Should the Canucks sign defenceman Nikita Tryamkin?
The Yekaterinburg Avtomobilist were eliminated from the KHL playoffs last week, opening the door for Vancouver Canucks general manager, Jim Benning, to swoop in and potentially offer hulking defender, Nikita Tryamkin, a new contract.
According to Elliotte Friedman, the Canucks are already planning to reach out to the 26-year-old. They want to see where his head is at, and what his plans are for the future.
The last time Vancouver checked in on the situation, Tryamkin seemed to be in good spirits about returning to the NHL. But given the fact that the Canucks were in a cap-crunch with higher priority players awaiting new contracts, Tryamkin grew impatient and decided to ink a one-year contract to stay overseas. This all coming three months after his agent, Todd Diamond, was in deep conversations about a return to Vancouver.
Nearly a year later… what’s going to happen? Tryamkin is free to negotiate and the Canucks still retain the rights to the 6-foot-7 blueliner, but only for the next year. After the 2021-22 season, Tryamkin shifts from being a restricted free agent to an unrestricted one.
For now, it’s just a conversation between two parties, but judging from how badly it seemed Tryamkin wanted to bolt back to the NHL last year, a re-up on Canada’s west coast could very well come to fruition.
Looking ahead to the Canucks offseason situation and it’s clear that — like last offseason — the Canucks will once again have players in need of new contracts that will be considered to be higher priority players.
Elias Pettersson, Quinn Hughes, and Thatcher Demko all need new deals. And with the way they have been playing as of late, extending the trio could cost Vancouver over $20 million annually. But what about the blueline? Returning to the fold will be Tyler Myers, Nate Schmidt and rookie Olli Juolevi.
This leaves holes to be filled on the back end, and Tryamkin could be a player to fill one of those roles at a much cheaper price. As good as Alex Edler has been for the organization over the course of his lengthy career, he’ll be 35 and nearing retirement. Is there a spot to be filled there? Would the Canucks really walk away from arguably their most consistent and best defender of all time?
Tryamkin is 10 years younger than Edler and as Friedman said, the guy plays with an edge. Now I’m not saying that he’s the answer the Vancouver’s problems on defence, but if the interest to come back to Vancouver is still there for the monster Russian, then by all means the Canucks should give him another shot.
What do they have to lose? Benning doesn’t see the team being truly competitive again for another two years, so why not give Tryamkin a one or two-year “show me” contract? Especially if you can sort out a deal in the $1-2 million range, chances are it’s a winning situation.
“He never lost hope,” Diamond said last year. “He’s got a lot of pride and always wanted to come back.” But is that still the case? Tryamkin put up 15 points (three goals, 12 assists) through 60 contests in 2020-21 and still plays a very physical game that would benefit the Vancouver blueline.
Next. The Canucks need to scratch Benn and play Juolevi. dark
What do you think Canucks Nation? Should the Canucks take another crack at Tryamkin?