Canucks sign former first round pick and right-shot defenceman Filip Johansson to ELC
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Photo credit: © Jerome Miron-USA TODAY Sports
David Quadrelli
Jun 13, 2022, 17:13 UTC
For the second time in the past seven days, the Vancouver Canucks have added to their prospect pipeline by way of European free agency.
On Monday morning, general manager Patrik Allvin announced that the club has signed right-shot defenceman Filip Johansson to a two-year entry-level contract.
Johansson, 22, was selected 24th overall in the 2018 NHL Entry Draft by the Minnesota Wild, but went unsigned which — like Nils Aman, who the Canucks signed last week — made him an unrestricted free agent free to sign with any club.
Last year with Frolunda, the 6’1 Johansson recorded three goals and eight assists through 47 games played. He has spent the entirety of his professional career in Sweden, and will remain in the SHL next season.
“Filip plays a solid defensive game and has shown consistent improvement over the past three seasons,” said Allvin. “He will continue to develop his game in Sweden with Frölunda next season, but we look forward to welcoming him to Vancouver for Development Camp at UBC next month.”
CanucksArmy will be on scene at the Canucks’ Development Camp at UBC next month, and we’ll have plenty of updates on all of the prospects once that rolls around.
Additionally, we’ll have a full breakdown of the tape on Johansson’s game coming shortly, courtesy of Chris Faber.

