Dakota Joshua and the Canucks ‘not close’ in contract negotiations: report
By Tyson Cole
1 month agoDakota Joshua has been an unreal story here in Vancouver. He joined the team with only nine points in 42 games of NHL experience while averaging less than nine minutes a game. But his time with the Vancouver Canucks changed his career. He played 142 over the last two seasons in Vancouver, finishing with 55 points and averaging 14:23 minutes of ice time last season.
It’s safe to say he fully blossomed from a fringe NHL player into your prototypical power forward and earned his spot in this league. He had one heckuva contract year and thus deserves whatever raise he’s going to get — even if it isn’t in Vancouver.
Chek TV’s Rick Dhaliwal shined some light on how the conversations are going between the Canucks and Joshua’s camp. Don Taylor and Rick Dhaliwal were analyzing the Athletic’s Chris Johnston’s Top 50 UFA list with contract projections on Dakota Joshua.
“This one, again, is a little low for me: two years and two million per. I want to say this about Dakota; not hearing the Canucks are close with Joshua sounds like a lot of work to do before a deal gets done.”
By the sound of things, it doesn’t bode well for the 28-year-old power forward returning to the Canucks for next season.
“[There’s] A lot of models out there showing Joshua could get over three million on July 1st,” Dhaliwal said. “I don’t think the Canucks are comfortable going with three million for him.”
Did Dakota’s career season price him out of Vancouver’s price range? The $3M price tag doesn’t seem outlandish to me, but with the Canucks having 11 other restricted and unrestricted free agents to sign, that may be too rich for Patrik Allvin and Jim Rutherford’s liking.
“The fact that GM Patrik Allvin said after the season that ‘we can find the next Dakota Joshua,’ that tells me and says a lot,” Dhaliwal added. “But the cold hard facts are this: Dakota did have a great season, and he gave his agent, Rich Evans, a lot of ammunition to have a healthy raise. This might be the number the Canucks are at. In fact, I’ve heard the Canucks are in the low two’s.”
If the Canucks are in the low twos, and Joshua’s camp believes he could get three million on July 1st, Dhaliwal is right; there is a ton of work left to be done for Canucks fans to see Joshua return in the blue and green next season.
With $23.78M of available cap space for next season, is the $3M price tag too high for him to return next season? You tell me Canucks fans.
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