(upbeat music) - Can I ask Central Thursday, it's Dan Ricio Satyarsha here at the Kintec Studio, Kintec, Canada's favorite orthotics provider powered by thousands, thousands of five-star Google reviews, sore feet, what are you waiting for? - Stan Ricio Satyarsha here in the Kintec Studio, yes. The Canucks have been busy, to say the least. - Yes, they have, getting work done. - The first domino was Teddy Blooger yesterday, then they trade away Ilia McKayev to the Chicago Blackhawks, opening up a little bit more cap space, about $4 million at the time. And now they've gone about spending some of that cap space that they've opened up, signing Dakota Joshua today to a four-year 3.25 AAV contract. And now Tyler Myers, maybe the most unlikely extension in Canucks history, Tyler Myers, gets a three-year extension at nine million on the total value contract. - This time last year, the discussion was Tyler Myers entering the last year of his contract. He has a $5 million bonus coming up in September before the season. Once that gets paid, what can a Canucks get for? If they retain half the salary, can he be a trade chip at the deadline, but they get rid of them, the contract at the end of the year, at least, is only one year left. Nobody would have thought, a year later, at the exact same time, we'd be talking about a three-year extension. And we'll get into it more in the open, but nobody would have expected that. - I think that would be, you would have gotten great odds on the idea that the Canucks would have extended Tyler Myers 12 months ago. All right, let's get into it. Lot to get to on your Vancouver Canucks. It's the open. (upbeat music) - Welcome to the open. - Oh, that's your home. Are you too good for your home? Answer me! - Yes, it's the open. The latest on the Vancouver Canucks and our take on it. It's Dan Richeaux, Sati Arshah. Dakota Joshua, the first signing today, four years, 3.25 million on the average annual value, a $13 million total value contract for Dak to come back. We'll get into Tyler Myers signing three by three, but let's start on Dakota Joshua, Sat. So you move out Ilia McKayev, right? - Yes. - You retain some on Ilia McKayev, a little like 700 and change on the sound attack. - $712,000 and a bit more. - Okay, so you essentially open up 4 million in cap space, a little bit more, 4 million in change in cap space. You move down 40 some odd picks, whatever we'll find out what it is in 2027 in the draft. And that's the deal to open up a little bit more cap space. And now you've replaced McKayev with an extended Joshua over the next four years at 3.25 million. I have my doubts about it, but what do you make of how the Canucks made this work? - So with the extra $750, about the extra million to on the 4 million, so the cost of Myers being added to the roster is 2 million compared to what it was before, right? It's 3 million on the cap, obviously, but if you add it to the McKayev contract, and I'm not saying consider that Myers gets paid 2 million a still a three year contract, but in terms of accounting, they got Myers, at only 2 million above what they had before they traded at McKayev, which is a nice way of fitting it in to the roster right now, and also with Dakota Joshua getting done. And I think that's something that is going to give the team a bit more flexibility here, but the flexibility is gonna be gone pretty quick. We'll talk about that coming up in a little bit, especially you're landing a big piece. But on Myers, Myers on the free agent market was going to get more than what he got here. He was probably gonna get at least 4 million per year over three years, if not more. - Yeah. - Right hand defenseman, and we saw it with a jail and chat field contract that are veterans that are proven they can play minutes, and Myers, as much as, and as many flaws as he does have, and as many struggles as we've seen here in Vancouver over the past five years, he's still more accomplished, and does more, and has been asked to do more, than most other right hand defenseman on the market outside of Chris Tanniv and Brandon Montour. - Yeah. - That's it. So when you look at that, and you look at how few of these guys exist, the size combination, the fact that he's now proven, he's proven yet again, 'cause he's shown in the past, he can be good in the playoffs, he proven yet again, he can be good in the playoffs, and the size that Canucks wanna have on the back end, it makes sense. I feel uncomfortable with giving Myers three million per year until he's 38 years old. Like I've seen the struggles in the past, like I worry that we'll see the same thing again, like that exists within me, but if you weren't gonna bring Myers back, you were not going to replace somebody who can do what he can do for a cheaper amount. It was going to cost you more. - Yes, a lot more, like even going after Tanniv, and I know Rick Dollywell said Tanniv was number two on the Canucks priority list. Would it cost a lot more to bring Tanniv to Vancouver? - Yeah, and you're probably talking four years for Tanniv. - Yeah. - So four years, and you're probably talking around five million per year. - Yeah. - And Tanniv's the