The Jake Virtanen era is officially coming to an end with the Vancouver Canucks.
On Sunday morning, General Manager Jim Benning officially announced that they would be placing Virtanen on unconditional waivers for the purposes of a buyout, as per the team’s Twitter account. It is expected that he won’t be picked up by another club and, once that 24-hour window passes, will enter the official buyout process with Vancouver.
Virtanen had one year remaining on his two-year, $5.1 million contract that he signed October 2020. He would’ve been paid a base salary of $3 million next season, in addition to a $400,000 signing bonus.
Canucks GM Jim Benning has confirmed today that Jake Virtanen has been placed on unconditional waivers for the purposes of a buyout.
— Vancouver Canucks (@Canucks) July 25, 2021
According to CapFriendly, players below the age of 26 are only owed 1/3 of their remaining contract value, compared to the 2/3 ratio for players 26 and older. This would apply for Virtanen, who is set to turn 25 in August.
As a result, the team will only be dinged $50,000 against the cap for the upcoming season, with that penalty increasing to $500,000 for the 2022-23 campaign.
There’s no doubt that this has been a sensitive topic for the organization, one that had been handled with respect and care. Virtanen is currently on leave from the Canucks after sexual misconduct allegations against him were made public in May.
According to Thomas Drance of The Athletic, the allegations are “being investigated in parallel by the Vancouver Police Department and a private investigation commissioned by the Canucks”.
Prior to the allegations, Virtanen was once again struggling on the ice as a Canuck. The former 2014 first round selection only suited up for 38 games during the 2020-21 season, and often found himself on the taxi squad and in the press box as a healthy scratch. During his 38 games, he only recorded five points.
The Abbotsford, B.C. native has always been under the spotlight here in Vancouver, but has never lived up to his sixth-overall potential. In 317 NHL games, Virtanen registered 45 goals and 55 assists, to go along with 219 PIM and a minus 29 rating. His best performance came in 2019-20, when he put up 18 goals and 18 assists in 69 games.
However, these point totals become even more cringe-worthy when you compare them to other players from that draft class, such as William Nylander, Nikolaj Ehlers and Dylan Larkin, who have all eclipsed the 250-point plateau in their careers. Unlike Virtanen, these players were able to make an immediate impact in their team’s top-nine forward group, despite being selected after him in the draft.
What makes this all even worse is that Benning opted to give Virtanen on last chance instead of signing winger Tyler Toffoli to a contract extension. The current Montreal Canadien just came off of a 44-point season with his new club, including 28 goals.
At the end of the day, it’s no surprise that the Canucks have opted for a move like this.
At the beginning of the offseason, the team was strapped for cap space and desperately needed to improve upon their financial dilemma. Benning was able to take one step towards rectifying the situation on Friday morning, sending Loui Eriksson, Jay Beagle, Antoine Roussel and their combined $12 million cap hit, as well as the team’s 2021 first rounder, to the Arizona Coyotes.
However, the Canucks brought back another large contract in return, acquiring the services of defenceman Oliver Ekman-Larsson. Benning was able to get Arizona to retain some salary, but the former Coyotes captain will still have a cap hit of $7.26 million each year for the next six seasons.
The Canucks will also need to resign superstar players Elias Pettersson and Quinn Hughes, as well as fellow RFAs in Jason Dickinson and Conor Garland, who was included in the Ekman-Larsson deal.
Switching to UFAs, Benning will also need to make decisions on centre Brandon Sutter, as well as blueliners Alex Edler and Travis Hamonic. The latter two should take high priority, as the right side of Vancouver’s blueline is fairly weak. Currently, the team is relying on Tyler Myers and Nate Schmidt, but the second name could very well be on another roster before the start of next season based on the trade rumours surrounding him. They’ll also be responsible for the last year of Braden Holtby’s contract if they can’t find a suitable trade partner. The soon-to-be-32-year-old veteran has a cap hit of $4.3 million for next year.
Virtanen’s $2.5 million cap savings is definitely a good start for the organization, but Benning and co. still have lots more work to do if they want to check off every item on their offseason to-do list.
The first buyout window for the 2021-22 season is set to close on July 27th at 2pm PST.
What are your thoughts on Virtanen being placed on waivers? Make sure to drop a comment below!