As the Vancouver Canucks navigate their pending free agents amid the 2023-24 NHL season, the expiration of Tyler Myers' contract looms large on the horizon. With General Manager Patrik Allvin juggling multiple significant contract negotiations, including those of key players like Elias Lindholm, Filip Hronek, and Nikita Zadorov, the question of retaining Myers becomes a delicate balancing act of financial prudence and strategic foresight.
Fortunately, his biggest headache, Elias Pettersson's contract, is signed, sealed, and delivered.
As all fans do, many have speculated if the Canucks might be able to retain Myers' services on a short-term, or low-cost contract in order to fit him and the other pending free agents under this summer's increased salary cap. However, according to former NHLer Frank Corrado, that's "wishful thinking."
On the latest Sekeres and Price podcast, Corrado sifted through some of the recent free-agent signings that mirror the presence Myers brings to Vancouver.
"It's wishful thinking at $2.5M, look at the way the D-market was last year," Corrado explained. "Go back two years ago. Erik Gudbranson got $4 million on the open market in Columbus. And then last year, guys that you thought were going to make $1.5 million, whether it was Luke Schenn or Ilya Lyubushkin, those guys got $2.75 million. So in what world are you going to get Tyler Myers for $2.5 million? Unless he really, really wants to stay and he's willing to accept that. It just depends, do you want to leave $1.5 million with some term on the table? Radko Gudas got $4 million last year with term attached to it. So, he’d have to really want to be staying here and take a haircut, which when you look at the way the market has been for these bigger, right-handed defenseman, there’s gonna be money out there for him somewhere.”
Corrado's line of thinking checks out. Large, right-shot defensemen don't just grow on trees and, for lack of a different term, Myers fits the bill.
Therefore, if Myers gets to July 1st, he'll almost certainly be offered a ticket with a large price tag attached. And, depending on playoff performance, that could certainly have an impact on the landscape of the 6-foot-8 defenseman's contract.
The focus right now is on the playoffs, however, the plethora of expiring deals in Vancouver is difficult to ignore, and it appears most would like Myers to remain given his effectiveness this season.