same age as Tyler Myers. - Yeah. - So you're looking at more terms, so more risk in the contracts, given their ages. And Myers, I know, like there's texts coming in, no hometown discount, as you just pointed out said, this is a hometown discount. He's getting the same as Jalen Chatfield, and Jalen Chatfield has not ever been asked to play the same kind of minutes Tyler Myers has played in Vancouver. I get it, he was never worth the money he was, well, look, he was worth it because, you know, that's what the market bared for Tyler Myers when he was up for his last contract, when he got $6 million, but he never played up to the contract. He never brought value, or didn't bring a ton of value to the Canucks on his last contract. This time around, you know, he's kind of more in line with the value that he brings as a second pair type defenseman that plays some shut down minutes and is big on the PK for a team. Like this, to me, this is a contract that Tyler Myers can easily live up to. - He can live up to it. My question on the impact on the PK is, yes, he was good on the PK this year, relative to where the Canucks were the year prior. - Yeah. - During the regular season, the Myers be part of an elite PK. Can the Canucks get themselves to that? And that's unknown, if they can. I mean, then yes, I think, you know, this can age well over three years, but if it doesn't, and here's the other thing too, like the cap is rising and the cost of even a third pair of defenseman who can play 15 minutes, like Jalen Chadfield is $3 million per season. - Yeah. - And right-hand defenseman are hard to get. And that's what I come back to on this. It's like, I don't love it always, but your other options, if you want to be competitive, were not cheaper, and the only one I would have preferred is TANF. Like, you could have talked me into overpaying for TANF instead of overpaying for Myers, if that's how you felt, right? Like, you could have talked me into doing that. But if you do that, it also limits other flexibility. The fact you can get a Myers for $3 million when the cost usually would have been $4 million or above in free agency for maybe a better player like TANF obviously, right? It limits the type of player you can go after on the bigger scale. We'll see what happens with Jake Genssel, but if you want to have the flexibility to sign Jake Genssel, it's hard for you to add a defenseman making significantly more of the Myers in that role. - So the Canucks D now looking like this, Quinn Hughes, Philopronic, Carson Soussey, Tyler Myers, Noah Julesen, Mark Friedman are signed to contracts. I know we've got a lot of questions about Nikita Zdorov coming in. We'll get to that and the bigger picture of how this all fits for the Canucks salary cap. But got a question from Gordy Lock about why I said I have my doubts about the Dakota Joshua deal. We've talked about this a bunch, right? Like what's Dak gonna get paid? Are you comfortable paying that for a guy that's played as little as he has at the NHL level? He's a late bloomer. His guy was unreal for the Canucks last year. Eight team goals really popped off the page, played in different situations, got better as the year went on, was a clear fit on their penalty kill. Like Dak did so much well for this team. This past year. I still worry about the lack of a track record, right? Was this a shooting percentage binge to some effect for Dakota Joshua? I get everything that he brings and that he's a unique player type. But if we talk from just a production standpoint, like Ilia McKayev and Dakota Joshua are probably going to end up in similar ranges next year, as far as goals scored and everything else by however it pans out. That doesn't mean Ilia McKayev is going to be a better player. But I'm still just asking the question, was it worth doing all of these things to open up what amounts to a 750K difference between Ilia McKayev plus his retention and then bringing back Dakota Joshua? - I think it gives you more flexibility than, I don't wanna view it as just Dakota Joshua as being the reason that that trade was made 'cause you still have the extra 750K in flexibility, which I think matters. I think we're in a spot now where if they can get an extra 100K anywhere, it makes a huge difference in their pursuit of higher end players. But to your point, it is mostly going to Dakota Joshua. To me, it justifies it because of the scarcity of the player and I also think to some degree, McKayev exhibits a lot of those things. The thing McKayev doesn't have though is a snarl and toughness that Dakota Joshua has. - The protector that Dakota Joshua can be for the team. - Yeah, and there aren't guys like that in the league, barely any, and especially guys who can actually play. And he's not exactly an enforcer type anyways, that he doesn't fight six, seven, eight times a year, he's not always getting in people's faces consistently or whatever, but he has that element to his game. And he's a plus player on the PK, like really good on the PK now. And those players are just really difficult to find. And during the season, Rich, I mentioned that I did not wanna pay Dakota Joshua 3 million. I'd say