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Pacific Division 2024-25 Off-Season Preview: The Vancouver Canucks were busy in free agency
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Photo credit: © Bob Frid-USA TODAY Sports
Ryley Delaney
Jul 31, 2024, 14:00 EDTUpdated: Jul 30, 2024, 22:24 EDT
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The Vancouver Canucks went from a lottery team in 2022-23 to a team two goals away from making the Western Conference Finals.
In 2022-23, the Canucks finished with a 38-37-7 record, third-last in the Pacific Division. However, one of the most notable moves they made during that season is the hiring of head coach, Rick Tocchet.
Under his guidance, the Canucks improved drastically, finishing with a 50-23-9 record for 109 points in 2023-24, first in the Pacific Division ahead of the Edmonton Oilers. They had the sixth-most points in the league.
Unfortunately for them and all Oiler haters, they fell 3-2 in Game 7 of the second-round to the Calgary Flames provincial rival.
That begs the question, what moves have the Canucks made to get better for the upcoming season?

Drafted players

Thanks to a mid-season trade with the Flames, the Canucks didn’t have a first-round pick. Nor did they have their second-round pick, as that was traded at the start of the 2022-23 season. Their first pick of the 2024 draft was in the third round, selecting Melvin Fernström from Örebro HK J20.
In the fourth round, they selected Barrie Colts’ Riley Patterson and had two picks in the sixth-round, selected North Bay Battalion forward Anthony Romani, as well as Edmonton Oiler King defenceman, Parker Alcos. Their last pick was in the seventh round, picking Basile Sansonnens.
Romani is interesting, as the overager scored a league leading 58 goals, as well as 111 points in 68 Ontario Hockey League games as a 19-year-old.

Free agent signings

There will be significant turnover for the Canucks heading into the 2024-25 season. Starting with the re-signings, the Canucks locked up Filip Hronek to an eight-year deal worth $58 million, as well as Tyler Myers to a three-year, $9 million deal. Forward Dakota Joshua signed a four-year, $13 million deal.
Their biggest signing of the off-season was Jake DeBrusk, who signed a seven-year deal worth $38.5 million, or $5.5 million annually. Last season for the Boston Bruins, the 27-year-old scored 19 goals and 40 points, a drop off from the 27 goals and 50 points in 64 games the season prior.
Sticking with players signed from the Boston Bruins, they signed defenceman Danton Heinen to a two-year deal worth $4.5 million, as well as Derek Forbort (also a defenceman) to a one-year deal worth $1.5 million.
The Canucks got a firsthand look at hulking defenceman Vincent Desharnais in their series with the Oilers. Well, on the opening day of free agency, they signed the 28-year-old seventh-rounder to a two-year deal worth $4 million.
Their last major signing of the off-season is a good one, as they signed Daniel Sprong to a one-year deal worth $975,000. Last season with the Detroit Red Wings, the 27-year-old scored 18 goals and 43 points in 76 games, after scoring 21 goals and 46 points in 66 games the season prior.
Of course, there were other depth signings as well. Artūrs Šilovs had a terrific postseason, and he signed to a two-year deal worth $1.7 million in mid-July. Nathan Smith signed a one-year, two-way contract, while netminder Jiří Patera signed a two-year, two-way contract. Kiefer Sherwood was another unrestricted free agent they brought in, as he signed a two-year, $3 million deal.

Departures

With all the additions, you know that the Canucks lost their fair share of players as well. The most notable was Elias Lindholm, who they paid a premium for prior to the trade deadline. After scoring six goals and 12 points in 26 regular season games, he had a solid postseason where he scored five goals and 10 points in 13 games. However, he signed a seven-year, $54.25 million deal with the Boston Bruins.
Another former Flame, Nikita Zadorov, signed with the Bruins, agreeing to a six-year deal worth $30 million, or $5 million per season. After the trade with the Flames, Zadorov scored five goals and 14 points in 54 games, along with four goals and eight points in 13 postseason games.
Backup netminder Casey DeSmith signed with the Dallas Stars, making complete sense as he lost his job to Šilovs when Thatcher Demko went down in the postseason. Veteran defenceman Ian Cole signed with Utah, while Sheldon Dries signed with the Detroit Red Wings.

Trades

Since the Elias Lindholm trade on Jan. 31, the Canucks have made just one trade. On Jun. 26, they traded Ilya Mikheyev, the rights to Sam Lafferty, and a 2027 second-round pick to the Chicago Blackhawks for a 2027 fourth-round pick. A cap dump, if you will.
That doesn’t mean Lafferty and Mikheyev weren’t useful for the Canucks. Last season, Mikheyev scored 11 goals and 31 points, his second best season in his National Hockey League career. Lafferty had a good season too, scoring 13 goals and 24 points in 79 games.
However, with new signings, the Canucks had to shed some cap, electing to move two bottom six players.
Thanks for reading! You can follow me on Twitter @Ryley_L_D.

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