Insider says Mikheyev trade allowing Canucks to re-engage with own UFAs

Wednesday saw the Patrik Allvin and Canucks clear some much needed cap space by dealing forward Ilya Mikheyev (15% retained) to the Chicago Blackhawks, along with the rights to unrestricted free agent forward Sam Lafferty and a 2027 second round pick in exchange for 2027 fourth round pick.

On Thursday's edition of The Jeff Marek Show, Sportsnet's Elliotte Friedman said that because the Ilya Mikheyev trade opened up an additional $4 million in cap space, he believes Patrik Allvin will take another run at trying to re-sign guys like Tyler Myers and Nikita Zadorov, among other UFAs they have.

Patrik Allvin made good use of that extra cap space on Thursday by re-signing forward Dakota Joshua to a four-year contract that'll see him earn $3.25 million per season. After a career-year in 2023-24 where he had 32 points, Joshua earned a pay raise from the $825,000 he was making in each of the last two seasons.

After the Joshua signing, the biggest free agents that the Canucks have right now, aside from Elias Lindholm who is almost certain to be hitting the market on Monday, is Ian Cole, Tyler Myers and Nikita Zadorov. All three of them played a crucial role and big minutes on the Canucks' blueline this season.

Firstly, Ian Cole's name can be crossed off that list. While Cole did a solid job on the blue line in his first season with the Canucks, it appears that he won't be returning for a second year, with Rick Dhaliwal reporting earlier this month that he'll hit the open market on Canada Day.

As for Tyler Myers, Pierre LeBrun of The Athletic reported yesterday that the Canucks and the 34-year-old continue to talk and will speak at the draft to see if a contract can be nailed down before the market opens on Monday.

Finally, all seems quiet on the Nikita Zadorov front for now. The latest update came yesterday from agent Dan Milstein who said 'I'm being very open-minded and will not rule anything out till July 1st.'.

With the free agent market set to open in four days, Patrik Allvin is going to be very busy, as he's already been over the last ten days, and it'll be interesting to see what additions he makes to the roster for the 2024-25 campaign.