Canucks: It was best to let Jacob Markstrom walk away

Jacob Markstrom has moved on. It was best for the Vancouver Canucks not to re-sign him

The Jacob Markstrom era is over. The Vancouver Canucks chose to let the two-time team MVP walk away in free agency. Markstrom signed with the Calgary Flames on Friday. It was a six-year contract worth $6 million per season. It also included a no-move clause.

The Canucks were wise not to re-sign Markstrom. With limited cap room, it was going to be tough to reach Markstrom’s demands. There was also the expansion draft they had to consider and if Markstrom did re-sign with the Canucks. His NMC would prevent him from being exposed to the Seattle Kraken expansion draft and would have let Thatcher Demko be exposed instead. Fortunately, they solved that dilemma by signing Braden Holtby a two-year deal with no NMC.

Markstrom will be 31 in January and he is very good now but his decline is inevitable.  Goalies tend to decline at a rapid rate in their 30s. It might not happen soon for Markstrom but it will happen and the final years of his contract will be tough to watch.

A massive reason why Markstrom rose to greatness was goaltending coach Ian Clark. His tough love and methods turned him into an all-star. With the Flames, he will be under the tutelage of  Jordan Sigalet. I’m not going to pretend I know about Sigalet and his coaching methods but it will be interesting to see if he maintains his form under a new goaltending coach.

Honestly, Thatcher Demko is the future in net and he has shown lots of promise especially in those final three games against the Vegas Golden Knights in the playoffs. Ian Clark could work his magic on Demko the same way he worked it on Markstrom. Next season, Demko will likely be splitting the net with Holtby.

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Looking back at Markstrom’s time with the Canucks

Markstrom came to Vancouver in the Roberto Luongo trade from Florida on March 4, 2014. He was mainly a backup goalie posting average numbers. However, things changed early in the 2018-19 season and his great run of form started.

In the last two seasons, he was making jaw-dropping saves and was the best player on the ice for many nights keeping the Canucks close in games.  He was a huge reason why the Canucks made the playoffs and beat the St. Louis Blues for their first playoff series win since 2011.

His best moment was probably the 49 save performance against the Chicago Blackhawks on Sedin night. Markstrom leaves Vancouver with 99 wins with the Canucks for fifth all time.

Canucks fans are surely going to miss Markstrom but there should be no bitterness towards him because he signed for a division rival and wanted term and money. He earned the new contract and 100% deserves it but it was time to move on and look forward towards the future.

I wish nothing but the best for Markstrom and am grateful for his tenure in Vancouver. As the old saying goes,  all good things must come to an end.

Conclusion

With Markstrom and Chris Tanev going to the Flames (the Tanev news was broken while I was on the second paragraph on this article.), it will be interesting to see if the Canucks re-sign Tyler Toffoli and Troy Stecher as well as what is going on with Jake Virtanen and arbitration. Of course, Vancouver could be in on some of the remaining free agents as well particularly right-handed defencemen.