good luck elsewhere. So 3.25 is even above that. And it makes me uncomfortable a little bit, but the thing I keep coming back to when we're seeing it here with the free agent market, we're seeing it here with the price of players that provide certain skill sets, you want those players or not. If you don't want them, well, yeah, sure, that's fine. But you're gonna miss an element to your team. You'll always be looking at, hey, we need a tough guy in the playoffs or whatever, you need somebody like a four-check wall, a guy that can bring an edge as well. But unless you draft them and find them cheap and only have them cheap for a couple of years, eventually you have to pay these guys. - Yeah. - And they don't exist. And if you are looking to replace that type of player in the free agent market, it would have cost you more than 3.25 million. - Joshua, definitely, I mean, he had an unbelievable season, right? The 18 goals, 32 points, and built off of the 11 goals he scored in playing more games in his first full year with the Vancouver Canucks. He's now 33 goals and 184 games for his career is sort of the definition of a late bloomer at 28 years old. And I guess what you have to be comfortable with is, like, if this is the player Dakota Joshua continues to be for the next few years, then yeah, he's probably, he's still worth about the $3 million. But is there an avenue for Dakota Joshua to even take another step and have a little bit more to his game, add more to his game over these next couple of years? Because he is still, although 28, a relatively young pro. - He is, and I think you have to be comfortable with this being who he is. - I've seen people ask me, do you think he'd be like, Bertou, is he like, no, like, come on. Like, and even the whole Zach Hyman 2.0 thing, I cringe at that a little bit. Like, I don't expect him all of a sudden pop and score 40 goals or 50 goals in a season. Like, I just don't see that. - Hyman never really struggled playing with top end players whereas Joshua, every time he's been given an opportunity to play with Pedersen or even Miller, it hasn't really panned out. - So he was on pace for what, like 22 goals this year? So if you were to score 22 goals over an 80 game season, that shows you that he could have the potential of one year scoring 30 if everything goes in for him. But a lot went in for him this year. Not a high volume shooter. He has to improve certain things in his game to become a better player. I think he can, but you also have to be careful with how much improvement you're expecting. It's one thing to improve by 10% in your shot, quality and quantity, for instance. It's another to improve by 50%. And if you're looking at him potentially being a 30, 40 goal scorer, he has to like triple his shot attempts. - Yeah. - Some of that is ice time, some of it is also like, you have to shoot the puck more than what you do. Like, he's not a guy that shoots the puck a lot. - No. - And is he a player that's going to be able to fit, say, alongside on Elias Patterson? Is that worth exploring? The fact that you're paying him 9.75 million now over the next three years, or sorry, even more. - 13 million over four years. - So you're paying him 13 million over four years. You probably should try it at some point. - Yeah. - And see if he can, but the number is not so big that you can't live with him being a 15 to 20 goal guy. That gives you 35 to 40 points. Especially in a cap world that is changing. I think we also have to reframe how we view contracts, 'cause we've lived in a flat cap for like, you know, six, seven years now. So every time we see three million, we're like four million, wow, five, wow, that's insane, right? And we talk about nine million, everybody cringes. Like, these numbers are going to change. And they're already changing. And if you're going to be afraid of paying guys, you're going to be sitting on the sidelines. - Yeah. And look, the Canucks tried to get a lot of these guys that even better numbers than what they ended up signing for. But the market is, look, it's a players market right now. And they are getting paid a lot of these guys. Dakota Joshua was on the forefront of a lot of lists going into free agency because of the size profile that he brings and just not a lot of types of players like him hitting free agency or easy to find around the league. So Dakota Joshua gets paid. Tyler Myers returns. Teddy Blooger is staying with the Vancouver Canucks. Eila McKayev is gone. What does this mean now, Seth? How much do the Canucks have left? And does this mean they can still go out and get Nikita Zadorov? Can they still make a play for Chris Tanev as some have been reporting over the last couple of hours? Although those reports came out just before the Tyler Myers signing was announced. Can they still go out and get Jake Genssel? What, now that they've put these pieces into the puzzle, what does it allow them to still be able to do? - So let's say even if you factor in a goalie making a million because there's some talk now that the Canucks want to veteran back up potentially even Casey the Smith and a quick sidebar on that. If Casey the Smith comes