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Monday Mailbag: Interesting late-round Canucks draft targets, who’s returning to Abbotsford, and the hardest trait to evaluate when scouting
Vancouver Canucks mailbag
Faber
By Faber
Jun 13, 2022, 13:00 UTC
The Canucks continue to provide a breadcrumb trail to keep us interested in their offseason but we are about to have a busy few weeks beginning in July. We’ve got just a few more weeks to power through and thanks to the wonderful people asking questions on Twitter, we are able to dive into some fun topics.
I’ve seen some requests for an ability to get your questions in if you don’t have Twitter. We tried that a few weeks ago and didn’t have much of a response but I’ll cruise the comments section on this article again and see if we can find a way for an add-on to the site where you can submit your questions to the Monday Mailbag article.
If you want to get a question in for next week’s mailbag, start your comment with “#MM” and I’ll pick a few for next week.
For now, we are rolling with Twitter questions but I’d like to include some questions from the Twitterless if you’ve got a great question! So, hit it up in the comments section and use the #MM at the start of the comment.
Without wasting any more words, let’s see what the wonderful people of Canucks Twitter had to ask this week!
There are 14 AHL players who are restricted or unrestricted free agents this summer.
I’ll knock a few off who are almost certainly going to sign a contract this offseason.
Jack Rathbone, Will Lockwood, and Mikey DiPietro will each get a contract this summer. They are RFA’s and all have some NHL potential.
I’d imagine that Noah Juulsen will be back with Abbotsford next season. He wants to get his hockey career back on track after some tough injuries sidetracked his young career. Juulsen is 25 years old, grew up in Abbotsford, and suited up for eight NHL games last season. There’s a chance for him to be a call-up player and get some NHL time next season. Juulsen was loved in Abbotsford for his local connection as well as his physical play at the Abbotsford Centre.
The two Sheldons should definitely be looked at for contracts. Sheldon Rempal is 26 years old and is coming off a career year, his power play partner Sheldon Dries is 28 years old and also coming off a career year. I wish we saw more of Rempal in the NHL this past season because he really plays at a high pace in the AHL and likely deserved more than nine minutes of NHL time last season.
Dries is a centre that can boost both special teams’ units at the AHL level and fill in on an NHL second power play unit in a pinch.
I expect to see both of the Sheldons back next season. Management has told us that they are committed to making Abbotsford competitive and building off of last season — a bit step in the right direction would be bringing back their dynamic Sheldon duo.
John Stevens has really found a home with the Canucks organization over the past two and a half seasons. He is coming off a career year where he scored more than double the number of points than his second-best AHL season. Stevens is a great leader for the group, he roomed with Jack Rathbone last season, kills penalties, takes faceoffs, and is at the top of my list if the Abbotsford Canucks are to name a captain next season.
I’m not as confident when it comes to Justin Bailey, Phil Di Giuseppe, Madison Bowey, Ashton Sautner, Nic Petan, and Devante Stephens.
Stephens has the local connection, he is from White Rock and represented by a local agent — he could very easily be back next season. I thought Stephens was one of the most underrated players for the Abbotsford Canucks last season.
Bowey and Sautner are in a similar position and could easily move around the AHL. I am not confident that both will be back next year.
When it comes to Bailey, Di Giuseppe, and Petan, all three will have a lot of suitors around the league and if any team is giving them a real chance to crack an NHL roster, they should go to that team. All three have skills that could fit in the NHL but haven’t been able to put together the full toolkit to stick in the NHL. I’d love to see all three back in Abbotsford because they are top-level AHL players.
Chase Wouters and Tristen Nielsen showed well as they made the jump from the WHL to professional hockey and I hope they are both back next season. Nielsen gave an interview during a Vancouver Giants game and said that the goal was to continue playing pro hockey in North America. We will see where both of these players land but I’d love to see both back in Abbotsford.
It should be a no-brainer to bring back Wouters. He was instantly one of the better penalty killers, stuck up for his teammates and improved in the faceoff circle as the season went on.
Nielsen had a hat trick and can skate like the wind, I’d hope that Abbotsford has him on their roster next season. He should have gotten a chance in those playoff games.
I’d love to see Yushiroh Hirano back on the roster but I’m not sure if the Canucks will be willing to give him a contract. He was a great story and played well enough to prove that he can play in the AHL. I’d love to see him back.
I’d doubt it, there’s a story to be told about Lukas Jasek and I’m going to do my digging to find out exactly what happened there. It felt like there was positive progression in his game and that an NHL stint wasn’t far away for him. He was converted into a centre and looked like he was beginning to be trusted on both special teams’ units near the end of his time with the Utica Comets.
Nobody has told me the exact truth behind what happened to Jasek and the Canucks organization but the Canucks own his rights and could bring him back in the next three years. I liked what I saw from him in Utica and he just finished a season in Finland’s Liiga where he was third in scoring with 51 points in 54 games.
Jasek is 24 years old and will be back with the Pelicans in Liiga next season.
Joonas Lohisalo is a 19-year-old Finnish scorer who has a high-level shot. He moves decently well and can handle a one-timer very well. I don’t think he’s even ranked in Central Scouting’s International Rankings but I really liked the kid’s shot and motor.
He’s 6’2″ and 187 lbs but is an overaged player.
A defenceman I like is Elmeri Laakso. He is ranked 66th on Central Scouting’s Internation Rankings and I think he could be a value add to the Canucks’ defence pipeline if they can get him in the fifth round or so.
Jack Sparkes is a fun player to take a swing on. He measured in over 6’7″ and skates decently well for his size. He’s a right-shot defenceman out of the OJHL and is ranked 127th on Central Scouting’s North American Rankings.
I really like Miko Matikka out of Finland. He’s been gaining attention and is now ranked 32nd out of international skaters. He’s a big winger with a strong shot, physical play and a high motor. An NHL team is going to get a good player in the fourth round if he slides that far
Left-shot Swedish defenceman Elias Pettersson is ranked 37th out of international skaters and showed strong two-way play in the Swedish junior league with some offensive upside. His name is Elias Pettersson, so, that’s cool too.
I personally lean towards EliteProspects being very accurate. They have a great team of trustworthy talent evaluators.
Craig Button may not have the most accurate lists but I do like to listen to him when he is passionate about a player.
EliteProspects have YouTube videos of their discussions behind the rankings and I love watching those three-hour discussions on how they come to their rankings. You can learn a lot about prospects from those videos and I highly recommend them if you’re looking to learn about a prospect.
Central Scouting is a good spot to find a large list as well.
Chris Peters also has some good reports on prospects. He just released his list for the 2022 draft. He’s got Logan Cooley over Shane Wright, though. That’s a bit of a shocker.
Love this question!
One of the hardest things to evaluate is a player’s hockey smarts. This is very hard when you are making player evaluations in multiple leagues at the same time. Certain teams require their forwards to play deeper than others while some teams are fine with a player leaving the zone a half-second earlier than others.
Hockey sense can show when a player has an abundance of near-scoring chances. For example, when a player makes a great read but the play is just one pass away from becoming a scoring chance. This was very noticeable in Nils Höglander’s SHL time.
Höglander was consistently creating offensive situations but they didn’t necessarily amount to as many scoring chances as you’d hope. He was a great example of a player who was going to be even better once he was able to play with more skilled players. There was a huge jump in talent for his linemates when he went from a third-line role in the SHL to riding shotgun with Tanner Pearson and Bo Horvat in the NHL.
You like to see a draft prospect be able to include their teammates and use them in a way that makes the team better but there are times when you have to realize that a prospect may be just that much better than his teammates. This happens a lot in the CHL and European junior leagues. It’s a big reason why players who are in the SHL, Liiga, or KHL during their draft year are looked at differently. Prospects that are able to graduate out of their junior programs are asked to play a much smarter style and you can see a player’s hockey IQ much easier in those pro leagues. We like Joakim Kemell, Jonathan Lekkerimäki, Lian Bichsel and Marco Kasper for these same reason.
When it comes to the easiest trait to assess when scouting, it’s likely the player’s effort level. You can tell within about 60 minutes of ice time if a player has a high drive or not. When evaluating a prospect, you need to watch what happens when goals are scored against as much as you need to watch when the player is scoring. Evaluating where the goals against come from and if the player has dead feet are two quick ways to evaluate effort level.
Simple things like watching a player’s feet in the neutral zone or watching them backcheck are huge. Even little things like when they change can help evaluate a player’s effort level. You can see a high level of effort in how a player attacks the point when defending and how much effort they give on a forecheck.
A strong effort level is something that every player can do if they are willing to put in the work. It’s easy to evaluate because a lack of effort sticks out even in the most skilled player’s games.
I would be very surprised to see Kuzmenko put up 50 points. I think it’s possible if he becomes the trigger man at five-on-five for Connor McDavid in Edmonton but I don’t think that I am confident enough to put a bet on the over for Kuzmenko.
I’d expect him to be in the realms of 24-40 points in his rookie NHL season. Kuzmenko may be a 50-point player in the future but I doubt he has that kind of instant success in the SHL.
Well, that wraps up another Monday Mailbag here at CanucksArmy. Thanks as always for the great questions this week and as I mentioned during the intro, begin your comment with “#MM” if you’d like to ask a question for the mailbag.
A few more weeks to go until the NHL draft is upon us, stay out of the silly season, folks.

