Canucks Roundtable: Predicting next year’s opening night roster

Jamey Vinnick – Contributor

One of the questions that has loomed around the Vancouver Canucks all year long is what the future holds for a team that has seen a year of turmoil. Between the head-scratching decisions by Jim Benning, the poor start to the season, the injury to Pettersson and most recently the COVID outbreak, it has been anything but drama-free in Vancity this season.

And there is still a lot of uncertainty to come. Vancouver is pressed right up against the cap and still will have to figure out a way to re-sign Pettersson and Hughes while also upgrading a roster with significant holes.

So what may that look like? Well, the front office is going to have to get creative. Micheal Ferland and Jay Beagle will likely be on LTIR, which keeps them from counting against the Canucks cap. Brandon Sutter and Edler are off the books, and the Canucks could look to find a way to bury portions of Loui Eriksson and Roussel’s contracts in the minors and move Virtanen.

In this scenario, the Canucks do exactly that. They limit the cap hit on Eriksson and Roussel and incentivize Seattle to select Virtanen in the expansion draft. That allows Vancouver to re-sign Pettersson and Hughes for 8 million apiece and Juolevi for 850,000.

The Canucks also bring back Travis Boyd and Vesey on the cheap as serviceable bottom-six forwards. Podkolzin comes overseas as well, and the Canucks use the added cap space to bring in Jon Merrill, a reliable veteran blueliner.

The bottom pairing of Juolevi and Jack Rathbone might have some serious growing pains early on, but each still has enough upside to make it work.

Lind and Gadjovich have paid their dues in the AHL and are cheap options to step into the Canuck lineup as everyday players. The results may not be there immediately, but this does offer the possibility to set the Canucks up for the future, getting young guys some game action.

Bill Huan – Site Expert

The lineup I’ve constructed isn’t what I want to see, but what I think is mostly to happen. Virtanen is gone either via the expansion draft or through a trade, opening up about $2.5 million in cap room to allow the team to re-sign most of its free agents.

The Canucks will need to squeeze out every penny of cap space to fill out its 23 man roster, beginning by retaining Hamonic and Sutter while signing Podkolzin and Lind to entry-level deals.

The only new face would be a bottom-pairing right-handed defenceman, and I went with Zach Bogosian here due to his veteran presence and experience (Jani Hakanpaa could also be a fit). This is far from a playoff team and might be even worse than this year’s squad, but that’s what happens when inefficient contracts are given out like candy.

Vancouver will ultimately need to wait until the 2022-23 season for their window to open, if it ever does.

Final thoughts…

The money will be tight, but still, a lot of things could happen to this Canucks roster this summer. What do you think Canucks Nation? Do you have any predictions for next season’s opening night roster? Let us know in the comments.