The Vancouver Canucks may be in the market for some depth on their blue line, with names like Nikita Zadorov, Tyler Myers and Ian Cole less than two weeks away from becoming unrestricted free agents.
Canucks General Manager Patrik Allvin has been busy in the last two days signing a pair of blueliners - Filip Hronek and Mark Friedman, but more will need to be done if they hope to repeat their success from this past season and go even further in the Stanley Cup Playoffs.
On Wednesday's edition of Donne & Dhali, Rick Dhaliwal linked the Canucks to a pair of pending unrestricted free agent defencemen - Jani Hakanpää of the Dallas Stars and Alexandre Carrier of the Nashville Predators.
Hakanpää, 32, missed the last 32 games of Dallas' season, including the entire 2024 Stanley Cup Playoffs, due to a lower-body injury. In 64 games for the Stars this season, the Kirkkonummi, Finland native had 12 points (two goals, ten assists), 33 penalty minutes and was a plus-ten.
Carrier, 27 is someone the Vancouver Canucks are very familiar with from their first round series against the Nashville Predators. Carrier was one of Nashville's best defencemen in that series on both sides of the puck, putting up three points (one goal, two assists) in six games. During the regular season, the Quebec City native had 20 points (four goals, 16 assists), 44 penalty minutes and was a plus-seven.
It'll be interesting to see what Patrik Allvin does with his own pending unrestricted free agents in the next 12 days before considering signing someone on the open market, which opens at Noon ET on Canada Day.
