Ever since the 2025 NHL Trade Deadline came to pass, we’ve been trying to prognosticate the future of the shape of the Vancouver Canucks, their roster, and their financials.

In what has turned into a mini-series, we’ve thus far determined that the Canucks will have something like $14.5 million in cap space this offseason (pending any further moves), that they’ll need to spend the bulk of that money on strengthening their top-six forwards and offence in general, and that there just aren’t that many “big-game,” high-end UFA forwards available on this summer’s upcoming free agent market.

The question that is naturally raised from this would be: if the Canucks are unable or unwilling to go big in free agency – with big meaning something along the lines of a Mitch Marner or a Same Bennett – who else might be available that could genuinely improve the team up front?

With that in mind, we’ve been scouring the ranks of pending UFAs, looking for what we’re calling “medium-game” UFAs. Those that might not break the bank as free agents, but who can still be potential difference-makers for the Canucks.

Here’s who we came up with:

We start our list with, upon reflection, someone who could have reasonably fit into our list of “big-game.” Granlund has been inconsistent over the years, but he has scored at a 60-point pace or higher in three of his last four seasons and has seemed to grow a more complete game with age.

The brother of Markus is far from an ideal solution for the Canucks, as they’d no doubt prefer to add someone with a little more size and momentum, and definitely someone on the other side of 30. Still, if we’re talking UFAs who could put up the maximum amount of points next season, then Granlund is plainly the best of the rest. His ability to play any forward position would have to be considered a positive.

Donato is probably a player to be cautious around at UFA time. His career-high was 16 goals and 31 points coming into this season, and now he’s having a career year on the brink of free agency. A career year while getting some pretty plumb assignments at both five-on-five and on the power play on a weak Chicago team.

The key question here is whether Donato can replicate such numbers in a more structured system, and the answer is probably ‘no.’ But with the free-agent market being a little limited and cap space being available in great abundance, someone will surely bet on the answer being ‘yes’ and pay Donato accordingly. The Canucks should endeavor to not be that team.

Could Donato improve the ability of the Canucks’ top-six? There is a good chance of that. But the odds of his coming out of UFA status with a contract that matches his contributions seem slim.

We can probably keep it quite short with Giroux. He deserves to make this list for what is still an impressive scoring output, especially considering his age. That said, signing a 37-year-old UFA is always going to be risky. Fortunately, we think the odds of Giroux packing up his family and leaving the east coast at this stage in his career are essentially zero, so we don’t think he’s a realistic target for the Canucks, anyway.

We know with some certainty that the Canucks have been interested in Roslovic before, and that’s probably especially true after what has turned into a career year for him. Roslovic’s assist numbers might seem low, but he’s pacing for some 25 goals or so and doing so with relatively limited ice-time and special teams opportunities.

This is not a player that one would want to pay as if he’s going to score like this forever. Last season, he got nine goals in about the same amount of games. The season before, it was 11. But if Roslovic is able to be signed for something more reasonably based on his entire body of work, then perhaps there’s still hope for him stepping into the Canucks’ top-six. It should be noted, however, that much of Roslovic’s scoring has come on the wing this season, not at centre.

This doesn’t seem like the summer to sign any bargain deals. The best the Canucks might be able to hope for with Roslovic is a contract that isn’t straight-up excessive.

Drouin is a tricky player to gauge. That he has bounced back so ably from the mental health concerns that kept him out of the lineup in previous years is nothing short of inspiring. That said, Drouin still struggles with keeping physically healthy, with last season being the only relatively injury-free one of his past several years.

That said, when he is in the lineup, Drouin is operating just a bit below a point-per-game pace. There’s little doubt about his offensive prowess, and he’s also an analytics darling of sorts. But all of this must be couched in the fact that he’s receiving some plum assignments next to junior buddy Nathan MacKinnon, who might just be the best player in the world right now. If Drouin is wise, he’ll probably look to stay in that situation. Getting him out of there might require a contract offer that he may not be worth in the end.

Bear with us on this one. Is Benn the same player he once was? No, definitely not. But he’s still a power forward capable of potting some 20ish goals and 50ish points in a season, and that’s more than the average UFA is offering this summer.

After signing Mikko Rantanen to a massive extension, the Stars will be hard up for cap space this offseason, even after the ceiling is raised. That will essentially require Benn to either sign for a steep hometown discount or go elsewhere for the end of his career. And if that’s the way it goes, what better place for him to relocate than his actual hometown – or as close to it as he can come.

At 35, Benn is not someone to hand much salary or term to, but if he’s willing to sign for a little less in Vancouver than elsewhere, this could actually be an intriguing option.

So long as Canucks fans could get over the considerable dislike they’ve built up for Benn over the years…

When Gaudette was traded away from Vancouver to Chicago for Matthew Highmore back in 2021, many assumed he was on the way out of the NHL entirely. And, in a sense, he was. Gaudette split his next season between Chicago and Ottawa, then spent the next two years almost exclusively playing in the AHL.

But out of seemingly nowhere, Gaudette claimed a spot on the Senators out of this year’s training camp. And then he did something with that spot. While his scoring has slowed down a lot from a red-hot start, Gaudette is still on pace for at least 20 goals.

Don’t get too excited. Those 20 goals come with a 20.3% shooting rate, which is entirely unsustainable. Without that, it’s tough to call Gaudette a real top-six option. And with that, it’s probably time to call this list to a close. 

We don’t often feel the need to tack a conclusion onto the ends of these articles, mostly because the goal is to present options and then let our readers make their own choices based on those options.

But today, we feel we must say something more here. Because that list of players above is actually fairly uninspiring, in addition to being limited. It’s tough to look at this group and see anything more than one or two potential solutions for the Canucks – potential solutions that could easily be gobbled up by other teams looking for offence, of which there will be plenty this offseason.

This goes to show that earning cap space is only half the battle and that sometimes finding the right players to spend it on can be even more difficult. Aside from the big game, the Canucks might need to look outside of free agency to solve the deficiencies in their top-six…but that’s an article for another day.