VANCOUVER – The batting average is good. But the strikeout hurts.
Vancouver Canucks general manager Patrik Allvin announced Friday that popular defenceman Nikita Zadorov, who was like a 250-pound force of nature during the National Hockey League playoffs, has turned down the team’s “best” offer and will leave when free agency opens on Monday.
The sobering news halted momentum the organization had generated over the previous 48 hours when the offloading to Chicago of Ilya Mikheyev and 85 per cent of his $4.75-million salary enabled Allvin to circle back on Canuck free agents and re-sign forwards Dakota Joshua and Teddy Blueger and defenceman Tyler Myers.
Speaking to reporters on Zoom ahead of the Friday start to the NHL entry draft, in which the Canucks don’t have a pick until the third round on Saturday, Allvin said he also circled back on Zadorov but the 29-year-old rejected their upgraded offer.
“That’s the direction that Nikita has decided to go, and we did our best and we couldn’t go any further,” Allvin said. “We want players that are committed and wanted to be part of a winning team and a winning culture. And as I said last year. . . we’re starting to get the respect back (as an organization) and there’s more players who want to come here. That being said, I can’t overpay one single player. Nikita Zadorov was extremely good for us in the playoffs and a character guy, (but) we did our best and he decided that he wanted to go somewhere else.”
Zadorov is represented by agent Dan Milstein, whose client list on the Canucks is suddenly zero. Winger Andrei Kuzmenko was traded to the Calgary Flames in January to make cap space for the blockbuster rental acquisition of centre Elias Lindholm, who is also expected to go to market on Monday. Mikheyev is also a Milstein client.
But it’s the loss of Zadorov that could haunt the Canucks because there are so few players with his size and skillset. The outgoing, wise-cracking Zadorov also seemed to blend well in a Canuck dressing room that skews towards quiet.
Allvin certainly has cap space available — $14.5 million, according to CapFriendly.com – to replace Zadorov in free agency and also achieve his stated goal of adding another high-scoring winger. Like Jake Guentzel or Tyler Toffoli.
Former Canuck defenceman Chris Tanev, whom the Dallas Stars are still trying to re-sign, has been linked to the Canucks in numerous reports. Surrey, B.C.’s Brenden Dillon, who will be leaving the Winnipeg Jets as a free agent, is a robust and less expensive option to replace Zadorov.
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Allvin said Friday that head coach Rick Tocchet prioritized keeping the Canucks’ top-four defencemen: Quinn Hughes, Filip Hronek, Myers and Carson Soucy.
Myers was re-signed late Thursday to a three-year, $9-million contract. Eligible for restricted free agency, Hronek agreed last week to a massive eight-year, $58-million extension.
From Allvin’s original pool of 11 Canuck free agents, nine of them with unrestricted status, he re-signed Hronek, Myers, Joshua, Blueger and depth defenceman Mark Friedman. Restricted free-agent goalie Arturs Silovs will also be back. The rights to UFA Sam Lafferty were packaged with Mikheyev in Wednesday’s trade that gave Allvin another $4 million of cap space.
It was a long shot for the Canucks to keep Lindholm, who in January cost them five assets, including Vancouver’s first-round pick Friday night. The 29-year-old former Selke Trophy runner-up is one of the top free agents available and should command a contract in excess of $50 million — beyond what the Canucks would want to pay for a centre to play behind J.T. Miller and Elias Pettersson. After a solid season in Vancouver, third-pairing defenceman Ian Cole was reported weeks ago to be heading to market.
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Zadorov always felt like the over/under for the Canucks. Also acquired as a rental from Calgary last season, the Russian filled an important, physical role for Vancouver and, in the playoffs, was a wrecking ball while contributing four goals and four assists over 13 games and 20:09 of average ice time.
That post-season showcase, however, elevated Zadorov’s value. And the mobile, six-foot-six defenceman with skill and belligerence is unique among free agents.
Zadorov made it clear to Sportsnet at the end of the Canucks’ season in May that he wanted to stay in Vancouver, but needed at this stage of his career a long-term commitment. Most free-agency projections have Zadorov earning about $5-million per season on a long-term deal.
At three years, the commitment to Myers, 34, is a season longer than many people expected and his total price tag of $9 million is the first to cause some consternation among fans. But what did people think he was going to sign for?
He is a six-foot-eight, right-shot defenceman who had 29 points and 18:57 of average ice time in the best of his five regular seasons for the Canucks – then became even more valuable at playoff time as he drew the toughest matchups while playing hurt.
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His $3-million annual cap charge is still below market value.
Given Myers’ eagerness to remain in his adopted province – his family home is in Kelowna – and willingness to compromise on a contract after earning $30 million on his last deal, the surprise really is not what Myers signed for but how long he had to wait to get it.
The Texas-born, Calgary-raised defenceman admitted he was starting to worry.
“In ways, yeah,” Myers said in a Zoom call with reporters Friday morning. “I think any player that wants to be in a certain spot would love to get it done as fast as possible. But I’ve been here long enough to know that it doesn’t always work like that. Even though it happened later, that didn’t matter much to me. I’m just really happy that we were able to get it done.
“That was always what I wanted, what our family wanted. Super excited to build off what we had last year (as a team), and that’s great for us being close to home. I’m really happy for the family.”
Besides his status as a second-pairing defenceman, Myers is an important part of Canucks’ leadership, a veteran voice who brings been-there-done-that credibility to a group whose core players are mostly in their mid-20s.
Myers has looked reborn as a player since Rick Tocchet became head coach – and brought Adam Foote and Sergei Gonchar with him as assistants – a year ago January. Tocchet and his detailed systems structure aren’t going anywhere.
“Communication. . . was the biggest thing probably,” Myers said. “It felt like, basically, we were talking every day. And it wasn’t just me; it was all the defencemen and, you know, everyone on the team. The feeling of never being satisfied. . . everybody was always trying to get better. So, I think that in itself just created that much more talk within the room and communication from the coaches to the players. And for me, that just provided a lot less guessing going out on the ice. I’ve been pretty vocal about how I feel about (the coaching staff) and they were a big part of why I wanted to stay so bad.
“There were so many things for me that made me want to come back. Where we were able to take ourselves as a group was a big part of it. I really, truly believe in our team. And I think what we were able to accomplish last year — even though it’s not where we want to be — it’s a good stepping stone to where we’re trying to get to.”
Allvin will need to add a few more players to help the Canucks get there.
