Canucks: What would a Braden Holtby buyout look like?

It’s no surprise that the Vancouver Canucks desperately need to come up with more cap space.

At the beginning of the offseason, the team was expected to be up against the cap as a result of contract extensions for pending RFAs in Elias Pettersson, Quinn Hughes and newest Canuck Jason Dickinson, as well as a handful of deadweight deals for aging veterans.

General Manager Jim Benning was able to address the latter, shipping out $12 million in Loui Eriksson, Jay Beagle and Antoine Roussel to the Arizona Coyotes, at the hefty price of their 2021 first rounder. However, Benning also took on just north of $7 million per year in blueliner Oliver Ekman-Larsson in return, and will need to figure out yet another RFA deal for Conor Garland, who joined OEL from the desert and could demand an AAV upwards of $4 to $5 million.

In other words, Benning is essentially right back where he started when it comes to the team’s financial situation. Fortunately, he has one more option to work with.

Benning made use of this avenue over the weekend, placing forward Jake Virtanen on unconditional waivers for the purposes of a buyout. As expected, the 24-year-old wasn’t snagged by another club, and the Canucks will now be able to remove the final year of his contract off of the books, with only a $50,000 penalty as a result. That financial sanction will increase to $500,000 for the 2022-23 campaign.

This was a smart move from the front office, giving Virtanen’s age and disappointing impact with the club over the past six years. Out of the possible forward buyouts, this one made the most financial sense.

But what about between the pipes? This is where Braden Holtby comes into the picture.

The soon-to-be-32-year-old has been a tantalizing conversation piece for the Canucks this summer. As expected, Holtby was left off of the team’s expansion protected list, with management hoping that the Seattle Kraken would select him as their 1B or 1C option in net. Of course, the league’s newest franchise went for a younger option, choosing 22-year-old forward prospect Kole Lind instead.

Shortly after the expansion draft, it was reported that Seattle had lots of interest in Holtby, but wanted Vancouver to retain some of salary. Holtby has a cap hit of $4.3 million next year, but also needs to be paid a base salary of $5.7 million.

The Canucks also haven’t been lucky in the trade market when it comes to dealing away Holtby. Again, the interest is definitely there from other teams, as the former Washington Capital can still provide steady back-up goaltending, in addition to strong leadership and a championship pedigree. However, there is also expected to be a plethora of younger, more-talented options available once free agency opens up on July 28th, meaning that teams will likely circle back on Holtby if their desired netminders don’t pan out.

The Canucks do have the option of waiting it out for the next 48-72 hours to see how free agency unfolds, given that some teams will still have goaltending issues once the big fish are locked into new contracts. However, if they want to deal with Holtby sooner than later, it would make sense for Benning and co. to seriously consider a buyout option.

Unlike Virtanen, Holtby would be owed 2/3 of his remaining contract value over the next two years. After crunching the numbers based on the structure of his final year, the Canucks would only be dinged with a cap penalty of $500,000, meaning they would save $3.8 million for the upcoming season. That penalty would increase to $1.9 million in 2022-23, for a total cap hit of $2.4 million over two years.

Factor in Virtanen’s buyout calculations, and the team would have just under $4 million of real cash savings for the next two seasons. It may not seem like much, but that could go a long way in RFA contract negotiations or UFA signings for the organization. The team wouldn’t need to worry about a new back-up option, either, as goaltending prospect Michael DiPietro is already on the books for the 2021-22 season.

Unfortunately, it appears that the Canucks are looking to go in the other direction with Holtby, and are hoping to deal with the problem via trade instead.

As Dhaliwal eluded to above, the Canucks may change their mind when it comes to the former Vezina winner. Unfortunately, they’re up against the clock. The first buyout window for the 2021-22 season is set to close on July 27th at 2pm PST.

There’s no doubt that this Vancouver roster is much better after their recent offseason transactions, and should be able to contend in the Pacific Division next year as a result. However, they still have a few glaring holes on their roster, and they need to come up with as much cap space as they can in order to address that issue.

At the end of the day, whether it be through trade or buyout, Benning and his team need to figure out what to do with Holtby, and they’ll need to do it fast.

What do you think management should do with Braden Holtby? Let us know in the comments!