At the end of the 2023-24 season, the Vancouver Canucks had eight restricted free agents in need of new contracts. As of Sunday, June 30, they have just one remaining.
Four of the Canucks' restricted free agents have already been re-signed. The big one was Filip Hronek, who inked a long-term deal that will keep him in Vancouver for eight more years. Then Cole McWard and Linus Karlsson signed league-minimum deals in hopes of earning a spot on the opening night roster.
The latest signing was Jett Woo, who the Canucks hope will build off his strong season with the Abbotsford Canucks in the AHL last season. Like Mcward and Karlsson, the 23-year-old defenceman signed at a league-minimum cap hit, which will make it easier for him to fit under the salary cap if he wins a spot out of training camp or earns a call-up.
That left just four restricted free agents in need of a qualifying offer at Sunday's deadline and just one of them did: Arturs Silovs.
Canucks will continue contract negotiations with Arturs Silovs
A qualifying offer is a contract offer used to retain a restricted free agent's signing rights. The offer is based on the player's salary from their last contract and can either be accepted by the player or rejected to allow contract negotiations to continue.
Three restricted free agents did not receive a qualifying offer from the Canucks and will become unrestricted free agents, able to sign with any team: Aidan McDonough, Filip Johansson, and Nick Cicek.
Silovs' qualifying offer would be for $813,750. Considering his performance in the playoffs for the Canucks, it's likely that Silovs will be asking for a more significant raise than that, with AFP Analytics projecting a two-year deal at a little over $1 million per year.
Accordingly, Silovs will presumably reject the qualifying offer and continue negotiating with the Canucks.
It's an intriguing contract negotiation, as it likely comes down to more than just money. Silovs may be looking for some sort of guarantee that he will be the backup for Thatcher Demko next season — perhaps a one-way contract that would pay him the same amount in the AHL as he gets paid in the NHL.
There's also the possibility of another team signing Silovs to an offer sheet.
Could another team sign Arturs Silovs to an offer sheet?
An offer sheet is a contract offered to a restricted free agent by another team. If the restricted free agent signs the offer sheet, the team that owns his rights can match the offer sheet, at which point that becomes the restricted free agent's new contract with that team.
If a team does not match an offer sheet, they get compensation in the form of draft picks, with the compensation depending on the cap hit of the contract.
While an offer sheet is unlikely — just two have been signed in the last decade — it's a potential nightmare scenario for the Canucks. It's not just the risk of losing Silovs to another team but that matching an offer sheet could lead to paying Silovs more than they intended causing a major cramp in managing their salary cap.
A team can offer sheet Silovs for up to approximately $1.5 million and not have to pay any compensation. The next tier, from around $1.5 million to $2.3 million, has just a third-round pick as compensation.
If another NHL team believes that Silovs can take the next step and become even a league-average NHL starter within the next two seasons, it would make a lot of sense for them to offer him a two-year deal worth $2 million per year. That would be a pain for the Canucks to match, as they'll need all the cap space they can get to upgrade their top-six and blue line, but a third-round pick would be paltry compensation for losing a good, young goaltender in whom they've invested a lot of time developing.
Offer sheets are rare but it's a scenario the Canucks need to be mindful of as they try to get Silovs re-signed.
What happened to Aidan McDonough?
While the Canucks will continue negotiations with Silovs, it seems that Aidan McDonough, Filip Johansson, and Nick Cicek will no longer be part of the Canucks organization.
McDonough was a seventh-round pick by the Canucks in the 2019 NHL Entry Draft and he proved to be a shrewd pick, at least as far as seventh-rounders go. He had a fantastic college career at Northeastern University, becoming one of the top goalscorers in the nation, and signed an entry-level contract with the Canucks. He got into six games with the Canucks after signing and scored his first career NHL goal, which is more than most seventh-round picks manage.
McDonough looked like a dark horse to make the Canucks out of training camp last September. Instead, he spent the entire season in the AHL and had a relatively disappointing year, with 11 goals and 19 points in 58 games. The faster pace of professional hockey proved an impediment for McDonough, whose skating has always been his primary weakness.
While McDonough looked like a decent candidate to get qualified, it appears the Canucks are ready to move on from the 24-year-old winger. Perhaps he'll get his NHL opportunity with another team.
It's less surprising to see Johansson and Cicek go unqualified.
The Canucks took a chance on Johansson, who was once a first-round pick of the Minnesota Wild. As a smooth-skating, right-shot defenceman, Johansson was a decent gamble for the Canucks. He came over to North America at the end of last season to play in the AHL playoffs and spent all of this season with the Abbotsford Canucks.
Unfortunately, Johansson failed to make enough of an impression to convince the Canucks he should be re-signed. While he improved as the season progressed, Johansson is now 24 and needed to show more to prove he still has NHL potential.
Cicek came over to the Canucks, along with a sixth-round pick, in a trade with the San Jose Sharks for Jack Studnicka. The 6'3", left-shot defenceman had previously been on the verge of making the Sharks lineup after playing in 16 NHL games last season but was passed by other defencemen in the Sharks system.
That made him a decent low-risk bet for the Canucks. He played in 49 games for the Abbotsford Canucks, putting up 14 points along the way, but had some defensive struggles, particularly in the playoffs.
Like Johansson, Cicek is 24 and didn't show enough this season to prove himself to the Canucks. Perhaps he could re-sign in Abbotsford to an AHL deal but if he's looking for another shot at the NHL, it will come with another team.