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KHL free agent Andrei Kuzmenko will be in Vancouver next week for a second meeting with the Canucks
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David Quadrelli
Jun 12, 2022, 19:47 UTC
Russian free agent Andrei Kuzmenko is making his way around North America for his second interviews with NHL clubs who he’s interested in signing with.
The Canucks, who have long been considered one of the favourites to land the KHL forward, will meet with Kuzmenko in person next week for a second meeting, according to Rick Dhaliwal.
Kuzmenko finished second in KHL scoring this season, tallying 20 goals and 33 assists through 45 games played.
The Vegas Golden Knights, Edmonton Oilers, along with the Canucks, are believed to be among the finalists to land Kuzmenko’s services for next season.
“Vancouver is definitely on the list,” Kuzmenko’s agent Dan Milstein told us on a past episode of the Canucks Conversation Podcast. “We’ve been talking to Vancovuer executives for a very long time. It’s a great city, good place to play, a good team, good coach, and stable management. Vancouver should be excited for many years on what’s to come.”
Kuzmenko can only sign a one-year deal with a maximum cap hit of $925,000, so he will certainly be looking to be put in the best situation possible for him to cash in on his second NHL contract next offseason.
Let’s hope it doesn’t rain too much next week.

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Using player comparables to project Brock Boeser’s next contract with the Canucks
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Noah Strang
Jun 12, 2022, 13:00 UTC
The Vancouver Canucks have to make decisions on three key players with expiring contracts in the next 12 months.
J.T. Miller, Bo Horvat, and Brock Boeser are all among the best players on the team and will be looking to sign expensive, long-term deals. Out of those three players, Boeser is perhaps the hardest for the Canucks to evaluate, due to his injury history and potential as a goal scorer.
Drafted late in the first round of the famous 2015 NHL Entry Draft, Boeser has wowed Canucks fans with his precise shot ever since he first stepped on the ice. However, he hasn’t made much positive progression during his NHL career thus far, leaving fans to wonder if he will ever make that next step.
Boeser possesses some great raw tools. When healthy, his shot is elite as he can pick corners with relative ease. On the other hand, his skating isn’t elite and his slow foot speed can occasionally be exposed. Boeser signed a $17.625 million / three-year contract in 2019. The contract was meant to act as a bridge deal that would allow the two sides to renegotiate when there was a larger sample size to evaluate the winger.
However, after suffering multiple injuries that would keep him away from the ice, and sometimes affect his performance when he returned, it’s still unclear as to whether Boeser will take another step into a 30-goal scorer. He also has had to deal with a tough family situation in recent seasons as his father’s health declined. Duke Boeser was a Vancouver favorite who tragically passed away from cancer recently at the age of 61.
All of this makes it difficult to assess how much Boeser’s next contract will be worth, as well as how much term he will be given. He does have a $7.5 million qualifying offer this offseason that would be a tough pill for the Canucks to swallow. However, it seems likely that both sides will work towards a long-term solution at a cheaper price as it carries benefits for both the team and the player.

