The Vancouver Canucks are facing a potential shake-up to their salary cap strategy as the injury status of a few key players remains uncertain. The team has made it clear they want to avoid using long-term injured reserve (LTIR) this season to keep cap flexibility for future roster improvements.
That plan remains feasible — with one important factor: the health of Akito Hirose and Pius Suter.
Hirose suffered a concussion last Saturday, and while head coach Rick Tocchet stated the defenseman is improving, his situation remains delicate. Suter, on the other hand, is dealing with an upper-body injury and is listed as day-to-day. Their availability will determine whether the Canucks can enter the season with some breathing room under the salary cap.
The Canucks can still ice a 21-man roster, which would include the slightly injured Suter, as well as sidelined Thatcher Demko and Dakota Joshua. However, NHL teams must submit their opening day rosters by Monday at 2 p.m. PT, and the Canucks are hoping to avoid going over the cap limit. Suter is expected to be ready, but if Hirose isn’t cleared by team doctors, he cannot be sent down to the AHL and would have to remain on the NHL roster.
This could force the Canucks into placing a contract on LTIR — something they’ve been keen to avoid.
Currently, both Demko and Joshua are injured and their combined contracts account for over $8.25 million of the Canucks’ cap space. This is in addition to the $3 million tied up in the buyouts of Oliver Ekman-Larsson and Ilya Mikheyev, as well as Tucker Poolman’s $2.5 million contract for the season.
GM Patrik Allvin has been working under these constraints, assembling a roster with a $75-million budget, despite the potential of using LTIR. Though this isn’t the scenario the Canucks envisioned over the summer, it’s the reality they now face.
To get their cap-compliant roster, some tough decisions have already been made. For example, young talent Jonathan Lekkerimaki, who is waivers-exempt, was sent to the AHL, while fan-favorite Phil Di Giuseppe was placed on waivers — a risk the team was willing to take, though he cleared and was reassigned to AHL Abbotsford.
Further moves are still required, with players like Arshdeep Bains and Aatu Raty, both of whom impressed in pre-season, likely being sent to the AHL as well since they are waivers-exempt.
The final decision revolves around depth defensemen Mark Friedman and Noah Juulsen. One of them will need to be placed on waivers, and while both bring valuable skill sets to the team, only one can be kept to maintain a compliant roster.
If Suter is unable to play on opening day, the Canucks can still field an 11-forward, seven-defenseman lineup. But if Hirose is still in concussion protocol by Monday, the Canucks will need to place someone on LTIR, which would offer them some cap relief.
Interestingly, if Poolman is placed on LTIR, the Canucks could open the season with more than 21 players on the active roster, giving them the flexibility to retain players like Raty or Bains without having to waive any defensemen.
Of course, there’s always the possibility of GM Allvin making a last-minute trade to alleviate the cap crunch, as he has done in previous years. Trading Poolman’s contract or making another strategic move could be on the table to optimize the team’s cap space.
One thing’s for sure: the Canucks are keeping things interesting.
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