 21, was selected in the fourth round (95th overall) in the 2017 NHL entry draft. The 5-foot-11 rearguard has played the last two seasons at Harvard University.

Because he was signed within this week’s two-day signing period, the Canucks are burning the first year of Rathbone’s ELC. He will not be eligible to participate in their play-in series against the Minnesota Wild and will not travel with the team to Edmonton, per Dhaliwal:

Rathbone has been an enigmatic prospect for Canucks fans in the three years since he was drafted. Selected from the Dexter School in the US high school league, he made the unusual decision to defer joining the USHL and play his draft-plus-one at Dexter to support his younger brother, who is on the autism spectrum, during his first year of high school.

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In 2019-20, he scored seven goals and 24 assists for 31 points in 28 games, an excellent number for a player of his position.

His signing quells concerns that he might follow the route of fellow Harvard alumni Jimmy Vesey, Adam Fox and Alex Kerfoot, and wait until next summer to become an unrestricted free agent and sign elsewhere.

Rathbone is known for being a slick, smooth-skating, undersized defenceman, much like Quinn Hughes.

He is known as a very smart player with a knack for passing, making him the ideal power play quarterback should he develop to his full potential. Rathbone served as Harvard’s top PP specialist this season following the 2019 departure of Fox.

Many scouts consider him to be NHL-ready with top-four potential and a shot at stardom. Within the past year, Rathbone has quickly supplanted Olli Juolevi as the Canucks’ second best young blueliner behind Hughes.

This signing is very timely for both Rathbone and the Canucks. Last week, the US Ivy League announced that all its fall sports would be cancelled as schools go online due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Without a team to return to in the fall, not signing could have resulted in Rathbone’s development stalling, and with the future of the American Hockey League uncertain as well, the Canucks present the likeliest opportunity for ice time.

Furthermore, the Canucks are in a cap crunch with little room to improve their blueline by next season. The losses of Chris Tanev and Oscar Fantenberg to free agency are likely. If Rathbone is as NHL-ready as expected, he will be able to slot in and probably be a more effective player than his alternative, Nikita Tryamkin.

However, if Canucks coaching staff decide that he needs more time to develop, he can be loaned to a team in Europe, where he will be able to play top minutes. Either way, this signing is a big win for the Canucks and their future.