One day after the Vancouver Canucks shocked the hockey world and re-signed Brock Boeser, details have started to come out regarding how the market was shaping out for the longest-tenured Canuck.
Donnie & Dhali’s Rick Dhaliwal shared just how many teams Boeser had to choose from before re-signing in Vancouver, but also how he may not have been the Canucks’ first choice:
“Brock had options. I’ve been told that he had five serious offers on the table. They [Boeser and his camp] were going down the pathway of cutting a deal with another team. Then, out of the blue, the Canucks call with one hour to go in free agency. You know why they called? Because the Canucks’ number one priority on July 1 was not Brock Boeser, it was Christian Dvorak.
“The Canucks got into a bidding war with Philadelphia over Dvorak. And he wasn’t going to be a second-line centre; he was going to be third-line centre. But don’t kid yourselves. The Canucks’ number one option when they got up on July 1 was not Brock Boeser. They went to Boeser when they lost Dvorak to Philadelphia.
“Here’s the other problem. Their number one centre target was Mikael Granlund. He said, ‘Sorry.’ Dvorak said, ‘Sorry.’ They ran out of options at centre. They had to go to Brock and say, ‘Okay, we’ll fix the centre position maybe early next year in a trade.'”
The Canucks have not stopped trying to fix their centre position. But with just over $500,000 of available cap space, they’re going to have to move money out in order to bring in another centreman. Dhaliwal mentioned two players that they’re trying to move in order to free up the cap space necessary to do so:
“They’re trying to move two guys right now: [Dakota] Joshua and [Teddy] Blueger. Can they move one of those two guys to free up the cap space to get a centreman now? I really am hearing the Canucks are souring on Dakota Joshua for some odd reason. His name’s out there.”
Dhaliwal then goes on further about Joshua’s situation:
“They didn’t want to sign [Joshua]. They got forced to go to a number with Joshua [that] they didn’t want to do, which was $3.2 [million] because he was going to get $3.5 – $3.8 on the market. They got scared, and they signed it. They didn’t want to go there.”
The players left available on the free agent market is fairly bare. After Granlund, Dvorak, Nick Bjugstad and Radek Faksa all signed, the best two available centres are Jack Roslovic, who they’ve shown interest in in the past, and a player they’re very familiar with, Pius Suter.
Dhaliwal mentions the Canucks have still not shut the door on a Suter reunion:
“They called [Suter’s] agent yesterday, and they told him [they’re] still interested. The door is open with Suter. They’ve got to move either Joshua or Blueger to get back in on Suter. He’s being held up by Nikolaj Ehlers, and where that’s going. Suter is going to go today or tomorrow, but he’s got to wait.
“Suter is getting looked at by teams as a centre and a scoring winger as well. So don’t think Suter is just hitting the market and getting the centre spot. There are teams looking for scoring wingers as well. He had 25 goals; he falls into that category as a winger and a goal scorer. But the chances Suter in Vancouver are slim, but he should sign today or tomorrow.”
In his media availability on July 1, Canucks general manager Patrik Allvin indicated that new head coach Adam Foote is fine running with a centre tandem of Elias Pettersson and Filip Chytil. However, with reports that they only signed Boeser because their top two centre options on the market signed elsewhere, and them wanting to move out money to gain the salary cap necessary to bring in another centre, would suggest otherwise.
Watch the full segment below: