The Canuck Way Mailbag: Podkolzin, Sutter’s deal, 2021 offseason, more

The Vancouver Canucks have now won three of their first four games back from their hiatus due to COVID-19, but they are still behind Calgary and Montreal for the fourth and final playoff spot in the North Division — with games in hand on every team around them, mind you.

Whether we’re looking at Vancouver’s fifteen remaining games, or ahead to next season, I am again here to answer all of your Canucks-related questions.

It’s Jim Benning, and Brandon Sutter is 32 years old, so minimum, what, five or six-year deal? With a no-trade clause, no doubt. Probably in that $3-3.5 million range that JB loves to give. All joking aside, realistically speaking, that’s not going to happen, because Benning doesn’t have the cap space.

I don’t think Sutter should be offered a contract extension with the current outlook of the Canucks cap situation. Quinn Hughes, Elias Pettersson, Olli Juolevi, and Kole Lind are all restricted free agents.

As of right now, there are only two (TWO!) NHL defencemen under contract in Vancouver next season; Tyler Myers, and Nate Schmidt. If we add Juolevi, Hughes, and hopefully Jack Rathbone to those two for next year, you still only have five. Does Jalen Chatfield, Brogan Rafferty, or newly acquired Madison Bowey take that six spot? Of those three, only Bowey is currently under contract for next year.

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If the Canucks are going to sign one of Travis Hamonic, Alex Edler, or Sutter, I’d like it to be Edler or even Hamonic.  I’m sure I can’t be the only one who thinks a defence core featuring Hughes, Rathbone, and Juolevi could be helped with a veteran.

Now, I do think Benning is going to sign Sutter, especially considering that Jay Beagle looks like he could land on the team’s LTIR to start next season. If Sutter is signed, he would get a one-year, $1 million deal. A good comparable for Sutter would be someone like Carl Soderberg, who signed that exact deal with Chicago coming into this season. Soderberg is three years older than Sutter but has had much better offensive production in the last few seasons.

If it can happen on the right deal, keeping Sutter instead would be preferable, but the last thing Vancouver needs is another player in his mid-thirties on a multi-year deal in the bottom six.

There are two ways I can see Ron Francis going when he approaches Vancouver during Seattle’s expansion draft this summer.

One, he can take Loui Eriksson. There is a salary-cap floor that Seattle has to reach, and next year would be Eriksson’s last at a $6 million cap hit. Unfortunately for Vancouver, Francis is not going to select Eriksson. He’s just not. If Francis is worried about reaching the cap floor, there are better options for Seattle.

Option two is taking a chance on a former top-10 pick who has underachieved at the NHL level; Jake Virtanen. Virtanen’s 2019-20 season saw him score on a 21-goal pace, but ‘Shotgun Jake’ has taken a huge step back this season, with just four points in 34 games. Virtanen also hasn’t registered an NHL assist since August 19, 2020.

You have to assume Benning is going to consider seven other Canuck forwards more valuable than Virtanen, leaving him exposed. Francis picking JV gives Seattle a player who could either return to top-six form, or a slightly overpaid fourth liner. It’s worth the gamble.