Rick Tocchet hints at the Canucks' work on free agency

Recently, Tocchet was a guest on 'The Chirp' podcast with Daren Millard where he touched on the team heading into free agency and next season, which he said could get hard for the Canucks.

Tocchet said that the Canucks aren't going to surprise anyone anymore like they did during the 2023-24 season. Heading into this past season, many expected the Canucks to be on the cusp of a wild card berth in the Western Conference, but they proved everyone wrong and finished first in the Pacific Division.

He went on to add that there won't be any easy games for the Canucks next season, especially since the team could change drastically, with several key players potentially hitting the free agent market on Monday, July 1st.

Among those that are eligible to become unrestricted free agents on July 1st include Nikita Zadorov, Dakota Joshua, Elias Lindholm, Casey DeSmith, Ian Cole, Teddy Blueger, Sam Lafferty and in the minors, Matt Irwin and Sheldon Dries.

Patrik Allvin is going to be quite busy this summer as he tries to add to the roster, especially a top-six forward and if possible, a top-four defenceman, along with some depth players too. It won't be easy though, given the Canucks have $24 million in cap space and need to sign key RFAs such as Filip Hronek and Arturs Silovs, along with trying to re-sign guys like Zadorov and Joshua. The Canucks may need to move some money and one way they could do that is by trading Russian forward Ilya Mikheyev.

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