Just a week ago, J.D. Burke asked what the Canucks should do with their surplus cap space and it reminded me of remarks Jim Benning made at a Town Hall in March. No specific quote, but rather the focus he placed on the Canucks ability to play vulture as cap crunched teams look to unload salary.

That’s an avenue of roster development I’ve hoped the Canucks would take as it meets their long and short-term goal much better than signing players closer to thirty in free agency. Players in free agency could be here four, five or even six years, but that sets their prime miles ahead of where the Canucks next wave will meet theirs. Adding players in their early-to-mid-twenties, on the other hand, would supplement that core.

The New York Islanders worked this angle to perfection, landing Nick Leddy and Johnny Boychuk in advance of the 2014 season. They landed great value on the two by waiting out the teams that held them and now they’re huge parts of their core.

That got me thinking… who are the teams that the Canucks have identified as possible targets? Some are obvious, others less so. All these figures are drawn from www.CapFriendly.com and based on a flat salary cap. Of course, the cap could be as high as $75-million, but it’s clear that some teams will be hamstrung regardless.

New York Rangers

Money Committed for 2016-17: $55,700,000

Cap Space(based on flat cap of $71.4M): $15,700,000

Positions Committed: 8F, 6D, 2G

Notable UFA: Dan Boyle, Keith Yandle, Antti Raanta, Eric Staal, Dominic Moore

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Notable RFA: Dylan Mcilrath, Chris Kreider, JT Miller, Kevin Hayes

At first glance, the Rangers don’t appear as cash-strapped as this ranking suggests. Then you look at their pending free agents and it all comes together. Getting a pair of twenty goal scorers in J.T. Miller and Chris Kreider won’t be cheap. Nor will Kevin Hayes, who’s developing into quite a solid middle-six piece himself. Given the steep price they paid to land Keith Yandle and Eric Staal, they might hope to retain at least one of them. There’s room for former Canucks prospect Nicklas Jensen to jump into a depth role, but the rest is anyone’s guess.

Will Rick Nash or Dan Girardi be forced out? Or will the Rangers trim fat along the edges?

The Rangers position as contenders in the east has put them in ‘win now’ mode for a few years now. As a result, their prospect pipeline is barren and they lack picks going into this draft. They’ve painted themselves into a corner and might have to part ways with an RFA to keep it all together.

Columbus Blue Jackets

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Money Committed for 2016-17: $66,557,143

Cap Space(based on flat cap of $71.4M): $4,842,857

Positions Committed: 11F, 6D, 2G

Notable UFA: Rene Bourque

Notable RFA: William Karlsson, Seth Jones

If I’m in Benning’s shoes, I have the Blue Jackets on speed dial. A team with cap issues and a plethora of young talent… it’s all too perfect.

Rumours abound at the trade deadline that the Blue Jackets were trying to move Scott Hartnell. Given his hefty price tag, $4.75-mill for another three seasons, that makes perfect sense. Seth Jones is in line for a hefty raise – somewhere in the neighbourhood of Morgan Rielly’s six-year $30-million deal. John Tortorella’s affection for William Karlsson aside, he’s not jumping many tax brackets. Few teams need an increased cap ceiling like the Blue Jackets.

Although Hartnell doesn’t fit the under-thirty mantra I espoused earlier, the Canucks could parlay his contract into an additional young asset. Maybe Kerby Rychel fits the bill?

Chicago Blackhawks

Money Committed for 2016-17: $66,983,462

Cap Space(based on flat cap of $71.4M): $4,416,583

Positions Committed: 8F, 7D, 2G

Notable UFA: Christian Ehrhoff, Andrew Ladd, Michael Rozsival, Tomas Fleischmann, Brandon Maschinter, Dale Weise

Notable RFA: Andrew Shaw, Richard Panik

The Blackhawks are all too familiar with this scenario. It’s why they always find a way out and remain competitive. They’ve had their share of hiccups though, as evidenced by the near-nothing return they netted for Patrick Sharp and Stephen Johns.

Bryan Bickell remains the albatross around Stan Bowman’s neck, accounting $3.050-million in cap space on their AHL team. I’m thinking something similar to what I had in mind between the Canucks and Blue Jackets – take Bickell off their hands, but ask for a promising young asset in return.

These figures don’t even take into account the bonuses they’ll be paying out to Artemi Panarin. This team is in tough.

Minnesota Wild

Money Committed for 2016-17: $68,041,091

Cap Space(based on flat cap of $71.4M): $3,358,909

Positions Committed: 11F, 8D, 2G

Notable UFA: David Jones, Justin Fontaine, Jarett Stoll, Ryan Carter,

Notable RFA: Darcy Kuemper, Matt Dumba, Jason Zucker, Zach Dalpe, Jordan Schroeder, Tyler Graovac

The Minnesota Wild’s numbers are a little inflated, due in large to recalling a handful of players from their farm team in Iowa. That said, they do have to re-sign Matt Dumba, so there goes that space. For a team that’s never made it over the hump, a lack of cap space is a frightening proposition. They need to be adding pieces, not losing them.

Players like Alex Tuch and Joel Eriksson Ek have a very real shot of cracking the roster next season just because the Wild will need some scoring depth.

When looking at the roster, there doesn’t seem to be an easy fix other than simply riding out the season and hoping Tomas Vanek returns to somewhat close to what they are paying $6.5M per season for.

Anaheim Ducks

Money Committed for 2016-17: $53,292,500

Cap Space(based on flat cap of $71.4M): $18,107,500

Positions Committed: 8F, 6D, 1G

Notable UFA: David Perron, Jamie McGinn, Shawn Horcoff, Chris Stewart, Mike Santorelli, Anton Khudobin

Notable RFA: Brandon Pirri, Rickard Rakell, Sami Vatanen, Hampus Lindholm, Fredrik Anderson

The Ducks cap situation looks all gravy until you get to their list of RFA’s – then it gets all kinds of scary. The Ducks are all-in on a Cup run this season, but they’ll be in tough next.

The Ducks have already been making moves to clear our space by trading players like Carl Hagelin and Patrick Maroon for players that will be UFA this summer in Jamie McGinn and David Perron.

And we haven’t even touched on the fact that the Ducks operate on an internal salary cap. They’ve likely much less space than we give them credit for.

The Canucks and Ducks have made deals in each of past two summers – third time’s the charm this year?

Los Angeles Kings

Money Committed for 2016-17: $65,978,560

Cap Space(based on flat cap of $71.4M): $5,421,144

Positions Committed: 12F, 5D, 1G

Notable UFA: Milan Lucic, Kris Versteeg, Trevor Lewis, Luke Schenn, Jamie McBain, Jonas Enroth

Notable RFA: Brayden McNabb

Next up on the I5 is Staples Center and the Los Angeles Kings. Wouldn’t you know it, they’re in a crunch too. Vinny Lecavalier retiring will offer some reflief, but that cap space is gone as soon as they have it, when Matt Greene returns to the books.

The Kings don’t have any big-ticket RFA’s to lock up, but they’re rumoured to be working dutifully on a Milan Lucic extension. If they travel that path, they’ll need to clear out some salary to accommodate it.

The Canucks salary cap space puts them in an enviable position this summer. The youth that forms their next core is going to be another year older and more experienced. Most importantly, they will have the cap cushion to build on that group without dipping too far into their own reserves.

Assuming they can’t put something together in advance of July 1st, they would be wise to keep the space going into next season. As the season gets going, teams will find themselves in a bind with roster holes to fill. That’s just another opportunity for the Canucks to leverage their cap space into more draft picks and young talent.





