With Vancouver Canucks goalie Thatcher Demko set to become a restricted free agent after this season, how much might he command on his next contract?
The Vancouver Canucks have crucial contract negotiations coming up with some of their young stars, particularly Elias Pettersson and Quinn Hughes.
It’s important to keep in mind, though, that Thatcher Demko is also set to become a restricted free agent after this season, which is a storyline that has gotten lost in the shuffle due to Pettersson and Hughes’ extension talks.
Goalies are the hardest to pinpoint when it comes to their performance and value given the volatility of the position. We’ve seen rookies such as Matt Murray come out of the blue and lead his team to consecutive Stanley Cup victories while Vezina winners like Sergei Bobrovsky sign massive contracts only to become one of the worst statistical netminders in the league.
With that said, it’s still worthwhile to try and project how much Demko’s next contract might be worth, as this could have major ramifications on how much cap space the team will have left to sign Pettersson and Hughes.
In order to do this, we will need to find some comparables for him, and I’ve listed a few other RFA goalies who signed extensions this offseason:
Here are some comparables for Demko's next deal pic.twitter.com/JyhaRYtKpj
— Bill Huan (@bill_huan) December 29, 2020
As you can see, all three of his comparables have more experience while putting up better stats as well. However, I doubt this will heavily influence the team’s negotiations with Demko, since his performance this season will be the ultimate deciding factor in how much he makes.
Another potential complication is the fact that Demko is set to become a UFA only two years after signing his next deal, and that will affect contract talks as well.
If he takes the reigns from Braden Holtby this season and establishes himself as Vancouver’s undisputed number one goalie, Demko could sign a deal with an annual average value of around $3 million for three to four years.
This would buy a couple of his UFA seasons and drive the price up since he’s eligible to become a UFA at the end of the 2022-23 campaign. He might also elect to sacrifice some dollars and become a UFA the first chance he gets, which could see Demko inking a deal for two years at around $2.75 million per.
On the other hand, if Demko shows that he isn’t ready to be a full-time starter yet by the end of 2020-21, he would lose a lot of leverage. As a result, the team would likely buy a few of his UFA seasons while also signing him for cheap, perhaps something close to $2.25 million per season for three to four years.
Ultimately, it all depends on how well Demko performs this year and whether or not he’ll establish himself as a full-fledged number one goalie by the end of the season. What do you think, Canucks fans? Let me know if you agree in the comments below!