back, I don't foresee it being anywhere near what he got paid last year. And whatever veteran comes in, I don't think it's going to be around 2 million. Now it could be wrong and we'll see ultimately what happens there. But let's just say we give a million bucks. - Doesn't sound like they're keeping Casey the Smith in that scenario. - Let's say that you give a million bucks to their back up. It's going to be 14 and a half million in cap space. - Yeah. - Four spots that have a 23-man roster but let's say a 22-man roster because you want to maximize as much money as you can to improve your team. That gives you 14 and a half million to sign three players. - Yeah. - One more defense, man. - Okay. - Two forwards, two forwards. - Yeah. So you get 13, forward 70. Now you'd still at some point, I think want to upgrade on Friedman and Juleson but I think you also have to understand that the Canucks aren't going to be able to fill every hole this offseason. You're not going to be able to get a third line center and two extra defense men plus two more forwards. You know what I mean? You're not going to be able to have the ideal team but you can still add during the season. You can still see who emerges. You can still make moves and we saw how aggressive this team was after training camp and during a season to improve the team. So if you're okay to live with that to begin the year, which they were last year, right? Then you have 14 and a half million to sign three players and one can be a big time forward, one can be another top forward defenseman and the third guy really depends on how much pay those two guys. - Yeah. - You know, and I think you could, that you could give Genssel nine, you could give Zidorov four, that gets you to 13 and then one and a half for another forward, right? Let's say you give Zidorov four and a half. So you could still do it. It's just only going to be Zidorov against all though. You know what I'm like? And Zidorov probably is not going to get five million, it would have to be under five. The Canucks can add a defenseman making about four million and they can pay against all about nine. They could get to 10 with Genssel and give close to four to another defenseman and then sacrifice the third guy kind of. Like you could do those things. So there is a world here where the Canucks can still get a defenseman and get Jake Genssel. So a lot of the money's gone and they can't go and get like three or four really good players. They could get three better players if they get a lesser player than Genssel. If you all of a sudden look at, say, getting Tofoli, you could do Tofoli and Tana, you could do Tofoli and Zidorov and you could probably add it to him as well. So there is enough money here for the Canucks to make some significant additions. Are you dangling a tightrope? Not quite, but if Genssel and Tana have our number one and two on their priority list, as Rick Dolly well mentioned, well, you're not getting both of them, right? You can't do that with the money available to you. Unless they make another trade. Yeah, unless you make another trade to open up more cap space. And the only guy that would be a candidate would be Garland. Yeah. And I don't foresee them doing that. I mean, you did all this work to bring the third line back. Now you're gonna trade Garland? Yeah, but they also-- He's the guy who's the straw that stirs the drink. But they also replaced him during the season with Linholm. So, I mean, is he the long-term solution for them on the third line? You know, like, okay, I'm just saying. Fair enough, fair enough. And I'm not saying they're going to do it. I'm not saying they're going to do it. My point here is though, like to me, them going down the Myers Road tells me one of two things. They're not going to move up to the number that Zidorov is asking for. Or they don't think they're going to get Jake Genssel. It's like one of those two things is factoring into them, pulling the trigger on Myers here. Because if you still have a belief that you're able to get both of those guys, Genssel and Zidorov, then maybe you wanna keep that space free for the time being and risk losing Myers to free agency. Well, one of the things we spoke about on Monday was on Myers, there is an understanding in the organization that they can get him now for less than what he would get in the free agent market. But once he gets to July 1st and people start, you know, actually putting money in front of him, that's significantly more than Vancouver, is he going to say no? And at that point, is there a level of, hey, you guys had time, I was willing. Yeah. And now you didn't do it. So I think the Canucks were kind of at a spot where they had to make a decision on Myers too. And, you know, that puts them in an interesting spot. But if you are still at an impasse to some level with Nikita Zidorov as far as what he thinks he should get, what he's willing to take in Vancouver versus what you're willing to pay him here in Vancouver, then why hasn't that been done yet? And two, if you really wanna make a play for Genssel, if you do think he is the number one priority and he is the guy that truly elevates this