Even after signing three veteran forwards in free agency, the Canucks still have plenty of cap space. While they still have two restricted free agents to re-sign in Troy Stecher and Jake Virtanen, the Canucks should still have over $10 million in cap space.

The Canucks have faced plenty of calls to “weaponize” their cap space by taking on another team’s bad contracts in exchange for adding prospects and/or draft picks. Prior to the 2018 draft, Trevor Linden indicated they would be willing to make that kind of deal, but pointed out a potential problem.

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“Of course we would look at taking bad money for assets,” said Linden on Sportsnet 650. “Absolutely. But it's less realistic because Vegas solved that problem for a lot of teams last year.”

Since he said that, however, we’ve seen a few trades involving teams taking on a bad contract. Even if Vegas solved problems for a few teams, problems persist for several others.

The latest trade saw the Arizona Coyotes take on the dead weight of Marian Hossa’s contract — $5.275 million for the next three seasons — in a trade with the Chicago Blackhawks that involved seven players and two draft picks.

OFFICIAL: The #Blackhawks have acquired Marcus Kruger, MacKenzie Entwistle, Jordan Maletta, Andrew Campbell and a 2019 fifth-round draft pick from Arizona in exchange for Marian Hossa, Vinnie Hinostroza, Jordan Oesterle and a 2019 third-round pick. pic.twitter.com/2C2QxZkIGX — Chicago Blackhawks (@NHLBlackhawks) July 12, 2018

The key piece coming to the Coyotes is Vinnie Hinostroza, a 24-year-old centre with top-six upside, while also adding a reliable defenceman in Jordan Oesterle and upgrading from the fifth to the third round at the 2019 draft. Chicago got Marcus Kruger back, a mid-tier prospect in Entwistle, and a couple AHL players.

Hossa’s contract was a problem that Vegas didn’t solve, but there are no indications the Canucks tried to make a deal with Chicago.

A couple weeks ago, the Montreal Canadiens took Steve Mason’s $4.1 million contract off the hands of the Winnipeg Jets. In return, the Canadiens acquired a good young winger in Joel Armia, along with 4th and 7th round picks. Heading the other way was prospect defenceman Simon Bourque, who didn’t fit into the Canadiens’ plans and may never play in the NHL.

The Jets wanted to clear some cap space to re-sign Connor Hellebuyck, which they did Thursday. They also have several other restricted free agents, including Jacob Trouba, this year, and several others hitting free agency next season, like Blake Wheeler, Patrik Laine, Kyle Connor, and Tyler Myers.

That’s another cap problem that Vegas just couldn’t solve.

You could even look at the Washington Capitals including Brooks Orpik in the Philipp Grubauer trade as a cap dump of which the Colorado Avalanche, with their ample cap space, could take advantage. Grubauer likely would have cost more than a 2nd round pick if not for the inclusion of Orpik, who the Avalanche immediately bought out.

So, are there any more chances for the Canucks to take on bad contracts with their cap space? It seems like there should be.

An Erik Karlsson trade will surely happen some time this summer, and the team acquiring Karlsson may need to shed some salary. A week ago, several people reported that Karlsson would be traded to the Tampa Bay Lightning in a three-team deal. That trade evidently fell through, but the Canucks should see if they can stick their nose in to acquire some assets in return for facilitating a deal.

The Lightning would likely need a team to take Ryan Callahan and possibly Dan Girardi off their hands. Another team interested in Karlsson is the Dallas Stars, but they probably can’t make it happen without getting Jason Spezza’s $7.5 million contract off the books.

Could the Canucks take advantage?



