Canucks Free Agent “Frenzy” Preview: Defensive Depth

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Wednesday marks the start of a new league year and the opening of the unrestricted free agent market, with all of the frenzied activity and the bloated deals that come with it.

With 19 players already signed to one-way deals, four restricted players left to sign, and less than $4 million in available cap space, the Canucks are not expected to be major players; having failed to carve out some additional flexibility under the upper limit at the NHL draft. Canucks general manager Jim Benning more or less confirmed as much in a conversation with Brad Ziemer of the Vancouver Sunthis week.

“We don’t have a lot of cap room,” Benning said. “We’re going to try to be maybe in the trade market. We’re looking at some free agents. I don’t want to say we’re totally out of the free agent market, but we’re not going to be in the high end of it.

With that in mind, here are a smattering of affordable pieces that the Canucks might target to shore up their NHL and AHL level blue-line depth.

The Canucks opted not to tender qualifying offers to Yannick Weber and Ryan Stanton on Monday, leaving the club with just five signed defenseman and two restricted free agents (Frank Corrado and Adam Clendening) on the roster. 

Generally speaking the Canucks like to carry eight defenseman on their 23-man roster, so they’ll need to bring in at least one NHL blue-liner. Two, if you assume that the club will still look to move Kevin Bieksa, and surely they have to at this point.

There aren’t any really strong internal candidates in the organization, beyond Corrado and Clendening, who are now penciled firmly into the top-six. So the Canucks are probably going to need to add a depth defenseman (or two) in free agency.

There are some decent enough options available on the market, and the club is reportedly still talking to Yannick Weber. Weber crushed his opportunity to finally play top-four minutes last season, and helped reignite Vancouver’s power play down the stretch. Finding a way to keep him in the fold is probably a best case scenario.

If Weber walks as an unrestricted free agent, there are a variety of interesting names. I’m a big fan of Matt Bartkowski, a solid skater and under-rated passer who can help you win the neutral zone. The Canucks have been rumoured to be interest in Bartkowski in the past, but he could be out of Vancouver’s price range in the coming weeks. Though it’s worth mentioning that if there’s one area where the Canucks may be convinced to spend a little bit, it would seem to be along the blue-line.

“We have needs but depending on how much money we have to work with will dictate the calibre of player that we’ll be talking about,” Benning told the Vancouver Sun this week. “If we did have extra money we would probably use it to add a defenceman.”

If Bartkowski proves to be a bit too rich for Vancouver’s blood, there are some more affordable options available.

The New York Islanders opted not to qualify defender Matt Donovan, 25, on Monday, and he can definitely play. Veteran defender Andre Benoit could similarly fit the bill, and he’d help the Canucks in transition. As would recently non-tendered Lightning blue-liner Mark Barbiero. 

CanucksArmy favorite David Schlemko has the Medicine Hat Tigers connection, and played decently well in spot duty for a top-heavy Calgary Flames blue-line down the stretch.

Raphael Diaz is another Flames defender who could be helpful on the cheap. Diaz is also a right-handed shot, and while he’s not nearly as dangerous an offensive player as Weber is, he’d give the club some insurance in case Clendening isn’t ready to man the point on PP1. 

Photo Credit: Noah K. Murray/USA TODAY Sports

In addition to the club’s preference for carrying eight defenseman on their NHL roster, the Canucks have said that they’d like to go 11 deep on defense, with a stable of tweener-type blue-liners that can credibly fill-in at the NHL level when called upon.

Alex Biega fared decently in that role this past season and excelled during the Utica Comets’ run to the Calder Cup final. He’s unrestricted and may look for an NHL opportunity on July 1, but the Canucks could do a lot worse than offering him a two-way deal with an expensive AHL salary. (UPDATE: Biega has been re-signed, apparently).

The same logic applies to Bobby Sanguinetti, a more offensive defenseman who has just produced at every level he’s ever played at, but has never really been able to get a sustained NHL shot. 

In terms of AHL-level defenders available on the open market, I’ll be curious to see if the Canucks chase a physical left who can kill penalties, perhaps recently bought out former Vancouver Giant Mark Fistric, or perhaps a player like Mark Fraser. Group IV free agent David Warsofsky is undersized at 5-foot-9, but is an excellent AHL blue liner and at 25-years-old could still have some upside. 

Then we get into names like Colby Robak and Andrew MacWilliam, who have fared well at the AHL level on occasion and sometimes have played in the NHL. 

These are obviously unsexy names, but blue line depth is an area the Canucks will need to shore up and dumpster diving on the free agent market is a decent way to do so.