team into being closer to a contender more than any other available player or bringing back of any free agent you have on your group. Well, signing Zidorov and doing Genssel now with the money that you have available to you is a little bit more difficult given where we think Zidorov's number is going to end up. Well, the thing is, if Zidorov's going to get five, let's say 4.75, then you can't really, so you could do it. Again, you could do it as long as Genssel was at nine. But if Genssel gets at like 9.25-- I'm actually gonna have to give more than nine to get Genssel. I firmly believe that. So let's say 9.25, that gets you 65 million. And what people have mentioned, 65 million might be the magic number, it's 66 million, right? So let's say 9.25 million. Yeah. You give Zidorov 4.75, that gets you to 14 million. That means you have a 21-man roster. Yeah. You could do it. Again, you could do these things, but you're really tight. You're really tight. And I'm not sure a team, the team wants to be that up against it. And this is why, you know, like, I'm still sort of skeptical on, you know, doing what you had to do to move off McKayev because I'm curious as to where the big piece is still coming from. Whether it's Genssel or somebody else, is it to Foley, are you able to maybe spread that money around on a couple of available forwards, maybe to Foley and somebody else? Like, up until this point, I've heard, you know, where they are projecting what they can pay to to Foley or had been projecting to to Foley is less than what to Foley thinks he can get from other teams. Absolutely. And I wonder how much of what Vancouver has kind of offered. So I think the way they're also trying to play it is, you're lining up your interest in players and you're putting some offers on the table that you probably know aren't gonna get it done. But it's floating numbers that are maybe less than you know what's going to get it done. You're registering interest, real interest, and there's probably a, hey, if you get what you're looking for, double back to us. We'll talk again, right? So you're registering interest and I think you're kind of putting a pin into it to see what happens with other things, right? 'Cause I don't know if, unless you know what's happening with Genssel, I don't think you can be aggressive on the Tofoli front. Yeah. Yeah, 'cause you'd prefer Genssel over Tofoli. Now, if Genssel's out, then maybe their willingness changes to go a little bit higher on a player. And I think that's something to keep an eye. But I would say that if they don't do Genssel and they get Tofoli, I think they're still gonna prioritize adding speed in the forward group. Like if they add Tofoli, I don't believe that's gonna be it. I think they wanna add another forward with some of the extra money they have that can play in their top nine and provide some speed on the wing too. 'Cause I think they understand, and also at left hand shot, I think they understand, like Tofoli wouldn't be the perfect fit. They could be a good fit, he'd help them. But you still need somebody to address other needs. Okay, let's get quickly to the Canucks Central Roundup. We've got lots still coming on the show. But there was, well, Darren Dragor and Rick Dolly while both reported that Chris Tannov is still very much on Vancouver's radar. This happened just before the Canucks locked in Tyler Myers to his new three year deal. Do you think that takes Tannov out of the Vancouver idea or priority list? I don't think it takes them out because I think the offices you can still play out in different ways. Like you might be listening to this on a podcast and Jake Hansel just signed an extension with the Carolina Hurricanes. Yes. And if that happens, then you can sign Tannov into Foley. Yeah. You could do it. Yeah, right? So that's why I don't think they're out yet. And I think that's why even with Zadorov as much as right now it looks unlikely. I don't think any doors close yet because if another door opens, something else changes. And I think they want to kind of keep that fluidity here as long as possible. So I'd say no, I don't think it kills your interest in the player. This is the Canucks version of the butterfly effect. Pretty much, yeah. Quinn uses up for the Norris Trophy tonight. The award show is on Sportsnet. And assuming Quinn Hughes wins, we hope that we'll hear from him here today on Canucks Central. The Sharks traded for Carl Grunstrom from the LA Kings. They also moved up to 11 in the draft for picks 14 and 42. They traded with the Buffalo Sabres. And Ryan Souter was bought out by the Dallas Stars to round up some of the news around the league. Bought out by two different teams getting paid out by two different teams at the same time. That's the Ryan Souter lifestyle. All right, coming up, landing Ferraro is going to join us. And we're also going to get into more of the draft with Cam Robinson a little bit later on. Plus a mailbag, lots to come. It's Canucks Central. Hey, it's Mike Alford and Jason Bruff. Join us for Alford and Bruff in the morning weekdays for 6 to 9 a.m. on Sportsnet 650. Or on demand any time through your favorite podcast app.