Three comparables for Brock Boeser

Here are three players that are comparable to the current situation that Brock Boeser is in.

Ondrej Palat – $5.3 million AAV for 5 years

When Ondrej Palat when to sign his latest contract with the Tampa Bay Lightning, he already had four seasons with at least 0.64 points per game. Boeser has done it five times but is coming off the worst season of his career in what was a concerning step backward.
The different tax situations in Florida and Vancouver mean that the take-home pay for the two players would be drastically different, even with the same cap hit. Thus, Boeser would be looking for more than what Palat got, especially considering his stronger goal-scoring numbers and high-end skill.

Johnny Gaudreau – $6.75 million AAV for 6 years

While Gaudreau just turned in one of the best seasons of his career and is among the top wingers in the league, when he signed this deal that was far from a certainty. However, he had just scored almost a point-per-game in what was only his second full NHL season.
Gaudreau had more potential than Boeser at this point, but Boeser does have a longer resume. While this year was disappointing, Boeser has scored at a 30-goal pace multiple times in the past. It’s not hard to imagine him taking a step forward with a little bit more consistency in the situation around him.

Jake Guentzel – $6 million AAV for 5 years

Jake Guentzel signed this extension midway through a season in which he would score 40 goals, far more than Boeser has ever scored. Guentzel was coming off his ELC instead of a bridge deal like Boeser but is comparable as a winger with similar enough scoring stats.
Guentzel’s contract looks great now that he’s scored 40 goals multiple times,  but the Penguins couldn’t have known that fact when they inked the deal. If Boeser can take a similar step, his contact may turn out to be a similar steal.

Our contract projection

Considering the money that these other players got, we think it’s likely that the Canucks and Boeser agree on a longer team deal. This would give Boeser more long-term security and allow the Canucks to avoid the $7.5 million qualifying offer.
A contract between the Canucks and Boeser could look something like $6.125 million per year for 6 years. This would value Boeser as a low-end first-line winger or high-end second-line winger, somewhere around his role on a strong team.
What do you think a Boeser extension might look like?

