Fiveasec: Five Canucks questions with a month to go until free agency

The Vancouver Canucks, led by hockey operations president Jim Rutherford and first-time general manager Patrik Allvin, are in prime-time roster decision time

Forwards J.T. Miller (left) and Brock Boeser are at the centre of decisions the Canucks will face this summer as their contracts play out, Miller’s being a very team-friendly deal with one season left and the younger Boeser due a healthy US $7.5-million qualifying offer to retain his rights. Photo by Bob Frid /USA TODAY Sports files

The National Hockey League draft goes July 7-8. NHL free agency opens at 9 a.m. on July 13.

Here are five things to consider for the Vancouver Canucks, with about a month to go, until both those big deadlines.

Will the Canucks keep J.T. Miller?

The veteran forward has another year left on his contract, with a fantastic salary cap hit of US $5.25 million.

But this is a tricky spot for the Canucks: If Miller puts together another big scoring season, he’ll be due a huge raise in the summer of 2023.

And the Canucks surely won’t be able to afford that, given they’ll almost certainly be looking at big raises for Elias Pettersson in the summer of 2024. Rookie Vasily Podkolzin will also need a new contract in 2024, coming out of his entry-level deal.

The priority for now seems to be to sort out what Bo Horvat’s next contract will be, as the Canucks’ captain currently taking up a salary cap slot of US $5.5 million can also be a free agent in 2023, but he is clearly is in a contract tier below both Miller and Pettersson.

What happens with Brock Boeser’s contract?

Boeser needs a new deal this summer. To keep his rights, the Canucks would have to offer him a qualifying offer of US $7.5 million, a figure that president of hockey operations Jim Rutherford has said the team would be willing to do if push comes to shove.

But you have to believe they’d rather sign Boeser to a two- or three-year deal at a lower cap hit, since the qualifying offer would be just a one-year deal and the Canucks would find themselves back in the same spot a year from now.

Because of Boeser’s father’s failing health — his dad Duke Boeser died last month — the team and Boeser’s agent Ben Hankinson avoided talking contract.

But with the deadline to file for either arbitration — the team could take Boeser to arbitration to try to force his salary down, though they seem disinclined to do so — or make a qualifying offer just a month away, it’s fair to assume talks will begin in earnest, if they haven’t already.

The commitment from the Canucks seems to be to keep Boeser in the fold and it’s believed his priority is to stay in Vancouver, the only city he’s known as a professional hockey player.

Defenceman Tyler Myers has two years left on his contract at an annual salary cap hit of US $6 million. Photo by Danny Wild /USA TODAY Sports

How will the defence look?

It’s hard to see the Canucks returning next season with the same group of defencemen with which they finished the season.

At the end-of-season press conference, Rutherford brought up the Canucks’ zone-exit approach. He wasn’t happy with it.

Some of that is down to coaching, but it’s also somewhat about personnel.

General manager Patrik Allvin has also spoken of a desire to rejig the Canucks’ cap setup. Allvin and his colleagues all seem to know that while Luke Schenn played well as Quinn Hughes’ partner this season, they would be smart to find a younger, more dynamic partner for Hughes.

Add it all up and you wonder about Tyler Myers’ future.

He has two years left on a contract that carries a US $6-million cap hit. He has a no-trade clause that allows him to kibosh a trade to 15 teams in the league.

Could the Canucks get creative and find a trade partner to take on Myers?

For that matter, what about fellow blueliner Oliver Ekman-Larsson? He has a full no-move clause and chose to come to Vancouver, so it seems extremely unlikely he’d say yes to a move, even if the Canucks could find a trade partner for a contract that will eat up US $7.26 million of the club’s annual salary-cap space until the end of the 2026-27 season.

The Canucks are hopeful Jack Rathbone can step up and be a full-time player next season, likely on the third pairing.

Slovakian Juraj Slafkovský (in front) is a winger, but the Canucks asked the projected No. 2 overall pick at next month’s draft if he could play centre. Photo by JUSSI NUKARI /Lehtikuva/AFP via Getty Images

Will the Canucks trade up?

The Canucks asked Juraj Slafkovský, the projected No. 2 overall pick in next month’s draft, if he can play centre.

Vancouver holds the No. 15 overall pick in the draft, so there’s no chance the budding Slovakian star will be around for the Canucks to pick.

And getting the No. 2 pick off the New Jersey Devils would be very hard.

This doesn’t mean the Canucks won’t try to trade up in the draft. Right-handed defencemen like Simon Nemec and David Jiricek are likely to go around the fifth or sixth pick and they would fit the bill of the Canucks’ top needs, so could they swing a deal with a team in that range?

The Seattle Kraken pick fourth, the Philadelphia Flyers have the fifth pick, the Columbus Blue Jackets are set to go sixth and the Ottawa Senators are seventh.

All four teams are surely set on picking where they are, but could the Canucks come up with an offer they’d accept? Both Philadelphia (Chuck Fletcher) and Ottawa (Pierre Dorion) are GMs Allvin has worked with in the past and with whom he has admitted he has strong relationships. (He also has spoken well of New Jersey GM Tom Fitzgerald.) And Seattle’s GM, Ron Francis, is someone Rutherford knows well.

Who will be the veteran AHL netminder and what does that mean for Michael DiPietro’s future?

There’s a strong belief that the Canucks are looking to find a veteran goalie to play in Abbotsford next season. It’s expected that Spencer Martin will be the Canucks’ backup in the NHL next season and they could roll with Mike DiPietro and Arturs Silovs in Abbotsford, but what if Martin falters?

He had a marvellous season in Abbotsford and was outstanding in his two NHL stints as well.

But there’s no guarantee he won’t falter once opposing teams have scouted him a little.

And if you’re going to stash a potential alternative to Martin in Abbotsford, he’ll have to play. And if he’s going to play, you can’t keep both DiPietro and Silovs in the system.

Silovs is said to be more highly rated by the Canucks’ goalie department — he’s also still on his entry level contract, while DiPietro is now a restricted free agent — so where does this leave DiPietro? He might make for an interesting trade chip.

pjohnston@postmedia.com

twitter.com/risingaction

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