What should the Canucks do with Tanner Pearson in free agency?

Going into the 2021 free agency period, the Vancouver Canucks face an interesting decision as it pertains to 28-year old left winger Tanner Pearson.

Throughout the initial part of the 2021 Canucks campaign, much attention has been directed towards the decisions that general manager Jim Benning made during the off-season. Benning has been highly scrutinized for the decisions to let Tyler Toffoli and Troy Stecher walk, choosing instead to pay Jake Virtanen for his lone goal in 18 games.

Benning’s free agency failures are no secret to this point, and once again there will be intrigue surrounding a UFA this offseason, that being Pearson. Pearson experienced a rebirth in Vancouver, and since being acquired in February of 2019, actually leads the Canucks in goals.

Pearson has been solid at even strength this season with a 1.8 relative corsi for and eight of his nine points coming at five on five. His nine points isn’t a bad mark considering how abhorrent the Canucks’ second powerplay unit has been. On top of that, he has proven to be a good fit with Bo Horvat and Nils Hoglander on the Canucks second line, with the addition of Hoglander helping the Canucks solidify the revolving door on Horvat’s right side.

So the question looms of what to do with Pearson in free agency. Obviously, the contracts for Elias Pettersson, Quinn Hughes and Thatcher Demko take priority for Vancouver but the Canucks can’t ignore depth pieces like Pearson.

But that is where things get tricky. While the Canucks will be free of Brandon Sutter, Sven Baertschi and Alexander Edler’s contracts, they are still going to be pressed up against the cap. It’s hard to say for sure how much Pettersson, Demko and Hughes will command but it’s probably going to eat up just about all the space Vancouver has available.

This is where Vancouver is going to have to make some decisions. The obvious move would be to figure out a way to get rid of Loui Eriksson’s cap hit but that isn’t the only option. Moving Virtanen’s contract is a possibility as would be trying to shed the deals of Jay Beagle and Antoine Roussel.

And there is also the factor of the Expansion Draft, where we’ll likely see some sort of salary taken off the Canucks’ hands, Braden Holtby being the most likely scenario.

But letting Pearson walk can’t be ignored as a possibility. In all likelihood, Vasili Podkolzin will take over on the Horvat line moving Pearson to a third-line scoring role. The question then becomes, how much is Vancouver willing to pay for a player of that role? Benning obviously hasn’t hesitated to throw money at bottom-six forwards, but Pearson actually fits the mould of an ideal third-liner far more than the guys they currently have signed.

In a perfect world, the Canucks can re-sign Pearson on a friendly deal that allows them to sign their priority free agents. But if the cap room isn’t there, then Pearson will likely be yet another casualty of the albatross contracts the Canucks are stuck with.