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The Canucks can solve a lot of problems on their blueline just by moving Oliver Ekman-Larsson over to the right side
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Stephan Roget
Jun 11, 2022, 17:00 UTC
Everyone and their blog has been talking about the Vancouver Canucks’ years-long quest for a high-quality right-handed defender.
We’ve already covered how the UFA market is probably not going to be the place to get one.
Given that the last good RHD that the Canucks drafted was Kevin Bieksa in 2001, the chances of landing one on Draft Day are also fairly slim.
The Canucks could always trade for an RHD, but then they’ve got to convince another team to give up perhaps the rarest and most valuable asset in hockey.
And, even if they do land one through one of the above methods, they’re still playing catchup, because, in truth, the Canucks probably need multiple high-quality right-handed defenders.
But what if the solution was already — pardon the pun — at hand? Because the Canucks don’t really need multiple RHDs, they just need multiple defenders who can play the right side of the top-four of their blueline.
[Enter Oliver Ekman-Larsson, stage right.]
The real crux of the issue is that between OEL, Quinn Hughes, and Tyler Myers, the Canucks already have an expensive and top-heavy D corps, but not the results to justify that cost. Ideally, they’ll be moving one of Ekman-Larsson or Myers to open up space and allow for more flexibility in rebuilding the blueline.
As we mentioned earlier in the week, there’s a good chance that Myers can be moved. But while doing so creates cap space, it also leaves the Canucks down another RHD.
Moving OEL, however, and his five remaining seasons at a $7.26 million cap hit, will be significantly more challenging. Talent-wise, he’s the player that the Canucks would rather keep around, anyway, but then there’s the issue of his handedness.
Sometimes, it seems like the Canucks could solve a lot of problems on their blueline by simply having Ekman-Larsson and Myers switch sides.
If only…
Actually, that’s more-or-less exactly the solution that we’re here to propose. Except we’re not actually advocating to play Myers on his unnatural side (can you imagine?) We’re proposing that the Canucks trade Myers for cap space, and then shuffle OEL over to the right side to cover his departure. It’s an unconventional move, but it’s one for which the benefits should outweigh the detriments — so long as it actually works out on the ice.
In many ways, Ekman-Larsson is already what the Canucks should be looking to add to their right side. He’s a great skater, their second-best transition defender after Hughes, and increasingly focused on his defensive responsibilities. OEL played a shutdown second pairing role for the Canucks last season, and while he’s still slowing down, he’s more than capable of continuing to handle those minutes.
Would OEL still be overpaid as a right side, second pairing defender? Of course. But take a look around the league, and see how the market has been set for the ultra-rare commodity that is the top-four RHD. Because of their scarcity, it’s a lot easier to swallow an overpaid RD on the books than an overpaid LD.
If the Canucks are stuck with Ekman-Larsson’s contract for the foreseeable future, they might as well get the most contextual value out of that contract as possible.
With OEL on the right side, the Canucks are probably still on the lookout for a long-term RHD partner for Hughes, but that’s nothing new — Myers was certainly not going to be that guy. There’s a slight possibility that a Hughes/OEL partnership works out well, but the Canucks are still much better served with the two anchoring their own pairings.
A young RHD that meshes well with Hughes’ game remains the top priority, and there’s no easy fix for that. But OEL on the right sure does make the rest of the blueline fall into place nicely.
Give the top pairing to Hughes and his elusive blueline soulmate.
Allow OEL to continue to carry a second shutdown pairing, but this time, have him do it from the right side. Who partners with him? Ideally, another defender with serious defensive chops, acquired via trade or free agency. Fortunately, acquiring such a player is far more feasible if the Canucks are looking for someone left-handed than if they’re looking for someone right-handed. A quick glance at the upcoming UFA list offers a few choice candidates, and LHD are certainly far more available on the trade market.
If possible, this OEL partner should bring an element of size and physicality to the table. The avoids the issue of an undersized left side of Hughes, OEL, and Jack Rathbone.
Speaking of Rathbone, this new system would allow him to crack the roster and match up with Luke Schenn on the third pairing, which is the perfect way for the talented young defender to break into the NHL.
And who knows? Perhaps a move to the right would be good for OEL. Maybe shooting from his off-side might reinvigorate his offensive game? Playing on the right regularly could give him a chance to get on PP1 more often, opposite Hughes on the blueline, and that would certainly mean more points.
But really, this move is all about the defensive side of the game. It’s about making the Canucks more difficult to play against. It’s about taking the somewhat-unsatisfactory state of the team’s salary situation and making the absolute best of it.
To recap, our proposed offseason plan now looks something like this:
  • Find a RHD partner for Quinn Hughes.
  • Trade Tyler Myers for picks.
  • Swap Oliver Ekman-Larsson over to the right side.
  • Find a LHD partner for OEL.
  • Pop Rathbone and Schenn onto the third pairing, with Travis Dermott as the probable seventh defender.
Of course, we imagine that some of you are already screaming into your keyboard, because we’re purposefully ignoring the left-handed elephant in the room, and it’s this: all of this is moot if OEL can’t actually play well on the right side.
Back in his heyday as a Norris nominated defender in Arizona, Ekman-Larsson played a little on the right and played well there, but it’s not something he has extensive experience with. It’s a gamble, to be sure, but it’s one that has a higher chance of success with a player like OEL — smooth-skating, cerebral, patient — than it does with most others.
Really, there’s no way of knowing how it will work out until the Canucks try it. But try it they should. Have OEL start taking reps over there this summer. Put him on the right side through training camp, get him some exhibition games there, and hope that the quality of his play stays relatively consistent.
If it’s a success? Bravo, the Canucks are now one step closer to fixing their blueline.
If it’s not? Oh well, the Canucks are right back where they started without having taken on much risk in the attempt.
This might not qualify as a no-brainer, but it is the RIGHT choice at the moment — and we won’t even ask you to pardon the pun this time.

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